Bo Naylor quickly emerging as X-Factor at Guardians’ spring training 

In September 2023, Bo Naylor put together one of the best stretches of his career. 

While the Guardians spent most of the month eliminated from postseason contention, everything seemed to finally click for the young catcher. 

In total, Naylor finished that month with a .304 batting average, four home runs, 13 RBI and 14 walks in 19 games. It was the kind of performance that made it seem like the sky was limit for Naylor. 

But even if the sky is still arguably the limit for Naylor, his struggles in the two-plus years since have become a bit too much to ignore. 

Naylor’s hit .201 with 27 home runs and 86 RBI in the two seasons since despite being the team’s full-time catcher. Not incredible production, but still better than how things had been in seasons prior. 

But it looks like there’s a chance that could change in 2026. In a new episode of the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast, Joe Noga and Paul Hoynes discussed what they’ve seen from Naylor this spring, and the early results have been promising.  

Bo Naylor could be turning a corner for the Guardians this spring 

Naylor’s gotten off to a hot start this spring , going 4-for-6 at the plate with three doubles and two walks. And, according to Hoynes and Noga, a big reason for that production has been the removal of the leg kick that’s defined his swing for the first couple seasons of his career. 

“The point here is Bo Naylor looks and feels very comfortable at the plate right now. He’s sort of eliminated that high leg kick,” Noga said on the podcast. “His swing is a little more compact and a little quicker,” Noga said on the podcast.” 

Naylor dropping his leg kick is a tangible example of the kind of adjustments that a player can only make during the offseason. 

While every player tends to tweak with their swing during the season, removing such a huge part of your game can only happen when you have the time to make those adjustments without having to worry about your at-bats the next day. 

Naylor authoring a breakout season in 2026 would be a huge development for a Guardians team desperate for any kind of production from someone not named José Ramírez or Steven Kwan. 

He put together another solid month last September (.290 batting average, 16 RBI in 19 games) and it seems like the adjustments he made during that time have carried over to this spring. 

While we already know Guardians’ catching situation will be better in 2026 than it was last season, a breakout season from Naylor would obviously go a long way toward raising the floor of Cleveland’s entire lineup.