David Fry is losing grip on his Guardians roster spot amid recent struggles

We're reaching a point in the MLB season where teams are starting to shuffle players up and down from the minor leagues.

Three years ago, David Fry made his big league debut as one of those call-ups, and he hasn't been sent back to the minors since. But could his struggles this season end up bringing about an end to his time on the roster?

While the right-handed hitting Fry entered play on Tuesday with just 20 plate appearances, he's only recorded four hits in that span. That's an extremely small sample size, though it makes sense since Fry plays almost exclusively plays against left-handed pitching.

That was extremely evident last season when he was limited to designated hitter duties after undergoing Tommy John surgery, and he slashed a measly .171/.229/.250 for an OPS of .583 and OPS+ of 61. 

David Fry hasn't done much for the Guardians in the past two seasons

The ugly truth of the situation is that Fry hasn’t been a consistent hitter for the Guardians consistently outside of his six week hot stretch in the first half of 2024 and his heroics that postseason.

Strikeouts have become a huge problem for him, as he has a strikeout rate of 37.9% this season after having a 36.9% strikeout rate last year.

While it is still early, backup catcher Austin Hedges has looked like a different hitter this season and entered play on Tuesday hitting .350 with an OPS+ of 141.

Now, nobody is expecting Hedges to keep up that kind of production at the plate across the entire season, but the more that he hits the more that Fry's roster spot becomes a question mark.

Fry clearly has defensive versatility since he's able to catch along with being able to be a corner infielder and outfielder. But his struggles are becoming hard to ignore.

Bo Naylor is still clearly the Guardians' No. 1 option behind the plate, and now Hedges is starting to look like an everyday option against southpaws. That's going to make it tougher for Fry to get opportunities behind the dish.

He could theoretically fit into the picture at first base, but Rhys Hoskins and Kyle Manzardo are entrenched in a platoon there.

The right-handed hitting Hoskins will always be in the lineup vs lefties, and he's still to see more time agiainst lefties as well. Manzardo’s slow start could open up some opportunities, but it's only going to be a matter of time until his luck turns around.

The outfield picture is also murky thanks to Steven Kwan and Chase DeLauter serving as everyday players. The switch-hitting Angel Martínez has been mashed from both sides of the plate at the start of the season, so it's getting tougher for Stephan Vogt to leave him out of the lineup.

And if that's not enough, George Valera was activated off the injured list on Monday, so now he's a part of the picture.

With numerous Clippers players knocking on the door such as Travis Bazzana, Cooper Ingle, and Khalil Watson, it stands to reason that Fry's roster spot could be in jeopardy.

Though he's likely safe for the meantime, he could be the odd man out once Gabriel Arias returns if he doesn't turn things around.

Juan Brito has looked the part since being called up last week, so sending him down for Arias wouldn't make any sense.

Arias is out of options and cannot be sent back down, meaning the Guardians would have to designate him for assignment to remove him from the roster.

While that's a possibility, he broke camp as the Guardians' starting shortstop, and moving away from him after an injury wouldn't fit into the front office's M.O.

Stuart Fairchild is also lurking at Triple-A could also be another replacement option for Fry as a right-handed bat who mashes lefties. he also provides a good glove and speed, something this Guardians roster lacks. 

Both he and Nolan Jones have gotten off to hot starts at Triple-A, but neither of them are on the 40-man roster.

Fry has three minor league options remaining, so it would be relatively easy for the Guardians to option him to Triple-A. If he doesn't get hot soon, the cries for that to happen could get even louder.

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