Guardians are making a costly mistake with Kyle Manzardo

The Cleveland Guardians have been running an effective first base platoon this season, as Kyle Manzardo and Carlos Santana drawing the vast majority of the team's starts at the cold corner this season and have combined for a modest 103 wRC+.

However, while the two often swap between first base and designated hitter when a righty pitches, Manzardo is often stapled to the bench against opposing southpaws.

That's just simply been the case for the majority of Manzardo's young big league career. Since making his debut last season, the 24-year old has drawn just 62 at-bats versus opposing southpaws... compared to 32 against righties.

Kyle Manzardo is good against left-handed pitchers, and the Guardians need to take notice

One of the rare occurrences where Cleveland actually let Manzardo play against a lefty happened last week, when the team squared off against the Athletics' JP Sears.

And, wouldn't you know it, Manzardo went 1-for-3 against the southpaw, including a double that he smoked off the bat at 105.8 mph. That actually is just a continuation of what's become a trend for the first baseman this year, as Manzardo is hitting lefties better than he is righties in 2025.

Manzardo has taken 43 at-bats versus southpaws this year compared to 196 against righties. And while his batting average and on-base percentage is lower against lefties (.209/.286 vs. lefties; .224/.300 vs. righties), he's slugging way better against them, .581 to .418. Those figures also don't account for a comically-low .185 BABIP against same-handed pitchers, suggesting positive regression is due for the lefty slugger.

Despite receiving just 18% of his total at-bats against southpaws, Manzardo has hit four of his 13 home runs and seven of his 26 extra-base hits against them.

Now, when you have a capable switch-hitter like Santana available, sometimes you'll play for match-up favorability and roll with the right-handed hitter versus the left-handed pitcher. Manager Stephen Vogt and company shouldn't be blamed for that.

However, Santana's .670 OPS against lefties is more than 200 points below Manzardo's (.887), and he's received nearly double the chances against left-handed pitching.

It's one thing to say you're protecting a young player like Manzardo by shielding him from tough same-sided match-ups — from a developmental perspective, it makes sense to put him in advantageous positions to build his confidence, even if it could hurt his long-term prospects as an everyday player.

But, even from a short-term perspective, the team is hurting itself by not putting him out there. His OPS against lefties is the second-highest on the team against southpaws, behind only José Ramirez.

It's time to take the training wheels off and let Manzardo play every day. He's proven himself ready for the spotlight.