Guardians' Josh Naylor narrative changed completely after viral moment vs. Mariners

For five seasons, Josh Naylor was a staple in the Cleveland Guardians lineup. After starting his career as an energetic outfielder, he slowly changed into a power-hitting first baseman who always seemed to have a flair for the dramatic. 

Although his time with the Guardians came to an end last offseason via a trade to the Arizona Diamondbacks, he’s still largely viewed as a fan favorite among Guardians fans. 

Though that may have changed yesterday. 

In the top of the sixth inning in the Guardians’ eventual win against the Mariners, Naylor stepped up to the plate against Tim Herrin , was plunked in the forearm by a slider and immediately started chirping with Austin Hedges about it.

That chirping set off a sequence that seemed to show the two former teammates beefing with each other. 

Josh Naylor is starting to become a Guardians villain 

As you can see in the Jomboy video linked above, Hedges seemed to start things by saying that Naylor stuck his arm out, which Naylor immediately disagreed with in vulgar terms.

Though things seemed to simmer down at the end of the inning, Hedges added some final fuel to the fire by saying that “no one likes you” to Naylor as he was walking off the field. 

Hedges comments are a bit interesting considering the two of them were both part of Cleveland’s trade return in their 2020 fleece of the San Diego Padres and spent four seasons together with the Guardians. 

But Naylor is also a bit mercurial and sometimes seems to operate in his own world.

We saw it in Cleveland when he went nuclear following his incredible showing against the White Sox in 2022, and we’ve seen it multiple times since he got to Seattle.

The first instance came last postseason when he jumped in front of a throw from Ernie Clement and it carried over into this season when he threw his sliding mitt at Tigers catcher Dillon Dingler.

Naylor also raised some eyebrows in Cleveland earlier last year when he returned to Cleveland and said that he expected to be traded by the Guardians because of “what he learned about the organization." 

That’s kind of the perfect example of the Naylor experience. While he wasn’t wrong, his blunt presentation of the information didn’t earn him much goodwill. 

His beef with the Guardians yesterday also falls into that category a little bit. Not only was he hit by a slider, but it was also thrown by Herrin, who is in the fourth percentile in walk rate and has struggled with his command all season. 

No one wants to get hit by a pitch, but getting hit by a Herrin slider is on the board for every hitter that faces him. 

Although Naylor has found a long-term home with the Mariners, it seems like there isn’t much love lost between him and his old team.

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