3 Guardians who must bounce back in 2024

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The Cleveland Guardians are looking to shake off the bad taste from last season and get back on track toward being a contender, not just in the American League Central but the entire American League. In order for that to happen, there are going to be more than a few people to bounce back from their performances last season and become meaningful contributors in 2024.

Honorable Mention: Emmanuel Clase

On the surface, Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase had a fantastic season in 2023. Clase finished the season with a 3.22 ERA and 1.156 WHIP and would go on to lead all of baseball in saves for the second straight season with 44 (a career-high) and games finished 65 (second-most). All of this is well and good, but there are two areas that Clase needs to improve upon to ensure that the back end of Cleveland's bullpen is rock solid. Strikeout rate and blown saves.

Clase finished with 64 strikeouts in 72.2 innings of work last season, leading to a career-low 7.9 strikeouts per nine innings. This was only the second time in his career that this number fell below 9.5, the other being the 8.1 mark, which came during his 21 appearances with the Texas Rangers in 2019.

Concerning blown saves, this was a huge problem for Clase last year. The soon-to-be 26-year-old blew a major league-high 12 saves last season. This is simply an unacceptable amount of games that the Guardians were in position to win but were unable to do so. If Cleveland is going to genuinely be back in the division race and make an impact in the postseason, Clase needs to return his form during the previous two seasons and not 2023.

1. Myles Straw

Surprised? You shouldn't be. The bat of Myles Straw has been nothing less than a disaster in the Cleveland Guardians' lineup since his overperformance in 2021. Straw's slash line has plummeted from .285/.362/.377 in his first 60 games in Cleveland to the disappointing .229/.296/.284 over the last two seasons (299 games).

Usually, the only way a player with a batting average this low stays in the lineup on a regular basis is by possessing a stupid amount of power that makes the low hit frequency tolerable. The problem is that Straw is the antithesis of that, being a light hitter who is unable to reach base to make his speed on the basepaths useful.

There was once an argument that could be made for Straw to be hidden in the bottom part of the order due to being a Gold Glove-caliber defender. Even though this was valid in 2022, that was not the case in 2023. Straw's defensive metrics were nowhere near the level of 2022, making it even more difficult to justify having this offensive black hole being a daily lineup fixture.

The Guardians are going to need Straw to improve across the board if he is going to make any sort of tangible impact this season. Whether that is an everyday center fielder or in the bench role/late-inning defensive replacement role he is probably best suited for, Cleveland needs better play all around from Straw.

2. Triston McKenzie

Unlike the previous two entries in this list, Triston McKenzie is less about performance and more about availability.

The Guardians were only able to get 16 innings across four starts from McKenzie last season, and those are two areas that need to see a massive uptick in 2024. The truly unfortunate aspect of this from Cleveland's perspective was the rash of injuries that occurred in their pitching rotation, making McKenzie's absence felt just a bit more than usual.

In a perfect world, McKenzie will be able to return to his 2022 form, which saw him compile a 2.98 ERA and 0.951 WHIP in 31 games (30 starts). But even something along the lines of his career averages in this area prior to his abbreviated 2023 (3.68 ERA, 1.027 WHIP) would go a long for the Guardians in the upcoming season. Having another solid arm with more than a partial season's worth of starts under his belt would take a little pressure off the younger arms in their rotation (Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, Logan Allen). It would also make a possible trade of Shane Bieber during the season a little more tolerable, should that be on the table.

3. James Karinchak

Frustrating yet intriguing. Dynamic but inconsistent. Eccentric and electric. All of these words can be used to describe the pitching performances of James Karinchak.

The 28-year-old reliever has dealt with bouts of inconsistencies throughout his career, but they were magnified this past season. Everyone was very well aware that rule changes were going to have an impact leaguewide, some more than others. Karinchak was someone that most expected to see negatively impacted due to his routine in-between pitches that were not at all brief. Karinchak struggled mightily, with career worsts in WHIP (1.333) and walks per nine innings (6.5), while his strikeout rate dropped to a career-low 12 per nine innings.

Of the four members of the Guardians appearing on this list, the importance of Karinchak bouncing back may be the lowest, but that does not mean he is not needed. Having another strong option on the back end of the bullpen alongside Emmanuel Clase is going to go a long way. Being able to have multiple arms capable of shutting down opponents late in games is an asset that every team wants, but very few actually have. Karinchak has shown in the past that he can be that type of arm. It is just going to be up to him to get back to that level in a season that could determine the trajectory of the remainder of his career.