Stephen Vogt's comments are letting Guardians fans down with 2026 infield plan

Last year the Cleveland Guardians broke camp with a middle infield picture that consisted of Brayan Rocchio as the team’s everyday shortstop and Gabriel Arias slotting into the rotation at second base.

While that formula didn’t result in a ton of success in 2025, it looks like it's once again going to be the plan next season. 

Earlier this week, Stephen Vogt spoke to reporters at the Winter Meetings and e began prepping the fan base for a familiar infield alignment in 2026. Vogt told reporters (including The Athletic’s Zack Mesiel) that Brayan Rocchio will be the main option at shortstop in the spring while Gabriel Arias will move around the infield.

The good news, however, is that Vogt added some insight into the future of the middle infield, by making it seem like Juan Brito and top prospect Travis Bazzana could be a part of the Guardians’ infield situation in 2026. 

The Guardians middle infield situation will be interesting to follow this offseason

Not much went right for Rocchio in the first half of last year. In fact, he struggled so much that he was demoted to Triple-A in May after hitting just .165 through his first 35 games. 

The Guardians eventually called him back up in July when Arias went  on the injured list with an ankle injury. He pitched a bit better as the season went on while primarily playing at second base before getting back into ‘Rocctober’ mode with a walk-off home run against the Rangers in the season-finale followed by a big home run in Cleveland’s lone postseason win. 

Arias’ season was arguably just as frustrating even if he was never sent down to Triple-A. He started the season at second base before shifting to shortstop when Rocchio was sent down, where he was able to show off his 80-grade arm. 

That said, his struggles at the plate were too much to ignore. While he showed a bit of pop, he finished the year with an eye-popping strikeout rate of 34.4%, which was one of the worst marks of the year among everyday players.

Even though Arias is capable of playing every position, it’s fair to wonder if he still has a place on the roster due to the presence of Daniel Schneemann, who can play everywhere over the diamond and is a bit of a better defender. 

But it’s also fair to wonder if both of them are just placeholders until Brito, Bazzana and Angel Genao are ready to make their debut for the Guardians. 

Brito is already on the four-man roster and he has a bit more flexibility thanks to the fact the Guardians were granted a fourth option year for him, but he still should get a shot to earn a spot on the MLB roster. Having Arias and Rocchio in the fold hurts there, but it’s not like either of them were world-beaters last year. 

The same can be said for Bazzana, who isn’t on the 40-man roster but got as high as Triple-A last year before suffering a season-ending oblique injury.  He’s healthy now and is set to compete for Australia in the World Baseball Classic, which could serve as a launching point for the start of his MLB career. 

The Guardians have a lot of questions to answer this offseason, but it looks like they’ve already figured this one out with a predictable outcome.