The Cleveland Guardians need more offense from the shortstop position

Of the positions that have playing time up for grabs, shortstop is not one of them. The Cleveland Guardians seem more than comfortable with having Brayan Rocchio continue his duties at the position from last season, but they will need more from him offensively to justify his somewhat uncontested status.

There were some expectations that Rocchio might have gotten bumped from his starting job by Andres Gimenez moving back to shortstop to clear a path for 2024 first overall draft pick Travis Bazzana. Any chance of that happening went out the window the moment the Guardians traded Gimenez to the Toronto Blue Jays. This signaled that the organization has faith in Rocchio, and now is the time for him to prove them right.

It was a rough 2024 for Rocchio with a bat in his hands, slashing just .206/.298/.316 with 18 doubles and eight home runs in 143 games last season. While no one was expecting Rocchio to do his best Francisco Lindor impression with a bat in his hands, putting up a stat line that resulted in a 76 OPS+ just isn't good enough.

As much as Rocchio struggled during the regular season, his performance in the postseason showed that he is capable of being a more productive bat in Cleveland's lineup. Rocchio went 11-33 with two doubles and one home run while walking five times in 10 playoff games for the Guardians. Granted, the sample size is incredibly small, but being able to perform better at the plate against the best teams in the game on a national stage is encouraging for what he may provide for the Guardians in 2025 and beyond.

Rocchio has proved to be a better hitter in the minors and is just 24 years old. It is not out of the question that someone who posted a .276/.349/.426 slash line with 110 doubles, 47 home runs, and 19 triples in 485 minor league games to closer resemble that version of himself. If Rocchio could even land midway between his 2024 performance and what he has accomplished as a minor leaguer, it could prove to be a big difference-maker for the Guardians.