The Guardians still don’t know what they’re doing with Kyle Manzardo

On Monday, Kyle Manzardo found his swing again. 

After entering play hitting just .211 across 11 games in July, Manzardo wasted no time making his presence felt against the Orioles. After smacking a double to right field in his first at-bat, he staked the Guardians to a lead for good in the sixth inning with a go-ahead solo home run.

An inning later, his spot in the batting order came up again with the bases loaded and no one out… and he was promptly pulled for David Fry because there was a left-hander on the mound.

While the move didn’t come back to bite the Guardians in their 10-5 win, it was another frustrating example of the team’s inability to get out of its own way when it comes to Manzardo. 

The Guardians still don’t know what they’re doing with Kyle Manzardo 

Yes, Manzardo isn’t as good against left-handed pitchers as he is right-handers (he entered play with a .196 batting average against lefties compared to .218 against righties) and David Fry has killed left-handed pitching throughout his career. But not every situation should be made with just the stats in mind.

Not only did he open the game with two extra-base hits, but he's also shown some flashes of power against left-handed pitchers this year. While there would have been a chance that he would have struck out on three pitches, there also could have been a chance that he would have mashed a grand slam on a pitch on the middle of the plate.

This also isn’t the first time the Guardians have committed some kind of self-inflicted wound when it comes to Manzardo. He hasn’t gotten a ton of playing time against lefties this year despite the Guardians trading Josh Naylor away in the offseason. 

He’s been in a bit of a timeshare with Carlos Santana this year, and now has to share the designated hitter spot with Fry, who can’t play in the field after undergoing surgery in the offseason. 

And on paper, a platoon between the left-handed Manzardo and the right-handed Fry could be the perfect way to use the designated hitter position, but games aren’t played on paper. 

Fry’s hit just .167 in 78 at-bats this year and has only had three multi-hit games. On the other side, Manzardo is second on the team with 16 home runs and is still only 25-years-old. And while his .196 average against southpaws isn’t great, it’s still better than Fry’s .162 average against southpaws. 

It’s one thing to pull Manzardo if he was in the midst of an 0-for-3 day and was coming up to face Josh Hader. But instead he was 2-for-3 and was in line to face a rookie pitcher with the bases loaded and no one out.

At the very least, it would have been an at-bat where he could have gone up against a southpaw knowing that he was going to get some pitches to hit. But he was forced to sit in the dugout and watch David Fry ground out. 

The Guardians have clawed their way back into the postseason picture thanks to some strong play from their offense, but that doesn’t mean that everything they’ve done has been perfect. Monday’s game was another example of that.