The surprising early season performance of Gabriel Arias

Before the season began, the roster status of Cleveland Guardians infielder Gabriel Arias was in question. Arias was up for a starting roster spot following the offseason trade of Andres Gimenez, and ended up securing it by default, being that he was out of minor league options. While this appeared to be the beginning of a short term on Cleveland's major league roster, Arias had other ideas.

Through 23 games, Arias is posting some of the best numbers of his career, slashing .270/.321/.487, with his 133 OPS+ being the fourth-highest on the team, behind Steven Kwan (159), Kyle Manzardo (158), and Jose Ramirez (138). This has been a contributing factor to Cleveland's early season success and has helped them weather some of the early season slumps of some of the other bats in their lineup.

The four home runs, four doubles, and 10 runs batted in may not seem like much, and in all actuality, it isn't, but Arias is tied for the team lead in doubles, tied for third in home runs, and has the fourth-most RBI for the Guardians so far this season. It is still very early, but being among Cleveland's top offensive contributors is an impressive accomplishment for someone who began the year on the fringe of the roster.

The biggest question and/or concern when it comes to Arias is sustainability. Arias was very forgettable at the plate over his first three seasons, slashing .212/.274/.350 with 182 strikeouts compared to 42 walks and an OPS+ of 74. Considering that Arias is tied with Nolan Jones for the most strikeouts on the team (22), is still striking out just over 27% of the time, and his BABIP (.327) is 27 points above average, there is a very good chance that, in time, he will revert back to performing closer to his career marks.

For now, it is best to enjoy what Arias is doing at the plate, but it is best to be prepared to pivot to another option should his struggles return. Hopefully, by that time, someone else will have picked up the slack, making this potential drop in production less of an issue than it would be at this current juncture.