CLEVELAND, Ohio – Scribbles in my notebook after walking through the Guardians clubhouse and realizing this team is even younger than I thought:
1. Some fans wanted to know why Andres Gimenez is still in major-league camp while phenom Gabriel Arias was sent to the minors. How about this: At 23, Gimenez is the veteran compared to the 22-year-old Arias. It’s more than age, but it makes the point of how the Guardians are expected to be the youngest team in MLB again this season.
2. Arias had a sensational spring, batting .571 (8-for-14), and manager Terry Francona let the young shortstop know that: “We explained to him how much we like him.” Francona also encouraged Arias and other players sent to the minors not to be so “fixed on the destination” of making the majors. “They need to enjoy it.”
3. More from Francona on Arias: “There’s nothing wrong with going to Class AAA for the first month or so. April (in Cleveland) can be a pretty rough road. ... It’s OK to err on the side of caution.”
4. Gimenez opened in Cleveland last April at 22. He got off to a miserable start, batting .179 in his first 29 games from April 1-May 17. He then was sent to Class AAA, with Amed Rosario taking over at shortstop.
5. More Francona: “Gimenez did a good job at Class AAA. (When he came back to Cleveland later in the season), he looked much more like the player we thought we had.” Gimenez batted .287 (.844 OPS) with 10 HR and 31 RBI at Class AAA Columbus.
6. Rosario quickly emerged as the most productive player in the Francisco Lindor deal with the Mets. But Cleveland insisted on Gimenez being part of the deal. In 2020, Gimenez skipped over Class AAA and went right to New York for the 60-game season. The lefty hitter batted .263 for the Mets at age 21.
7. In the Mets farm system, Gimenez consistently ranked among baseball’s top 100 prospects. The Guardians are practicing patience with the young shortstop, who is above average defensively. Gimenez is batting .438 (7-for-16) this spring. He ripped an opposite-field double off the left field fence Tuesday.
8. Gimenez is listed at 6 feet and 190 pounds, but looks smaller than that. But he does project to have some power, as the 10 HR in 52 games at Columbus demonstrated.
9. Francona on Gimenez last season: “(Early on) he tried to hit the ball out of the park ... he’ll do that as he goes on. For now, he needs to use the whole field. The ball will leave the park as he grows.”
10. At 22, Jose Ramirez opened the season in Cleveland. He had miserable year, batting .219 (.631 OPS) in 97 games with six homers. That was in 2015, and he also was sent back to the minors. In 2016, he came back to Cleveland at 23: Batting .312 with 11 HR and 76 RBI.
11. This is not to say Gimenez will follow the same pattern as Ramirez, now an All-Star. It is to point out how hard it is to judge players when they make the majors so young.
12. While Francona insisted no decision has been made about Gimenez making the team at short, the alternative is Rosario. But Rosario made his third consecutive start in left Wednesday night. It makes sense for him to play there given the need for outfielders.
13. I asked the Guardians’ terrific center fielder Myles Straw about Rosario in the outfield: “He can play there. He is a great athlete. He fast. He works hard. I have no doubt he can do it.”
14. Rosario has hit a pair of homers this spring. If the Guardians can come out of the Lindor deal with some long-range answers at shortstop and left field, that would be a major plus.
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