Kyle Manzardo isn’t hitting.

The Cleveland Guardians‘ left-handed slugger isn’t doing much slugging, or much of anything, in the early going of the 2026 MLB season.

He’s 2-for-16 so far, and even uglier, Manzardo has struck out a league-worst 10 times already.

With just one walk, Manzardo actually has an OPS+ of negative-12, which means he has been 112% worse than a league average hitter so far.

Caveats about small sample size apply, especially when you consider that Cleveland just faced a solid Mariners pitching staff.

Still, it’s not ideal, because Manzardo isn’t exactly a batting average or on-base machine. The Guardians need him to make enough contact to occasionally run into doing damage, or he’s not worth playing.

Except in this case, the Guardians do have alternatives. They aren’t stuck.

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It’s not that they should permanently bench Manzardo. It’s just that they have an easy way to mix it up.

On their current roster, the Guardians also have Rhys Hoskins and C.J. Kayfus to play first base. Kayfus has been playing in left field because first and DH are occupied by Manzardo and Hoskins, but it’s an adventure out there for Kayfus right now.

At least as a temporary thing to try, Guardians manager Stephen Vogt could get Kayfus away from the grass, let Manzardo rest, and use the Kayfus/Hoskins combo in the lineup here or there.

At some point, Cleveland can ride the hot hand. The good news is the Guardians aren’t stuck. The tougher part is actually getting these guys to heat up to come up with the best possible arrangement of these potential sluggers.

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