{"id":609810,"date":"2026-03-06T13:53:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T13:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/609810\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T13:53:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T13:53:13","slug":"what-to-do-with-the-guardians-middle-infield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/609810\/","title":{"rendered":"What To Do With: The Guardians Middle Infield"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>CLEVELAND, OH-The Guardians\u2019 40-man roster and beyond have been a mess for a few years now. Organizations have been taking advantage of the full 40 for quite some time, having handy replacements for injured players or guys that need to work on something in the minors without impacting the big league wins and losses. However, Cleveland has been stuck in the morass of Quad A purgatory: there are too many guys the front office keeps hoping will step up and make their penny-pinching ways look brilliant. So, in an effort to cut through the crap, we will take a look over the next few days at some positions the Guardians have done themselves no favors in solving. Today: the middle infield.\u00a0Long lost are the days of Carlos Baerga, Omar Vizquel, Roberto Alomar, and Francisco Lindor. There are days over the past couple of years where you\u2019d be okay with a Jhonny Peralta, Asdrubal Cabrera, or Jason Kipnis up the middle. However, we may be entering a new era of keystone-ery, as No. 1 overall pick Travis Bazzana is knocking on the door of the bigs. It would be surprising if Cleveland pulls that lever this quickly, but we thought the same last October when they brought Chase DeLauter to the playoffs in his big league debut. Since the chances that Bazzana is the Opening Day 4 are probably lower than 25%, let\u2019s look at the more likely scenarios for second base and shortstop.\u00a0Gabriel AriasArias has puttered around the Guardians\u2019 facility so much over the years, hanging on by the barest of threads, simply because he has one thing that almost everyone else on the roster doesn\u2019t have: a right hand that works better than a left. Unfortunately, that right handed bat doesn\u2019t do enough to make him someone anymore useful than a speed limit sign anywhere near where Myles Garrett is driving.\u00a0Arias is a free swinger, owner of a 33.3% ((Repeating, of course.)) K-rate, that goes just swimmingly alongside his 6.7% walk rate. He does have massive power, but it comes more as a tease, a \u201cu up\u201d text at 2:30 am, than something that is dependable. Just look as he pokes this 92mph fastball into the right field stands, a pitch that is barely above his ankles. That\u2019s the type of hit that will make you think you can change him.\u00a0You can\u2019t change him, though. The tiger never changes his stripes, the dog has aged past a point of new moves. Arias has a slick glove and a big swing, a swing big enough that it will keep him in the lineup, especially against lefties, but not much else. He\u2019s probably better at shortstop than the others on this list, but I would rather see the next name on this list stick at short in preparation of Bazzana.Brayan RocchioThere\u2019s a phenomenon that happens every October over the last few years, and that\u2019s Playoff Rocchio. However bad he\u2019s played over the course of the year, when the games start meaning more and the sphincter muscles tighten, Rocchio starts producing in bunches. Can we tell him it\u2019s the playoffs now and hope he doesn\u2019t own a calendar?To look at Rocchio\u2019s FanGraphs page and come away with the idea that he\u2019s a better starter option than Arias is a fool\u2019s errand. The walk rate is only slightly better than Arias\u2019s over their careers (7.7% to Arias\u2019s 6.7%), but the K% is light-years ahead, 21.3% career. Sure, the power numbers aren\u2019t there, but if he\u2019s ever able to establish a wee better hit tool, Rocchio has the makings of someone who could stick around. He\u2019s an effective bat in the nine-hole, the de facto leadoff hitter for Steven Kwan when the lineup turns over.\u00a0Rocchio sticking at shortstop, creating that double play combo with Bazzana, would be the best case scenario for Cleveland over the long term. Yes, there is a ceiling with Rocchio; he will likely never hit 20 home runs or swipe bags with ease, but if he\u2019s able to be around a 90 wRC+ hitter ((For those not familiar with wRC+, it\u2019s graded on a 1-100 scale, with 100 being league average.)) with his defense as is, he can be a useful player.\u00a0Daniel SchneemannYou\u2019ve likely heard the \u201cmystery box\u201d joke by now, right? The bit on \u201cFamily Guy\u201d, where Peter and Lois are trying to decide which prize they wanna get: keys to a boat or the \u201cmystery box\u201d. Peter wants to select the box, Lois is pushing to take the boat, since that\u2019s what they wanted in the first place. But Peter is vigilant: the mystery box could be anything\u2026even a new boat!\u2026despite being the size of a gift card. Daniel Schneemann is the epitome of the \u201cmystery box\u201d: a batter that keeps getting looks as something more useful than he is, even though we know he likely has topped out as a superutility guy.\u00a0Over his 643 career plate appearances, Schneemann hasn\u2019t produced more than an 84 wRC+. Sure, the 17 career home runs over what is basically a season\u2019s worth of ABs is nice when you can play him at any position on the diamond, but with a .210 career average, he\u2019s just not as productive as he needs to be to carve out more time. He\u2019s got a decent eye at the plate with a career 9.8% walk rate, but with a K% almost in the 30s and the average hovering around the Mendoza line, Schneemann just won\u2019t ever be that boat. He will likely make the roster, unless he\u2019s beaten out as util guy by the next two younger\/cheaper\/more projectable hitters.\u00a0Angel MartinezI\u2019m loathe to use him here and not as part of the outfield mix, but Angel Martinez should be utilized more as an infield option at second, especially if the team ships out Arias and his lack of team options. Things Martinez has going for him: he\u2019s a switch-hitter on a roster desperately in need of competent righties, he\u2019s able to play everywhere, and did I mention he can hit right-handed? Things not in Martinez\u2019s favor: Schneemann can do all the things Martinez can and slightly better.\u00a0Martinez should have better numbers than he does, but when you consider he\u2019s been adrift positionless for years, you can understand why he might struggle some. Another nearly sub-.200 hitter, Martinez at least doesn\u2019t strike out much, unlike some of the others on this list. He hit 11 home runs in 2025, which is nice, but operating in the 9th percentile in Barrel% and 10th percentile in average exit velo when you\u2019ve got a Contact% around 80% just isn\u2019t cutting it. He\u2019s stuck in the middle of being a Kwan-esque slap hitter with the plate discipline of a lumbering DH.\u00a0I do think Martinez makes the roster just to spell whoever plays center field, since he can swing the btl from the right side, but how much playing time will depend on is he\u2019s able to make contact and impact the ball when he does. I\u2019d love for him to develop pull-side power akin to Jose Ramirez, but we will have to wait and see if that\u2019s a possibility. He could get beat out by this next guy, too.\u00a0Juan BritoWe\u2019ve reached the \u201cprobably not but could be fun\u201d section of this list. Brito has been yet another long-teased prospect that has fizzled out with injuries in the minors. Originally acquired from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for now-teammate Nolan Jones, Brito is another \u201cman without a position\u201d, especially in the wake of Bazzana being drafted 1.1.\u00a0I don\u2019t like to make comps to the best hitter to ever wear a Indians\/Guardians jersey, but there is a lot of Jose Ramirez in Brito\u2019s bat: switch hitter who utilizes the pull-side power to his advantage and knows the strike zone well. In 2024, when he was stationed only at Triple-A Columbus for 652 PAs, he had a 13.5 walk rate, a 16.1% K rate, 21 tanks, 13 swipes, and hit .256\/.365\/.443. Those types of numbers shoot you up the board, but the injury bug hit a few times in 2025 and he wasn\u2019t able to make it to the back half of the big league schedule. By all accounts, he\u2019s ready to be on the senior circuit, but with the weight of those ahead of him and the Aussie behind, it will be tough to find him a spot.\u00a0Brito is a second baseman by trade, but reports from the coaching staff have him learning right field in an attempt to get his bat in the lineup. In a perfect world, Brito overtakes Schneemann or Martinez as super-util guy playing three different spots in five days, or even Arias and becomes the second baseman until Bazzana is ready. However, we are not in a perfect world, are we? We live in a world of \u201cgotta make sure we get the juice out of the orange\u201d and \u201cit was his shot first\u201d type stuff. But maybe I\u2019m wrong.\u00a0What I would doGiven that I\u2019m simply a blogger\/podcaster with a keyboard and a microphone and not some front office guru, grinding algos and data, I can say what I want. And I want to see Juan Brito get his shot at taking over the second base job out of Spring Training. Pair him with Rocchio, somewhat dubiously nicknamed \u201cThe Professor\u201d for his defensive prowess, and ride out the wave until Travis Bazzana is ready. ((Given his MONSTER dinger in the WBC game on Wednesday night, it might not be much of a wait.)) Ship out Arias and\/or Schneemann for some Double A arm(s) that we can get in the lab and cut bait on guys whose ceilings have been shown to not be high enough. Rocchio is the starting No. 9 hitter at shortstop, Martinez and Brito manage 2B\/CF\/util stuff for the time being and when The Bazz is unleashed, Brito can be Jose\u2019s caddy on Sunday\u2019s playing third base. Get it, got it, good. Guards on 3, break!\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND, OH-The Guardians\u2019 40-man roster and beyond have been a mess for a few years now. Organizations have&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":609811,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2380],"tags":[6197,5,6199,135,51,2565,2076,1383,538,865,23,64236,4,12569],"class_list":["post-609810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cleveland-guardians","tag-angel-martinez","tag-baseball","tag-brayan-rocchio","tag-cleveland","tag-cleveland-guardians","tag-clevelandguardians","tag-daniel-schneemann","tag-gabriel-arias","tag-guardians","tag-jose-ramirez","tag-juan-brito","tag-middle-infield","tag-mlb","tag-travis-bazzana"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=609810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/609810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/609811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=609810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=609810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=609810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}