Guardians sticking by Bo Naylor despite his struggles at the plate | Jeff Schudel’s The Cleveland Beat
Sixty-five years ago, while I was playing for the Cardinals on the dusty diamonds behind Westwood Elementary School in Russell Township, the manager of my Little League team had the foresight to know I was not destined to be a pro athlete.
“A walk’s as good as a hit,” were the encouraging words Mr. Wright offered, with a gentle pat on the back of my right shoulder, as I walked to home plate. It was the same scene every game.
It was his idea of positive reinforcement; he wasn’t the type to say, “Jeff, the chances you might get a hit are slim, so you could really help the team if you don’t swing your bat.”
First pitch in the dirt eight feet in front of the plate. My bat stays on my shoulder.
“Good eye,” Mr. Wright would say.
Next pitch is three feet outside and rolls feebly to the backstop constructed of chain link fencing.
“Good eye,” Mr. Wright repeated.
I was like the Carlos Santana of the West Geauga Little League those summers, I walked so often.
Guardians primary catcher Bo Naylor needs to follow the advice Mr. Wright gave me and others who shared a lack of skill with a baseball bat.
Heading into the Guardians’ game with the Blue Jays on April 25 in Toronto, Naylor was batting an anemic .138. He has eight hits in 58 at-bats, one home run and three RBI.
Manager Stephen Vogt is in the uncomfortable position of having to defend Naylor as a batter.
“If you look at the way he’s hitting the ball, he’s hitting the ball hard,” Vogt said April 22 after the Guardians were blanked, 2-0, by the Astros. “We don’t necessarily look at his batting average.
“Bo worked a great walk in the ninth (on April 22). He’ll continue to work, continue to have good at-bats and he’s going to get it going.”
Naylor went 0-for-3 with a walk in the loss to the Astros. He has walked five times and struck out 14 times this season.
Pitchers praise Naylor for the way he calls a game when they meet with reporters after a game Naylor catches. But in a revealing stat issued by the team’s media relations department, the Guardians are 9-0 when Austin Hedges is the starting catcher, which means they are 6-12 when Naylor or David Fry starts behind the plate.
Not all stolen bases are on the catcher, but Naylor has given up 10 steals and thrown out two runners this season. He has been charged with one passed ball. Five wild pitches have gotten past him.
Naylor is 26 years old. Hedges is 33. Hedges is hitting .267 with eight hits in 33 at-bats. He has no home runs and two RBI.
Hedges has given up seven stolen bases. He has not caught a base stealer this season. He has not allowed a passed ball. Four wild pitches have eluded him.
