With the news of Chase DeLauter being out, I’ve been forced to come to grips with the reality that, come Opening Day, I am going to be rooting for Tyler Freeman, Gabriel Arias, Jhonkensy Noel, Will Brennan, Johnathan Rodriguez and Daniel Schneemann to be valuable players. And, I have severe doubts about that happening in each of those cases.
So, let’s engage in some cognitive dissonance training. Let’s look at the biggest reasons to doubt each player and the explanations of how they can overcome their flaws and be valuable contributors for the Guardians.
Gabriel Arias
Doubts: A 50% groundball rate, a strikeout rate north of 30%, and inconsistent defense and baserunning.