Guardians fans will have a fun spring training watching young players engage in an intense competition to earn the three bench roles available on Cleveland’s 2023 Opening Day roster.
The Guardians’ starting nine players seem pretty set in stone. In whatever lineup order Tito prefers, Mike Zunino (if healthy), Josh Naylor, Josh Bell, Andrés Giménez, José Ramírez, Amed Rosario, Steven Kwan, Myles Straw, and Oscar Gonzalez seem set to receive the lion’s share of playing time in the daily lineup to begin the year.
However, there are several players in camp competing for the roles of backup infielder and outfielder, so let’s take a look and see who seems most likely to break camp headed to Seattle for the season opener.