With a new hitting coach comes a new hitting philosophy, and the change from Chris Valaika to Grant Fink has been very apparent in only the first four games of the season.
The Guardians have been itching for power for years... the last team with an above average SLG was the 2018 squad. Last year’s group finally made it to league average, but with the departure of Josh Naylor there were questions about the Guardians power output going into 2025. Bringing in Santana and Jones was part of the plan to recoup and eventually improve the teams ability to slug, but the real improvements have come from bat speed gains from many Guardians regulars.