CLEVELAND — There's a power surge going on in Cleveland .
And after last year's Guardians offense seemed to emulate an energy shortage, this year's lineup has amped up the wattage to a pretty extreme degree.
The Guardians are sending baseballs flying over the wall at a much, much higher rate in 2024. Last year, they were dead last in the majors by a wide margin with only 124 home runs, the only team not to eclipse 150. They were the baseball equivalent of a weak electrical battery clinging to life without much juice left.
This year? It's like they've been connected to a supercharger of sorts, comparatively sending the voltage readings through the roof, with the dial spinning out of control.
Through 75 games this season, the Guardians have already slugged 88 home runs as a team, including two in Sunday's 6-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays . At this point last year, they had hit only 49.
Guardians manager Stephen Vogt recently said they won't often be winning games by hitting three or four home runs because it just isn't really their style, and he's pretty much right in that this team isn't necessarily built to be a powerhouse in that way — at least by design. But, lately, the Guardians are showing that, yes, they can win games in a multitude of different ways, which includes outslugging their opponent.
Before this season, the Guardians' hitting department brass sat down and created an initiative they wanted to "impact the ball" to a much higher degree. It wasn't as simple as the Guardians wanting to just mash the ball as much as possible every day, only relying on the long ball, but it was about doing a bit more damage with a more aggressive level of intent.
The results of that directive have been almost flawless, as the Guardians as of June 23 have the fewest losses in the American League and an offense that barely resembles what it looked like only a year ago.
"It's really fun when you sit down and you put a plan together — it always sounds good when it's on paper — but for [hitting coach Chris Valaika] and the hitting group to get all of our guys throughout the winter, like, 'Hey, we're going to work on this, this is what we're striving for.' … When the guys actually do it and then they see the results, they see the fruits of that idea, people start to buy in," Vogt said.
A number of hitters have played significant roles in the Guardians' power surge. J ose Ramirez has 19 home runs in only 72 games played and could challenge for the first 40-homer season of his career. David Fry has hit eight home runs and could reach 20 for the year if he gets enough playing time. Will Brennan has lately been crushing the ball with a renewed approach at the plate and also has eight home runs. Tyler Freeman has six home runs.
But two hitters have truly been at the center of his uptick in muscle: Steven Kwan and Josh Naylor.
Kwan, who is also threatening to put together a .400 season , has already set his career high with seven home runs, and he's done it in only 49 games played. He had hit 11 in the previous two years combined. Extrapolated over a 162-game season, Kwan is on a theoretical 23-homer pace (if he were healthy for a full 162 games and based on his home run rate), which combined with his elite bat-to-ball skills, speed on the bases and Gold Glove-level defense in left field, would make him a legitimate MVP candidate.
Naylor, in 72 games played, has already hit the 20-home run mark, which ties his career high. He's hit fewer doubles, but he also might double his career-best season for home runs, a trade the Guardians will make every day of the week.
And they haven't hit the midway point of the season yet.
"I mean, maybe just seeing some pitchers more, just more experience, good plans," Kwan said. "It's hard to point to one thing but, yeah, the numbers obviously speak for themselves, so it's pretty cool."
The Guardians clearly put quite a bit of weight behind the idea of hitting with more intent this season. They also see the offensive surge as a result of a young lineup growing together.
That plan, combined with some progression as a group, has created a tidal wave of baseballs flying out of the ballpark — at least compared to what the lineup looked like a year ago.
"Just experience, understanding the player you are and the player you want to become, learning your swing a little bit more each and every year," Naylor said. "I was able to watch Kwan as a rookie and the year after and this year, and it's just year-by-year growth, you start to understand yourself better, you start to trust things here and there."
The home run increase has been so staggering that a theory has developed among some fans that the recent Progressive Field renovations have led to this flurry of home runs.
The idea is that when the team renovated the upper deck in right field — particularly in how it created more air flow leaving the ballpark — that it might have inadvertently created a wind tunnel out to right field.
Using Baseball Savant's park factor ratings, which use 100 as league average (so a factor of 105 would mean five percent over average), Progressive Field this season ranks fifth in home runs with a park factor of 122. Last year, this ballpark was dead last, 30th, with a park factor of only 67. In 2022, Progressive Field was 24th in the league with a park factor of 87 (13 percent below average).
Now, this wouldn't explain the Guardians' increase in power entirely. They've hit 39 home runs in 40 road games, and they've belted 49 home runs in 35 games at Progressive Field. They've been slightly better at home but, then again, many teams follow that trend. Their pace of nearly a home run per game on the road would still represent a significant increase compared to last year's rate.
Progressive Field is seeing more home runs. And the Guardians lineup is hitting more homers, regardless of where they're playing.
It isn't yet entirely clear how much correlation those two things might have, but it is clear the Guardians have a much more powerful — and louder — lineup in 2024.
Kwan just listens for the sound of Naylor's bat. Then it's just a guessing game as to which celebration the first baseman goes with, considering he's already had to do it 20 times.
"I feel like we can hear the sun off the bat and we just know it's gone," Kwan said of Naylor's swing. "I'm sure he's used to it by now but, I mean, just watching him go around, see what kind of cells he's going to hit around second, he's got a whole bag of tricks with that.
"It's almost like we expect it every time he's up to the plate."
Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Threads at @ByRyanLewis .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Josh Naylor, Steven Kwan career highs lead Guardians' home run surge
