Guardians in good hands with Brayan Rocchio at shortstop | Jeff Schudel's The Cleveland Beat
It isn’t often a team with the lowest payroll in the Major Leagues can lose its starting shortstop to injury and replace him with a Gold Glove finalist, but that’s what happened when a hamstring injury forced Gabriel Arias to leave the April 6 game with the Royals on a frigid afternoon at Progressive Field.
Brayan Rocchio , who started the season at second base, moved to shortstop to finish the game with the Cubs. Daniel Schneemann took over at second.
Rocchio will remain at shortstop for at least a month or maybe longer because Arias will be stuck on the injured list from four to eight weeks, the Guardians announced. Meanwhile, Juan Brito was called up from Columbus to man second base. Brito is batting .417 after collecting five hits in his first three games with the Guardians.
“Obviously with Rocchio at second and Arias at short, that’s our best defensive alignment,” Manager Stephen Vogt said. “When you have two shortstops playing up the middle, you’re going to get that. But Brayan is not far removed from being a Gold Glove finalist at shortstop. We know he was doing the majority of his work at second base, but played some short in spring. He’s ready to go.”
Rocchio played 142 games at shortstop in 2024. He was a Rawlings Gold Glove finalist that year. The award went to Bobby Witt Jr. of the Royals instead.
Rocchio played 72 games at shortstop and 50 at second base last season. He has made the transition back to shortstop smoothly.
“I feel like I’m a natural shortstop,” Rocchio said after the April 7 game with the Royals. “That’s what I played my whole life. So for me, it’s more like adjusting to second base. So whenever that happened for me, it was just like normal.
“My mindset is to help the team in any position, any situation that I can. So whatever it is, I’ll be there to try to help the team.”
Rocchio is batting .200 on the season with one home run and six RBI. He has three hits, one of them a home run, and three RBI in 11 at-bats since being moved to shortstop.
