8. Lane Thomas<\/p>\n
This is more for Thomas than for the Guardians, since he\u2019s headed for free agency this winter. He started a rehab assignment this week, and it\u2019s not as though he can parlay a healthy week or two in late September into a massive payday. But every day of this season has been a nightmare for Thomas. Can the poor guy get a metaphorical win? A banner season could have landed him a lucrative, multi-year deal somewhere. Instead, he might have to settle for a modest, one-year arrangement with a team needing a fourth outfielder or a platoon partner. Heck, maybe that happens in Cleveland, where there\u2019s no obvious answer looming in center field. Either way, there\u2019s still a chance a wasted season ends on a more promising note.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor Lane, it\u2019s just been such a tough year,\u201d said manager Stephen Vogt. \u201cAny kind of luck that could be found, the bad luck found him. He\u2019s pushing himself through it right now and hopefully he can get himself going and hopefully get to a place where he feels like he could play. We\u2019d love to have him back.\u201d<\/p>\n
7. Bo Naylor<\/p>\n
Naylor is no stranger to stellar Septembers. In 2023, he posted a .327\/.471\/.654 slash line in the final month, with four homers, four stolen bases and 14 walks to eight strikeouts. Unfortunately for the Guardians, his bat has been frigid ever since, so it\u2019s difficult to envision that he\u2019ll flip a switch. Next year, he could have David Fry and Cooper Ingle bidding to steal at-bats away from him, so the clock\u2019s ticking for him to figure it out at the plate.<\/p>\n
6. Gavin Williams<\/p>\n
Can Williams stamp his arrival as an ace? The easy-going pitcher gets irked by one thing: early exits from starts. They\u2019ve become rarer for him as the year has worn on, as he\u2019s become more comfortable with some tweaks to his delivery and his arsenal, which has led to a more consistent attacking of the strike zone. If he can keep it up for his final handful of starts, the Guardians would feel good about the anchor of their rotation for 2026.<\/p>\n
5. Steven Kwan<\/p>\n
Kwan has insisted his right wrist, injured in late May on an awkward slide into second base, isn\u2019t causing him pain. Maybe that\u2019s just an athlete unwilling to make an excuse. Or, maybe, he\u2019s simply buried in a funk. Kwan had a pair of three-hit games against the Boston Red Sox this week, his first games with three-plus hits since July 6. That\u2019s a good sign, and if he can keep it up, it won\u2019t leave everyone wondering all winter what percentage of his struggles can be attributed to a wrist that may or may not be barking.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/GettyImages-2232281284-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Brayan Rocchio is looking for another hot streak, while Steven Kwan needs a return to form. (Jason Miller \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
4. Travis Bazzana<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a slow start for Bazzana at Triple-A Columbus. Should that continue, the guess here would be he starts next season in Columbus and breaks through to the majors in June or thereabouts. But what if he torments pitchers for the final two and a half weeks? Could he parlay that into an impressive spring and have the Guardians considering whether to anoint him their Opening Day second baseman? Nah, probably not, though if he were to break camp with the club and then win AL Rookie of the Year, the Guardians would net an extra early draft pick. Either way, a strong finish would be beneficial for last year\u2019s top overall pick, who lost two months of action this summer to an oblique injury.<\/p>\n
3. Brayan Rocchio<\/p>\n
If the Guardians get their way, they\u2019ll have Bazzana at second base for a long time beginning sometime next year. That would leave shortstop open for either Rocchio or Gabriel Arias in a competition that will seemingly never die.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll stick Rocchio in this spot, though, because he\u2019s demonstrated improvement in the second half. (He entered the series finale in Boston with a .287 average and .743 OPS over his previous 34 games.) In 2024, Rocchio conquered October. In 2025, he enjoyed a productive July and had an OK August. How about September? Can he enter the offseason on a high for the second straight year and, more importantly, can he actually carry it over this time?<\/p>\n
Arias, meanwhile, has been tantalizing evaluators with his glove and his power for years. And yet, the results look the same.<\/p>\n
2023: .210\/.275\/.352
2024: .222\/.255\/.353
2025: .222\/.281\/.362<\/p>\n
Perhaps he\u2019ll tear through September and have the Guardians daydreaming again next spring.<\/p>\n
2. David Fry<\/p>\n
Fry joked earlier this summer that he was on a similar regimen as Shohei Ohtani \u2014 just a couple of All-Stars recovering from elbow surgery and pushing through throwing programs while also serving as designated hitter. OK, so Fry\u2019s situation is quite different. He\u2019s not a global icon. He\u2019s not a pitcher. He\u2019s not a historically productive power hitter. He\u2019s simply trying to return to a versatile defensive role for next season.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s been throwing out to 120 feet, and he made throws to second base from behind the plate before batting practice this week.<\/p>\n
And, so, September, for Fry? Well\u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cIt can mean a lot,\u201d Vogt said. \u201cHe\u2019s getting closer and closer to more baseball activity. \u2026 It hasn\u2019t been the offensive year I\u2019m sure he\u2019s wanted, but we still see a lot of good things with David.\u201d<\/p>\n
1. Tanner Bibee<\/p>\n
It\u2019s been a maddening season for Bibee, and he\u2019s the first to admit it. Everything has trended in the wrong direction: his hit rate, his home run rate, his walk rate, his strikeout rate. His expected metrics (based on quality of contact allowed) haven\u2019t strayed too far from where they sat last season, and that offers hope that he can stop the bleeding. The solution might start with an adjustment made his last time out, when he prioritized his sinker and changeup ahead of his fastball, which has been walloped this season.<\/p>\n
(Top photo of Tanner Bibee: Justin Berl \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON \u2014 September can be a lot of things for a baseball player: a springboard, a mirage, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":133034,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2320,363,99],"class_list":["post-133033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-cleveland-guardians","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/133034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}