{"id":426935,"date":"2026-01-24T11:34:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T11:34:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/426935\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T11:34:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T11:34:09","slug":"can-guardians-young-hitters-blossom-in-2026-hey-hoynsie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/426935\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Guardians\u2019 young hitters blossom in 2026? Hey, Hoynsie"},"content":{"rendered":"

CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014Do you have a question about the Guardians<\/a> that you\u2019d like to have answered in Hey, Hoynsie? You can subscribe to Subtext here<\/a>, text Hoynsie at 216-208-4346 for a two-week free trial or email him at phoynes@cleveland.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hey, Hoynsie: Everyone talks about the Guardians featuring young, untried position players. But in fact, most of the projected lineup has at least one season of experience With a degree of experience under their belts \u2014 including playoff exposure \u2014 is it really that unreasonable to expect them to improve their performance this year as a group? \u2014 Bob Maistros, Lake Worth, Florida.<\/p>\n

Hey, Bob: Austin Hedges recently made a similar point. I\u2019m concerned because not all those young players are going to improve at the same time. That\u2019s why I\u2019d like to see the front office add an experienced everyday hitter.<\/p>\n

Hey, Hoynsie: Will there be any Guardians not ready to start spring training due to injury? \u2014 Ted Belak, Westlake Village, California.<\/p>\n

Hey, Ted: Right-hander Andrew Walters won\u2019t be ready as he continues to recover from surgery on his right lat. <\/p>\n

Right-hander Carlos Hernandezisn\u2019t expected to be ready for camp after being involved in a recent car accident in Venezuela. Hernandez was scheduled to come to camp on a minor league deal.<\/p>\n

\"ClevelandGuardians catcher Austin Hedges.Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com<\/p>\n

Hey, Hoynsie: With Austin Hedges talking about hitters coming to Cleveland in the off-season to learn about when to use the new ball\/strike challenge system, could that lead to better hitters? A side effect could be that guys swing at fewer balls outside the strike zone. Could another side effect be that the 10-12 pitch at-bat will disappear? As hitters learn the strike zone better, why swing at a two-strike pitch that\u2019s an inch off the plate because it might be called a strike? If there are fewer 10-pitch at bats, then it would stand to reason, that even with pitch counts, starting pitchers will go deeper into games. \u2014 Tim Johnson, Rockville, Indiana.<\/p>\n

Hey, Tim: This is starting to sound like a math problem. Remember, right now teams get only two challenges. From talking to Guardians manager Stephen Vogt, there are only going to be a select number of hitters who can challenge a strike.<\/p>\n

Hey, Hoynsie: I was listening to your Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast about the Hall of Fame. I did some research and was shocked at Doug Jones\u2019 numbers compared to Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter. The same with Kenny Lofton and Ichiro Suzuki.<\/p>\n

Jones is underappreciated and Lofton falling off the Hall of Fame ballot after one year is an injustice. \u2014 Brad F., Barberton.<\/p>\n

Hey, Brad: I agree with you on Jones and Lofton aboiut being underappreciated. Jones saved 303 games and he didn\u2019t pitch his first full season in the big leagues for Cleveland until he was 30. I hope the Era Committee considers Lofton the next time he\u2019s eligible.<\/p>\n

Hey, Hoynsie: With the selection of Carlos Beltran and Andruw Jones, and other recent examples, do you feel the Hall of Fame bar has been lowered by the Baseball Writers Association of America? Or am I just a grumpy old guy from an era where writers left players like Hank Aaron off their ballot? \u2014 Phil Trexler, Bath Township.<\/p>\n

Hey, Phil: I think Jones and Beltran are deserving, but I understand how you feel. There aren\u2019t too many no-doubt-about-it Hall of Famers. And you\u2019re right, who wouldn\u2019t vote for Hammerin\u2019 Hank, a first-ballot inductee in 1982? Aaron and Frank Robinson were first-ballot selections that year. Now that\u2019s a Hall of Fame class.<\/p>\n

\"ShawnGuardians added Shawn Armstrong in the offseason to help their bullpen.AP<\/p>\n

Hey, Hoynsie: Why does Cleveland\u2019s front office bring maximum competition for incumbents in the bullpen, while worrying about blocking and protecting young position players? Is it possible this is one reason for the vast performance disparity between the two? \u2014 Steve Cornelius.<\/p>\n

Hey, Steve: There will always be competition no matter what the position, but I don\u2019t think the Guardians added so many relievers this offseason to put pressure on the incumbents, who were part of strong bullpens in 2024 and 2025. I think they added them to help them.<\/p>\n

Closer Emmanuel Clase is facing penalties from MLB and Federal prosecutors. Jakob Junis, Kolby Allard, Zak Kent and Nic Enright are no longer on the roster. They had holes in the bullpen to fill.<\/p>\n

\"HallCarlos Beltran was elected to the Hall of Fame on Tuesday.AP<\/p>\n

Hey, Hoynsie: Does cheating have degrees? Is Carlos Beltran using state of the art technology to steal signs with the Houston Astros different than Manny Ramirez testing positive for steroid use?<\/p>\n

As a teacher, I\u2019m interested in your opinion because I have to make this call everyday. \u2014 Zan, Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Hey, Zan: I think there is a big difference. As long as baseball has been played, stealing the other team\u2019s signs has been part of it. Injecting yourself with performance enhancing drugs so you can throw harder, hit the ball farther, run faster and recover from injuries quicker isn\u2019t in the same category.<\/p>\n

Hey, Hoynsie: Do the Guardians arrange trips to Arizona for spring training? I have always just arranged things myself in the past. \u2014Duncan, Waterdown, Ontario.<\/p>\n

Hey, Duncan: You\u2019re still on your own. The Guardians do not arrange trips for fans to the desert.<\/p>\n

Hey, Hoynsie: When the Guardians signed reliever Connor Brogdon, did it put them over the luxury tax threshold? \u2014 Tim Cenna, Highland Heights.<\/p>\n

Hey, Tim: As I have said many times before, there is room for only one wise guy around here \u2014 and that\u2019s me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2014Do you have a question about the Guardians that you\u2019d like to have answered in Hey,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":426936,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[367,1558,363,99],"class_list":["post-426935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-american-league","tag-baseball","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426935","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=426935"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426935\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}