DETROIT \u2014 Through 50 games, the Cleveland Guardians sit atop the AL Central, with a 28-22 record, a competent offense and a customarily steady pitching staff. But let\u2019s see whether you truly know this team. Here\u2019s a pop quiz covering what stands out about the Guardians thus far in 2026.<\/p>\n
1. Who leads the Guardians in home runs?<\/p>\n
A. Angel Mart\u00ednez
B. Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez
C. Chase DeLauter
D. Daniel Schneemann<\/p>\n
Answer: A<\/p>\n
Angel Mart\u00ednez is the antithesis to the rest of Cleveland\u2019s lineup, a power source without a patient bone in his body. The approach is working for him, as he\u2019s making a lot of contact and hitting the ball with more authority than in his first two seasons. There will be peaks and valleys with a profile like this, but if the rest of the Guardians\u2019 lineup is going to practice plate discipline, it\u2019s OK to have a mistake-crushing free swinger lurking. Mart\u00ednez sits two homers shy of matching the career-best 11 he totaled last year.<\/p>\n
2. Out of the league\u2019s 30 teams, where do the Guardians rank in walk rate?<\/p>\n
A. No. 26
B. No. 17
C. No. 10
D. No. 3<\/p>\n
Answer: D<\/p>\n
This is the foundation of their offensive identity. Entering Tuesday\u2019s action, among players with 70-plus plate appearances, 23 players had at least as many walks as strikeouts. Five of those 23 are Guardians, including rookies Travis Bazzana and Chase DeLauter. That\u2019s a lot of traffic. Now they just need to improve at driving home those potential runs; they\u2019ve been much better at that over the last week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been making pitchers work,\u201d manager Stephen Vogt said, \u201cgetting starters out of there, getting their pitch counts up, making bullpen guys throw 20-plus pitches in their inning. I feel like we\u2019ve done a pretty good job of that, and the walks are definitely a part of that. We\u2019re looking at multiple seven-, eight-pitch at-bats a night.\u201d<\/p>\n
3. In how many games has Chase DeLauter not reached base?<\/p>\n
A. 0
B. 5
C. 8
D. 11<\/p>\n
Answer: B<\/p>\n
DeLauter went 0-for-4 on Tuesday, marking his fifth game this year in which he didn\u2019t reach base. In one of those five games, DeLauter exited after one at-bat. If he\u2019s not hitting, he\u2019s drawing walks. He\u2019s often doing both. Nothing about his performance at the plate suggests he\u2019s a rookie.<\/p>\n
4. Steven Kwan has swung at what percentage of pitches this season?<\/p>\n
A. 34.3 percent
B. 50.2 percent
C. 59.1 percent
D. 74.6 percent<\/p>\n
Answer: A<\/p>\n
That, as of Tuesday, was the third-lowest rate of any hitter this season. His company at the bottom of that leaderboard includes Mike Trout, Taylor Ward, James Wood, Trent Grisham, Xavier Edwards, Maikel Garcia, Alex Bregman, Nick Kurtz and Geraldo Perdomo. Those are hitters who use selectiveness to pinpoint the right pitch to whack. Kwan wants to do that, as well, even if he\u2019s never going to hit for a lot of power, but he hasn\u2019t found any rhythm at the plate this season. He is drawing a bunch of walks, which has kept his on-base percentage relatively healthy and led him to offer this quip: \u201cI don\u2019t know if (opposing) pitchers have looked up at the scoreboard. I would think that there would be more strikes in the zone.\u201d<\/p>\n
5. Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez is on pace for how many stolen bases this season?<\/p>\n
A. 25
B. 35
C. 45
D. 65<\/p>\n
Answer: D<\/p>\n
The Guardians don\u2019t just walk. They run, too. Ram\u00edrez leads the league with 20 stolen bases, even though he\u2019s 33 years old and ranks in the middle of the pack in sprint speed. He swiped a career-high 41 bases in 2024 and upped that personal best to 44 in 2025, and he\u2019s on track to shatter that mark in 2026. The Guardians entered play Tuesday tied for second in the majors in stolen bases (51) and fifth in success rate (81 percent). They rank No. 3 in extra-base-taken percentage, which measures how often a runner advances from first to third on a single, scores from first on a double, etc.<\/p>\n
6. The Guardians have scored how many runs during Tanner Bibee\u2019s 52 innings pitched?<\/p>\n
A. 8
B. 17
C. 28
D. 34<\/p>\n
Answer: A<\/p>\n
Overall, they\u2019ve scored 2.3 runs per full game he has pitched, which is the third-lowest figure in the league among 137 qualified starting pitchers. The Guardians\u2019 six runs against the Cincinnati Reds on Friday were twice as many as they had scored in Bibee\u2019s previous four starts combined. Imagine being Justin Wrobleski; the Los Angeles Dodgers have averaged 8.4 runs per game in his seven starts. That\u2019s a charmed life. Pitcher wins and losses tend to omit some necessary context, but Bibee has zero wins in late May, and though he hasn\u2019t been as sharp this season, that goose egg has more to do with the bats that freeze whenever he takes the mound.<\/p>\n
7. Erik Sabrowski has logged a 1.44 ERA through 65 career appearances, which is the lowest ERA by a Cleveland pitcher through his first 65 outings since who?<\/p>\n
A. Rafael Betancourt
B. Emmanuel Clase
C. Otto Hess
D. Vinnie Pestano<\/p>\n
Answer: C<\/p>\n
Otto Hess, as you surely remember, is the only big leaguer to hail from Switzerland, and he recorded a 1.04 ERA in his first 65 outings a mere 120 years ago. He logged a 1.83 ERA across 333 innings in 1906, when pitchers\u2019 arms were made of Silly Putty. Sabrowski joined the Guardians in the minor-league phase of the Rule 5 draft in December 2021, shortly after he underwent his second Tommy John surgery. Now, he\u2019s an integral part of Cleveland\u2019s late-inning operation. He has held opponents to a .103\/.225\/.176 slash line this season.<\/p>\n
8. Out of the league\u2019s 30 teams, where do the Guardians rank in Automated Ball-Strike Challenge success rate?<\/p>\n
A. No. 12
B. No. 19
C. No. 27
D. No. 30<\/p>\n
Answer: D<\/p>\n
They stood at 43 percent as of Tuesday, the lowest mark in the league, though they\u2019ll tell you they don\u2019t care about success rate, only about the quantity of calls they have overturned. And, good news: In that category, they rank No. 26. Cleveland\u2019s hitters have overturned 20 calls in 55 challenges (36 percent), the second-worst rate in the league. Cleveland\u2019s catchers are 23-for-45 (51 percent), but that\u2019s below average, too. Leaguewide, catchers have been successful on 60 percent of challenges, and hitters have been successful on 47 percent.<\/p>\n
9. How many times, in 10 starts, has Parker Messick allowed more than two earned runs?<\/p>\n
A. 1
B. 2
C. 3
D. 5<\/p>\n
Answer: B<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how many earned runs Messick has allowed in his 10 starts: 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 4. In other words, he\u2019s been the most consistent and reliable Cleveland starting pitcher. And he\u2019s still, technically, a rookie.<\/p>\n
10. The Guardians employ a reliever who carries an impressive strikeout rate, whose heater has touched 99.9 mph this season, whose sweeper has stifled hitters and who boasts a 1.58 ERA. Do you know his name?<\/p>\n
A. Cade Smith
B. Peyton Pallette
C. Colin Holderman
D. Vinnie Pestano<\/p>\n
Answer: C<\/p>\n
Colin Holderman allowed two runs in his first appearance of the season March 27, and he\u2019s surrendered one earned run since. The Guardians signed him to a $1.5 million deal over the winter, and he\u2019s under control for two more seasons after this one. He\u2019s not new to this; he was a productive setup man for the Pittsburgh Pirates for a couple of years before he endured a rotten 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been phenomenal, throwing strikes,\u201d Vogt said, adding, \u201cHe\u2019s pitched himself into some leverage.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DETROIT \u2014 Through 50 games, the Cleveland Guardians sit atop the AL Central, with a 28-22 record, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654972,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2320,363,99],"class_list":["post-654971","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\/654971","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=654971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}