What To Do With: The Guardians Middle Infield
The Guardians' 40-man roster and beyond have been a mess for a few years now. Organizations have been taking advantage of the full 40 for quite some time, having handy replacements for injured players or guys that need to work on something in the minors without impacting the big league wins and losses. However, Cleveland has been stuck in the morass of Quad A purgatory: there are too many guys the front office keeps hoping will step up and make their penny-pinching ways look brilliant. So, in an effort to cut through the crap, we will take a look over the next few days at some positions the Guardians have done themselves no favors in solving. Today: the middle infield.
Long lost are the days of Carlos Baerga, Omar Vizquel, Roberto Alomar, and Francisco Lindor. There are days over the past couple of years where you’d be okay with a Jhonny Peralta, Asdrubal Cabrera, or Jason Kipnis up the middle. However, we may be entering a new era of keystone-ery, as No. 1 overall pick Travis Bazzana is knocking on the door of the bigs. It would be surprising if Cleveland pulls that lever this quickly, but we thought the same last October when they brought Chase DeLauter to the playoffs in his big league debut. Since the chances that Bazzana is the Opening Day 4 are probably lower than 25%, let’s look at the more likely scenarios for second base and shortstop.
Gabriel Arias
Arias has puttered around the Guardians’ facility so much over the years, hanging on by the barest of threads, simply because he has one thing that almost everyone else on the roster doesn’t have: a right hand that works better than a left. Unfortunately, that right handed bat doesn’t do enough to make him someone anymore useful than a speed limit sign anywhere near where Myles Garrett is driving.
Arias is a free swinger, owner of a 33.3% ((Repeating, of course.)) K-rate, that goes just swimmingly alongside his 6.7% walk rate. He does have massive power, but it comes more as a tease, a “u up” text at 2:30 am, than something that is dependable. Just look as he pokes this 92mph fastball into the right field stands, a pitch that is barely above his ankles. That’s the type of hit that will make you think you can change him.
You can’t change him, though. The tiger never changes his stripes, the dog has aged past a point of new moves. Arias has a slick glove and a big swing, a swing big enough that it will keep him in the lineup, especially against lefties, but not much else. He’s probably better at shortstop than the others on this list, but I would rather see the next name on this list stick at short in preparation of Bazzana.
Brayan Rocchio
There’s a phenomenon that happens every October over the last few years, and that’s Playoff Rocchio. However bad he’s played over the course of the year, when the games start meaning more and the sphincter muscles tighten, Rocchio starts producing in bunches. Can we tell him it’s the playoffs now and hope he doesn’t own a calendar?
To look at Rocchio’s FanGraphs page and come away with the idea that he’s a better starter option than Arias is a fool’s errand. The walk rate is only slightly better than Arias’s over their careers (7.7% to Arias’s 6.7%), but the K% is light-years ahead, 21.3% career. Sure, the power numbers aren’t there, but if he’s ever able to establish a wee better hit tool, Rocchio has the makings of someone who could stick around. He’s an effective bat in the nine-hole, the de facto leadoff hitter for Steven Kwan when the lineup turns over.
Rocchio sticking at shortstop, creating that double play combo with Bazzana, would be the best case scenario for Cleveland over the long term. Yes, there is a ceiling with Rocchio; he will likely never hit 20 home runs or swipe bags with ease, but if he’s able to be around a 90 wRC+ hitter ((For those not familiar with wRC+, it’s graded on a 1-100 scale, with 100 being league average.)) with his defense as is, he can be a useful player.
Daniel Schneemann
You’ve likely heard the “mystery box” joke by now, right? The bit on “Family Guy”, where Peter and Lois are trying to decide which prize they wanna get: keys to a boat or the “mystery box”. Peter wants to select the box, Lois is pushing to take the boat, since that’s what they wanted in the first place. But Peter is vigilant: the mystery box could be anything…even a new boat!…despite being the size of a gift card. Daniel Schneemann is the epitome of the “mystery box”: a batter that keeps getting looks as something more useful than he is, even though we know he likely has topped out as a superutility guy.
Over his 643 career plate appearances, Schneemann hasn’t produced more than an 84 wRC+. Sure, the 17 career home runs over what is basically a season’s worth of ABs is nice when you can play him at any position on the diamond, but with a .210 career average, he’s just not as productive as he needs to be to carve out more time. He’s got a decent eye at the plate with a career 9.8% walk rate, but with a K% almost in the 30s and the average hovering around the Mendoza line, Schneemann just won’t ever be that boat. He will likely make the roster, unless he’s beaten out as util guy by the next two younger/cheaper/more projectable hitters.
Angel Martinez
I’m loathe to use him here and not as part of the outfield mix, but Angel Martinez should be utilized more as an infield option at second, especially if the team ships out Arias and his lack of team options. Things Martinez has going for him: he’s a switch-hitter on a roster desperately in need of competent righties, he’s able to play everywhere, and did I mention he can hit right-handed? Things not in Martinez’s favor: Schneemann can do all the things Martinez can and slightly better.
Martinez should have better numbers than he does, but when you consider he’s been adrift positionless for years, you can understand why he might struggle some. Another nearly sub-.200 hitter, Martinez at least doesn’t strike out much, unlike some of the others on this list. He hit 11 home runs in 2025, which is nice, but operating in the 9th percentile in Barrel% and 10th percentile in average exit velo when you’ve got a Contact% around 80% just isn’t cutting it. He’s stuck in the middle of being a Kwan-esque slap hitter with the plate discipline of a lumbering DH.
I do think Martinez makes the roster just to spell whoever plays center field, since he can swing the btl from the right side, but how much playing time will depend on is he’s able to make contact and impact the ball when he does. I’d love for him to develop pull-side power akin to Jose Ramirez, but we will have to wait and see if that’s a possibility. He could get beat out by this next guy, too.
Juan Brito
We’ve reached the “probably not but could be fun” section of this list. Brito has been yet another long-teased prospect that has fizzled out with injuries in the minors. Originally acquired from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for now-teammate Nolan Jones, Brito is another “man without a position”, especially in the wake of Bazzana being drafted 1.1.
I don’t like to make comps to the best hitter to ever wear a Indians/Guardians jersey, but there is a lot of Jose Ramirez in Brito’s bat: switch hitter who utilizes the pull-side power to his advantage and knows the strike zone well. In 2024, when he was stationed only at Triple-A Columbus for 652 PAs, he had a 13.5 walk rate, a 16.1% K rate, 21 tanks, 13 swipes, and hit .256/.365/.443. Those types of numbers shoot you up the board, but the injury bug hit a few times in 2025 and he wasn’t able to make it to the back half of the big league schedule. By all accounts, he’s ready to be on the senior circuit, but with the weight of those ahead of him and the Aussie behind, it will be tough to find him a spot.
Brito is a second baseman by trade, but reports from the coaching staff have him learning right field in an attempt to get his bat in the lineup. In a perfect world, Brito overtakes Schneemann or Martinez as super-util guy playing three different spots in five days, or even Arias and becomes the second baseman until Bazzana is ready. However, we are not in a perfect world, are we? We live in a world of “gotta make sure we get the juice out of the orange” and “it was his shot first” type stuff. But maybe I’m wrong.
What I would do
Given that I’m simply a blogger/podcaster with a keyboard and a microphone and not some front office guru, grinding algos and data, I can say what I want. And I want to see Juan Brito get his shot at taking over the second base job out of Spring Training. Pair him with Rocchio, somewhat dubiously nicknamed “The Professor” for his defensive prowess, and ride out the wave until Travis Bazzana is ready. ((Given his MONSTER dinger in the WBC game on Wednesday night, it might not be much of a wait.)) Ship out Arias and/or Schneemann for some Double A arm(s) that we can get in the lab and cut bait on guys whose ceilings have been shown to not be high enough. Rocchio is the starting No. 9 hitter at shortstop, Martinez and Brito manage 2B/CF/util stuff for the time being and when The Bazz is unleashed, Brito can be Jose’s caddy on Sunday’s playing third base. Get it, got it, good. Guards on 3, break!
