Andres Gimenez Finding Swing As Guardians' Bats Heat Up
It's no secret to say that the Cleveland Guardians have had a less-than-ideal offense during the first third of the MLB season. The stats back up Cleveland's struggles with them being at the bottom of the team in batting average, slugging, and on-base percentage.
The Guardians may be past that rough point of the season with their offensive outburst against the Baltimore Orioles which has carried into their series with the Minnesota Twins.
One player who is at the center of this resurgence is Andres Gimenez.
Guardians fans cheered when Gimenez signed a seven-year $106 million extension to stay in Cleveland long-term before the season started. However, he hasn't lived up to that at the plate.
Through his first 191 plate appearances of the season, Gimenez was slashing just .225/.295/.329 with nine RBI. Remember, this is the same player who was the American League's starting second baseman last season in Los Angeles for the All-Star Game.
His velocity has especially been down this season too with an exit velocity of 84.4. Most of the contact he makes is weak ground ball pulls to the right side of the infield.
However, all of those struggles appear to be behind the Gold Glove-winning second baseman. He's been red hot over the last few days.
In Gimenez's last three games, he's been able to string together seven hits. this includes four RBI and one double. It's the kind of hits that he's getting too.
Gimenez is finally going with the pitches he's given and forcing the ball the other way instead of trying to pull everything. This is how he found success last season and it appears that's coming back.
If Cleveland wants to turn their season around and get back to the top of the AL Central then they'll need Gimenez to keep this up.
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Read More:
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Aaron Civale To Make Return To Mound For The Guardians
Will Brennan Leads The Way For Guardians Over Orioles
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