Cleveland Guardians need to address this alarming issue during the offseason

For years, Carl Willis and Co. have turned the Cleveland Guardians into a premier destination for developing both starting and relief pitching.

Developing home grown hitting talent on the other hand, has been a different story entirely.

This is a problem that goes back more than a decade, much maligned hitting coach Ty Van Burkleo, whose tenure ran from 2013 until 2021 was, at least according to fans undoubtedly part of the issue. However, what has played out in the four seasons since indicate that may not necessarily be the case.

Chris Valaika who succeeded Van Burkleo from '21 to '24 before leaving the team for Cincinatti in '25 met with a similar lack of success, particularly in developing power hitting. The Valaika approach of contact over power was evident in the early versions of what fans know as "Guards Ball."

Enter Grant Fink, former late round Cleveland draft pick and minor league hitting coach since 2017. Following Valaika's departure, the club promoted Fink to be the major league hitting coach. The results were mixed in Fink's first year, with the negative glaringly obvious as the '25 Guardians were one of the worst offensive teams to make the MLB Playoffs.

Here are some examples of hitters that came up through Cleveland's farm system, but had breakout seasons, after leaving the organization.

Ernie Clement- In 103 games his slashline with Cleveland was .214/.273/.274, while over 325 games played so far with Toronto he is slashing .276/.305/.407 and putting up a breakout postseason performance.

Yandy Diaz- in 88 games with Cleveland Diaz slashed .283/.361/.366 however, he took his game to another level after being traded to Tampa where he has slashed .291/.373/.448 over 816 career games.

Junior Caminero- Perhaps, the one that hurts fans the most. Caminero was traded as a prospect in 2021, has a career OPS over .800 and looks poised to be one of the future superstars in MLB.

Clearly, Cleveland has talent in their farm system, that much is obvious based on the successes of the pitching draft picks, and the successes hitters are having elsewhere. Combine that with a lack of splashy moves that come with being a small market team, and fans begin to ask, so why can't they develop a hitter here?

The answer may lie in bringing back another former Cleveland great, as they have done with Corey Kluber. Manny Ramirez has been outspoken that he is seeking jobs in MLB as a hitting coach, could a reunion with Manny fix the Guardians offensive woes? Manny ranks top 10 all time for Cleveland hitters in these categories: slugging percentage, OPS, HR, and holds several in-season top 10 ranks as well.

Cleveland let Ramirez walk out the door as a free agent in 2000, and got nothing in return, bringing him back to fix the Guardians bats could finally provide the answer that takes this team to the next level.