Guardians Have Positive Early Spring Training Trend Emerging

It's early.

From fans, players, and coaches, everyone has to keep reminding themselves of that, with most teams having played around three or four spring training games so far.

However, it's also easy to overreact to what happens on the field, and the Cleveland Guardians have an encouraging trend emerging early on in their Cactus League Games.

That positive tendency for the Guards is their optimistic exit velocity.

Brayan Rocchio set the tone for the spring on the first pitch he saw in the first game, smoking a fastball off the bat at 107.1 mph for a leadoff double.

He wasn't the only one to put a hard-hit ball in play. Later that same inning, Lane Thomas crushed a two-run homer, which traveled 420 feet and had an exit velocity of 111.4 mph.

Jose Ramirez, Jhonkensy Noel, Micah Pries, Petey Halpin, C.J. Kayfus, Joe Lampe, Tyler Freeman, and Cooper Ingle are some other notable players who have recorded a hit with an exit velocity of at least 103+ mph.

However, Two players in particular have stood in their ability to barrel up balls: Kyle Manzardo and Gabriel Arias.

Cleveland Guardians third base Gabriel Arias (13) rounds the bases after a solo home run against Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen during a spring training game at Salt River Fields on Feb. 24, 2025. | Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Manzardo's second at-bat in Sunday's game resulted in a 110.4 mph single, which was the hardest-hit ball of the game.

He continued hard contact continued on Monday with a solo home run that recorded an exit velocity of 107.6 mph. Even Manzardo's flyout earlier in the game clocked in at 103.5 mph.

Then there's Arias, who hit a 104.0 mph single in the Cactus League opener. He followed that up with a jaw-dropping 445-foot home run off Zac Gallen, which had an exit velocity of 116.0 mph.

According to @TJStats on X, this was the hardest-hit ball by any player on Monday and set a new career high in max exit velocity for Arias.

Again, we're only three games into spring training action, and a lot can and still will happen.

However, it's hard to ignore the hard impact the Guardians are already making and how that's translating to an encouraging offense for the season ahead.

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