Cleveland Sports Forum

Looks like the Gabe Arias bubble has a leak. Gabe is 1-12 in his last 3 games.
One caveat I guess, 6 of those 11 outs have been line drive outs to the outfield.
5 strikeouts to go along with 5 walks in 48 official at bat that include 5 doubles and 5 homers.
His objectives this winter are to make more consistent contact. So far, that's going according to plan.
His 8 errors in 58 total chances, not so good.

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His 8 errors in 58 total chances, not so good.

That's remarkable!

JRod off to his worst winter ball start hasn't seen action in the past 3 games
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Tigres kept up their winning ways and dealt another setback to the Tiburones 6-3

The Sharks took the lead in their opening at bat against Jose Enrique Martinez. Hedbert Perez opened the game with a double, advanced to third base on a grounder to the right by Alcides Escobar and got stuck on another low hit by Yangervis Solarte. Then, the visitors got solo home run by Gabriel Arias (1-4). However, the sharks' joy of starting with an advantage was short-lived because the Tigers responded in the bottom of the first inning with four runs, which quickly gave them the lead on the scoreboard. In the sixth inning. Aragua manufactured two more runs to get ahead 6-2 thanks to a home run by Eduardo Escobar with Cedrola on base. La Guaira scored its third run in the ninth inning off Jorgan Cavanerio, The run came on César Hernández's second home run in consecutive nights,

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In Columbia. The Vaqueros' #77 3B Dayan Frias .234 AVG, .688 OPS was 0-3 with a strike out.

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Still no Johnathan Rodriquez siting in the past 4 games.

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Guardians Young Infielder Continues To Show Hot Bat And Lousy Defense In Venezuela

November 29, 2024

By Andres Chavez

The Cleveland Guardians have seen mixed results from their utilityman Gabriel Arias in winter ball this year.

On one hand, the offensive growth he has shown since he was demoted from MLB to Triple-A Columbus has been astonishing and has carried into the winter season during his stint with Tiburones de La Guaira in Venezuela.

The bad news is that his defense continues to let him, Tiburones and the Guardians down.

Cleveland #Guardians (SS) Gabriel Arias went (1-4) for @Tiburonesbbc_ in the Venezuelan Winter League Thursday night but committed two more errors at shortstop. On offense Arias is hitting .381 with 10 XBH and 12 RBI’s over his first 11 games. Defensively it’s been a struggle as he now has committed 8 errors over the same time span,” Guardians Prospective posted on X.


He has accumulated doubles and home runs in bunches ever since he set foot in Venezuela.

He has a 74 wRC+ in the majors in 191 career games, but his 130 mark in Triple-A this past season is a good omen for the future.

If he can at least offer an average glove all over the field, Arias can give his bat a chance to get him a role in Cleveland.

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Going up through the minor league ranks, Arias’ fielding abilities hadn’t caused similar issues as the ones he is currently going through.

He is probably not a Gold Glove candidate or will be one anytime soon, but he hadn’t struggled to this extent.

It’s hard to make any conclusions without judging the state of the fields and the diamonds there in Venezuela, but Cleveland is probably at least mildly concerned by now.

It’s not all bad, though; and the organization is probably very happy with his offensive surge.

Sharks took advantage of their at-bats

Caracas.- Pedro Castellanos made the La Guaira Sharks enjoy their hits, shaking off a four-game losing streak by winning 13-7 against the Zulia Eagles.

THE RUNS BEGAN IN THE 1ST INNING

In a game where there were constant runners on the bases, the Sharks quickly took the lead with a three-run rally against the Maracaibo starter, José Dávila. A single by Gabriel Arias drove in runners Yangervis Solarte and Pedro Castellanos, while the third run of the inning came off the feet of Daniel Montaño driven in by a hit by Tomás Telis.

The Zulians responded with a pair of runs in the top of the third inning against Cuban Erly Casanova. The first came on a double by Ali Castillo that brought Eduardo Torrealba home, and then the Zulian team's leadoff hitter scored the second thanks to a hit by Rougned Odor.

La Guaira came out determined to take advantage and that is what they did at the end of the third inning. During that stretch, they scored three times: first, Castellanos scored, driven in by Arias' second hit of the game.

The attack continued by Juniel Querecuto with his first hit in a shark uniform to bring Arias home, and then Juniel Querecuto scored on a double by Telis.[/b]

It didn't take long for Águilas to respond with a three-run homer by Sandy León that put the game in the lead by one. It was a line drive down the right side and drove in runners Ángel Reyes and Freddy Galvis.

The game was decided by the offense, with the Sharks having the upper hand by scoring six times to reach the dozen runs mark. However, they briefly fell behind 7-6 due to a two-run homer by Simon Muzziotti in the first part of the sixth inning. The Aguiluchas' advantage didn't last long because at the end of the inning, a hit by Luis Matos produced the tie and the difference in the legs of Telis and Hedbert Perez.

In the following inning, La Guaira defined the game with four runs by combining a home run by Castellanos that produced one run, Querecuto's second hit in the game that drove in another and a double by Robert Pérez's son that drove two more to home.

On the offensive side, the Sharks took advantage of their at-bats to open up a big lead and subsequently the victory, with first baseman Pedro Castellanos as one of the most active hitters, going 4-for-5 with a double and a solo home run. Hedbert Perez (2-5) drove in 2 runs, as did Luis Matos (1-5). Designated hitter Gabriel Arias was (2-4) with a walk, a run scored and 3 RBIs and shortstop Juniel Querecuto (3-3) drove in 2 more runs.

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WE HAD A JOHNATHAN RODRIGUEZ SIGHTING FOR CAROLINA

The Carolina Giants defeated the Ponce Lions by a score of 5-3 at the Francisco “Paquito” Montaner stadium. It was the second consecutive loss that the Giants have dealt to the Lions. Now, with three consecutive victories, Carolina has an 8-8 record, while Ponce has a 7-7 record.

Rodriguez was 1-4 with a walk and 2 strikeouts. Rodriguez improves his stats at (BA .179 OBP .314 SLG .179 OPS .493)

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IN C0LUMBIA, THE VAQUEROS BEAT THE 1ST PLACE CAIMENS 14-4

The loss dropped the Caimanes league leading record to 15-3. The Vaqueros and Tigres are 5 games out at 9-7. The Leones are 9.5 games back at 7-4 while the Toros are 10.5 games back at 5-14.

Dayan Frias continues to struggles at the plate. He was 1-4 with a double and a walk. His batting average stands at .233 and his OPS clocks in at .705 Frias is 12-51 with 10 runs scored, 4 doubles, 8 rbis and 8 walks in 15 games. Defensively Dayan has 7 errors in68 total chances for an AVG of.897

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Can International League MVP Earn A Significant Role In The 2025 Guardians?


November 30, 2024

By Andres Chavez

The Cleveland Guardians have two outfield slots locked and loaded for 2025: Steven Kwan in left field and Lane Thomas in center.

Right field, however, is completely up for grabs.

As many as four or five names are in the mix.

You have Will Brennan, who still seems to have a bit of untapped potential despite underwhelming results to this point.

You have Jhonkensy Noel and his immense raw power and overall inconsistency.

There is Angel Martinez, too, who would be playing out of position.

Uber-prospect Chase DeLauter could make the team out of camp, even if it’s unlikely.

How about Johnathan Rodriguez?

The 25-year-old was the International League (Triple-A) MVP with 29 home runs, 94 RBI and a .301 batting average this season.

He is currently playing Winter Ball in Puerto Rico, hoping to stay active ahead of the 2025 campaign.

For him, it will be a pivotal year.

Thanks to his 140 wRC+ in Triple-A, he could be in consideration for that right field spot.

There is work to be done, though, because he received 40 at-bats at the major league level this year and did next to nothing with them.

Rodriguez struck out 35 percent of the time in MLB, hitting .129 with a 63 wRC+.

In other words, he was 37 percent worse than the league average hitter, which is horrendous.

We can’t judge him for 40 trips to the plate, though: he needs more of a chance.

His swing is flawed, but he does have power and could eventually adjust to MLB pitching if given the chance.

At the very least, he should be given a fair opportunity to earn that right field spot in spring training.

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Maybe. I like him. Could have a role while Fry is out as a RH bat part time DH or RF rotating with Noel and Brennan.

"Designated hitter Gabriel Arias"

Sounds like the best defensive position for him this winter.

In all fairness to Arias, the field conditions in winter ball are not up to major league standards and neither are the grounds crew responsible for keeping the fields high quality ones. But they do the best they can.

You must be his agent Joe!

Rodriguez leads Carolina to victory

Carolina, Puerto Rico (December 1, 2024).

Outfielder Johnathan Rodríguez homered on two occasions, over the left field fence, to lead the Carolina Giants to a 11-5 victory over the San Juan Senators.

Rodriguez went 3-for-5 with six RBIs and two runs scored. Carolina now has a record of 9-8 and is within a half-game of second place in the tournament, which is occupied by the Senators with their 9-7 record.

The Giants scored their first two runs off Senators starter Ruben Ramirez on Johnathan Rodriguez's line drive to center field in the first inning. The Senators countered with a run in the top of the second on an infield hit by import Johnny Olmstead to make it 2-1. However, Rodriguez hit a powerful home run to extend the Giants' lead, 3-1, in the bottom of the same inning.

Two errors in the fourth inning led to one more run for the Giants. With one out, reliever Miguel Cirino walked Gabriel Cancel. As Cirino faced Bryan Gonzalez, he made a wild throw to first base. Then, as Cancel approached the plate, another error by catcher Ramon Rodriguez gave the Giants a 4-1 lead.

With the scoreboard against them 1-4, the Senators turned the scoreboard around in the fifth inning to take a 5-4 lead.

The lead didn't last long, as Rodriguez gave Sanjuanero pitching another dose when he hit another home run, this time for three runs, to make it 7-5 in the bottom of the inning. Carolina scored one more in the seventh inning and two more in the eighth for a 11-5 lead.

Left-handed reliever Josh Smith (1-0) got the win. Alexander Castro (2-1) got the loss.

Rodriguez was 3-5, 2 home runs, 2 runs scored, and 6 rbis.

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Giants remain on a roll, winning fifth straight

by The Editorial Staff

December 3, 2024

Johnathan Rodríguez, Abimelec Ortiz and Gabriel Cancel went “out of the park” to help the Carolina Giants get their fifth consecutive victory by beating the Criollos de Caguas, 11-3, at the Yldefonso Solá Morales Stadium.

However, they were not the only ones to hit long balls. Jonathan Morales, Oscar Mercado and Emmanuel “Manny” Garcia also did so in favor of the Creole cause.

Carolina now occupies second place in the tournament with a 10-8 record, while the Criollos remain in last place with a 5-11 record. In addition, they have played seven games at home without being able to win.

The Giants brought in their first two runs with consecutive home runs by Rodriguez and Ortiz off starter Brian Van Belle in the second inning. However, the Criollos did not stay behind and Morales hit another home run to put the score at 2-1 in the bottom of the inning against pitcher Fuga Ohtake.

A four-run rally - produced by singles by Rodríguez, Ortiz and Cancel - increased Carolina's lead on the scoreboard, 6-1, in the third inning.

Carolina continued to manufacture runs and in the fourth inning they scored two more when Adeiny Hechavarría hit a single to right field to bring Anthony Vilar and Rodríguez to the plate to make it 8-1.

Then, a solo home run by Mercado gave Caguas its second run in the game, while the Giants' ninth run came on the legs of Jan Hernández on a double play hit by Ortiz in the sixth inning.

A home run by Cancel extended Carolina's lead in the seventh inning and a double by Ortiz in the eighth inning brought the score to 11-2. The Criollos scored their last run in the game with another home run, by García, also in the eighth inning.

The win went to Othake (1-2) after allowing two runs in six innings worked, while Van Belle (1-2) took the loss in his three-inning start.

The winter league continues on Tuesday, December 3 with a game on the schedule, when the Criollos visit the Cangrejeros de Santurce at the Hiram Bithorn Stadium.

The match will be broadcast on the league's YouTube channel starting at 7:00 p.m.

[ For the second straight game, Rodriguez had another big day. JRod 3-3 with a solo homer, a walk, a run scored, and 4 rbis. ]

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Brayan Rocchio: “It was a year of great learning

Cleveland shortstop aims to win his first Gold Glove

“That confidence of being able to enjoy the game and the trust of manager Stephen Vogt helped me. Working with him was key. It was a learning experience,” said Bryan Rocchio, who was at the Universitario stadium in the capital during the game between Leones and Tiburones last Wednesday.

Speaking to the shark circuit, he added regarding the great season his club, the Cleveland Guardians, had, that “from the first moment of training we had a good team and the communication was very good between players, managers and coaches.”

“Ever since we played against Detroit, we had a lot of chemistry. It was difficult to accept that defeat against the Yankees, but it is part of the process. The important thing is that it filled us with experience,” he said about the postseason.

“It's something inexplicable. We had a tremendous bullpen, the youth we had, the chemistry. We feel proud because we were not the favorites, but we always play to win,” he said excitedly.

“I'm very happy. I didn't expect to be nominated for the Gold Glove in my first year… I was just enjoying the game,” he acknowledged.

“He (Andrés Giménez) was a key part of keeping me learning in the Major Leagues. The communication we had was essential,” he said about the support of the Cleveland second baseman, also nominated for the Gold Glove.

Regarding his participation to play with La Guaira, he clarified that Cleveland sent him to complete a weight training program to strengthen his body. It is no wonder, since after playing with the sharks until the grand finals last year, he participated in 143 games as a regular at Guardianes' shortstop, plus the postseason games, although he did not rule out appearing at the end of December with La Guaira Sharks.

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