Why Myles Straw Makes Sense for the Guardians in the ALDS

I’m sure everyone will agree

Myles Straw is a late-season addition to the Guardians’ roster, but does he have any real chance of playing for Cleveland in their upcoming postseason run?

Yesterday, I wrote about my thoughts on how the 13 position players on the Guardians’ roster for the American League Division Series would play out. As I stated then, I don’t see any way (barring injury) that Straw would crack the top 13 players.

However, with the ALDS schedule now clear, we can see that the series schedule is October 5th, 7th, 9th, 10th and 12th, so an off-day between all potential games but one. We’ll have an article or two out about the bullpen shortly, but, if Cobb is healthy, your three starters are likely Tanner Bibee, Matthew Boyd and Alex Cobb, with Pedro Avila, Erik Sabrowski, Andrew Walters, Eli Morgan, Tim Herrin, Cade Smith, Hunter Gaddis and Emmanuel Clase striking me as players who should be in the bullpen. If you believe you need only 12 pitchers for round one, that leaves you with Joey Cantillo, Gavin Williams and Ben Lively as the long-man/piggyback starter (unless the team prefers Cantillo to Sabrowski or Williams to Walters in the pen. I’m ambivalent on it, and, again, we’ll cover those decisions in other articles).

I think it’s fair to argue that the amount of off days will allow the Guardians to leverage their amazing bullpen arms in such a way that having two long-men/piggyback starters is unnecessary, so they can carry an additional bench bat. Currently, I’d say the bench includes the Kyle Manzardo/David Fry DH platoon, the Will Brennan/Jhonkensy Noel platoon, Austin Hedges and Daniel Schneemann. If I give Schneemann the benefit of the doubt that he should be able to hold his own against RHP, that leaves the team with only one bat who adds nothing except bunting ability and defense (Hedges). Will the team NEED another bat (which, honestly, should probably be Johnathan Rodriguez at this point)? Or, is the better choice to add a player who provides offensive value as a baserunner and the ability to be a defensive closer in Myles Straw?

To state the obvious, Triple-A catchers and pitchers are not as good as major league players. However, Straw’s 30 steals and 1 caught stealing in Columbus would seem to indicate he has found his ability to run bases. Like most Guardians fans, I had a trauma response to seeing Straw re-added to the roster instead of Johnathan Rodriguez when the division and playoff seeing remained unclinched because I thought Rodriguez added more potential value in those circumstances. My angst only intensified when he was immediately picked off during his first time entering a game after he re-joined the team. However, I think the calculus can be argued to change in a short series. The ability to pinch-run Myles Straw (92nd percentile speed) for Kyle Manzardo (16th percentile), David Fry (22nd percentile), Jhonkensy Noel (65th percentile), Josh Naylor (7th percentile) or even the surprisingly slow Brayan Rocchio (35th percentile) late in a game (8th or 9th inning) provides manager Stephen Vogt a useful weapon to use to increase his odds at getting a run across the board.

Additionally, with Emmanuel Clase not being a strikeout pitcher and Hunter Gaddis allowing a 45% fly ball rate, having Straw upgrade the team’s defense in centerfield for the 7th-9th innings may actually provide the team a marginal upgrade at preventing their opponent from scoring runs. Straw had a down year defensively for him in 2023 but he still put up 6 Defensive Runs Saved and 5 Outs Above Average, both of which are significant improvements from what Lane Thomas (-3 DRS and 0 OAA this year), Will Brennan (-2 DRS and -3 OAA there for his career) or Daniel Schneemann (1 DRS and 1 OAA in only 108 innings) have shown in center.

The great fear of Guardians’ fans is that Myles Straw would be forced to bat with the game on the line. Or, that Vogt would view Straw, because he is a right-hander, as a better hitter against LHP than Brennan or Schneemann (he may be... but fans would probably prefer the better overall hitters to take those AB’s, given Straw’s career 69 wRC+ vs LHP). We all have in the back of our minds the seemingly numerous moments where former manager Tito Francona would allow Myles Straw to bat late in the game where the outcome was still on the line in 2023. But, it’s important to remember that Vogt has been very good at limiting the plate appearances of Austin Hedges in a way Francona was not (338 plate-appearances for Hedges in 2022 under Tito and 146 plate appearances for Hedges in 2024 under Vogt). IF the Guardians have a five-player bench, Vogt should have the tools he needs to make sure Straw does not bat with the game tied or if the Guardians are behind, while allowing him to provide the team huge upgrades in speed on the basepaths and fielding ability in the outfield.

Additional explanation: The strength of the Guardians’ bullpen plays into this discussion. If you’re confident that your bullpen can hold even a one-run lead, putting a player whom you don’t want to rely on to swing the bat in to help you push one run across on the basepaths is a reasonable gamble. So, in the unfortunate event that Straw’s spot in the order comes up after he pinch-runs in the 8th, for example, you rely on your pen to make the outcome of his plate-appearance meaningless. And, you strive to only put him in the game in the 8th or 9th as a pinch-runner so that his spot doesn’t come up at all unless disaster strikes and your pen gives up a lead/the gamble of Straw running fails to produce results and the game goes to extra innings.

If the Guardians believe that 12 pitchers are sufficient for the ALDS, they should heavily consider adding Straw to their position player group. If they believe they need 13 pitchers, then there is absolutely no spot for Myles. I think the first domino to fall will happen today, as the team sends Angel Martinez back to Columbus to activate Kwan. This will give us our first hint that they believe Straw can be the pinch-running/defensive replacement weapon that everyone longed for him to be tried as in the 2023 season.

There. Now, tell me how much you hate this idea in the comments below.