Gabriel Arias and the Success of Guards Second Basemen in 2025
The Guardians have not missed Andres Gimenez so far
The decision to trade Andres Gimenez was a shock to most Guardians fans and left all of us wondering if the org would be able to fill second base in 2025... and so far they have. The combination of Daniel Schneemann and Gabriel Arias has given the Guardians offensive production that far exceeds expectations.
In 2024 the Guardians did not get much offense out of Andres Gimenez; he posted a wRC+ of only 83. This put the Guardians in the bottom third of the league in second baseman wRC+.
In 2025 the Guardians second base unit is ranked #1 with a wRC+ of 145, a huge swing in the right direction. Both Arias and Schneemann have a wRC+ north of 150 while playing second with Will Wilson and Angel Martinez both bringing the average down with just a few plate appearances.
Andres Gimenez had a red hot start to the year blasting 3 home runs in the first week or so but has come to a screeching halt since then. In total this season he has a wRC+ of only 71, worse than all Guardians regulars excluding Brayan Rocchio (55 wRC+). The Guardians offense is middle of the pack right now and had we been running out Gimenez every game the offense would likely be in disarray.
Schneemann has continued to keep making strides after two years of great development, but I am more interested in the improvement we are seeing from Gabriel Arias. What changes were made that have allowed him to blossom into the hitter we once hoped he might be?
The most obvious change at first glance for Arias is his batting stance. He brought his feet closer together by a significant amount as well as moved farther away from the plate. These have allowed him to improve in two main areas: swing speed and point of contact.
Standing farther away from the plate (in fact farther than every other MLB hitter!) has given Arias room to extend his arms and unleash the full potential of his elite raw power. He is swinging harder and is getting off fast swings (75+ mph) more often than ever before.
The other area of improvement, point of contact, is possibly influenced by his more upright stance. Point of contact or intercept point is a big new development in hitting analytics and while there is much to be learned still, there is a fairly simple conclusion: catching the ball out in front is best. That isn’t exactly a huge breakthrough from analytics though, its been taught for a while, but now we have the ability to track intercept point with pin point accuracy and have a deeper understanding of why it is important.
Gabriel Arias in previous years had a roughly league average intercept point, he now makes contact 4.5 inches farther forward than before (doesn’t seem like much but it is!). In more simple terms: Arias’ upright stance is helping him to keep his weight back more than before and better than the average hitter. Arias whiffs a lot and that isn’t going away, making it all the more important that he makes quality contact when he gets a pitch he can drive. Keeping his weight back more gives him just a little more room to adjust and impact the ball to the degree that he is capable of.
As I previously mentioned, intercept point is a fairly new tracked metric (at least in the public databases) so our understanding is still limited. Don’t take this is conclusive evidence just yet. That said, the changes are significant and only time will tell if they are the improvements that Arias needed to become a stable major league bat.
I would love to hear your thoughts about Arias and will try my best to answer any questions regarding intercept point. For anyone curious you can find all batting stance and intercept point data on the new tab of baseball savant here.