Commentary: Bobby Bradley vanishes from lineup, and maybe Guardians' plans

Paging Bobby Bradley ... Remember him? The Guardians' first baseman of the future has started only two games this season — the first two games of the season — and he appears in danger of becoming the Guardians' first baseman of the past. Sometimes in baseball the past arrives fast. A year ago at this time Bradley, who led his league in home runs four times in the minor leagues, was stuck at Triple-A Columbus because Guardians officials had an inexplicable crush on Jake Bauers as the team's first baseman. It wasn't until Bauers hit .190 with two home runs over the first two months of the season that the Guardians finally dumped him and gave the job to Bradley. After his first two games with the Guardians, Bradley was hitting a Steven Kwan-ish .800 with two doubles and a home run. In his first nine games Bradley hit .393 with a .452 on-base percentage and 1.237 OPS. In his first 18 games he was still rolling, with eight home runs and 17 RBIs while slugging .662 with a .995 OPS. Then the roof caved in. In the last three months of the season Bradley was one of the Guardians' biggest out-makers, hitting .190 with a .284 on-base percentage while striking out once every 2.2 at-bats, which is basically every other at-bat. Following the season, the prospect-heavy Guardians added a whopping 11 minor league prospects to their major league roster. They all didn't make the opening day roster, but the team's upper-level prospect bus is as crowded as it's been in many years, with prospects waiting their turn to crash the big league roster. In other words, this is a bad time for a player to be a fading prospect who has gotten lost in the shuffle. That, apparently, is where Bradley is. He went 0-for-4 in his two starts in the season-opening Kansas City series — and he hasn't been seen since. The problem for Bradley is the first base solution the Guardians have seemingly found in the person of Owen Miller. The versatile Miller took over for Bradley at first base, and in his four games starting at that position Miller, entering Saturday's game, was hitting .550 with two home runs, five doubles and six RBIs. Miller was probably the Guardians' MVP in the first seven games of the season. He's also started a game at second base. Overall this season, at the start of play Saturday night, he was leading the American League in doubles (six) and slugging (1.043). He was second in the league in hitting (.522), OPS (1.563) and runs scored (eight) and third in hits (12) and total bases (24). Last year Miller started games at every infield position, but got most of his starts at second base and first base. This year he's started most of his games at first base, and has obviously been extremely productive, which is good news for the Guardians but bad news for Bobby Bradley. Here's why: Because not only is Miller an option at first base, but so is Josh Naylor, who was added to the roster Friday. Miller is a right-handed hitter, but Naylor and Bradley are left-handed hitters. That's probably one too many, and that's where it gets tricky. It gets tricky because Bradley is out of minor league options. If the Guardians wanted to send him to Triple-A Columbus, he would have to pass through waivers unclaimed. That's probably unlikely, however, because despite his struggles at the plate Bradley is still only 25, with an impressive minor league resume when it comes to hitting home runs. So he would probably get claimed by another team, which would actually be a good break for him because, barring an injury to Miller or Naylor, Bradley appears to be the odd man out — with no place to go. Yet. Bradley's situation is also reflective of the nature of the game, and the state of the Guardians' minor league system. Young players attempting to establish themselves at the major league level never know how long their window is for doing so. It could be a year, or two, or three. Or it could be a month, or two, or three. Or even a week, or two, or three. In the Guardians' organization, the prospects are starting to pile into one another as they get closer to the major league level. When you get your chance, you better make the most of it, because there might be somebody right behind you ready to pounce if you don't make the most of your shot. That's where the Miller/Bradley joust could be headed. Saturday night, Miller and Naylor were in the lineup (at first base and right field, respectively) and Bradley was not. It's been eight days since he was in the starting lineup. Nobody is paging Bobby Bradley ... Contact Jim Ingraham at 329-7135 or jingraham4@gmail.com. Follow him @Jim_Ingraham on Twitter.