Jim Ingraham: Leather, not wood, key to Myles Straw's appeal

Here's the haystack in the room: Myles Straw is much better at catching line drives and long fly balls than he is at hitting them. And it's not even close. Straw is having a Gold Glove-caliber season in center field, and a wiffle ball season at the plate. Offensively he may not be an automatic out, but if you're watching the game from home, his at-bats are automatic trips to the refrigerator. Of 145 qualifiers in the major leagues, Straw ranks 140th in hitting (.205), 138th in on-base percentage (.282) and last in both slugging (.260) and OPS (.542). A testament of how great Straw is in the outfield is that a hitter with those kinds of numbers in mid-August is playing every day for a division-leading team. Another indication of how Guardians officials view their center fielder is that only two players on Cleveland's roster are signed beyond this year: Four-time all-star Jose Ramirez, and .205-hitting Myles Straw. At the start of this season Straw signed a five-year, $25 million contract that includes two club options. So we're not exactly talking Mike Trout money here. But the fact that the Guardians' front office, one of the most astute groups in the game, was willing to commit five years and $25 million to a 27-year-old outfielder with five career home runs confirms that value is in the eye of the beholder. Among the things that Guardians officials, manager Terry Francona, his coaches and especially Guardians pitchers enjoy beholding the most is watching Myles Straw running miles in the outfield, and turning gap shots, cannon shots, floaters, flies and flares into outs. At times, he's a one-man outfield. In defensive runs saved, The Fielding Bible has Straw ranked second among center fielders. In Statcast's Outs Above Average, which includes all three outfield positions, Straw ranks ninth, a little behind Byron Buxton (7th) and a little ahead of Steven Kwan (11th). As visible and electric as Straw is at apprehending baseballs, he can be wince-worthy trying to hit them. At the start of the season Francona hit Straw in the leadoff spot of the order, and in 58 games Straw hit .201. Francona then moved him to the No. 9 spot, and in 48 games there Straw's average shot up to .212. Wherever he's hit, Straw hasn't hit. Against right-handers, which is roughly 70 percent of all pitchers, Straw is hitting .203. Against all pitchers, with runners in scoring position Straw is hitting .178. With two outs and runners in scoring position: .163. In 1,310 career plate appearances, Straw has five triples, five home runs and 87 RBIs. Of his 284 career hits, 219 of them are singles. In other words, as a hitter, Straw is a great outfielder. All of which doesn't mean that Straw doesn't belong in the big leagues. He does. He's one of the best outfielders on the planet. But he's also one of the worst hitters in the majors. Players with that kind of a profile are best suited playing for a team that has a loaded lineup, filled with enough thunder to carry a light-hitting defensive wizard in center field. That, of course, is not a description of the 2022 Cleveland Guardians. Let's compare the No. 9 spot in the lineup for the three best teams in the AL Central: The No. 9 spot in Minnesota's lineup has produced a .228 batting average, seven home runs and 32 RBIs. The No. 9 spot in Chicago's lineup: a .275 batting average, 10 home runs and 48 RBIs. The No. 9 spot in Cleveland's lineup: a .207 batting average, three home runs and 35 RBIs. The Guardians' lineup is more resourceful than scary. The spot with the third-lowest OPS is the cleanup spot (.653). That's not the way it's supposed to work. But it's worked, more or less, for the Guardians because they are getting enough contributions elsewhere in the lineup. The two black holes are the eighth and ninth spots, Austin Hedges and Straw. Both are superior defensive players, but extremely limited offensively. Outfielders in general are supposed to be significant offensive contributors, but it certainly isn't working that way in center field with the Guardians. For now, though, it is what it is. There's no fixing it this year, but it needs to be addressed next year. Next year either Straw has to develop into more of an offensive threat or the Guardians need to add more sock to their lineup, allowing them to carry a light-hitting, but Gold Glove-caliber center fielder. Even now, some outfielders are graduating from the minor leagues to the big league club, i.e., Kwan, Oscar Gonzalez, Nolan Jones, Will Benson and Richie Palacios, with more on the way. Kwan, in fact, played mostly center field in the minor leagues. Hmmm. Almost every major league lineup is flawed in some way. The best teams minimize their flaws. By that measure, the Guardians are one of the best teams. Contact Jim Ingraham at (440) 329-7135 or jingraham4@gmail.com.