Guardians’ Bullpen in the Middle of Concerning Trend

For the last few years, the Cleveland Guardians have remained competitive and reached the playoffs on multiple occasions, largely due to their near-flawless bullpen.

Cleveland's current bullpen iteration has shown plenty of signs of being the elite group from years past, but it has also faced some troubles throughout the season, too.

One of those problems is becoming a concerning trend, and it's something the Guardians need to fix as soon as possible.

Cleveland's relievers are giving up free base runners at an alarming rate, especially since the beginning of the new month. 

Since the start of August, the Guardians' bullpen owns a walk rate of 14.4 percent, which is the third-highest in all of baseball during that stretch.

It's not one pitcher who's been the main culprit in this uptick; this is a staff-wide problem for Cleveland's relievers. 

Tim Herrin, Cade Smith, and Craig Yoho have all walked four batters since the beginning of August. Erik Sabrowski and Hunter Gaddis have allowed three runners to reach base on balls. Matt Festa, Slade Cecconi, and Franco Aleman have let two runners reach on walks.

The pitcher with the fewest walks in August is Colin Holderman, with only one, but he's also hit four batters, which leads the team over the last two weeks.

It'd be one thing if these free base runners weren't hurting the team and Cleveland's pitchers found a way to wiggle out of the traffic on the base paths, but it's been the opposite has been the case.

For example, after Holderman hit two batters in the bottom of the sixth inning against the White Sox last Saturday, they each came around to score on a double later in the inning.

This instance isn't to single out Holderman, who has been so good for the Guardians all season long, but just proof of what can happen when runners get a free pass to first base. 

If there's one silver lining in all of this, it's that walking hitters hasn't necessarily been an issue for the Guardians all year long. Cleveland's bullpen has a season walk rate of 10.2 percent.

This really does feel like a hiccup for the group, but it couldn't be coming at a worse time for the Guardians as a team.

With Cleveland's offense unable to capitalize on scoring opportunities, the team as a whole is operating on such a thin margin for error.

No, the Guardians can't be giving up so many walks, but it's an issue that is exaggerated when the team is only averaging about four runs per game since the All-Star Break.