Josh Naylor Reaching New Heights

Photo by Ken Blaze / USA Today

Josh Naylor’s marquee moment in his career occurred on the night of May 9th, 2022 against the Chicago White Sox. He would total 7 RBI’s in his last 2 at bats in the game. The 1st of the 2 would be a game tying Grand Slam in 9th off All-Star closer Liam Hendriks. The next would be in the top of the 11th and would be the go-ahead 2-run homer. That night would be one for the ages.

Naylor was acquired by the Guardians in the deal that would send Mike Clevinger to the Padres. Naylor has been a solid contributor to the Guardians but in 2023, he has taken his game to a whole other level. On the year, Naylor’s slash line is as follows: .310/.350/.522 with 15 home runs and 75 RBI. Among the Guardians offense, he leads the team in all those metrics except On-Base percentage. He has been very consistent throughout most of the season after struggling in March & April. In May and June, his OPS was at .890 & .923 respectively. It’s the month of July where Naylor has exploded offensively. In the month of July, Naylor has slashed .388/.423/.776. His OPS of 1.199 is 5th in majors across the month. He’s posting career highs in Barrel %, xBA, xSLG, Hard-Hit rate, and Avg Exit Velocity.

If Naylor is able to continue to hammer the baseball, he could definitely be a trade candidate at the trade deadline if Cleveland isn’t able to gain ground on the 1st place Twins in the AL Central.