CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Guardians optioned struggling shortstop Brayan Rocchio to the minors Monday ahead of their series opener against the Brewers at Progressive Field.
Outfielder Will Brennan was recalled to take Rocchio’s spot on the 26-man roster.
Rocchio, 22, hit .165 with eight RBI in 35 appearances including 21 strikeouts and five walks. He had not appeared in a game since the series finale against the Nationals last week when he went hitless for the 10th consecutive game.
Brennan, batting .304 at Triple-A Columbus, hit three home runs and drove in 18 over 35 games for the Clippers.
Rocchio’s struggles have been well documented, as he went hitless in 16 at-bats during Cleveland’s road trip to Toronto and Washington. Manager Stephen Vogt said on Saturday that the Venezuelan shortstop who was a Gold Glove finalist as a rookie last season and hit .333 during the postseason, is “not himself” right now.
“He’s having a hard time understanding what he’s trying to do right now,” Vogt said. “He’s just gotten off to a tough start. He’s working hard in the cages trying to get back on track.”
Vogt said Rocchio knows he has things to work on and it got to the point where there wasn’t enough playing time for him in Cleveland’s lineup to work through it.
The club also wants Rocchio, who made an uncharacteristic six errors in 105 chances, to catch his breath and get regular at-bats in Columbus while fixing his issues in the field as well.
“We know that the best version of Brayan Rocchio makes us the best version of us with him playing shortstop,” Vogt said. “He just got off to a tough start and the playing time just isn’t there.”
Brennan, meanwhile, was caught in a numbers game at the end of spring training after Cleveland acquired Nolan Jones in a trade with Colorado. With other players out of minor league options, Brennan had two remaining and was sent to Columbus to await an opportunity to rejoin the roster.
Vogt had originally told Brennan he made Cleveland’s opening day roster in March, but had to backtrack after the Jones trade.
“It’s not easy to go through something like that,” Vogt said. “But there’s only one way to respond and that’s to go down there and play with a good attitude and Will has done that every single day.”
While in Columbus Brennan ranked tied for third in the International League in hits (45). He leads Cleveland’s farm system in hits and total bases (62) in addition to posting the fourth-highest batting average and fifth-highest RBI total.
Since April 11, he has hit at a .327 (34 for 104) clip.
Brennan said that throughout his career he has had to be resilient and focus on the idea that putting in the work will pay off. But hearing he was being optioned in March took him by surprise.
“It hurt,” Brennan said. “Being a human being, it’s definitely going to sting. It’s not where you want to be, but you’ve got to be a professional about it and go down and play.”
Vogt called Brennan a high-contact hitter who has a knack for getting clutch hits with people in scoring position. He also proved last season to be among Cleveland’s best pinch-hitters, batting .462 off the bench with a home run and four RBI in 16 at-bats.
But it was Brennan’s improvement in making swing decisions that earned him the opportunity to return.
“When Will’s at his best, he’s laying off the fringe pitches and hitting the ones that he can hit hard,” Vogt said. “He’s driving the ball to the pull side in the air right now and that’s really when he is at his best.”
Brennan credited Columbus hitting coach Junior Betances for getting him timed up to hit fastballs and working on offspeed and breaking pitches by building off that foundation.
“He’s a wizard with the baseball bat and teaching guys how to hit,” Brennan said of Betances. “We had a really solid approach, and hopefully we carry it over and help his team win ball games.”
