Cleveland Guardians Lose An Important Member Of Their Team
The Cleveland Guardians' 2024 season ended on Saturday when they lost four games to one to the New York Yankees in the ALCS, and the team didn't take long to see one of its staff members leave.
A few weeks ago, the Cincinnati Reds hired former Guardian manager Terry Francona as their headman, and on Thursday, he removed one of Cleveland's most critical people from the organization.
Reports show that hitting coach Chris Valaika is heading to Cincinnati to reunite with Francona.
Valaika is 39 years old and spent the last three seasons as the Guardians' hitting coach. Now, he gets to stay in the state and try to turn around a nice young Reds lineup.
The Reds could be a legitimate threat for years to come since they have one of the best managers in baseball history. It will be interesting to see how they do next season.
Cleveland was able to develop more power this season, but their chase rate was very high, so the next hitting coach will have to help get the hitters to stop chasing at so many pitches out of the zone.
The Guardians have many different holes to fill this offseason, many of which are in the starting rotation. The team will improve next year if it can rebuild its pitching and hire a tremendous hitting coach.
EXCLUSIVE DISCOUNTS:
Order your favorite whiskey or spirit for the big game right to your doorstep and use code STADIUMRANT10 for a 10% discount at Caskers
Use code STADIUMRANT20 for a 20% discount at Bulletproof Coffee, SwingJuice and Performix.
If you love
to shotgun beers, use code STADIUMRANT10 at Wild Man Drinking Company.
MORE FROM STADIUM RANT:
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to our newsletter here. Check out Stadium Rant Original shows on our Youtube channel and subscribe! Give our socials Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok a follow for more great content!