'It was awesome': Bo knows how to hit (multiple) homers 

CLEVELAND -- Guardians catcher Bo Naylor hasn’t had the most seamless transition to the Majors, at least offensively, in the handful of starts that he’s gotten behind the dish thus far. But he proved on Tuesday night just how dangerous his bat can be when it heats up.

Naylor logged his first career multihomer game by smacking a solo shot in the bottom of the third inning and a two-run blast in the fifth off Royals starter Zack Greinke to help lift Cleveland to a 5-1 victory over Kansas City at Progressive Field.

“It was awesome the way the ball felt off the bat, to say the least,” Naylor said. “Just went out there and tried to put up a few good swings and the results came.”

The Guardians have been spoiled by watching a handful of rookies come up and immediately thrive in the Majors over the last year and a half, especially when it comes to young starters. But just because that hasn’t necessarily been the same story for Naylor so far at the plate doesn’t mean there isn’t a benefit to penciling his name in the lineup every day.

Right now, Naylor is in a tricky spot. The Guardians are trying to balance getting Naylor consistent work, while not trying to overwhelm him, considering he has a pitching staff to worry about when he’s not in the batter’s box. But they also want to try to find ways to keep catcher/utility player David Fry in the lineup because he’s been hitting the ball well. That’s resulted in Naylor getting some days off when lefties are on the rubber.

So far, Naylor has just eight at-bats against southpaws. His other 63 at-bats have come against righties. The 23-year-old catcher hasn’t had enough opportunities against lefties to determine if that would be a daunting task to handle. In the Minors, his splits weren’t overwhelmingly drastic, as he hit .275 with a .918 OPS against righties and .203 with an .823 OPS against lefties. But the Guardians are trying to ease him into this role. Sitting him against most of the southpaws has been the easiest way for them to do that.

“I mean, we all know Bo’s gonna play a lot,” Guardians manager Terry Francona said. “I think we’re trying to balance developing, winning, [plus] we got another catcher that’s one of the best defenders in the league [and] another catcher that’s hitting like crazy. But I was thrilled for him tonight. That was pretty cool to watch.”

Naylor’s first homer traveled a Statcast-projected 430 feet to right-center field on a 2-2 count. His second one measured 397 feet to center on a 3-1 count. The blasts doubled his home run total on the year, now having hit four homers in 22 games, and three of the long balls have come against the Royals.

“I know he’s got power, and I’ve seen the Minor League numbers and stuff,” Royals manager Matt Quatraro said. “So he certainly looks like he’s got a good swing. We just have to make quality pitches like we do to everybody else.”

Naylor found his way into the history books with his two home runs. At 23 years and 154 days old, Naylor became the third-youngest Cleveland player with multiple homers in a game as a catcher. He was older than only Ray Fosse (May 24, 1970; 23 years, 50 days) and Hank Ruszkowski (Aug. 6, 1947; 21 years, 269 days). And now, after having gone 0-for-his-last-10 before his first home run, Naylor can try to use this as a stepping stone to finding more consistency.

“At the end of the day, there’s a job to do,” Naylor said. “That’s even before the game starts, making sure you’re prepared and ready. As long as I have that mentality, I feel like I’ll always be in a good spot.”

Naylor isn’t getting all the playing time just yet, but nights like these make it easy for the Guardians to dream about what he can develop into. And he has the capability of bringing something to the table that a Cleveland catcher hasn’t in a handful of years: Power.

He’s far from a finished product. But it’s clear the Guardians are setting the foundation for Naylor to be a force behind the plate for a long time.

“I’ve thrown to him a bunch of times in rehab assignments,” Guardians starter Aaron Civale said. “It’s been awesome to see his growth and how attentive he is to everything and how open he is to communicating. It’s been really impressive.”