Gonzalez already flexing power in Spring Training

This story was excerpted from Mandy Bell’s Guardians Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

The Guardians haven’t started team workouts just yet and the last few position players are still trickling in to Goodyear, Ariz., but that doesn’t mean we can’t make observations already.

Hitters have taken batting practice all week and pitchers have been throwing bullpens. A handful of hurlers (especially Minor Leaguers) have already gotten themselves ready enough to start throwing live batting-practice sessions against their teammates.

The first full-squad workout will be on Tuesday, which is when we’ll be able to start learning a lot more about this club. In the meantime, let’s talk about the three observations I’ve made in the early days of camp:

1. Gonzalez hasn’t lost his power
Someone get the theme song from “Spongebob Squarepants” playing.

Guardians hitters are far from being in midseason form. These early days of camp are used to get everyone back in the regular routine of hopping in the cage each day. The goal isn’t to see results, necessarily, but to make sure each player’s swing mechanics are fine-tuned. Still, even when he’s not swinging as hard as we’ve seen him in-season, Oscar Gonzalez has frequently ventured beyond the outfield wall on Field 1 at Cleveland’s Spring Training complex.

Gonzalez hit a ball wrong earlier this week -- it seemed as though it got in on his hands. Anyone within a 50- to 60-foot radius could hear him let out a sigh of frustration over not squaring it up perfectly. Yet the ball still traveled over the fence.

A pitch or two later, he let out an even louder grunt of dissatisfaction when he couldn't square up another pitch. This one hit off the top of the outfield wall.

Even when Gonzalez isn’t at his best, his power is unbelievably apparent. His swing is effortless and the ball explodes off his bat. When he was frustrated with his “poor” performance, his teammates were giving him a hard time, joking that he only hit it into a house across the street that time.

Gonzalez didn’t tap into the power he displayed in the Minors when he was up in the big leagues last year. But don’t worry, it seems like it's still there.

2. Quantrill is ready to go
Cal Quantrill knew he was going to participate in the World Baseball Classic this year, pitching for Canada, so he had to get himself ready a little bit earlier in the offseason than he typically would. Though he was expected to be ahead of the other starters in terms of throwing progression, Quantrill seems lightyears ahead of where he was projected to be.

Quantrill threw his first live batting practice on Friday afternoon against Amed Rosario, Josh Naylor and Josh Bell. He threw 15 pitches, and aside from a ground ball up the middle from Rosario, no one came close to getting a base hit.

The starter walked off the field and Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti asked him how he felt.

“Good," Quantrill responded. “I’m going to see if I can throw another 15.”

A few minutes later, he was back on the mound.

It’s easy for teams to be hesitant about allowing their players to participate in the World Baseball Classic, since it’s during Spring Training and just before a long 162-game season. But the shape Quantrill entered camp in should allow the Guardians to breathe a little bit easier, having more confidence that he should be able to get through the next few weeks without as big of a risk for injury because of how he prepared himself.

3. A healthy Tito
In 2020, Guardians manager Terry Francona was clearly going through some challenges, missing a handful of spring games and seeming more short and irritable during Spring Training -- the time of year that’s usually his favorite (next to the postseason). After the pandemic delayed the start of the season, Francona returned for just a few short days before having a rough medical stretch that landed him in the ICU. He attempted to return the next season and had to leave at the end of July again due to health problems.

It was difficult to know whether Francona -- or at least his health -- was cut out for this job for the foreseeable future. Now, he seems to have done a complete 180.

Francona is filling the stereotypical “best shape of his life” role in Spring Training this year. He isn’t coming off of any surgeries, he doesn’t have any crutches or walking boots and he dedicated the winter to his physique, looking noticeably slimmer.

There’s no reason to believe Francona doesn’t have a few more years of managing left in him.