CLEVELAND -- If you ask Guardians manager Terry Francona about Gabriel Arias’ glove, he wastes no time bragging about his player’s defensive abilities. If you ask him about Arias’ bat, he’ll tell you he believes the 23-year-old infielder can be a good hitter … and then he’ll brag more about his glove.

Members of this organization have not been shy about expressing how gifted they all believe Arias is defensively. It was abundantly clear when the club started him out of position at first base for three games during the 2022 ALDS after only having 16 big league games under his belt. No matter where they put him, he mans the position seamlessly. But when he’s at his natural position of shortstop, he shines even brighter, as he demonstrated in the Guardians’ 1-0 loss to the Blue Jays on Wednesday night at Progressive Field.

The infield was in. Sam Hentges stood on the mound with the bases loaded and one out in a one-run game in the eighth inning. The Guardians have struggled to plate runs against this Blue Jays pitching staff all series, so it was critical to prevent the deficit from growing larger. Toronto’s Davis Schneider hit an 85.8 mph ground ball up the middle, just to the shortstop side of second base.

“In reality, my mindset was just to try to stop anything that came my way and be ready for that,” Arias said through team interpreter Agustin Rivero. “Stop the ball. I don’t know how, just stop the ball.”

At regular depth, this would probably have been a routine double-play ball. Instead, Arias was playing in the baseline, so his route to the ball was much more sharp. Plus, he had to navigate around the runner at second, making his angle to the grounder much more challenging. But just as it appeared as though the ball was going to get by him, he made a diving stop and didn’t have time to get to his knees to make a toss to second base. So, from a yoga-style cobra pose, he flipped the ball from his glove to Andrés Giménez, who turned the inning-ending double play.

“When flipping the ball, to be honest, I didn’t know what happened,” Arias said. “I just reacted and tried to throw with the glove, and thankfully it went that way.”

If Cleveland would’ve been able to muster some offense in the eighth or ninth innings, that play would’ve been the difference maker. Instead, the club has now gone 12 straight games logging fewer than 10 hits. And while Arias has been a bright spot defensively, he’s been in the thick of the offensive struggles.

Arias’ season batting average sits below the Mendoza Line. His OPS is .603. In August, he’s hit just .087 (2-for-23) with a double and a homer. After he was acquired by the Guardians in the Mike Clevinger trade in 2020, MLB Pipeline said some evaluators believed Arias to have the highest ceiling of any position player in Cleveland’s system. He had impressive bat speed and raw power, but he was overly aggressive at the plate and made weak ground-ball contact in the Minors. Still, he was able to record a .284 batting average with an .802 OPS in Triple-A Columbus in 2021.

But since ‘22 hit, Arias’ offensive numbers have trended in the wrong direction. Now the Guardians are hoping he’s able to tap back into the hitter he was when he was first acquired to have his bat match his stellar glove.

“In this series [against the Blue Jays], obviously I’m struggling a little bit,” Arias said. “I feel like I’m in between. But in the previous series, the results have come from the work I’m doing with the hitting coaches.”

Arias has shown flashes at times that the potential he carried as a prospect is still there, but Cleveland needs to see it more consistently in the last few months of the season.

The biggest reason to send shortstop Amed Rosario to the Dodgers at the Trade Deadline was to free up the position to allow the organization to get a better idea of who could play shortstop for the foreseeable future, instead of waiting until Spring Training for evaluations. So despite the struggles Arias may face offensively, the Guardians need to see if he could be the answer.

“That’s kind of why we keep trying because [his glove is] so good,” Francona said. “And the tools are there offensively, too. We haven’t seen it to be honest and be fair. But man, that’s some kind of defender.”