Guardians Skipper Believes Cade Smith Is Battling This

Cade Smith hasn’t cost the Cleveland Guardians any games yet, but it’s fair to say that the team’s closer doesn’t look exactly the same as he did a year ago. His strikeout rate has significantly dropped from a year ago; he isn’t getting hitters to chase his pitches, and Cade is simply just giving up more runs. So far, in 10 appearances, the right-hander has given up five earned runs after giving up 24 total a year ago.

There are plenty of factors that could contribute to Smith’s uncharacteristic start, such as him changing roles or other teams simply having more of a book on the third-year pitcher, but manager Stephen Vogt believes that it simply comes down to Cade just battling his command right now. “It’s command,” said Vogt ahead of Friday’s game. “A little bit of mechanics is going on that's leading to that.

” “When Cade's at his best, everyone knows what's coming, and they still can't hit it, because he's getting it to the right spots, and right now he's just not able to get the pitches exactly where he wants… I think when Cade gets his command back, we're going to get back to seeing the Cade that we've seen in the past. ” Cleveland Guardians pitcher Cade Smith (36) sets for a pitch during the home opening game against the Chicago Cubs, April 4, 2026, at Progressive Field in Cleveland, Ohio. Cade’s strike rate is actually on par with what it was last season, with 66 percent of his pitches landing in the zone.

Last year, that number was 67 percent. The biggest difference, which could contribute to his command struggles, is that Smith is throwing almost four more pitches per inning and one more pitch per at-bat, suggesting he’s simply not hitting all his spots, leading to deeper counts and greater risk of hits. With all that said, the Guardians don’t really have any other options for the ninth inning, so Cade is going to continue to go out there until otherwise.