“He plays an unbelievable right field. He's a good baserunner, and he has the power to hit the ball out of the yard. It just hasn't been there yet this year, and we still hold true to the belief that Jhonkensy, the best version of him helps us win games.”
The Guardians have acknowledged throughout this season that Noel had a challenging role due to the inconsistent at-bats. Staying in rhythm with limited playing time can be challenging for a veteran hitter, let alone someone such as Noel, who is only 23 years old and has just 282 at-bats over 113 games in his big league career.
It can also be natural for any player who is struggling to feel the pressure to produce in the limited reps they do receive, especially as they try to fight their way out of a slump.
“You feel like you have to go 5-for-4 every time you play,” Vogt said. “It's one of those things that you start to put pressure on yourself. We have conversations with our guys all the time about this. We do our best to keep them in a good mental headspace. But there's nothing that can help when you're struggling and you're down on yourself, and you put more pressure on yourself to be perfect.
“It's a really tough role, and we empathize with them with that. But we also try to equip them with the skills to overcome it. I think sometimes we view getting sent to Triple-A as this super negative thing. Of course, everybody wants to be in the big leagues. No one wants to be a Triple-A. But this is the best thing that can be for Jhonkensy right now to go get playing time, to go get at-bats, so that he can work on the things daily that he needs to.”