THE FRONT ROW with MARK NELKE: ‘I feel really confident now’ — Kyle Manzardo, entering his third season with the Guardians, talks about the ins and outs of baseball — with a few thoughts from dad Paul

You don’t just wake up one morning and realize ‘Hey, I’m a major league baseball player.’ 

It happens more gradually. 

“If I had to pick one at-bat,” Kyle Manzardo said recently, in the living room of his parents’ home in Coeur d’Alene, while home for the holidays.  

“I had an at-bat against the Twins late in ‘24, bottom of the eighth and we were down by one and I homered with a runner on second to take the lead,” Kyle said. “And the Twins were right on our tail that year, and that series is when we had clinched the playoffs, so that was pretty meaningful to me. Probably my favorite moment, honestly.” 

“My neighbors heard me,” recalled his father, Paul, who was watching from home. “I was like ... ‘Yeah!’” 

"He was loud,” agreed Windy, Kyle’s mom and Paul’s wife. 

KYLE MANZARDO is poised to begin his second full season with the Cleveland Guardians, who are scheduled to open the season with a four-game series at the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park starting March 26. 

After that, it’s three games at the two-time defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers, before the Guardians’ home opener April 3 vs. the Chicago Cubs. 

Last year against the Dodgers, Kyle got a hit off Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who ended up closing out the World Series for L.A., one day after pitching six innings in Game 6. 

After being acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays in 2023, Kyle played two stints with the Guardians in 2024, and spent the entire 2025 season with the big club. 

Last year, Kyle hit .234 with 27 home runs and 71 RBIs. 

His career major league stats: .234 averages, 32 homers, 110 RBIs. 

“I feel really confident now, more so than when I first got there,” Kyle said of the majors. “It’s such a different environment up there. I think I’ve played in 180 or 190 games up there, so I kinda know what it’s like up there. Feel good, feel confident.” 

Kyle and the Guardians have been in the playoffs the past two seasons. In 2024, Cleveland reached the A.L. Championship Series before losing to the New York Yankees in five games. Last year, the Guardians lost 2-1 to the Detroit Tigers in the A.L. Wild Card round. 

Kyle made his major league debut on May 6, 2024, and played with the Guardians for roughly a month before being optioned back to Triple-A Columbus. 

“Learning how to deal with failure at that level is so different than at any other level in baseball,” Kyle said of that first stint with the big club. “Being able to push that behind you and move on to the next day real fast.” 

Kyle rejoined Cleveland in September, and was a regular in the lineup the rest of the way. He homered against the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALCS. 

Then he spent all of last year with the big club. 

Any technical changes? 

“No, it was more going up there and trusting that I would swing at the right pitches,” Manzardo said. “And trusting the work that I’d been putting in before the game, and in the offseason is going to translate.” 

Kyle, a left-handed hitter, often didn’t start against left-handed pitching, which drew the ire of his supporters on social media. 

“I know I can hit lefties; just trying to focus on being a good teammate, and understanding,” Kyle said. But “there weren’t many of those games I didn’t play in. Knowing that there’s a lefty starting and I’m not starting, I’m going to go pinch-hit at some point (when the other team brings in a right-hander). That’s just the way we do things. That’s the way they feel is the best chance to win the game.  

“At the end of the day it’s not how I feel about it, it’s about winning as many games as possible,” Kyle said. “And it worked, we won a lot. It’s just the state of the game.” 

PAUL COACHED baseball for years at several levels, including junior college, high school and Little League. 

Batting average used to be a big measuring stick of a player. But no more. 

“For me it’s just baffling, because they put a lot of emphasis on OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) over average,” Paul said.  

“The game’s changed with AI," he continued. “I don’t think you’ll see many left-handed hitters get base hits on ground balls up the middle. You’ll see a righty get a base hit on a ground ball up the middle but not a lefty, because of the shift. With the righty, they can’t shift the first baseman way over because he can’t get back to first base. Typically, if you’re hitting the ball up the middle, that means your timing’s perfect.  

“And it sucks, because you get out because you’re a lefty — unless you hit a line drive (because the shortstop’s up the middle). The strength in pro ball becomes so important because to get the ball through the 4-hole (where the second baseman plays) at the major league level, you have to hit the ball about 100 (mph exit velocity).” 

"There are not many ground balls that are hits now, unless you get lucky,” Kyle said.  

“Exit velocity plays a huge factor whether those balls get through,” Paul said. 

Paul played in college, but admits the game his son is playing is different than the one he played. 

“He knows my swing,” Kyle said of his dad. “I can ask him if he sees anything ... for the most part, a lot of the feedback I get nowadays is more advanced than me and him talking hitting. But he knows what it should look like when I’m swinging it good.” 

"It’s different,” Paul said. “What I think, and what they want him to do, sometimes don’t add up. They want the OPS, they want him turning on balls, and hitting balls to right field. 

“The timing’s different to hit the ball to left field on a line than to really drive it to center or right,” Kyle said. “I could be up there getting pitched a certain way, and I know I’m getting pitched that way, but I’ve got my timing all dialed in to be crushing it to the pull side. That’s like the challenging part of hitting is being able to adjust on the fly like that, make those adjustments against the best pitchers in the world.” 

Kyle’s younger brother, Marcus, played baseball at Lake City, then played two years at Community Colleges of Spokane, and two years at Central Washington University. He’ll turn 23 in May. 

Does he ever offer baseball advice to big brother? 

“Absolutely not,” Marcus said, drawing a laugh from mom. “I feel like not many people should be telling him what to do. Nobody’s made it as far as he has, so I don’t have anything for him that he doesn’t already know.” 

IMAGINE BEING the parents of a major league baseball player. 

“It's hard, man ... It’s hard as hell,” Paul said. “My dad put it in a good way ... Windy and I have the opportunity to watch our kid work every day. My mom and dad didn’t watch me work every day, because I was in an office. My mom and dad didn’t know if I was (mad), or had a (bad) day. I know when Kyle has a (bad) day, because I see it. As a parent, you feel for your kid. And it’s not just Kyle, it’s all those guys, because you start watching them. You feel bummed out for them.” 

“What Kyle doesn’t understand,” Windy added, “because he’s not a parent yet, is that it’s really hard on the parents, because we care so much.” 

Cleveland’s manager, Stephen Vogt, played 10 seasons in the majors, and has been the Guardians’ skipper since 2024.  

"It’s easy to play for a guy that can relate to everything you’re feeling or going through, on any given day,” Kyle said, “through successes and failures and everything in between. It’s easier to play for somebody that you can respect that way.” 

IF YOU’RE a fan of the Dodgers, you love baseball’s current salary rules — no cap, but a luxury tax. 

If you’re not, then it’s ‘Dem bums, they just buy a championship.’ 

“What the Dodgers do is good for players; they’re willing to pay for whoever,” Kyle said. “By and large, that’s good for baseball, that’s good for baseball players. We’ll see what winds up happening, A lot of people are upset, but that’s not my game.” 

As one of the few major leaguers ever from around here, Kyle said all the love he gets from folks in North Idaho is “cool” and “special.” 

OVER THE holidays, Kyle got engaged to Torrey Long, his longtime girlfriend who is also a Lake City High grad. 

Kyle, who was drafted by the Rays in the second round in 2021 (63rd overall) after three seasons at Washington State, is under club control through the 2030 season. He’s arbitration-eligible beginning in 2028. 

Kyle, who turns 26 in July, spent the winter trying to get stronger. While home, he worked out at D1 Training in Hayden. He also spent part of the winter at the Guardians’ spring training complex in Goodyear, Ariz. 

He reported to spring training at 214 pounds, up from around 200 in 2025. 

He played mostly at DH and some at first base last season; he’s hopefully he can play more at first this year. 

“I want to build off the year I had offensively,” Kyle said. “Just improve wherever I can. I want to play better defense this year.”  

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 208-664-8176, Ext. 1205, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @CdAPressSports. 

    CHRIS CARLSON/Associated Press Kyle Manzardo at photo day for the Cleveland Guardians on Feb. 18 in Goodyear, Ariz.

    MIKE STEWART/Associated Press Kyle Manzardo of the Cleveland Guardians celebrates scoring in the eighth inning against the Minnesota Twins on Sept. 19, 2025, in Minneapolis.