2024 Cleveland Guardians Defensive Prospect of the Year
Finally starting my 2024 'award' season
2024 Cleveland Guardians Defensive Prospect of the Year
Doing defensive prospect of the year for me is one of the harder ‘awards’ to put together, because defensive highlights are just harder to spot on MilLB TV because camera angles can be hard to get a good clip and then they don’t show up on highlights and I can’t be at every game in person.
So this is usually a category where I try to rely a little on whatever publicly available data I can find along with the looks I’ve had as well.
The other piece of it is usually omitting positions like left field and first base even with quality defensive performances there just due to low value from those positions. Then I also wonder the predictability and overall impact value of being a strong defender, or giving the appearance of being a strong defensive prospect in the minors.
With that being said, here’s a list of who I think are the Guardians prospects with the best defensive tools, weighted a little for impact of position, and the best defender.
C Kody Huff: Huff threw out an impressive 33% of would-be base stealers in Double-A (33/99). He finished head and shoulders better than any other catcher in Double-A in Baseball Prospectus’ catcher DRP (defensive runs prevented) at 15.8 (second place was 9.7). He was also first in framing runs (11.3), and second in throwing runs (3.9). He did finish sixth in blocking runs (0.7). This tracks with clocking him at a (.) pop time in my looks. He’s a (one) leg catcher, which is popular these days for low framing and easier blocking, plus in most cases less health issues. Dan Szymborski’s defensive ratings for all minor leaguers had Huff at +8.6. The data and live looks here all make a strong case for Huff’s defensive prowess. He was voted best defensive prospect in the California League in 2023 by league managers. This should easily have Huff on track as a defensive minded backup catcher in the majors by 2025 or 2026. He’s also continued to put up some strong exit velocities in the AFL this year, which is also interesting to watch even though it has nothing to do with defense.
OF Jaison Chourio: This is a harder one I’m including where I don’t really have numbers. Not concrete ones anyway. My personal evaluation here likes Chourio’s expected range and relies on his speed to cover center field. Baseball Prospectus’ DRP has him as a negative defender (-0.8). However, Clay Davenport’s Davenport Translations have him as a +2 in center and an even 0 in right. Then, Chourio was also named the best defensive outfielder by non-Lynchburg managers in the Carolina League, as recorded by Baseball America. That’s all enough for me to put him on this list. I think he could stay in center but could wind up in left field, mostly because his arm may not be one of this carrying defensive tools and would be better suited for center or left.
SS Angel Genao: This is another one where some publicly available metrics won’t agree with me, and that’s OK. My eyes were always very focused on Genao and I saw Lake County exclusively in person this year. He’s got a 55 arm, at least and I’d give him at least a chance to be an average defensive shortstop in the future. There’s some question that his body could push him over to third base. He grew quite a bit from 2023 to 2024. He needs some more consistency at the position, so he’s not a finished product. But remember, an average defensive shortstop is a lot more valuable than an average defender at any other position save for center or catcher.
Honorable Mentions
1B CJ Kayfus: Dan Szymborski’s numbers also had him as one of the best defender’s at his position in the minors. And seeing him in person, I agree. There’s range and good hands, and good at scoops at first. He also showed some good range in left. He’s just not on the main list because it’s hard to really value defense at first base among this group.
C Cooper Ingle: Baseball Prospectus’ DRP likes him here too, mostly for framing. Ingle was at times battling a shoulder issue in 2024 so I wonder how much that impacted his throwing, but he definitely had issues throwing runners out.
C Jacob Cozart: Listing him here because he was 7-for-15 throwing runners out in his short time at Lake County. He has the makings of a good receiver, a one-knee catcher looking to steal the low strikes and I think he will be a good blocker.
Cleveland Guardians 2024 Defensive Prospect of the Year
C Kody Huff: The 33% caught stealing rate at Double-A, plus finishing atop the DRA leaderboards for all defensive players at that level as well. And this isn’t a surprise, given that managers also named him the best defensive catcher in the Cal League a year ago. A lot of the value here is framing and throwing. You wonder how much longer framing is going to matter, in which case blocking should become more important. But clearly Huff has a lot of value in his arm, which is more important these days. And as I pointed out in the intro, this is a complicated title for me to write about because it’s hard to discern how much defense can be a carrying tool as a prospect. And the places where defense can carry you are catcher, short and center. And then I have to ask, how MUCH does it matter in the case of a player who is most likely to be a backup in Huff? But knowing how much Cleveland values catcher defense also biases me to pick him here as well to believe that the defense is impactful enough to give him some predictive value at the major league level in Cleveland, leading me to choose him here.