2024 Cleveland Guardians Prospect of the Year
Which Guardians prospect made the leap in 2024?
Things have sure changed the last few years in the Cleveland Guardians system, showing more position player prospects than pitching since graduating the likes of Logan Allen, Tanner Bibee and Gavin Williams, and seeing Daniel Espino’s health stall. It remains to be seen if Cleveland can actually develop position player prospects into productive major leaguers. Steven Kwan and Jose Ramirez are their main wins right now on that side of things in the majors. Neither of their past two first round picks are on my list this year for Prospect of the Year, which is only position player prospects because I did Pitcher of the Year since none of them really sparked enough to be considered the best combination of potential and performance in the system in 2024. There are plenty of good candidates to become productive major leaguers, but their most recent three first rounders (Travis Bazzana, Ralphy Velazquez and Chase DeLauter) didn’t perform as expected or weren’t healthy, though Bazzana only had three months so we’re no going to really count him either way yet. I’m still encouraged by at least one player on this list making the majors, another on the cusp and two younger players that showed a lot of potential moving into 2025.
INF/OF Juan Brito
2024 line: 652 PA, .256/.365/.443, 40 2B, 21 HR, 13 SB, 113 wRC+ 16.1 K%/13.5%
2024 started out slow for Brito, hitting just .174/.333/.244 in April with just one extra base hit. From May 1 to the end of 2024, that changed to .269/.370/.475 with 37 doubles and 19 homers. Playing all season at age 22, the switch hitter faced just 21 pitchers younger than him in his first year at Triple-A. He did this all while playing second base, but also getting reps in right field and first base for the first time in his career and also had a handful of games at third base. He hit better as a right handed hitter, but that could be in part of playing his home games at Huntington Park (.863 OPS vs. .747 on the road), which is something to watch. Defensively, he’s most comfortable at second but probably profiles better in left and he’s a bat first player anyway. He led the org in extra base hits, walks plenty and wasn’t awful on the bases (13/18) despite lacking quality speed. He knows how to pull the ball, which helped him get the most out of his power. Brito shows genuine discipline and zone control, giving him 20 K%/10 BB% ability in the majors as a switch hitter that could pound 40 extra base hits a year. He’ll only be 23 all year in 2025.
OF Jaison Chourio
2024 line: 432 PA, .269/.414/.398, 24 2B, 5 HR, 44 SB, 144 wRC+, 16 K%/19.9 BB%
In his first extended non-complex action, Chourio hit the ground running to the tune of .281/.465/.469 in April. He showed off good contact and strike zone discipline all year. He did hit a rough patch in June, but still took his walks. He did show a strong platoon split as a left handed hitter (.835 OPS vs. .692 as a RHH). As a 19 year old in Single-A, Chourio had just 14 plate appearances against pitchers younger than him and was 1.5 years younger than the rest of the his peers in the league on average. Age/level isn’t the indicator it used to be, but Chourio definitely showed he knows the zone and has the contact/speed part down while playing a strong centerfield. He was due to be promoted to High-A Lake County, but broke his wrist sliding for a ball in the outfield just before. He’ll be good to go to start there in 2025.
INF Angel Genao
2024 line: 498 PA, .330/.379/.499, 38 2B, 10 HR, 25 SB, 150 wRC+, 15.5 K%/7.7 BB%
Though Genao was only 20, it was his first taste at High-A and it feels like he’s been around for a little bit - and he has. He played parts of three seasons at Single-A, This year, Genao put it all together and got to High-A and made the jump almost seamlessly. There was really no major adjustment period for Genao offensively. I was expecting a hyper aggressive approach in the box and the walk rate could stand to be a little better, but he does do a good job working the count and getting into good counts, or battling when he’s down. Genao also grew into his body this year, putting in the work off the field and it showed up on the field with more pop. He showed strong exit velos to the opposite field from both sides of the plate. He does tend to drive the ball the other way at times, if he starts to catch the ball out front a little more and get the ball in the air, he should have above average power. Defensively, he showed a big arm at shortstop and the potential to stay there as long as he doesn’t outgrow he position and continues to improve.
C Cooper Ingle
2024 line: 408 PA, .305/.419/.478, 24 2B, 11 HR, 160 wRC+, 13.7 K%/15.9 BB%
Another very obvious Guardians pick in 2023, Ingle was good in his brief pro debut last year and unleashed full time in 2024, he took off even further. Ingle parlayed his good strike zone awareness into strong walk rates while keeping his strikeouts in the teens. It’s likely he’s probably going to see dips in those as he moves up (more Ks and less BBs) when he sees better pitching, but they should be in good ranges. The question will be what he does with the strikes he gets. For his offensive production, Ingle has moderate exit velo data. Like Kayfus, he’s tapped into the pulled fly ball mentality, though he doesn’t hit the ball in the air as much as Kayfus. The contact and zone awareness gives him a good base to work with and turned into production in 2024. Defensively, Ingle is a good receiver and blocker, but has room to improve in his throwing. He did battle some shoulder soreness at times in 2024, so perhaps a 100% healthy shoulder helps him make some strides there, as he has a quick transfer, he just needs stronger and more accurate throws to go along with his quick transfer.
1B Kyle Manzardo
2024 line (Triple-A): 364 PA, .267/.398/.548, 20 2B, 20 HR, 143 wRC+, 18.4 K%/16.8 BB%
I had Manzaro as the top prospect in the organization in March and his strong April (.318/.396/.636) got him the bump when Steven Kwan went down in May. After struggling at the big league level, Manzardo went back down and posted a 138 wRC+ when he got back to Columbus from June 19-Sept 1 when he was called back up. He even posted a .742 OPS vs. LHP, which at least gives the impression he should get a shot vs. them in the majors. He did benefit from Huntington Park (1.009 OPS vs .740 on the road) but he fared OK in Cleveland. He showed exactly who he was offensively, a healthy K%, walked enough and hit with enough power to profile at first base as an all around quality hitter and delivered on his potential heading into 2025.
OF Johnathan Rodriguez
2024: 508 PA, .301/.390/.540, 18 2B, 29 HR, 140 wRC+, 25.5 K%/12.6 BB%
The overall numbers here are hard to ignore in terms of production. It does beg the question why he didn’t get more run in right with Cleveland over someone like Will Brennan or Jhonkensy Noel. But this is the second straight year Rodriguez put up strong offensive numbers at Triple-A. Despite a less than ideal groundball and pull rate, he keeps making life tough on International League pitchers. The numbers suggest he needs a longer look, but the peripherals also suggest without significant changes it will be hard to replicate these numbers or sustain this success at the major league level. But you never want to see someone who produces numbers like this not get the shot to say it did or didn’t work.
2024 Cleveland Guardians Prospect of the Year
INF Angel Genao
Perhaps a controversial pick, but I saw Genao a ton this year and he might be the second or third best prospect in the system now depending on how you feel about Chase DeLauter’s feet and platoon splits. Genao grew into his frame this year and started to show it with some pop from both sides of the plate with strong exit velos to back that up. He had enough range at shortstop and plenty of arm for the left side of the infield. Genao showed he is an easy plus runner, perhaps double plus (70 on the 20-80 scouting scale) with bat control. The performance plus potential here were too hard to ignore to choose anyone else. Depending on how you look at it (batted ball data) there are still things that could hold back his potential or that he could improve on to be even better. He doesn’t lift the ball like Brito or Manzardo. He doesn’t have Rodriguez’s power. But he has the same speed as Chourio, looks the part of staying at a premium defensive position and is starting to show at least average pop in terms of exit velocities. At least for 2024, the performance started to match the potential and I like the path he’s on going into 2025.