2025 Cleveland Guardians Prospect Scouting Report: #13 INF Juan Brito

Can Brito hit enough to make up for his lack of defensive value?

May 01, 2025

Age (2025 season): 23
Acquired: Trade (Colorado - 2022, Nolan Jones)
2024 Level: Triple-A
Height: 6’2
Weight: 205
Bats: Both
Throws: Right

First Impression

Brito isn’t a physically imposing player. On the surface nothing really stands out. He’s not a great base runner and he doesn’t offer much in the way of defense, no matter where he stands. But the one thing to take note of with Brito is his plate discipline and contact skills, and a swing that is geared to pull the ball in the air, which allows him to take advantage of his hit tool and translate that into some pop and on-base skills.

2025 Scouting Grades

Hit: 50
Power: 45
Speed: 40
Defense: 40
Arm: 40
Overall: 45
Risk: Moderate
ETA: 2025

What Makes Brito Fun

It’s all about the hit tool. Brito hasn’t shown a great propensity to chase. He’s not a hacker. He’s a patient hitter who can put up a good at bat and is comfortable drawing a walk. When he does make contact, he can plug the gaps and corners the line drives and occasionally lift the ball over the fence from both sides of the plate. He’s no Juan Soto, maybe more of a Carlos Santana with slightly less power, but he can be a fun hitter to watch.

What Could Hold Brito Back?

He’s going to have to hit to carry a big league role. He’s most comfortable at second base, and that was in the words of Guardians President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti. Not that he’s good defender there, or can handle the position even, just where he’s most comfortable. Cleveland found that out by moving him to third base, right field and first base in 2024. That was mostly due to being blocked at second and third. He’s less blocked at second now, at least temporarily. Still, there’s not one position to really define Brito. He lacks range and general smooth actions. His arm probably profiles as average at best. On the bases, he did attempt 18 steals last year and might contribute some there early in his career, but it’s not an average tool for him. His ability to hold a starting job probably depends entirely on how much he can hit, walk and find power.

Key Metric

24.6% - Brito’s Triple-A chase rate in 2024. THat would have been in the top 30 in baseball among regulars last season - in fact, it was exactly Carlos Santan’s chase rate. Adjusting for the jump in pitching from Triple-A to the majors, even a 30% chase rate was in Jose Ramirez’s range last year, which was high for him, but still 6% below Andres Gimenez’s rate. His 86.9% zone contact rate was the same as Gimenez, however. So chasing less than Gimenez and matching his ability to make contact and potentially hit the ball in the air more (38% FB% and 47 pull%) give him more ability to take advantage of his best tool.

Intangibles

You can at least point to Brito’s willingness to move to different positions last year to attempt to be more valuable and find a path to the majors despite being most comfortable at second base. It’s a testament that his offensive numbers were still strong despite that movement.

Future

There are some fuzzy Carlos Santana type skills here. Santana has always had more power. So he could be a little lighter offensively in terms of power. A similar hit tool and he does have a swing geared to loft and pull. He should have a major league future in some capacity, either as an offensive-minded second baseman that could pop around 40 extra base hits a year and draw walks. However, if there’s not just enough hit/pop, he looks more like a utility infielder that is still more bat-first, but light enough to keep him on the bench because he can probably draw a walk and stand at infield spots and handle the outfield at times, plus he’s a switch hitter. Brito might get a chance to get major league playing time in 2025 but he’ll need to hit quickly for Cleveland with Travis Bazzana coming behind him like a tasmanian devil (too easy?).

Role/Risk

45/Moderate : Bat-first infielder that could be an average everyday regular or fringe starter/bench piece