2025 Cleveland Guardians Prospect Scouting Report: #2 INF Angel Genao

Angel Genao offers an exciting combination of contact, speed, defense, and pop - will his approach hold back his potential?

Jul 09, 2025

Age (2025 season): 21
Acquired: International FA, 2021
2024 Level: High-A
Height: 6’0
Weight: 190
Bats: Both
Throws: Right
Rule 5/Options: 2025

Overview

Genao has been a prospect on the radar for a few years and took some time to get through Low-A and start to show the tools many thought he possessed. He’s certainly grown into his body and is taller and more physical than his listed weight. It was a breakout year for Genao, who has persevered to get this far.

First Impression

Energetic player with an exciting up-the-middle toolset that is starting to emerge into on-field production. Plays fast and loose, with energy and enthusiasm. Slightly aggressive on both sides of the ball but comes with potential impact in all areas of his game.

2025 Scouting Grades

Hit: 50
Power: 45
Speed: 60
Defense: 55
Arm: 60
Overall: 50
Risk: High
ETA: 2027

What Makes Genao Fun

Genao posts good exit velocities for his size, position and age. He’s got enough raw power for his position to be considered average at the big league level. He shows the ability to drive the ball to the opposite field from both sides of the plate. Above average contact skills give Genao the ability to succeed despite an aggressive approach. He’s not a complete free swinger and does have a good amount of patience and zone awareness for that type of approach. Out of the box, Genao has very easy plus speed and doesn’t have to show a lot of effort to get down the line and run the bases. He gets good jumps when trying to steal. On the defensive side, Genao has impressive body control and good range. He shows the smoothness, footwork, hands and enough range to stick at shortstop. Genao has more than enough arm to play on the left hand side of the infield, and also handles second base well.

What Could Genao Hold Genao Back

While Genao does have good contact skills and hasn’t shown to chase much, he probably won’t be the kind of hitter to take a ton of walks, so his offense may have to come from batting average and avoiding strikeouts, and making it count. He has enough raw power to profile as average, but his swing doesn’t get the ball in the air frequently enough to take full advantage of it. He also will drive the ball to the opposite field and doesn’t catch it out in front enough to get to it on his pull side. Occasionally Genao will speed up in the field with his range or speed up his throws, or air one out. He’ll need to refine some of his natural body clock in the field to shore that up.

Key Metric

81% - Genao ran a contact rate of 81% in 2024. The average contact rate in the majors in 2024 was 76.8%. That number might be challenged as he moves up levels, due to his aggressive approach at times. But his strikeout rate only climbed 2% from Low-A to High-A, yet his walk rate jumped 0.9%. He doesn’t get cheated when he swings and how good his contact rate remains when he moves up levels with that approach will determine how much of his hit tool he can truly take advantage of.

Intangibles

Cleveland saw an impressive commitment from Genao off the field coming into 2024, which led to better results on the field and considered him a good example to other young, international players for how that can pay off. Genao comes from a challenging background and has persevered to get this far in pro ball and plays with enthusiasm for the game as well as the work that it takes to match his talent. He’s working towards improving his English as well.

Future

Unless he outgrows the position, which is possible. Genao has the chance to stay at shortstop and play as an above average defender there thanks to his range, footwork and smooth hands, and has more than enough arm. His speed should remain an impact tool for him even if he grows a little bit. His future impact depends on his approach holding up against more advanced pitching. There’s a good chance for an Andres Gimenez type approach as he moves up, but Genao hasn’t shown as much chase out of the zone so far and does have some more impact in his bat. He’ll need to get the ball in the air more to take advantage of it, but he’ll be able to play good defense at three positions if he stays at short and should be able to handle third, but that will put more pressure on the bat. There’s enough of a package here to project an average regular now with the potential that his approach carries and he’s a bit of a unicorn and is an impact regular, but enough questions with the approach that it limits his impact as he moves up.

Role/Risk

50/High - Average regular middle infielder with defense, speed and sneaky pop