We can’t block any of these guys, remember?
Eric Longenhagen and Brendan Gawlowski offered their thoughts on Cleveland Guardians’ farm-hands on FanGraphs yesterday – what can Guardians’ fans gather from their insights?
First, some obligatory caveats – while Longenhagen and Gawlowski are, of course, incredibly talented and insightful writers, they cannot possibly know every farm system as in-depth as they would need to in order to offer the best possible analysis. At the same time, their more broad perspective should offer folks more focused on the Guardians’ system some useful context and challenges to their own thinking. Prospect evaluators are not infallible, we all realize, so it’s best to appreciate the wheat and cheerfully discard the chaff when reading these pieces.
The DeLauter Dilemma
The FanGraphs’ guys rank DeLauter as the Guardians’ best prospect and rave about his hitting, but express concerns about (of course) his injury history and his fielding. This takeaway was particularly worth contemplating:
You do what you have to do in a do-or-die situation, we guess, but going forward, we hope Cleveland takes the bat in the hand here. The Guardians should do everything they can to keep DeLauter in the lineup, and if that means he’s a DH, so be it.
I think Longenhagen and Gawlowski have said out loud what a lot of us have been puzzling about all offseason. Do the Guardians really think an injury-prone outfielder like DeLauter can play centerfield for a full major league season? Or even split time between centerfield and designated hitter? It seems Icarian thinking at best, even if I am a bit more optimistic about DeLauter’s defensive abilities than these writers are. Right now, the other centerfield options on the 40-man (or adjacent) are Nolan Jones, Angel Martinez, Petey Halpin, Stuart Fairchild and Kahlil Watson. Not inspiring. And, we have zero indication the team would ever consider moving Steven Kwan to center, allowing DeLauter and Valera to start in left and right.
Ralphy Velazuez Raving
He has the work ethic and motor to potentially play an outfield corner and “he enters 2026 as an arrow-up guy with a chance to reach Cleveland as soon as this summer” according to Longenhagen. Yes, please.
Bamboozled by Bazzana
The FanGraphs folks agree with my own assessment that Travis Bazzana is a second base-only option defensively. They are still high on his ability to pull fly balls and get on-base. I was unsure why Bazzana didn’t get a 55 future value rating, but only a 50 when I read their assessment, but I assume it is limited defensive value and concerns he won’t be able to lower his strikeout rate significantly. Overall, it was a positive scouting report accompanied by a prediction he ends up in Cleveland this summer, though they are higher on Angel Genao than Bazzana, overall.
Pitching Pairs
The FanGraphs’ prospect guys offered some caution about Cleveland’s current pitching depth, but their still like some guys in the system and offered some great comps. Parker Messick is “ultra competitive and sneaky athletic” like a “pitching version of Alejandro Kirk”, Kahl Stephen shares similarities with the Mariners’ Bryce Miller, and Braylon Doughty with a little more command developed could be the next Shane Bieber.
Other Observations:
They really like Tugboat, Gabriel Rodriguez and Robert Arias, interestingly enough. They’ve still got doubts about teenage phenoms Dauri Fernandez and Juneiker Caceres. They’ve bailed on Welbyn Francisca and have significant doubts about Cooper Ingle as a catcher defensively, and think he’s mostly a singles hitter. They wonder if a healthy Daniel Espino could break camp in the bullpen. They’re impressed with how the team has developed lefty reliever Steven Perez. They introduced me to a name I’d never heard of in Kendeglys Virguez who looks to be a reliever who can hit 101 mph, turning 22 years old this season. They are down a bit on Juan Brito whom they see as a bad defender but a guy who can pull the ball in the air reliably against lefties and hit right-handers well enough to still be a 1-2 fWAR guy.
You should read the whole piece, but I think the most interesting parts were at the end where they talked about the system, overall. Are the Guardians losing pitchers they used to target in the draft to teams across MLB who have caught up to their ability to eye market inefficiancies there? Are the Guardians targeting guys with high exit velocity in the draft to make up for an over-reliance on contact hitters in the past or to exploit a new undervalued resource in the draft?
I have my quibbles, but, as I said, I think it’s best to focus on the positives with these lists. The Guardians and their prospects will either disprove some of Longenhagen’s/Gawlowski’s doubts, or they won’t, but it’s fun to dream on some of the exciting tools and potential national writers see in our team’s minor leagues.
Category: General Sports
