Beneath is an evaluation of the prospects within the farm system of the Cleveland Guardians. Scouting experiences have been compiled with info supplied by trade sources in addition to our personal observations. That is the sixth yr we’re delineating between two anticipated aid roles, the abbreviations for which you’ll see within the “place” column under: MIRP for multi-inning aid pitchers, and SIRP for single-inning aid pitchers. The ETAs listed usually correspond to the yr a participant needs to be added to the 40-man roster to keep away from being made eligible for the Rule 5 draft. Guide changes are made the place they appear acceptable, however we use that as a rule of thumb.
A fast overview of what FV (Future Worth) means may be discovered right here. A a lot deeper overview may be discovered right here.
All the ranked prospects under additionally seem on The Board, a useful resource the positioning gives that includes sortable scouting info for each group. It has extra particulars (and up to date TrackMan information from numerous sources) than this text and integrates each crew’s listing so readers can evaluate prospects throughout farm programs. It may be discovered right here.
Different Prospects of Be aware
Grouped by kind and listed so as of choice inside every class.
Enigmas
Welbyn Francisca, 2B
Justin Campbell, RHP
Francisca was as soon as a Prime 100 prospect right here due to his elite hit software projection. He has struggled to hold premium contact charges to full season ball (he’s nonetheless a reasonably good hitter, simply not an elite one), and he continues to wrestle with throwing accuracy on protection at shortstop. As soon as a participant’s defensive match is proscribed to a lesser place or two (in Francisca’s case, that’s trying like second base and, speculatively, third), they lose the opportunity of a utility participant consequence, and both sink or swim as an on a regular basis man at their major place. With no rebound into elite contact territory, Francisca’s profile appears to be like extra like Domingo Leyba’s than, say, Ernie Clement’s. Campbell was the thirty seventh total choose in 2022 however hasn’t pitched in professional ball but as a consequence of a litany of accidents. We appreciated him popping out of Oklahoma State and are curious what he’ll appear like when he pitches once more, nevertheless it’s powerful to think about him a rankable prospect at this level when he hasn’t pitched in a sport for almost 4 years.
Depth Starters
Ryan Webb, LHP
Will Dion, LHP
Rodney Boone, LHP
Rafe Schlesinger, LHP
Michael Kennedy, LHP
Erigaldi Perez, RHP
Webb is a lefty depth starter who leans on his slider and alter. He manages to maintain the ball within the yard regardless of softer stuff and will get a number of spot begins. Dion has below-average arm power and a mixture of common and fringy stuff. He’s a depth choice from the left aspect. Boone will get 20 inches of vertical break on his fastball and might actually pitch, however the stuff could be very mild. Schlesinger was a fourth rounder out of Miami in 2024 and had A-ball success in 2025. He’s a very loose-armed lefty (he appears to be like like Kyle Nelson) who throws strikes with below-average stuff. Kennedy’s strike-throwing backed up a very good bit in 2025, and he must have plus command if he’s going to root into a gentle huge league position. Final yr, he seemed extra like a possible depth starter. Perez, 19, is a well-built 6-foot-2 righty who spent 2025 in Goodyear. He has a beautiful supply that generates over six-and-a-half toes of extension and throws a ton of strikes with a median fastball.
Fringe 40-Man Hitters
Milan Tolentino, INF
Jake Fox, CF
Joe Lampe, OF
Man Lipscomb, CF
Wuilfredo Antunez, OF
Christian Knapczyk, 2B/3B
Jonah Advincula, 1B/OF
Tolentino has common energy and an above-average glove at brief. He’s at Triple-A, however his contact charges and swing choices are alarming and indicative of a man who wants extra seasoning. Fox performs a powerful heart discipline, however we will’t depart a 50 hit projection on a man who dipped under the Mendoza Line in Double-A (and hit simply .218 in Excessive-A in 2024). We’re not going to hold our hats on batting common fairly often, nevertheless it’s related for guys with 30 pop. He’s nonetheless younger sufficient to develop right into a glove-first depth outfielder. Lampe can run and throw properly sufficient to make a situational influence on an enormous league sport, however we don’t suppose his hit/energy combo is ample to play a sustained position within the bigs. Lipscomb is quick with sturdy contact abilities, and he appears to be like extra hitterish on tape than the numbers suggest. A scarcity of energy possible limits him to an up-down position. Antunez put up online game numbers in A-ball in 2025 as a result of his swing is geared to launch within the excessive (23 levels on common), which allowed him to pepper the appropriate discipline foul pole with contact. His bodily instruments are within the 40- and 45-grade space. We don’t see his floor stat efficiency holding up on the highest ranges, and think about him extra of an eventual fringe 40-man piece. Knapczyk, a 2023 fifth rounder out of Louisville, is a lefty-hitting infielder with above-average barrel really feel however 30-grade energy. Advincula, 25, is a slender contact-hitting nook man who has had success in A-ball. This dude buttons fastballs, however he’s been previous for his degree and lacks overt huge league physicality.
Traditional Cleveland Sorts
Jonathan Martinez, INF
Angel Abreu, INF
Johan Rodriguez, INF
Yeiferth Castillo, OF
Israel Alvarez, INF
It’s frequent information that Cleveland’s strategy to worldwide scouting gravitates towards a very good variety of compact, contact-oriented hitters. There are a rising variety of exceptions (simply take a look at the 45+ FV tier), however there nonetheless loads of guys like that within the system. Martinez is one other smaller, hit-over-power center infielder, one with rather less barrel really feel than a few of the children on the advanced who made the primary part. Abreu was the youngest hitter on the DSL roster and posted a single digit strikeout charge because of his glorious in-the-box timing and brief levers. He rotates fairly properly for a stout lad. Rodriguez is a Cuban infielder who performed rookie ball in Arizona all through 2025 and appears like a chase-prone reserve infielder. Castillo is a barrel-chested, 5-foot-8 Venezuelan outfielder with a very candy swing however mainly no bodily projection. He’s been a low strikeout performer in rookie ball. Alvarez is a flexible Venezuelan teenage infielder with nice hand-eye coordination within the batter’s field, he’s simply making a number of very tender contact.
Rookie Ballers With Projection
Heins Brito, SS
Gustavo Baptista, C/1B
Daniel Gentile, RHP
Rodny Rosario, SS/3B
Hiverson López, C
Luis Garcia, INF
Listed here are another notable counter examples to the prior group. Brito is a switch-hitting shortstop who was one of many higher-bonus Guardians signees in 2025 ($825,000) after which actually struggled in his DSL debut. He posted a roughly common contact charge, however the high quality of the contact was missing, and he had a .614 OPS final yr. Nonetheless, we actually just like the verve in Brito’s fingers and swing, in addition to the general high quality of his athleticism, and suppose he’s somebody to know of and monitor for enchancment in 2026. Baptista is a bodily lefty-hitting catcher who had an .880 OPS in his 2025 DSL debut. He has good energy for a 17-year-old, however his swing is grooved and his contact charge was in a crimson flag space for a DSL hitter. Gentile, who turned 17 in August, is a loose-armed, if undersized, righty with an upshot fastball and sufficient really feel for location to develop as a starter. It’s powerful to mission higher velocity and breaking ball energy on an athlete this slender, however he’s so younger that the error bar on this piece of his profile is admittedly fairly massive. He was within the DSL in 2025. Rosario cuts in opposition to the grain of Cleveland’s worldwide tendencies a bit, as he has extra mature physicality and size than many of the crew’s switch-hitting infield prospects. His power and pace helped facilitate a number of doubles and triples on the DSL degree in 2025, however his contact efficiency was in a crimson flag zone. López ($900,000) and Garcia ($775,000) have been additionally amongst Cleveland’s prime 2025 signees who had powerful DSL debuts.
Potential Up/Down Relievers
Jack Leftwich, RHP
Matt Jachec, RHP
Angel Perez, RHP
Sean Matson, RHP
Javi Torres, RHP
Leftwich tunnels a four-seamer and an influence curve. It’s a useful, if decrease influence, strategy, and he’s a candidate to yo-yo between Columbus and Cleveland this yr. Jachec will get a ton of groundballs and has a very good slider, however his fastball was very hittable in 2025 and his strikeouts dipped means under his 2024 output. Perez hides the ball properly and sits 93-96. He ripped fastballs previous advanced and Low-A hitters in 2025 and struck out 36% of opponents. His command and repertoire depth have to develop. Matson is an older reliever out of Harvard who Okay’d a ton of A-ball hitters with a Bugs Bunny changeup. Torres was a Texas State commit and two-way excessive schooler who signed as an undrafted free agent in 2023, and spent 2024 recovering from elbow surgical procedure. He returned to the mound very late within the 2025 ACL season and sat 95-97 with scattershot command. If that’s due to rust and he can find higher in 2026, he might transfer into the primary part of the listing.
System Overview
As was the case final yr, Cleveland has an above-average system. There are six prime 50 guys within the org and a few others who have been in rivalry. Guardians followers needs to be enthused to see 9 hitters among the many prime 12 right here, a few of whom are poised to infuse much-needed life into the lineup early in 2026. It’s a wholesome stability of bats and arms for any crew, all of the extra so for a corporation that historically develops pitching very properly.
About that. Impressed by the dearth of influence arms close to the highest of the 2025 listing and the dearth of latest breakouts on the farm, Eric rhetorically requested “(h)because the bloom come off the pitching improvement rose a bit right here?” on this area final yr. Maybe they’re simply struggling by comparability to the lofty normal they’ve set for themselves. As different groups have emulated Cleveland’s habits, from the best way the crew has graded and prioritized fastball form to the way it has developed promising spin elements into monster breaking balls, there will not be as many breakout candidates for the Guardians to pick up and down the draft.
There have been nonetheless successes in 2025. Joey Oakie’s in-season improvement from a pure thrower to a Choose-to-Click on candidate is clearly a constructive. It might appear to be a small factor, however the best way they’ve helped flip a low-level lifer like Steven Pérez right into a stable lefty pitching prospect can also be a wholesome signal of a pitching group that may discover paths ahead even the place none appear obvious. The acquisitions of Peyton Pallette and particularly Khal Stephen additionally point out that the membership’s aptitude for locating expertise on the scouting/entrance workplace aspect hasn’t dimmed. And naturally, we’d be remiss if we didn’t notice that Parker Messick and Joey Cantillo have been huge contributors down the stretch. It’s maybe not as thrilling as after they dug up a Shane Bieber or a Tanner Bibee yearly, however to the extent that the bloom has come off the rose, it’s much less a narrative of the Guardians slipping than others catching up.
On the opposite aspect of the ball, a few trendlines have emerged. Cleveland’s affinity for high-contact, up-the-middle bats with lesser physicality is properly documented, and that also describes most of their worldwide signees. Maybe quietly, they’ve taken one other path domestically. Three of their final 4 first rounders — Chase DeLauter, Ralphy Velazquez, and Jace LaViolette — are energy hitters, and the final one particularly signifies an urge for food, or at the least tolerance, for strikeout threat. The 2025 draft particularly, with LaViolette, Dean Curley, and Nolan Schubart on the heart, speaks to this pattern, as do toolsy however dangerous latest commerce acquisitions like Kahlil Watson and Alfonsin Rosario. It’s nearly like an inverted model of the Yankees’ strategy, which targets upside in Latin America whereas taking part in it secure within the draft.
Maybe it’s all a coincidence. Cleveland, a model-heavy crew if there ever was one, may be mining for undervalued expertise no matter its form. The Guardians have additionally been prepared to regress closely on hitters with early-career efficiency however poor draft-year seasons, and loads of the names above fall into that bucket as properly. However would possibly there even be a slight philosophical change? Steven Kwan apart, loads of the punchless hitters they’ve developed lately have come up brief on the highest degree. You’ll be able to perceive why they is likely to be looking for a cleanup hitter to go together with all of the leadoff and nine-hole varieties they’ve assembled for years.