CLEVELAND — Quick, name the 17 players who made their major-league debut for the Guardians in 2022.
Steven Kwan, yes, the third-place finisher in a loaded American League Rookie of the Year field. Oscar Gonzalez, who enjoyed a “SpongeBob Squarepants”-themed October breakout, of course. Bo Naylor made a late-season cameo. Gabriel Arias and Tyler Freeman. Will Brennan and Will Benson. Cody Morris, Hunter Gaddis, Connor Pilkington and Xzavion Curry. That’s 11.
Hmmm, it gets a bit more difficult after that.
Richie Palacios. Bryan Lavastida. Kirk McCarthy. There’s 14.
Nolan Jones, now a Colorado Rockie. Alex Call spent three weeks with the Guardians, and it seemed like he had an entire section of friends and family at every home game. Tanner Tully, the former Ohio State Buckeye, made three appearances, each in a different month.
The Guardians tied a franchise record with the 17 debuts. A year ago, I wrote “13 Cleveland Guardians prospects who could break into the big leagues in 2022.” Nine of them did (plus Peyton Battenfield, sort of, though he never pitched in a game). Eight others joined the fun, too.
Are there even any prospects remaining who could debut in 2023? Oh yes. I’ll take the under on 17 this year, but here are 14 who could enter the conversation.
He’s a 21-year-old with the ability to muscle a fastball to the moon. The question is, can he make enough contact to survive against major-league pitching? Noel posted a .348/.396/.636 slash line in A-ball in 2021, the year he graduated from teenager status. Last season, split between High A and Double A (plus a September cameo in Triple A), he registered a .229/.310/.489 slash line. There’s also the question of where he fits defensively. In 2022, he started 50 games in right field, 25 at designated hitter, 24 at third base, 17 in left field and 17 at first base.
13. SP Tanner Burns
The second-highest-rated starting pitcher named Tanner in the Guardians’ system, Burns reached Double A last season. He posted a 3.56 ERA in 164 1/3 innings, with 183 strikeouts, although he did walk more than four batters per nine innings. At 24, the 2020 first-round pick could be ready to start the season at Triple-A Columbus, but the organization has quite the logjam in the upper levels.
12. SP Peyton Battenfield
Battenfield spent a long weekend with the Guardians last August, joining the club in Detroit on a getaway day and then replacing James Karinchak on the active roster for their series in Toronto. He never made it into a game, though. Will he get his chance, or could his career wind up mirroring that of Moonlight Graham? The Guardians acquired Battenfield from Tampa Bay for Jordan Luplow in 2021. That year, he recorded impressive numbers at High A and Double A, with a 2.53 ERA, a ridiculous .219 opponent on-base percentage and 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings. But his peripherals suffered in 2022, with his strikeout rate nearly dropping in half, his walk rate doubling and his hit rate soaring. Cleveland opted not to add Battenfield to the 40-man roster and he went unselected in the Rule 5 draft. The 25-year-old has a ton of competition at Columbus in the battle for rotation consideration.
Brian Rocchio (Norm Hall/Getty Images)
Rocchio, who turns 22 on Friday, is a consensus Top 100 prospect who logged a .755 OPS last season between Akron and Columbus. Since he made his Triple A debut in 2022, he’s one call from the big leagues, but a few people stand in his way: Amed Rosario, Andrés Giménez, Arias and Freeman. That doesn’t mean Rocchio can’t nudge his way onto the roster at some point in 2023, but he’ll need others to flounder, land on the injured list or be included in a trade to help thin the middle-infield crowd. If not for that surplus, we could toss Jose Tena’s name onto this list, too, since he ended last season at Triple A.
10. (tie) RP Nick Mikolajchak, RP Andrew Misiaszek
The Guardians lost relievers Nic Enright and Kevin Kelly in the Rule 5 draft, but Mikolajchak and Misiaszek — say those names five times fast (or one time slow) — remained in the organization. Mikolajchak seemed to be on a fast track to the majors, but then this happened…
2021: 5.6% walk rate, 35.2% strikeout rate
2022: 13.7% walk rate, 23.6% strikeout rate
One National League scout told me he was surprised another team didn’t grab Mikolajchak in the Rule 5 draft. Misiaszek, Aaron Civale’s former teammate at Northeastern, posted a 2.04 ERA between Akron and Columbus last season, with 90 strikeouts in 61 2/3 innings.
8. C/IF David Fry
The elder statesman on the list, Fry is 27 but offers defensive versatility that would surely appeal to a flexibility-phile like manager Terry Francona. Fry, who has appeared at the corner infield spots and at catcher, was acquired in a trade with the Brewers for JC Mejía a year ago and had a solid year at the plate for Columbus last season, with 17 homers, 27 doubles and a . 779 OPS. He played in the Arizona Fall League and worked on his skills behind the plate at the club’s complex this winter. Outside of Mike Zunino and, eventually, Bo Naylor, there should be some opportunities behind the plate this season.
7. (tie) SP Daniel Espino, SP Gavin Williams, SP Tanner Bibee
These three, all widely considered Top 100 prospects, are the future of Cleveland’s rotation. Part of the future could arrive as soon as this summer. The front office has resisted trade offers for the three. Now it’s a race to the big leagues. Williams and Bibee advanced from High A to Double A last year, their first professional seasons that included game action. The results were jarring. It stands to reason both will be in Columbus before long.
Bibee: 132 2/3 innings, 2.17 ERA, 1.8 BB/9, 11.3 K/9, .603 opponent OPS
Williams: 115 innings, 1.96 ERA, 3.1 BB/9, 11.7 K/9, .528 opponent OPS
Espino, on the other hand, started the year at Akron but made only four starts before knee and shoulder injuries derailed his season. In those four starts, he struck out 35 batters in 18 1/3 innings.
It’s just a matter of health for Cantillo, who spent the entire 2022 season at Akron. He was part of the six-player package Cleveland received from San Diego for Mike Clevinger in 2020, but he has totaled only 73 2/3 innings since. The lefty limited opponents to a .178 average and .277 slugging percentage in 60 2/3 innings, and although his walk rate was a bit high, he did rack up 87 strikeouts. In parts of five minor-league seasons, he owns a 2.38 ERA, with more than twice as many strikeouts as hits allowed.
3. SP Logan Allen
Cleveland’s second-round pick in 2020 out of Florida International, the lefty could make it five consecutive years the organization employs a Logan Allen at the big-league level. (I, too, had completely forgotten Logan S. Allen pitched for the Guardians last April.) This Logan Allen, Logan T. Allen, breezed through Cleveland’s system with a standout 2021, his first professional season, and a strong start at Double A in 2022 before he hit a speed bump upon a promotion to Triple A. There, he recorded an uncharacteristically high walk rate. He figures to return to Columbus to begin 2023, but if he can regain his command, he could carve out a spot near the top of the rotation waiting list.
Valera does three things with regularity at the plate: He walks, he strikes out and he hits for power. Can he do more of the walking and hitting for power and trim the strikeout rate? He turned 22 in November, so there’s plenty of time for him to evolve as a hitter and leverage his plate discipline skills. At the moment, his profile feels Carlos Santana-esque (not that that’s a bad thing). Valera reached Triple A last summer, so if the Guardians need a corner outfielder at some point in 2023, he could receive consideration. His 2022 numbers: .250/.353/.463 slash line, 24 homers, 25 doubles, 74 walks and 145 strikeouts in 132 games.
Herrin has the easiest path to the majors of anyone on this list because … the Guardians added him to the 40-man roster in November, there’s at least one vacancy in the bullpen, there isn’t a lot of competition, he’s a tall left -hander, he can pitch multiple innings, he throws in the mid-90s, and teams cycle through relievers every season. (gasps for air) Is that enough justification? Herrin, 26, was a 29th-round pick in 2018 out of Indiana University. He was dominant at Akron last season — 22 1/3 innings, five runs, six walks, 37 strikeouts — before earning a promotion to Columbus, where his strikeout rate remained strong, but his ERA jumped to 4.98.
GO DEEPER
Ten Cleveland Guardians predictions for a promising 2023
GO DEEPER
Can you name all 54 Cleveland Guardians players from the 2022 season?
(Top photo of George Valera: Mike Janes / Four Seam Images via Associated Press)
.