Previewing Guardians’ Spring Breakout Roster: Part 2

We have some new arrivals to the roster

The Guardians have added some more prospects to their roster for Saturday’s Spring Breakout game.

On Saturday, March 16th, the Guardians’ and Reds’ top prospects will match-up in a game at 7:05 EST to which you can listen on MLB.com. So far, it doesn’t appear you will be able to watch it because MLB and Bally Sports are great like that. We previewed the initial roster release earlier, please check it out. But, there have been some updates since.

Justin Campbell and Bryan Lavastida have been removed from the roster. No word on Lavastida yet, but it’s been rumored by some Guardians accounts posting on Twitter that Campbell may be hurt again, sadly.

Added to the initial roster provided in the article linked above are the players previewed below:

Juan Brito, 2B/3B, Switch-Hitter, 22 years old - Brian Hemminger recently provided a scouting report on Brito for Covering the Corner when users ranked Brito the fifth best Guardians’ prospect. Brito proceeded to have a solid Spring Training with the team, working counts, taking walks, hitting some balls hard and having a sensational performance at third base in at least one game. He’s a pulled fly-ball king whom I believe is our second baseman shortly after the All-Star break (moving Andres Gimenez to shortstop). Don’t believe me? Watch this smooth as butter back-flip:

Jhonkensy Noel, 1B/OF, RH, 22 years old - Speaking of home runs, Brian also described slugger Noel for us when he came in 17th on our prospect ranking list. Noel shares a lot in common with Deyvison De Los Santos, currently set to make the Guardians’ roster... was successful at a young age at Double-A, hits too many groundballs and strikes out more than what you’d want. From my brief observations, it seems that Noel has more of a chance to stick in the outfield than De Los Santos. He also reliably mashes left-handed pitching (somewhere around an .850 OPS against them over the past three years). Let’s hope we get to enjoy a Jhonk Donk in the Breakout game:

Franco Aleman, RHP, 23 years old - A breakout reliever for the Guardians minor-leagues in 2023, Aleman put up a 0.98 FIP and a 14.25/1.88 K/BB/9 in 24 innings in Akron. He then struck out six batters in three innings in Columbus (and walked three). Aleman throws upper 90’s and is working on a split-fingered pitch to pair with his slider and help his dominant fastball get the job done in the majors. I’d expect to see Aleman a good bit in Cleveland this year.

Mason Hickman, RHP, 25 years old - Hickman is not what I’d really call a prospect. His 11.69 K/9 at Akron last year is some reason for optimism on a potential middle-relief role for the future if he can keep the walks under control.

Brad Hanner, RHP, 25 years old - The Guardians sent Hanner to the Arizona Fall League. The Guardians gave Hanner an invite to major league Spring Training. The Guardians put Hanner on their Spring Breakout roster. The Guardians know a lot more about pitching than I do so there must be something here that I absolutely do not see. That 10.05/5.02 K/BB/9 and 4.16 FIP in around 200 minor league innings isn’t enough for me to see much here, no offense to Mr. Hanner. Or Mr. Hanner’s mom.

Nic Enright, RHP, 27 years old - Enright got absolutely crushed by the home run ball after returning to Cleveland from Miami last season, with 21% of the fly balls he gave up ending up in the seats. He then proceeded to give up a homer in his brief three innings in Spring Training this year. His career 3.45 FIP and 12.03/2.48 K/BB/9 give me (and ZiPS, a projection system that LOVE Nic Enright for this year) hope that Enright can become a good middle-reliever in the majors, but his age definitely puts him at the point where he needs to either sink or swim this season. Is a low 90’s fastball and a deceptive gyro slider enough to equal big league success? So far, the early returns indicate “no,” but we will see.

My updated Guardians Spring Breakout Projected Lineup and preferred pitching order:

1. Jake Fox, CF

2. Chase DeLauter, RF

3. Juan Brito, 2B

4. Kyle Manzardo, 1B

5. Kahlil Watson, SS

6. Jhonkensy Noel, DH

7. Cooper Ingle, C

8. Jaison Chourio, LF

9. José Devers, 3B

(C.J. Kayfus first to come in off the bench at DH or 1B)

Preferred Pitcher order (1 inning for each... man, this is a lot of lefties!):

Parker Messick LHP
Will Dion LHP
Doug Nikhazy LHP
Ryan Webb LHP
Jackson Humphries RHP
Alex Clemmey LHP
Andrew Walters RHP
Nic Enright RHP
Franco Aleman RHP