Guardians Possibility Kyle Manzardo

The Guardians introduced that third baseman José Ramírez has been reinstated from the paternity listing with first baseman Kyle Manzardo optioned to Triple-A Columbus because the corresponding transfer.

Manzardo, 23, got here into this season ranked as one of many prime 100 prospects within the sport and the Guards promoted him to the large leagues in early Might. Sadly, his first six weeks within the majors haven’t gone particularly nicely. In 87 journeys to the plate, he has but to hit a house run whereas strolling simply 3.4% of the time and placing out at a 26.4% clip. His .207/.241/.329 batting line results in a wRC+ of 61, indicating he’s been 39% worse than the league common hitter.

These numbers are pretty uncharacteristic for Manzardo and it wouldn’t be a shock to see him get again on monitor after a little bit of a reset. Prospects don’t at all times comply with a linear growth path and it’s not the primary time he’s wanted to make an adjustment after some struggles.

A second-round decide of the Rays in 2021, he produced a monstrous batting line of .327/.426/.617 in 2022, splitting his time between Excessive-A and Double-A. That included 22 dwelling runs and a 14.9% stroll price whereas he was solely punched out 16.4% of the time.

The Rays bumped him as much as Triple-A final yr, however he didn’t have a lot preliminary success at that degree. In 73 video games for the Durham Bulls, he hit 11 dwelling runs and nonetheless walked at a powerful 13.4% tempo, however the total line of .238/.342/.442 led a wRC+ of 95 in a reasonably heightened offensive atmosphere within the Worldwide League final yr.

The Guardians resolve to take a shot on him, sending Aaron Civale to the Rays in a one-for-one swap finally yr’s deadline. After altering organizations, he completed the season on a powerful word, hitting .256/.348/.590 in 21 Triple-A video games after the deal. He then went to the Arizona Fall League and slashed .272/.340/.565 in 22 video games there. He returned to Triple-A to begin this yr and hit 9 dwelling runs in 29 video games whereas strolling in 11.7% of his plate appearances, resulting in a line of .303/.375/.642 earlier than his promotion.

Sadly, the large league audition noticed all his numbers transfer within the unsuitable path, so he’ll have to move again to Columbus for now. Since he’s at all times had sturdy stroll and strikeout charges, it could be fairly stunning if he weren’t in a position to enhance these numbers within the main leagues the following time he comes up.

From a service time perspective, Manzardo was already going to be developing in need of one yr of service time since he missed greater than a month off the highest of the 2024 marketing campaign. He would have been on monitor for early arbitration as a Tremendous Two participant after 2026 if he stayed up, however that can now be much less seemingly, relying on how lengthy it takes him to return again up.

For the Guardians, they’re main the American League Central and must be in agency purchaser place on the upcoming deadline. Manzardo had largely been serving because the designated hitter, so supervisor Stephen Vogt will now have some capacity to rotate varied gamers by means of that spot. It may additionally give the Entrance Workplace some flexibility in maybe including a bat-first participant to strengthen the lineup for the ultimate months of the season, with guys like Brent Rooker, Eloy Jiménez, Taylor Ward, Miguel Andujar or outdated good friend Josh Bell simply among the guys that might be accessible in the direction of the tip of July. Within the shorter time period, guys like José Abreu, Daniel Vogelbach, J.D. Davis and Garrett Cooper have just lately misplaced their roster spots with different golf equipment and must be attainable.