May 6: Cleveland has now announced the promotion of Manzardo and Kwan’s placement on the injured list. In a pair of corresponding moves, the Guards optioned righty Peter Strzelecki and reinstated lefty Sam Hentges from the injured list.
May 5: The Guardians will promote slugging prospect Kyle Manzardo prior to tomorrow’s game with the Tigers, according to The Athletic’s Zack Meisel (X link). Cleveland has an open space on its 40-man roster to add Manzardo, and the 26-man space will be created when outfielder Steven Kwan is placed on the 10-day injured list.
Kwan left Saturday’s game due to hamstring tightness and was set to undergo an MRI today. The results of the tests aren’t yet known, but even if the MRI is clean, the Guards might’ve felt it necessary to sideline Kwan anyway given his long history of hamstring problems. As Kwan explained to reporters (including Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer) yesterday, he has battled hamstring issues both in the minors and during his college days.
Losing Kwan for any amount of time is a blow to the Guardians, as his huge early-season performance has fueled Cleveland’s rise to first place in the AL Central. Kwan is hitting .353/.407/.496 over 145 plate appearances, leading the American League in both batting average and hits (47). Some regression is inevitable since Kwan has a .370 BABIP and has continued to make some of the weakest contact of any hitter in baseball, but the Guards were happy to ride that offensive wave for as long as possible. In addition to this surge at the plate, Kwan has also been delivering his customary superb left field defense, and looks like a favorite to win his third straight Gold Glove.
Will Brennan got the start in left field today, but the Guardians will probably keep the Brennan/Ramon Laureano platoon going in right field and address Kwan’s absence by using Estevan Florial a bit more regularly in left. Florial has gotten the bulk of DH at-bats for Cleveland this season, yet the team will now need the designated hitter spot as a way to get Manzardo (who only plays first base) and Josh Naylor in the lineup at the same time. Gabriel Arias and David Fry also figure to get some playing time in the corner outfield in certain situations.
A second-round pick for the Rays in the 2021 draft, Manzardo came to Cleveland at last year’s trade deadline in the one-for-one swap that sent Aaron Civale to Tampa Bay. Manzardo’s minor league numbers had already drawn him top-100 prospect attention prior to the trade, and he has only gotten better since joining the Guardians organization. Manzardo is hitting .303/.375/.642 with nine home runs over 128 PA with Triple-A Columbus this season, and while the Guards chose to start him at Triple-A rather than add him to their Opening Day roster, it only seemed like a matter of time before Manzardo made his MLB debut.
MLB Pipeline ranked Manzardo 52nd on its list of the sport’s top 100 prospects, and Baseball America has him 87th. (For lists released prior to the season, The Athletic’s Keith Law ranked Manzardo 66th and ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel had him 83rd.) The consensus is clear — Manzardo’s bat is definitely ready for the big leagues, though the 23-year-old might already be ticketed for a DH-only future even in a world where Cleveland didn’t have Naylor locking down first base. Manzardo is viewed as a decent first baseman at best, and his lack of speed makes him an implausible choice to play outfield.
At the plate, however, Manzardo is a threat. He both makes a lot of hard contact and a lot of contact in general, befitting the Guardians’ preference for hitters who rarely strike out. Manzardo has 50 home runs over his 990 PA in the minors, and there is some sense that he might be able to unlock more power given how well-developed his approach is in the batter’s box.
This is music to the ears of a Guardians team that has long been lacking in power, though Cleveland’s offense has been greatly improved in the early going this season. Naylor has been a big contributor to that more dangerous lineup, but since Naylor is a free agent after the 2025 season, there has been a sense that Manzardo might well be the heir apparent at first base. Cleveland’s history of trading pricier players prior to free agency could make Naylor a big trade chip this coming offseason, so while a nice showing from Manzardo in his rookie season would certainly help the Guardians’ chances in 2024, it might have the Catch-22 of also hastening Naylor’s eventual departure.
Even if he stays on the Guards’ roster for the rest of the season, Manzardo won’t earn quite enough service time for a full season of MLB service. As a result, he wouldn’t garner the Guardians an extra draft pick under the Prospect Promotion Incentive even if he had a top-two finish in Rookie Of The Year voting. It is possible Manzardo might earn Super Two status and an extra year of arbitration eligibility if he garners enough service time over his first three seasons, though we won’t know that answer until the 2026 season is complete.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Hopefully Kwan isn’t out long, but excited to see Manzardo.
Propably out 4 to 6 weeks. Turner of phillies going to out 6 weeks with hamstring.
Super excited to see Manzanardo’s bat in the lineup. I still find the whole trade extremely confusing. The FO said he would be ready as early as next (this) season. While that turned out to be true, it’s odd to trade for a position-less player when your roster is built on positional flexibility. He basically turns into a LH pinch hitter if you want to rest any of Ramirez/ Naylor/Naylor and slot them at DH. The plan of moving their glut of middle infielders around the diamond doesn’t seem like a good long term plan.
@CO those are fair questions. I would assume Manzardo plays 1B when J Naylor is at DH. They may also schedule those maintenance days to be against lefties, when Manzardo might be benched anyway.
Go WSU cougs!
I get the move, but surely they’re not gonna plug Manzardo in LF.
Read the article. Kyle Manzano plays 1 base and dh. Josh Naylor will get traded at the end of 2024 season. He will become a free agent at the end of 2025. Kwan will go to arbitration at end of the year,and go year to year until free agency. Tanner bibbe will be same situation as Kwan. David blister owns 25 percent of the guardians, and needs to get more involved in the team.
Blister already said 120 million dollar payroll is doable in the cleveland baseball market
I don’t know who this Blister is, but David Blitzer has an option to purchase the controlling stake in a few years. Who’s to say that he’ll spend anymore than the Dolans are currently spending? Only time will tell.
David Blitzer owns 25 of guardians. Mis spell on my part. Thanks.
No. Manzardo takes DH. Florial and Arias will platoon LF.
If he’s slow moving in the field also slow on the base path?
What’s it spell ? Bad news for the Detroit Tigers ! Well, after their showing in N.Y. the tigers appear very unsteady after showing their rears there. Cleveland still has the excitement of the drafting number one this year too. Being in first place, and drafting one has to feel good for fans there.
The holes in Detroit are showing up, and its a little worrisome too.. Their above .500, but this is going to be a real test of the team and the manager, because like it or not, he’s in charge. Their above .500, lets go Tigers.
Yeah, unless Torkelson turns things around, it looks like the dog days for the kittens. Too many holes in that lineup. Which is unfortunate for Tigers fans, cause the starting pitching finally looks legit.
It’s the beginning of May
The AL Central is interesting at the moment, but all four contenders have the feeling of one of those teams that hang around until after the deadline, and then fades for one reason or another.
Not a knock on any of them, but they all have more question marks than can reasonably be answered. The team that does answer all, or most, of the questions wins.
I have been saying for years that you need to play 45 games before a one can say whether a team is legit or not. All 4 contenders have Pythagorean Win/Loss records that suggest that their records are legit, but only the Guardians have a winning record against teams with .500 winning percentage. It’s still early, but if that holds into June, I think you’ll see some separation in the 2nd half.
Some of these AL Central teams are gonna hang around like an old baloney sandwich. If May is anything like April, it’s gonna be a fun summer watching these young stars Duke it out.
Cleveland is going to walk away with the central. Don’t hurry Kwan back. Sort out CF.
Amazing how fast they have already moved on from Grady Sizemore.
He hasn’t been in Cleveland since 2011… What does this comment even mean?
He was crowned by every Cleveland media outlet as the most important Guardian in team history, thats why. I guess that didn’t mean much.
I didn’t remember it being that bad with sizemore… Damn. I wouldn’t have dubbed him that. Ty for explanation.
He was an amazing player when he was healthy. If he hadn’t gotten hurt he may have been the most important Indians/Guardians player of his time, especially if he signed an extension. His injury along with Hafner’s really sunk that team.
Lofton had a better career but Sizemore was still great
To be honest he had 4 brilliant years before he started getting injured. Averaging 40 2b 27 HR and 29 SB in CF over those 4 seasons.
Cleveland still loves Grady Sizemore!
The ceiling is Will Clark. The bottom is LaPorta.
You forget about Ben Broussard?
Floor of Jake Bauers
I’ve been trying to think of him as Sean Casey – a good first baseman with not too much power.
Manzardo is Josh Naylor and Ed Sheeran’s love child.
Kid’s gonna be a star!
Why doesn’t Cleveland care about the baseball team? They have few fans every year
Among Mid-market teams, Cleveland is pretty close to average. Among markets with fewer than 3.0 m people (I’m including the White Sox and Oakland in this list because they behave as though they are mid-market teams.) San Diego, St Louis and Arizona are outliers in attendance. They each are over 30k fans per game so far this year. The rest range from the mid-twenties down to the A’s with about 64-hundred fans.
Cleveland is 8th of those 14 franchises.
I will say that Cleveland is a Browns obsessed town, even when the Browns were literally among the worst professional teams in the world. This skews the Guard’s attendance downward. I have grudgingly come to the conclusion that whining about the fact that Cleveland prefers the worst team in town (by performance over the last 30 years) over its two fairly successful franchises is the moral equivalent of pissing on Art Model’s grave. While it might make you feel good in the short run, all it will do is get you into trouble.
Buddy Bell was my favorite in Cleveland