The Guardians informed Rule 5 pick Peyton Pallette that he’ll make the Opening Day roster. The rookie right-hander announced the decision to the Cleveland beat this evening (relayed by Tim Stebbins of MLB.com).
Pallette made that a fairly easy call with an excellent camp. He has fired six scoreless innings on three hits and walks apiece while striking out 11. Pallette’s fastball has been around 97 mph on average, up two ticks from where it had been last year in the minors. He has gotten swinging strikes on 15% of his offerings.
It’s naturally a small sample but about as strong an impression as a reliever can make during Spring Training. Cleveland nabbed Pallette from the White Sox system in December’s Rule 5 draft. The Arkansas product was a second-round pick in the 2022 draft. Pallette was rehabbing Tommy John surgery at the time. His stuff wasn’t as sharp when he returned, with hitters especially teeing off on the fastball. The Sox moved him to a full-time relief role last year.
Pallette divided the season between the top two minor league levels. He threw 64 1/3 innings of 4.06 ERA ball, striking out an excellent 32.5% of batters faced. Pallette’s command was a little shaky (10.6% walk rate) and the Chicago front office was skeptical enough that they opted not add him to the 40-man roster. The Sox made two Rule 5 picks themselves. They returned one of them, Alexander Alberto, to the Rays earlier this week.
The Guardians will need to keep Pallette on the MLB roster (or injured list) all season to retain his contractual rights. The 24-year-old has work to do to ensure he sticks around, but a fantastic camp earns him his first MLB opportunity.
Cleveland is opening the season without Hunter Gaddis or Andrew Walters due to injury. Pallette joins Cade Smith, Shawn Armstrong, Matt Festa, Connor Brogdon, Erik Sabrowski, and Tim Herrin in the projected bullpen. The final spot should be determined by how the Guardians arrange their rotation. Joey Cantillo is out of options and a lock to make the team. He’d pitch in long relief if the Guardians opt for Parker Messick as the fifth starter. If Cantillo wins a rotation spot, Colin Holderman or non-roster invitee Kolby Allard could claim the final bullpen job.
Funny when a team picks a guy in the draft but also has a guy taken from them. Not sure why you’d leave Pallette exposed and take Alberto, especially given they were obviously willing to take another raw guy in Paez.
A good point that I failed to mention in my argument the other day.
My argument again was that the White Sox should have committed to Alberto at least until summer.
Not only did they not give him an opportunity, they lost Pallette. There is no guarantee that he would have been on the 40 man roster had the Sox only taken Paez but he was definitely on the cusp.
It’s the perplexing question of taking a guy like Alberto. You assume he’s raw because he lacks experience past A+, so why not commit? Obviously you should always consider new data in a decision like this, but for a rebuilding team, is the opportunity cost that high?
Yeah I don’t understand taking a guy that you know is incredibly raw beforehand, then moving on from him after basically a month of seeing him in camp. Especially when you’re not expected to compete this year and can be more patient with a young player learning on the fly.
I get that it’s just a $100,000 gamble (which is loose change to us), but why would you even bother making the move and committing a 40-man spot all winter if you’re not planning on committing to the guy?
They didn’t even need to choose between Pallette and Alberto. There was still an open spot even after both Paez and Alberto were added.
Hopefully his pallete has Titanium White on it.
I was thinking more along the lines of Dark Sienna and Alizarin Crimson. Those are fall colors…and I bet he hopes he is still “painting corners” with CLE during the fall.