Regardless of where they are in the standings, the Guardians need to commit to development
The Guardians, after making their way to an ALCS last year, have fallen flat on their face in the first half of the 2025 season. Due to the regressions of the team’s dominant bullpen and the offense they trusted enough to not make a significant addition, the team now stands 3 games under .500 at 46-49.
The Tigers ran away with the division early in June at the latest, and although the team still has a chance at the Wild Card, it is not within the best interest for the Guardians brass to stay steadfast on giving innings of playing time to ballplayers like Carlos Santana, Paul Sewald, Lane Thomas, etc.
Yes, the Guardians showed some life over the last week before the break. Yes, Cleveland has the weakest remaining strength of schedule, with an average opponent winning percentage of .476. But that remaining strength of schedule shouldn’t be used to compete for a Wild Card spot. It should be used to get the Guardians’ top prospects used to Major League pitching.
Guardians fans have nagged and nagged at the team’s front office to call up some of the team’s most valued prospects, namely Chase DeLauter and C.J. Kayfus. Given how utterly bad the remaining strength of schedule is, the Guardians must take advantage and give these two the best shot at getting used to the bigs.
Now, Chase DeLauter is still struggling with injury issues, this time the wrist. It makes a bit more sense now why the team has wanted to keep him down. But I feel like there is still very much of a reason to bring him up and to build up his ABs there once he’s a bit more recovered.
Kayfus also has struggles of his own, namely with whiffs and handling off-speed/breaking stuff. I will say that he may not be as ready for the Major Leagues as DeLauter is, but his data on fastballs gives me some great hope that he can handle velo up there, which can be something that getting him up to Cleveland will be helpful for.
Another prospect I’d like to see get some run up in Cleveland would be Parker Messick, who has posted a 3.36 ERA, a 1.29 WHIP and an 11.04 K/9 in his 75 AAA IP. It may be clearer now that Joey Cantillo is more of a long relief pitcher (and potentially a great one at that), so it can be nice to see Parker get a shot in Cleveland.
Furthermore, the Guardians have a couple prospects down in Akron that can finally make their Columbus debuts (as well as Lake County to Akron). Kahlil Watson, who is finally seeing some progress in his development, probably deserves the call down to Columbus. Same goes for catcher Cooper Ingle, who has slashed .284/.396/.460 in 423 AA plate appearances. One other prospect from Lake County, Alfonsin Rosario, should also replace Watson in Akron, as he has been another prospect making huge strides in his development this year.
But at the end of the day, it is the prospects who are in Columbus who should be getting their first looks at the bigs. With the team’s weak remaining strength of schedule, I will reiterate that it’ll be very helpful in easing our guys into a big league role. These moves have seemed long overdue by so many Guardians fans, and we all may see things shaking up as the second half starts/when the trade deadline passes.