Top 5 Guardians Prospects

How I view the top 5 Guardians prospects heading into the 2025 season

Editor's Note: As we vote for our top prospects as a site, we will hear from some of our site's writers for their analysis of our prospects.

It’s an incredibly exciting time to be a fan of the Cleveland Guardians. Coming off of an ALCS appearance, their farm system has arguably never been better, especially on the position player side. Here is how I currently view the top 5 prospects in the system.

OF Chase DeLauter-

In my opinion, you could make an argument for 4 different prospects in the #1 spot here. I think the top 4 is clear and concise, but the order of that top 4 is very debatable and could change depending on how the first month or two of the 2025 season goes. I’m picking Chase DeLauter here because I believe he has an incredibly unique combination of ceiling and floor due to his insane ability to hit for contact and power. He has legitimately MVP caliber upside if everything clicks for him, and of course, if he’s able to stay healthy. His health is the million dollar question, and I’ve been burned in the past with prospects with high upside and high injury risk(I miss you Daniel Espino), but the upside is just too tantalizing for me not to have DeLauter #1.

2B Travis Bazzana-

The Guardians #1 overall pick Travis Bazzana had an unreal final season at Oregon State, slashing .407/.568/.911 with a 1.479 OPS, 28 Home Runs, and a laughably great 76 walks to just 37 strikeouts in 296 plate appearances. He, like DeLauter, has shown the unique skill of being able to hit for contact and power, with even better plate discipline, albeit in college baseball. The only real pause I have with Bazzana is that after watching every plate appearance he had in Lake County last season, I was a little disappointed. That’s probably unfair for me to say, considering he had played a full college season and likely had plenty of fatigue down the stretch while also facing the best pitching he’s ever faced before. That being said, there was a lot more swing and miss, and he really struggled to square pitchers up consistently like he did in college. I still remain very confident that with a full off-season and spring training, he will look more like the guy who won Cape Cod League MVP and broke a ton of records at Oregon State, most of which that had previously been held by Adley Rutschman.

OF Jaison Chourio-

We have yet another prospect with an outstanding combination of contact ability and plate discipline skills. Chourio has a real argument for the #1 prospect in the system, and if he repeats what he did last season, he likely will be. Among qualified hitters in the Carolina League, Jaison Chourio was ranked 1st in WRC+(144) and BB%(19.9%) while being one of the youngest players in the league. The crazy part? He’s nowhere near his ceiling. At just 18 years old, the power hasn’t shown up a lot in game yet, but he did flash exit velocities of up to 112 mph last season, which is very encouraging for an 18 year old with his level of contact ability and plate discipline skills. As he matures, if he is able to tap into more power, the sky is the limit.

IF Angel Genao-

Genao is the last of what I would call the Guardians “Big Four” prospects. He has as much of a case as any to be the #1 prospect in the system. What he did last season was nothing short of incredible. He had a type of season that we haven’t seen from a top SS prospect in a long long time. Between Low-A and High-A, he slashed .330/.379/.499 with a 150 WRC+. That is insane hitting production from a kid that has a real chance to stick at SS defensively. The contact skills are phenomenal, the power is underrated, and for a kid that doesn’t walk all that often, he doesn’t chase that often either(23% chase rate). The physical traits aren’t special which is the only thing that keeps him out of the top 3 for me, but he has a chance to be an All-Star caliber SS for the Guardians.

IF Welbyn Francisca-

Welbyn Francisca is my personal favorite prospect in the entire organization. I’ve been following him since before he signed with us, and have watched every box score of every game he has played in since his very first game in the Dominican Summer League. You can imagine how excited I was when he got to Lynchburg last season and I was finally able to watch him play live. To say that Francisca was impressive in his 17-18 year old season is an understatement. Simply put, he was one of the best hitters in the Arizona Complex League as a 17 year old, and then was one of the best hitters in the Carolina League in his first stint in affiliate ball at Lynchburg. This is an extremely exciting young prospect that could wind up being the best player in the system within a year or two. He, like Genao has exceptional contact skills with underrated power, he has had exit velocites up to 110 mph. I think he has 20-25 HR potential at his peak, and if he gets there, could be a superstar type player.