CLEVELAND — Editor's Note: The video above is a clip from the May 16 episode of the "Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show"
The 2022 Top 100 Prospect Rankings have officially been released by mlb.com and plenty of Cleveland Guardians prospects can be seen throughout the list.
No Guardians prospect made a bigger leap than current Akron Rubberducks starting pitcher Daniel Espino.
The 21-year-old jumped all the way to #11 in the 2022 rankings, up from #49 in last year's rankings. A leap of 38 spots that has cemented Espino as one of the top prospects in all of baseball.
Espino possesses one of the most exciting arms in the minors with a fastball that consistently sits in the mid to upper 90s, occasionally hitting over 100 mph.
He has started four games for the Rubberducks in the 2022 season currently sitting at a record of 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA while holding hitters to a .141 batting average.
A number of other Guardians prospects showed up on this year's list:
- #43: George Valera - OF - Akron Rubberducks
- #69: Gabriel Arias - INF - Columbus Clippers
- #78 Brayan Rocchio - INF - Akron Rubberducks
- #80 Tyler Freeman - INF - Columbus Clippers
Arias remains sidelined after suffering a hand fracture earlier in May while playing a game for the AAA Columbus Clippers.
A notable absence from this year's list is third basemen/outfielder Nolan Jones who spent the offseason healing from a surgically repaired left ankle after a 2021 campaign where he performed under expectations with a .238/.356/.431 slash line across 99 games and 407 plate appearances.
Jones entered the 2021 season ranked #67 on the top 100 prospects list.