CLEVELAND — Despite a strong showing at the plate in spring training, Cleveland Guardians top prospect Kyle Manzardo will begin the 2024 season in the minor leagues.
According to MLB.com's Mandy Bell, Manzardo was reassigned to minor league camp on Monday. The 23-year-old turned a lot of heads and caused a lot of excitement in Goodyear, slashing .381/.458/.476 in 13 game appearances.
Manzardo, who is currently ranked No. 59 in MLB's Top 100 Prospects list, continued this spring where he left off in Columbus last season after being acquired by Cleveland in the trade that sent pitcher Aaron Civale to the Tampa Bay Rays. In 78 at-bats with the Clippers last year, Manzardo showed a penchant for getting on base with 12 walks and a .342 on-base percentage while slugging six home runs.
So that begs the question: What more could he have done to prove he's ready for the big leagues? There are a few factors working against Manzardo and his path to an opening day roster spot:
Options
Roster flexibility is a luxury most teams strive to have coming out of spring training, and the Guardians are no stranger to making decisions out of spring in the name of flexibility. Fans may not like it, but Manzardo has minor-league options remaining, while players like outfielder Estevan Florial and infielder Deyvison De Los Santos do not, and the club will still want to take an extended look at them in the majors.
Florial, 26, came to the Guardians in an offseason trade with the Yankees and has yet to be given a big sample size to evaluate in the big leagues. With the center field position in flux due to Myles Straw's lack of production, the Guardians figure to give Florial an opportunity to prove himself. He flashed a substantial increase in power in Triple-A as part of the Yankees organization in 2023, hitting 25 home runs in 101 games.
De Los Santos presents a unique challenge for the Guardians in 2024. The team selected the 20-year-old in the Rule 5 draft in December, which means he will have to make it through the season on the big-league roster to remain with the organization. He has yet to play a game above Double-A, but like Florial showed the ability to hit the long ball with 20 home runs in 2023.
Neither Florial nor De Los Santos has lit the batter's box on fire this spring, slashing .167/.231/.194 and .257/.257/.371, respectively. However, starting Manzardo in Columbus initially will afford Cleveland the opportunity to see what they have in both players.
That takes us to the elephant in the room.
Service Time
Not a single team will come out and admit that service time is the reason a player will be kept in the minors, but considering the way the Guardians have to run their organization based on the financial side of baseball, the extra year of team control before Manzardo hits free agency is likely too appealing for the team to pass up.
The Guardians are certainly not the only team that takes advantage of this rule, or loophole as many critics would call it, but it is a reality most fan bases live with considering the amount of money young players at the top of their game command in free agency. Prominent prospects of Cleveland's past like Francisco Lindor in 2015 and even Bo Naylor in 2023 come to mind, among a myriad of other prospects throughout the years.
It's no consolation to frustrated Guards fans seeing a player tear the cover off the ball like Manzardo has, but until the system changes, this is a reality of doing business.
Patience truly is a virtue over a 162-game regular season. Unless Manzardo falls off a cliff in Columbus, you will see his name in a prominent spot in the middle of the Guardians lineup this year. The combination of his talent and the Guardians' need for middle of the order power will likely prove too much to hold back.