The Cleveland Guardians continue to try to uncover a consequential, game-changing power hitter from within their farm system.
In their quest to add a legitimate, long-ball threat to the middle of their lineup, the Cleveland Indians, now the Guardians, have held auditions for sluggers at the big league level.
The latest power hitter being given an opportunity to carve out a niche in the team’s batting order is young, right-handed hitting, Johnathan Rodriguez.
He’s the Next Man Up.
Rodriguez, who won’t turn 25 until November, made his major league debut with Cleveland May 21, 2024. He went 0-for-4 in the game, striking out twice against the New York Mets.
Rodriguez got his first big league hit May 22, a single against those same Mets.
Major league players often share how difficult it is to hit a baseball that comes upon them anywhere from the low 90’s to 100 miles per hour. Or, the pitch has so much spin and movement, the ball is difficult to track in the split second the player has to make a swing decision.
Rodriguez joins a number of young, promising players that were given opportunities to provide power, but just couldn’t find success with Cleveland at the major league level.
Other Cleveland Sluggers Who Tried:
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Recently, and until their very exciting start to this season, the Indians, now the Guardians, have struggled to score runs.
This season, with a concerted effort being made by the team’s players to make hard contact, Cleveland is hitting more home runs. They are driving balls to the gaps, and scoring runs with extra base hits.
Johnathan Rodriguez is now being given his opportunity to add a big, loud bat to the Cleveland offense.
Here is a list of three other Indians/Guardians power hopefuls who tired valiantly to supply the long ball, but fell far short of expected results:
#1-Bobby Bradley-3rd round 2014 draft pick of the Cleveland Indians.
6-1, 115 pounds. Bats Left. Played first base with Cleveland for parts of 2019, 2021, and 2022.
Bradley, now 27, hit 17 homers in 345 plate appearances.
Bradley was released by the Guardians in 2022.
Bradley is not playing professional baseball.
#2- Franmil Reyes=International free agent from the Dominican Republic signed by the San Diego Padres in 2012. Reyes was just 16-years-old when he signed.
6-5, 265 pounds. Bats Right. Plays Outfield.
Traded to Cleveland July 31, 2019.
Reyes hit 10 homers for Cleveland in 2019, nine homers in 2020, 30 homers in 2021, and nine Cleveland homers in 2022, before he was placed on waivers and selected by the Chicago Cubs.
Reyes, who turns 28 in July, had 1,181 plate appearances with Cleveland.
Reyes’ 30 homers in 466 plate appearances in 2021 offered great hope. However, he wasn’t able to build on his career year, and the team moved on from him.
Reyes was signed as a free agent by the Kansas City Royals in February 2023, was granted free agency, and signed by the Washington Nationals in May 2023.
Reyes was released by the Nationals in August 2023.
Reyes is now playing for the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan.
#3- Oscar Gonzalez-Signed as an international free agent from the Dominican Republic by Cleveland in 2017, at the age of 17.
6-4, 240 pounds. Bats Right. Plays Outfield
Gonzalez, just 26, hit 11 homers in 382 plate appearances for Cleveland in 2022, and another two in 180 plate appearances in 2023, before he was placed on waivers, and selected by the New York Yankees in December 2023.
Gonzales is now playing for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, in the Yankees organization. He is hitting well, and may have discovered more consistency in his approach at the plate.
Enter Johnathan Rodriguez:
Prior to gaining his promotion to the parent Guardians, Johnathan Rodriguez was ranked the 16th best player in the team’s farm system by MLBPipeline.com.
Rodriguez was selected out of the Carlos Beltran Baseball Academy in the third round of the 2017 Major League Baseball draft.
Drafted at the age of 17, and signed for $450,000 as the No. 102 player taken in the draft, Rodriguez didn’t get a full season of professional baseball under his belt until his fifth professional season.
When Rodriguez was 22, he played in 107 games, with 79 games coming at Class-A Advanced Lake County, and 28 games played at Double-A Akron.
Rodriguez hit a 26 combined home runs in that 2022 season, and began to make some loud noise with his bat.
Last year, playing again at Akron, and moving on to Triple-A Columbus for 47 games, Gonzalez hit a combined 29 home runs.
At the time of his graduation to the Guardians, Rodriguez had registered seven homers in 185 plate appearances for Columbus.
This old scout had plenty of looks at Rodriguez this spring in Guardians camp.
Clearly, the power is there. But so is a longish swing, and a need for more consistent hard contact.
As was the case with Bradley, Reyes, and Gonzalez, there are plenty of strikeouts with Rodriguez.
However, with power hitters comes the expectation of swings-and-misses.
But Rodriguez is young. He can learn. He can improve.
He has to listen to his coaches.
He has to learn from hitters like Jose Ramirez and Josh Naylor.
Because Rodriguez hits right-handed, he should get plenty of opportunities in a Cleveland lineup that features some solid left-handed hitters.
The Next Man Up is now Johnathan Rodriguez.
Maybe this time, the Guardians have found their coveted, young power hitter.
