The Guardians introduced that third baseman José Ramírez has been reinstated from the paternity listing with first baseman Kyle Manzardo optioned to Triple-A Columbus because the corresponding transfer.
Manzardo, 23, got here into this season ranked as one of many prime 100 prospects within the sport and the Guards promoted him to the large leagues in early Might. Sadly, his first six weeks within the majors haven’t gone particularly effectively. In 87 journeys to the plate, he has but to hit a house run whereas strolling simply 3.4% of the time and hanging out at a 26.4% clip. His .207/.241/.329 batting line results in a wRC+ of 61, indicating he’s been 39% worse than the league common hitter.
These numbers are pretty uncharacteristic for Manzardo and it wouldn’t be a shock to see him get again on observe after a little bit of a reset. Prospects don’t all the time observe a linear improvement path and it’s not the primary time he’s wanted to make an adjustment after some struggles.
A second-round decide of the Rays in 2021, he produced a monstrous batting line of .327/.426/.617 in 2022, splitting his time between Excessive-A and Double-A. That included 22 dwelling runs and a 14.9% stroll charge whereas he was solely punched out 16.4% of the time.
The Rays bumped him as much as Triple-A final 12 months, however he didn’t have a lot preliminary success at that stage. In 73 video games for the Durham Bulls, he hit 11 dwelling runs and nonetheless walked at a robust 13.4% tempo, however the general line of .238/.342/.442 led a wRC+ of 95 in a reasonably heightened offensive surroundings within the Worldwide League final 12 months.
The Guardians resolve to take a shot on him, sending Aaron Civale to the Rays in a one-for-one swap eventually 12 months’s deadline. After altering organizations, he completed the season on a robust word, hitting .256/.348/.590 in 21 Triple-A video games after the deal. He then went to the Arizona Fall League and slashed .272/.340/.565 in 22 video games there. He returned to Triple-A to begin this 12 months and hit 9 dwelling runs in 29 video games whereas strolling in 11.7% of his plate appearances, resulting in a line of .303/.375/.642 earlier than his promotion.
Sadly, the large league audition noticed all his numbers transfer within the unsuitable path, so he’ll have to go again to Columbus for now. Since he’s all the time had robust stroll and strikeout charges, it could be fairly stunning if he weren’t capable of enhance these numbers within the main leagues the subsequent time he comes up.
From a service time perspective, Manzardo was already going to be arising wanting one 12 months of service time since he missed greater than a month off the highest of the 2024 marketing campaign. He would have been on observe for early arbitration as a Tremendous Two participant after 2026 if he stayed up, however that may now be much less seemingly, relying on how lengthy it takes him to return again up.
For the Guardians, they’re main the American League Central and needs to be in agency purchaser place on the upcoming deadline. Manzardo had largely been serving because the designated hitter, so supervisor Stephen Vogt will now have some skill to rotate numerous gamers by means of that spot. It may additionally give the Entrance Workplace some flexibility in maybe including a bat-first participant to strengthen the lineup for the ultimate months of the season, with guys like Brent Rooker, Eloy Jiménez, Taylor Ward, Miguel Andujar or previous good friend Josh Bell simply a few of the guys that could possibly be accessible in the direction of the tip of July. Within the shorter time period, guys like José Abreu, Daniel Vogelbach, J.D. Davis and Garrett Cooper have not too long ago misplaced their roster spots with different golf equipment and needs to be attainable.