3 prospects the Guardians traded away in 2026 who could haunt them for years to come 

Although the Guardians are one of baseball’s best teams at building from within, there are still plenty of former Cleveland prospects who have had success at somewhere other than the corner of Carnegie and Ontario. 

We got a good look at that this fall thanks to Richie Palacios, Junior Caminero and others playing in the World Series, but it doesn’t stop with them. Here are three former Guardians prospects who could be big league contributors for their new team in 2027. 

There are going to be plenty of former Guardians playing big roles somewhere in 2027

2B Juan Brito, Cincinnati Reds 

Brito never really got a fair shake with the Guardians. He slowly rose the prospect ranks during his time in Cleveland and seemed to have a legitimate shot to make their roster in 2025 before suffering a thumb injury that derailed his season. 

He made his big league debut with Cleveland in April after Gabriel Arias was placed on the injured list, but he appeared in just 15 games before being demoted to Triple-A to make room for Travis Bazzana. 

That ended up being the last we saw of him with the Guardians, as he was DFA’d in August and traded to the Reds for cash considerations. They initially sent him down to the minors before recalling him at the start of September, and he went on to post a .309/.339/.509 slashline with three homers and 11 RBI in 18 games. 

That may be a small sample size, but it seems like it was enough to give him the inside track to make the Reds’ Opening Day roster next season, whether it be as a second base or as a utility infielder. 

Brito isn’t going to slug .509 across an entire season, but he showed enough that he could end up becoming a part of the Reds’ long-term core. 

C Jacob Cozart, Los Angeles Angels 

The Guardians dipped into their catching depth at the trade deadline when they traded Cozart to the Angels for Jo Adell, and it looks there’s a chance the trade could end working in the Angels favor. 

While Adell was an RBI machine with the Guardians, his name has started to pop up in trade rumors  thanks to his projected $10 million salary for 2027. But even if the Guardians don’t trade Adell, he probably only has one season left in Cleveland. 

Meanwhile, Cozart posted an .831 OPS with seven home runs in 28 games at Double-A after getting traded to the Angels and could make his big league debut at some point in 2027. 

The Guardians’ catching future is in a good spot thanks to Kody Huff and Cooper Ingle, but a strong rookie showing from Cozart could change the conversion around that. 

RHP Josh Hartle, Washington Nationals 

While no MLB team ever has enough pitching help, the Guardians decided to roll the dice on their pitching pipeline when they dealt Hartle (a part of their pitching future) to the Nationals as a part of their package for Foster Griffin (a part of their pitching present). 

Griffin failed to build on his strong first half with the Guardians, while Hartle posted a 2.15 ERA in 29 1/3 innings at Double-A for the Nationals after the trade. 

The Nationals are in desperate need of quality pitching (4.68 ERA last season), so Hartle has a clear roadmap to be a key part of their big league future. 

Hartle may not have a crazy fastball, but he does have a unique arm angle that has helped him limit hard contact. The Guardians deal for Griffin could start to look bad very quickly if Hartle and Will Dion reach their big league potential.

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