4 potential X-Factors that could play meaningful roles for the Guardians in 2025

2. Johnathan Rodriguez - Outfielder

As you probably could have guessed by the above image, Johnathan Rodriguez is someone who could be a meaningful contributor for the Cleveland Guardians in 2025. The need for outfield help, as mentioned on the previous slide featuring Chase DeLauter, still applies here. But unlike the 23-year-old James Madison product, Rodriguez's path to playing time on the major league roster is not as simple.

Jhonkensy Noel is one of Cleveland's options in right field for the upcoming season and, like Rodriguez, is a right-handed bat that can provide power but strikes out at a very high rate. While Noel can also make appearances at first base and DH, those positions are currently occupied by Carlos Santana and Kyle Manzardo, respectively. Barring any type of injury to either Santana or Manzardo, Noel seems likely to remain in the outfield. This makes it incredibly difficult to envision a scenario where Rodriguez is on the major league roster, as his and Noel's offensive profiles are incredibly similar, making it somewhat redundant to carry both players at the same time.

With a .295/.356/.488 slash line with 40 home runs and 30 doubles in 165 games for the Columbus Clippers, Rodriguez has nothing left to prove in Triple-A and has shown he is more than capable of handling the pitchers faced at this level. Should Rodriguez get the chance to be part of Cleveland's major league outfield, he could make the type of impact that could help the Guardians match or even exceed last season's success.