Guardians add to youth movement by calling up red-hot prospect 

Earlier this month, the Guardians jump-started Cooper Ingle’s big league timeline by giving him reps in the outfield for the first time in his Guardians career. 

Little did we know how much of a jump start it would be, as the Guardians annouced today that they're calling up Ingle. Stuart Fairchild was designted for assignment as the corresponding move.

Guardians Prospective was the first to report the move. 

Ingle’s going to join the Guardians at a crucial time in their season, as their offensive production has fallen off a cliff since it lost José Ramírez, Chase DeLauter and Angel Martínez to the injured list. But he stands out as an obvious option to fix those problems thanks to his strong performance in Triple-A this season.

Cooper Ingle should provide the Guardians with some much-needed offense 

Ingle played in 51 games at Triple-A this season and posted a .284/.416/.551 slashline with 12 home runs and 41 RBI. He also walked 41 times compared to 50 strikeouts. 

“We just know that Cooper's a hard worker,” Guardians assistant general manager James Harris said about Ingle over the weekend, per MLB.com’s Tim Stebbins. 

As you've seen, the bat plays. We're hoping that he can help us up here in the future.”

Normally that kind of production would make his promotion a no-brainer, but he started the season in perhaps the worst possible situation since his primary positions were catcher (which is occupied by Austin Hedges and Patrick Bailey) and first base (which consists of Kyle Manzardo and Rhys Hoskins). 

But the Guardians changed that equation by moving him to the outfield, which he played a bit in college while he was at Clemson. 

He’s played in left field seven times since the Guardians announced his position change, and he’s been flawless outside of one throwing error that happened because his throw careened off off the runner sliding home and went to the backstop. 

But even if he’s still a work-in-progress in the field, his bat is legit. The Guardians have only scored 67 runs in June (which is tied for the worst mark in baseball alongside the Braves), and their outfielders have combined for a wRC+ of 87. 

The Guardians are a team that usually prides itself on its defense, but they’re also a year removed from giving Martínez a ton of time in center when he was one of the worst defenders in baseball. Ingle presents far more upside and is a much better hitter. 

It’s not like Ingle can just be an outfielder, since he’d be able to get the occasional spot at catcher while also seeing work at designated hitter. At the very least, he’d be another fun toy for Stephen Vogt to mix and match with. 

But one thing that does seem clear is that Ingle should get everyday playing time considering the Guardians rarely call up top prospects if they don’t have a clear avenue to be in the lineup.

It happened earlier this year with Juan Brito, it happened again with Travis Bazzana and should happen again with Ingle. 

And it should make the Guardians' lineup more dangerous.

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