Guardians’ bright future is evident in Baseball American’s new prospect rankings 

This offseason has been a delicate balancing act for the Guardians’ front office. While the team has some obvious holes on their big league roster, they also have a glut of promising prospects who are quickly approaching a point where they can help Cleveland’s big league roster. 

We got another example of that on Wednesday when the Baseball America team released their list of the top-100 prospects in baseball, where the Guardians were well-represented. 

In fact, the Guardians had six prospects ranked in that group, which was tied with the Mets and White Sox for the most by any team. 

https://x.com/BaseballAmerica/status/2014045345890685053?s=20

The Guardians were well-represented in Baseball America’s new list of the Top-100 prospects in baseball

Cleveland’s showing on the list is led by Travis Bazzana, who came in at the No. 22 spot. Bazzana, who was recently ranked as the top second base prospect by MLB Pipeline, is a rising star in Cleveland’s system, and should (hopefully) make his MLB debut sometime early in 2026. 

Although Bazzana only hit .225 in 26 games at Triple-A last year, he had a .420 on-base percentage and showcased exciting pop. 

He was quickly followed by Chase DeLauter, who was the No. 34 prospect on the list. After struggling with injuries  for the first three years of his professional career, DeLauter made his much-anticipated MLB debut in the postseason, which should hopefully serve as a precursor to a successful 2026 season. 

The Guardians are in desperate need of some production from their outfield, and DeLauter would be an obvious pick to help fix those problems. While there’s always a chance that injury history could derail the momentum he gained at the end of last season, he’s another Cleveland prospect who we should see at Progressive Field in 2026. 

The next two prospects included on the list likely won’t see the bigs in 2026, but are arguably two of the most important players in Cleveland’s system. 

The first was 1B Ralphy Velazquez, who was drafted out of high school as a catcher but has morphed into a complete first base prospect. The 20-year-old made it to Double-A at the end of last season and slashed .330/.405/.589 with five home runs and 22 RBI. 

The other one is middle infield prospect Angel Genao, who was just added to Cleveland’s 40-man roster.

He spent most of last season at Double-A and slashed .259/.323/.359 while also providing stellar defense in the infield. 

Genao is the classic switch-hitting, contact-based middle infielder that the Guardians have had since the dawn of time, and the fact that he started last season in Double-A means the Guardians could be looking to be more aggressive with him than they have been with other middle infield prospects in the past. 

The final two prospects came in back-to-back spots on the list in the form of Parker Messick (No. 88) and Braylon Doughty (No. 89). And while they’re both pitchers, they could be further apart in their big league journeys. 

Messick made his MLB debut last August for the Guardians and ended up putting together a very nice 2.72 ERA across seven starts. He doesn’t have overwhelming velocity, but he’s a crafty lefty who never seemed scared of the moment. He should have the inside track for the final spot in the Guardians’ rotation in 2026. 

On the other hand, Doughty spent the 2025 season at Single-A, where he had a 3.48 ERA in 85 1/3 innings before his season ended prematurely due to a right shoulder injury. 

He should start  2026 at Lake County (so long as he’s healthy), and seems like the next beneficiary of the Guardians’ vaunted pitching factory. 

In total, the Guardians had 11 players get votes for BA’s top-100 list, though Khal Stephen, Jace LaViolette, Cooper Ingle, Juneiker Caceres and Joey Oakie didn’t make the cut.