Guardians call up intriguing former top prospect as September roster addition

For a better part of the last five years, George Valera was viewed as the future of the Cleveland Guardians outfield. 

As the team cycled through options like Carlos González, Franmil Reyes and Eddie Rosario, Valera was always lurking in the background in the minors leagues, providing some kind of hope for Cleveland fans. 

While that hope ended up turning into disappointment due to a variety of injuries to Valera, Guardians fans will finally get a chance to see him at the big league level this month, as the team announced on Monday that they’re recalling Valera from Triple-A for his major league debut alongside Zak Kent and Jhonkensy Noel.

The move was first reported by Guardians Prospective on Twitter. 

Guardians call up George Valera as part of roster expansion 

Valera’s call-up is the culmination of a frustrating and snake-bitten tenure with the Guardians. While he was born in New York, he moved to the Dominican Republic when he was a teenager, which allowed the Guardians to sign him as an international free agent in 2017 when he was just 17-years-old. 

From there, he quickly rose up the prospect ranks and became the Guardians’ No. 1 prospect entering the 2022 season, and he responded by hitting .250 with 24 home runs across Double-A and Triple-A. 

But that ended up being the high-point of that part of his career. He missed a good portion of the 2023 season due a variety of injuries, and missed the first half of last season due to an injury in spring training. He was on fire once he returned (he hit .304 with seven home runs in August), but he underwent season–ending surgery to repair a ruptured patellar tendon in his right knee in September. 

It looked like his time with the Guardians was going to come to an end over the winter when the Guardians designated him for assignment, but he quickly re-upped with Cleveland on a minor league deal. 

And, after spending the beginning of the season rehabbing, he’s found his groove. Valera entered play on Sunday hitting .318 across 44 games in the Arizona Complex League and Triple-A with seven home runs, 24 RBI and 10 doubles, which is good enough for a wRC+ of 143. 

The highlight of his season came last week when he hit for a cycle against the Omaha Storm Chasers. 

He’ll now fit into a Guardians outfield that’s still a work in progress. Nolan Jones has begun to turn things around after a slow start to the season, but he should get plenty of time in center field. 

While Valera has long been lapped in Cleveland’s system by guys like Steven Kwan, Jones (who left Cleveland and came back in the time it took Valera to reach the bigs) and Chase DeLauter, he’ll finally get a chance to author his big league story with the Guardians.