Guardians' new top 30 prospect list pours cold water on recent draft steal

Going into the 2025 MLB Draft, many expected the Guardians to take a “pick the best player available” approach with their first round selection. 

And they did exactly that by selecting Texas A&M outfielder Jace LaViolette, who, at one point, was garnering some buzz as a guy who could go No. 1. 

And while that made LaViolette’s selection look like a steal, the other side of the coin is the fact that there’s a reason he fell in the draft — that kind of thing doesn’t happen by accident. 

We may have gotten our first reminder of that being the case, as MLB Pipeline put out its new prospect list, which has LaViolette with a major league ETA of 2028, which is a bit behind what you’d expect from a 21-year-old who spent three years playing college baseball. 

Guardians' new top 30 prospect list pours cold water on recent draft steal

The biggest reason for LaViolette’s major league ETA being a bit later is likely due to the fact that he’s unlikely to play for a minor league affiliate this year while he recovers from surgery on his hand.

He first sustained his hand injury on May 22 during the SEC Tournament, and he underwent surgery that night to fix the injury so he could be in the team’s lineup the next day.  

He underwent a “follow up procedure” after the season to help with the injury, which will likely keep him out for the rest of 2025. 

“That’s a good thing, but probably not the best thing,” Guardians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti told reporters earlier this month.

After slugging 21 home runs as a freshman in 2023, he burst onto the scene in 2024 when he slugged 29 home runs on a Texas A&M team that made it to the College World Series final. 

His numbers took a bit of a dip last year (.258 average, 18 home runs, 61 RBI), but he still left College Station as the program's all time leader in home runs (68) and walks (169). 

Although there are some genuine questions about the swing-and-miss in his bat. He has light tower power and seems to be athletic enough to stick in center field.

The Guardians have been searching for a player with those kinds of traits for as long as humanity has existed, so it makes sense they didn’t hesitate when LaViolette fell into their lap. 

The good news is that LaViolette (who was slotted in as Clevleand’s No. 8 prospect), was the only prospect in the top 10 to have a major league ETA later than 2027. C.J. Kayfus has already broken through to the big leagues, while Travis Bazzana, Chase DeLauter and Angel Geano all have ETAs of 2026. 

Bazzana was recently promoted to Triple-A and could end up helping the Guardians on their postseason push, while DeLauter would have likely broken into MLB already had he not suffered his newest injury. 

Genao is a switch-hitting infielder with a strong contract approach (sound familiar), and could make his debut as early as next April depending on what the Guardians do with their middle infield in the offseason. 

But, while all that gets settled, LaViolette will be working in the background. It may not be like that forever, but it seems like it’ll be like that for the time being.