Guardians players who are most at-risk as key Rhys Hoskins decision looms

The Guardians made a much-needed offensive addition at the start of spring training when they signed slugger Rhys Hoskins to a minor league contract. 

And while the deal being a minor league contract meant the Guardians didn’t need to remove anyone from their roster to bring Hoskins into camp, the time has come for them to make a decision. 

Tomorrow marks five days before Opening Day, which is a uniform opt-out date for Article XX(B) free agents, which is what Hoskins is. If a player triggers the opt-out in their contract then their team has 48 hours to either add him to their 40-man roster or let him become a free agent. 

Although that opt-out date likely won’t result in Hoskins’ time on the Guardians’ roster coming to an end (his addition to the 40-man roster was always a case of when, not if), the Guardians are going to need to make some kind of move to add him to the roster. 

The Guardians are going to need to make some kind of roster move to add Rhys Hoskins 

Hoskins entered play on Thursday slashing .233/.343/.567 with three home runs and eight RBI in 10 games this spring. While his strikeout problems are still there (13 strikeouts), he still has the light tower power that he’s known for. 

It’s anyone’s guess as to whether Hoskins will be able to return to the heights that he had during the early part of his career, but the Guardians seem comfortable rolling the dice considering how much their offense struggled last season. 

But adding that offensive punch is going to come at the expense of someone currently on the Guardians roster. 

Right now the two Guardians who seem to be in danger of losing their spot the most are Nolan Jones and Johnathan Rodríguez. 

The Guardians already sent Rodríguez down to Triple-A, but there’s a serious chance that Hoskins being added to the roster could lead to his time with the Guardians coming to an end. 

He’s hit just .176 in 44 regular season games over the past two seasons and routinely looks lost in the outfield. He held some value as a right-handed hitter on the Guardians’ lefty-heavy roster, but that value diminished the minute the Guardians signed Hoskins. 

But, as mentioned above, Rodríguez is already at Triple-A, so the Guardians have already solved part of the Rodríguez problem. They can’t do that with Jones, who is out of minor league options. 

Jones struggled immensely last season (.211/.296/.304 slashline), but the Guardians still decided to tender him a $2 million contract for 2026 in the hopes that he’d be able to bounce back. 

He hasn’t done that this spring, as he entered play on Thursday with a .152 batting average in 12 games. The Guardians have a variety of young outfield options, so removing Jones from the roster at this juncture could be a two-for-one.