Cleveland Guardians sign Lorenzo Cedrola to minor league deal

The Cleveland Guardians have signed free-agent outfielder Lorenzo Cedrola to a minor league deal. Cedrola, who is 26 years old, spent last season in the New York Mets minor league system, spending the majority of the season with the Triple-A Syracuse Mets. He slashed .250/.373/.410 through 59 games with the club, with six home runs, 18 RBIs, and eight doubles.

Cedrola was originally signed by the Boston Red Sox in 2015 as an international free agent out of Venezuela. He made it up to High-A Greenville with the organization before getting traded to the Cincinnati Reds in 2018 for future considerations. Though he was eventually invited to Reds Spring Training in 2019 and 2020, he never broke camp with the club and has yet to make his major league debut.

After spending the 2021-22 seasons with Cincinnati’s Double-A and Triple-A clubs, Cedrola signed with the Mets prior to last year on a minor league contract. He dealt with multiple injuries last season, which limited him to just 64 games in New York’s system. Throughout his time in professional baseball, he has mainly played center and right field. While he has struggled with strikeouts (375 career strikeouts to 135 walks), he has stolen 15 bases in each of the last two seasons.

Cedrola, along with a slew of other Guardians outfielders, will look to break onto the team for the 2024 season. The Guardians also recently acquired Estevan Florial from the New York Yankees in another move to take a flier on an unproven outfield bat on the younger side. At Guards Fest last week, owner Paul Dolan hinted that he’d like to see the club find reinforcements for the lineup, especially in the outfield, with internal options. Along with Gabriel Arias, Will Brennen, Florial, Ramon Laureano, Steven Kwan, Myles Straw and George Valera, Jonathan Rodriguez, Daniel Schneemann, and Cedrola will try to make the Opening Day roster.