Guardians recall Jhonkensy Noel, option Johnathan Rodriguez

The Cleveland Guardians have decided to shuffle their roster a bit before Wednesday's series finale with the Baltimore Orioles. Cleveland has recalled Jhonkensy Noel from the Columbus Clippers while optioning Johnathan Rodriguez to Triple-A in a corresponding move.

Noel will be starting at first base in place of Josh Naylor for Wednesday's series finale with the Baltimore.

It has truly felt like Noel was going to get his shot in the majors any time now, as he has been quite impressive down in Columbus this season. Noel is slashing .205/.359/.578 with 18 home runs, 15 doubles, and 59 RBI in 65 games this season. This is an improvement over his slash line from the previous two seasons in Triple-A, as he struggled to find his footing with a .177/.222/.235 in 2022 and .220/.303/.420 in 2023.

Another encouraging sign for Noel's development this season, aside from his slash line improving, is he has cut down on strikeouts. Noel's strikeout rate in Columbus has decreased from 38.9% in 2022 to 24.8% in 2023 to 21.1% this season. Being able to work on decreasing his strikeout rate is very encouraging and could be an indicator of future success rather than yet another high swing-and-miss prospect with very little actual production

Rodriguez is again returning to the Columbus Clippers after a second underwhelming stint in the majors with the Guardians. The 24-year-old outfielder registered one hit in 15 plate appearances this time around while striking out six times. Rodriguez has not been given a ton of opportunities, but those he has received, he has done very little with. With a slash line of .129/.325/.161, Rodriguez has four hits in 40 plate appearances, only one of which has gone for extra bases (a double).

While Rodriguez has drawn nine walks, he has struck out 14 times during his two stints, and that is something that does not appear likely to change. Rodriguez has always been and will always be a high-strikeout type of player, but that is only tolerable if there is a certain level of production that comes along with it and he has not been able to do anything remotely close to that.

With the trade deadline coming in a little over a month, it is easy to wonder if this call-up in particular is more about putting him on display for future trades or if they truly envision him as part of their lineup moving forward. Either way, that answer should come soon.