The future of right field is beginning to take shape for the Guardians 

On Wednesday, George Valera authored a signature moment with the Guardians that was more than eight years in the making. 

After signing with the Guardians as an international free agent in 2017, Valera quickly rose the ranks in the Guardians prospect rankings but was never able to build on his success due to a variety of injuries that always seemed to stop him in his tracks. 

But he finally earned a long-awaited call-up to the Guardians this year as a part of the September roster expansion and earned some scattered playing time through the first half of the season. But he moved up the pecking order over the weekend when Nolan Jones was placed on the 10-day injured list with an oblique strain.

With Jones out of the picture, Valera is one of the Guardians’ right field options, and he staked his claim to more playing time on Wednesday with a go-ahead two-run home run in a big win over the Tigers. 

And although Guardians right fielders have still combined for an MLB-low .196 batting average, Valera’s ascendance (combined with some of the team’s other intriguing options) have shown why there’s still some hope for the Guardians getting more production out of the position next season. 

George Valera showed why the Guardians could get more production out of right field in 2026 

Even though Jones hit just .211 in 136 games this year, he’s likely still going to be in the fold next year given the Guardians traded for him at spring training. While that thinking sounds a little bit like the sunk-cost fallacy, it’s hard to believe Cleveland’s front office wouldn’t try to squeeze as much out of Jones as possible before giving up on him. 

But Valera has shown why he deserves a spot in that conversation. He’s slashed .242/.359/.486 in 33 at-bats this year while looking comfortable against big league pitching. Valera built his prospect pedigree on his power and eye, and both of those things have translated to his brief stint with the Guardians. 

Valera was outrighted off the 40-man roster last offseason and re-signed with the Guardians on a minor league contract, but that shouldn’t be the case this year. 

They’ve also gotten solid production in right from C.J. Kayfus, who has played in 28 games at the position since being called up. Kayfus came up as a first baseman (which he still plays a fair amount) but learned the outfield in the minors in an attempt to expedite his trip to the bigs. 

He’s held his own in right field (-1 Defensive Runs Saved), and should be even better after getting another offseason of work in right field under his belt. 

Although Jhonkensy Noel has the second-most appearances in right for the Guardains this year (59), he’s hitting just .155 in 66 games. Even if he's done a bit better since coming up at the start of September  (.200 batting average in 17 games), his struggles this year may be too much for the front office to overlook. 

The one thing working in his favor is the fact he’ll be out of minor league options after this season, which means that the Guardians would need to designate him for assignment to get him off the roster. 

Noel will probably break camp with the team next spring, but it’s hard to imagine him being on the roster in May if his struggles carry over into next season. 

Couple all that with Petey Halpin (who made his major league debut over the weekend) and the potential return of Chase DeLauter, and all of a sudden you've got a right field picture that features plenty of intriguing options who could duke it out in spring training.

Yes, none of these guys are a no-brainer option like Steven Kwan, but it’s worth remembering that Kwan came out of nowhere in 2022 to turn into an All-Star. 

It’s not perfect, but it's better than how things looked earlier in the year.