The Guardians need to call Ralphy Velazquez up if they want their offense to reach its final form 

For maybe the first time all year, the Guardians offense is finally clicking. Steven Kwan and José Ramírez are causing havoc at the top of the lineup, Jo Adell is driving in runs in the middle of it and Austin Hedges and Brayan Rocchio are even making things at the bottom. 

It’s a far cry from how things were a couple weeks ago when it seemed like every Guardians hitter was lost at the plate. 

But even if the Guardians offense is better than it has been all year, there’s still one clear way the front office can make it even better: Call Ralphy Velazquez up from the minors. 

Ralphy Velazquez has been one of the best hitters in the minor leagues this season

It’s hard to overstate just how well Velazquez has been playing in the minors as of late. Along with having a .289/.374/.551 slashline with 27 home runs and 83 RBI this season, he just had a stretch where he hit 16 home runs over a 20 game stretch from July 28 to Aug. 22, which earned him an (understandable) inclusion on the MLB Pipeline crew’s list of the top hitters in the minor leagues. 

“The only Major Leaguers to homer that many times over a similar sample size are Albert Belle, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Kyle Schwarber – a real who’s who of all-time sluggers,” they wrote of his home run barrage while also saying his name is going to come up in a ton of promotion conversations. 

While that kind of performance is always going to be promotion-worthy, it helps that we’re closing in on the Sept. 1 deadline where every MLB team gets two additional roster spots. 

That’s about as good of an opportunity to call up Velazquez as you can get. But just because it could happen doesn’t mean it will. 

One factor that seems to be looming large in any potential Velazquez call up is the looming lockout, which has an outside chance at wiping away some big league games next season. 

That wouldn’t apply to the minor leagues, however, so any prospect not on a team’s 40-man roster (like Velazquez currently is) would be eligible to play. 

Even if Velazquez would provide the Guardians with a huge boost right now, it’s hard to believe the Guardians front office would be willing to mortgage his ability to play next season just to help an offense that’s been playing well. 

Plus the Guardians have an obvious position player promotion already lurking in the minors in the form of Kyle Manzardo. 

Still, it’s clear that Velazquez doesn’t have anything to prove in the minors, and every homer he hits against the Omaha Storm Chasers or St. Paul Saints removes another opportunity for him to bring that power to the Guardians’ postseason chase. 

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