This overlooked Guardians non-roster invitee could help reshape outfield picture

While the Cleveland Guardians had one of the worst offensive outfields in all of baseball last season, it was a relatively quiet offseason when it came to offensive additions. 

In fact, most of the biggest stories around the Guardians’ outfield were related to the team’s subtraction from the outfield picture, as Jhonkensy Noel, Will Brennan and Lane Thomas were all let go after disappointing 2025 showings. 

But the Guardians did make one addition in the form of outfielder Stuart Fairchild, who signed a minor league deal with an invitation to big league spring training.

For most teams, NRI players are primarily in camp as depth protection in case of an injury. But Fairchild’s in a bit different in that there’s a clear path for him to make the Guardians’ roster out of spring training. 

Stuart Fairchild could end up making the Guardians’ roster out of spring training 

Fairchild’s had a bit of an up-and-down MLB career, though he has shown just enough for teams to keep taking chances on him. While he hit just .216 in 28 games with the Braves last season, he had a moderately successful 2 1/2 year run as the Reds’ fourth outfielder prior to 2025. 

The Braves designated him for assignment midway through last season and he was promptly claimed by the Rays, but he never played an inning in Tampa due to a right oblique strain. 

Those injuries didn’t stop the Guardians’ interest, however, with manager Stephen Vogt telling reporters at spring training that Fairchild was one of the Guardians’ key offseason targets, with the biggest reasons for that being the fact that he hits right-handed and can play all three outfield positions. 

And that right-handed batting stance may be the thing that puts him on the Guardians’ big league roster since Johnathan Rodríguez is the only pure right-handed hitting outfielder on Cleveland’s big league roster. 

Rodríguez has been demolished Triple-A pitching (so much so that he was named MVP of the International League in 2024), but he’s yet to put it together at the big league level.

While Fairchild doesn’t have the same kind of power potential as Rodríguez, he can play all three outfield positions and has posted elite chase rate numbers throughout his career. 

Essentially he’s the poor man’s Myles Straw (a crazy concept, we know). 

It would also be fairly easy for the Guardians to add him to the 40-man roster, whether it be by designating Rodríguez for assignment or DFAing someone else and sending Rodríguez (who has one minor league option left) to the minors. 

Fairchild would be a welcome addition to a right field picture that currently consists of a bounce-back candidate in Nolan Jones and two exciting but raw prospects in Chase DeLauter and George Valera. 

Steven Kwan has left field locked down for the Guardians, but the rest of the grass is as big of a question mark as a team can have. Fairchild isn’t a perfect player, but it’s easy to see how he could help the Guardians.