Cleveland Sports Forum

"Cleveland’s system is one of the deepest in the game. The organization remains a pitching development fac-
tory and continues to add impact talent in the draft and international market. The top 10 is stuffed with high-
confidence hitters and led by No. 1 overall draft pick Travis Bazzana and Venezuelan center fielder Jaison Chourio."

Rating the top prospects at each position, BA assigns Cleveland these rankings:

Catcher, none among the top 10
First Base: Velazquez #6, Kayfus #9 [Manzardo has graduated from prospect status] That's a lot of depth and helps explain trade of Naylor
Second Base: Bazzana #2; Brito misses the top 10
Shortstop: Genao #12; Francisca not yet among the top 25
Third Base: none
Center Field: Chourio #5
LF/RF: DeLauter #4
RHP: None among the top 35; let's see how the 2024 draftees develop
LHP: Cantillo #11

Alex Clemmey who went to the Nationals with tena and r.ramirez for Thomas is #15 LHP. Ramirez does not make the Nats top 30; Tena neither but he has probably graduated.

Ramirez factors on the Nationals depth chart but neither he nor Tena appears on the projected 2028 lineup and Clemmey is not listed in the 2028 rotation.

Tena's K/BB numbers will keep him off BA prospect highlights. He hit a nice 274 for the Nationals but the rest of his line was not great: 304 OBP/363 SLG. More significant from their perspective would be his 39K/7 BB in 164 Total at bats. In the minors the K/BB was about 3.5.

Tena last year.

Better than Rocchio.
Better than Arias.
Better than Martinez,
Better than Schneeman.
Better than Freeman.

Rocchio is a better fielder. Tena hit better than him last summer.
For a LH hitting IF I'd far prefer Tena to Schneeman.
Arias has worn out his welcome with me.
Freeman played surprisingly well in CF but his offense was unsatisfactory,

Minor League and Development Rankings by Team Execs [from mlb.com]

Execs prospect poll: Top system? Best at drafting? Best at trading for prospects?
1. Who Has the Best Farm System: Cle gets 4% of the votes; ranking 8th
2. Who Does the Best Job Drafting: Cle 8% ranking 5th
3. Who Does Best on International Market; Cle with 4.3% ties for 4th
4. Who does best at trading for prospects? Cle ranks 6th % not noted
5. Which team hoards prospects the most? Cle 16% ranks second: "The Orioles and Guardians led the polling for this question a year ago as well, but the lead has narrowed and there were many more teams mentioned this time around, Two years ago, Cleveland topped this list and the club still rates near the top as it continues to compete by promoting from within."
6. Which team develops pitchers the best? Cle Pitching Factory leads this list with 28% of the votes. "The Guardians continue to tease more velocity and better stuff out of the arms in their system, as well as find big league talent in later rounds of the Draft."
7. Which team develops hitters the best? Cle finishes 4th in this one; with 6% of the votes. [despite some pretty bad results with 1st round picks]
8. Which team does the best job at finding and developing sleeper prospects? the only list Cle doesn't score mention on
I guess Kwan wasn't a sleeper, taken in the 5th round; Bibee about the same place in the draft.