Is Nolan Jones the top-rated prospect in the Cleveland Guardians system?
The key to sustained success for the Cleveland Guardians will never be big-money free agents or high profile trades, but through drafting and developing their talent in-house. Prospects and minor-league replenishing trades (like the Mike Clevinger and CC Sabathia trades) are how the Guardians are going to continue their sustained success. Think about it, the Guards haven’t had a “rebuilding” season since 2012.
Every year since has been one of playoff expectations. In fact, they’ve only had one non-winning season since. That’s the mark of a club that knows what it’s doing. The team will never really be big spenders, and that’s mostly on the town. Outside of seven years in the late 90s, this has never been a big baseball town. The payroll reflects that.
So the only way they can continue to realistically compete is through the minor league systems. Nolan Jones has been the big name that everyone has talked about for a while now. He’s struggled in 2021 when he was in Triple-A and his prospects aren’t looking too fantastic, though there’s still optimism with him.
Yet, is he even the team’s best prospect anymore? Some will say no. In fact, Guardians Baseball Insider has the sixth-best prospect. As does MLB.com and Prospects 1500. He, as well as the universal No. 2 prospect, Tyler Freeman, have not played in spring training yet, meaning they’ll start the season elsewhere and not on the Major League squad.
Now according to all three of those outlets, Jones isn’t even the top guy. He’s No. 6 across the board. So who is?
Who is the Cleveland Guardians’ top prospect?
George Valera is the No. 1 prospect in the Guardians organization but don’t expect to hear his name anytime soon. He only hit .260 in the minors last year (but he did have 19 home runs) and he’s only hitting .182 currently in spring training.
The only way Valera, who hasn’t even hit AAA yet, would make it to the Majors anytime soon is if the Guardians had a massive rush of injuries to their roster. He’s got all the potential in the world but right now he’s just simply not ready.
Even if there were injuries to the main corp, and with Bradley Zimmer, that’s possible, there would be other guys who would get the call first. Namely, Steven Kwan, who’s hitting .429 in spring training and should be a lock for an opening day roster spot at this point.
Kwan has always hit well, dating back to high school. He’s only had one season of hitting less than .280 and only two seasons of non-.300 baseball in his entire career.
So while Jones may not be ready, Kwan certainly is.