The Cleveland Guardians have optioned some of their best Triple-A prospects down

The Cleveland Guardians have sent down some of their more promising prospects.

The Cleveland Guardians were not a team that had a lot of holes to fill. They had issues at first and catcher, but the team filled that in the offseason with first basemen Josh Bell and catcher Mike Zunino. The addition of those key free agents helped shore up the roster. The team came into Spring Training with some questions in the bullpen but the arms to answer them. The only other spots that needed to be filled were the secondary catcher, the utility backup infielder, and the fourth outfield spot. None of which would or should go to key rookie prospects.

So it’s not at all surprising to see that the Guardians moved several key players to the minors ahead of the regular season schedule starting on March 30. With only two weeks away, the team is moving away from playing everyone with a pulse, to the guys they intend on starting the season with.

So it’s not surprising to see Bo Naylor, Joey Cantillo, and George Valera getting optioned to Triple-A, and Logan Allen and Peyton Battenfield moving to minor league camp. All five guys could see serious action in the Majors this year, assuming the team needs to call them up.

Which of the five players makes the most sense to be called up?

While Bo Naylor makes sense, especially with the marketing opportunities with brother Josh, the most likely of names are Allen and Battenfield. The Guardians starting rotation is good, but it’s not deep. You’d take Shane Bieber, Triston McKenzie, and Cal Quantril every day of the week as your first three.

Yet, Zach Plesac and Aaron Civale are not secure in their spots. If they struggle, or a team comes calling with an impressive offer, the team could opt to move one of those two starters. So if anyone is going to get called up, it makes more sense that it’d be one of the starters like Allen or Battenfield or even Cantillo.

Though Cantillo has yet to make it to Triple-A, so he may not be ready to be called up just yet.