CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Guardians have announced their 2026 player development staff assignments, with several moves highlighting the organization’s philosophy of developing from within and promoting diverse talent. Perhaps most surprising among these appointments is former Guardians reliever Nick Wittgren landing the Triple-A pitching coach role with Columbus.

Joe Noga discussed the news on the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast: “He’s a name familiar to a lot of Guardians fans from the last couple of years. Wittgren is going to get his first shot at being a professional baseball coach as pitching coach for the Columbus Clippers.”

What makes this appointment particularly noteworthy is that organizations typically start new coaches at lower levels before moving them up to Triple-A. As Paul Hoynes explained: “Usually when they bring a new pitching coach in they start him at a lower level, like A-ball or the Arizona Complex League. But they must really think highly of Nick because they’re starting them out at Triple-A. That’s one phone call away from the big leagues.”

Wittgren, who pitched for Cleveland from 2019-2021 and compiled a 3.88 ERA across 140 appearances, steps into the role vacated by Cody Buckel, who was promoted to pitching coordinator. The move exemplifies Cleveland’s approach to talent development, not just with players but with coaching personnel as well.

The Guardians also announced several other key appointments, including the return of Andy Tracy for his seventh season managing the Clippers, Greg DiCenzo back for his third season with Double-A Akron, and Omir Santos continuing with High-A Lake County.

Another former player, Eric Stamets, rejoins the organization as bench coach at High-A Lake County after spending three seasons as a developmental coach in the Houston Astros system. Stamets has a unique place in Cleveland history, having started at shortstop on Opening Day 2019 when Francisco Lindor was injured.

Perhaps most significantly, the Guardians announced the promotion of two women to director-level positions within the player development system. As Noga reported: “Ilana Mishkin is promoted to director of player development and player support. And Alyssa Nakken, director of player development at the Arizona development complex… It’s great to see more women getting involved in higher and more important roles within the organization and working their way up.”

Nakken’s appointment is particularly noteworthy given her previous experience as a member of the San Francisco Giants’ big league coaching staff before joining Cleveland in 2024. Her role in Arizona puts her in charge of a crucial developmental facility where many prospects get their first professional experience.

Mishkin’s international role focuses on the development and support of international players and staff members, an increasingly important aspect of player development as Major League Baseball continues to draw talent from across the globe.

These staff assignments reflect Cleveland’s organizational philosophy of identifying talent – whether it’s former players, coaches from other organizations, or professionals from diverse backgrounds – and creating opportunities for growth within their system. The trust shown in Wittgren by placing him immediately at Triple-A demonstrates confidence in his abilities and potential as a coach, while the promotions of Mishkin and Nakken reflect the organization’s commitment to diversity in baseball operations.

For more details on Cleveland’s player development staff and analysis of what these moves mean for the organization’s future, check out the full Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast with Joe Noga and Paul Hoynes.

Read the automated transcript of today’s podcast below. Because it’s an AI-generated transcript, it may contain errors and misspellings.

Podcast Transcript

Joe Noga: Welcome back to the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast. I’m Joe Noga, joined by Paul Hoynes, and I guess welcome to the American League Central Division, Framber Valdez. The Tigers go out and make a big signing, three years, $115 million for probably one of the top free agents left on the market in Framber Valdez. All in the middle of trying to secure their, their best player, their Cy Young winner, Tarik Skubal, as he’s in the middle of a arbitration hearing that we talked a lot about yesterday. Hoynsie, how does signing Framber Valdez, does it impact that, that situation with the Tigers? Does it mean they’re going to look to trade school? Could they keep both of them? Does this, does this make the, the Tigers the team to beat in the AL Central?

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I think it’s a little bit of all those things, Joe. I mean, I guess it depends how this arbitration hearing comes out with Skubal and the Tigers, but geez, if I’m the Tigers, I’m sitting there thinking, I’ve got Framber, I’ve got, I’ve still got Skubal for at least a year. You know, I think I’m going for it this season. That, that’s a pretty good one two punch in rotation that also includes Jack Flaherty. So, you know, that’s, I, you know, I think that if they don’t move Skubal, you know, that puts, that puts them, that makes them the favorite, you know, headed into the season to win the division. You know, I would, I would definitely.

Joe Noga: Think, yeah, until this point, really, the, the Tigers have had an under the radar sort of off season. You talk about the Guardians not signing anybody. I mean, really, the only notable acquisition up until this point for the Tigers was Kenley Jansen. They signed him to a one year deal and he’s 137 years old. Gleyber Torres accepted the qualifying offer. He’s back on the roster. He was an all star last year. Valdez and obviously Kyle Finnegan, you know, an important piece in their bullpen, signed a two year deal. They lost Andy Ibanez, you know, Jason Foley. Those guys are no longer with the club off the roster as free agents. But you know, really this, this Framber signing is a big deal to them because it just lets them, lets their fans know at least that they’re, they’re out there trying to do something. Even if school is going to be a part of the future for them, they’ve still got a bunch of, you know, free agents out there. Alex Cobb Timely Tommy Kahnle, you know, guys like that. But, you know, as far as what, what they’ve been able to do this off season, now so much of the talk had been, are they going to trade school? What’s. What, what’s the deal going to be? There we finally get to the point where they’ve, they’ve had the arbitration hearing and now we’re just sort of waiting to see what the next move is.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, and I would think, you know, I guess, you know, this kind of does, you know, the, the, the Valdez signing does two things. You know, it protects you if you’re the Tigers, if you do, you know, have to trade school if, if you do, if he wins his arbitration case and that, you know, skyrockets your, your payroll into, you know, into an uncomfortable spot, maybe you move him or, you know, it just makes you, you know, a more, gives you a more dominant rotation. I don’t, I don’t think we, With Skubal and, and Framber Valdez, I don’t think you, you know, I don’t think A.J. Hinch is going to have to go to pitching chaos too much, at least when those two guys are on the mound.

Joe Noga: No, you talk about Framber and, and just what he brings to the, to the conversation here. I mean, this is a, this is a frontline starter. Anywhere he goes right with Houston, he’s, he’s been dominant. The Guardians have seen him dominate in the past. I mean, he’s thrown a no hitter against Cleveland. He’s, you know, he what, he’s five and O in his career against the Guardians. What, five and oh, in four starts against the Guardians, 31 and a third innings, 22 strikeouts. He’s allowed nine walks and only two home runs in those 31 and a third innings. One of those home runs, very, very memorable. Hoynsie Back in 2022, I remember I was in Houston watching Jose Ramirez take him deep at the end of a 12 pitch at bat. And a lot of the conversation, I remember Dusty Baker talking about it after the game and just what an effort it was on both ends of that, that at bat. But for Jose Ramirez to come through with a home run in a game that the Guardians eventually lost anyways, but Valdez was, was, was pretty special. Just the, the battle, the one on one there. I remember that. We’re going to see a little bit more of that with Framber now in the Central for, you know, 13 games a year.

Paul Hoynes: No doubt about it. He, you know, he is really, he’s always pitched well against Cleveland. And he’s going to get a lot more chances now. I really like what the, you know, I think the Tigers have done, you know, like you said, Joe, they haven’t been, you know, really, you know, out there on the free agent market and in the trade market, but, you know, I like what they’ve done. You know, Valdez, Kenley Jansen has. This guy’s got 476 saves, Joe. I mean, he’s a little long in the tooth. Yes, 37, but he still saved 29 games last year for the Angels and that and they were not a very good ball club. So he’s still got some juice left and you know, he’s going to, he’s going to help that back end of that bullpen for sure now.

Joe Noga: He saved all of their games last year. Did we? Very many games. So yeah, they’re going to see Kenley Jansen, obviously, and he’s been effective against the Guardians as well. Does this make the, you know, the matchups against Detroit that much more important this year for the Guardians? Because they know they’re going to be, you know, that A.J. Hinch is going to work that rotation somehow skip somebody or move things around so that pretty much every series they face Cleveland, they’re going to face school and Valdez one, two if those guys are both on the roster.

Paul Hoynes: Oh, no doubt about it. You know that we saw it last year. We saw the Guardian struggle against Skubal. You know, I mean they, if they got a hit off him, if they got a run off him, it was the reason for celebration. And you know, he’s left handed. They, they have trouble against left handed. You know, they, they, they struggled against lefties last season and they didn’t do a whole lot to add a right handed hitter, a couple right handed hitters to counteract that, Joe. So it’s going to be the same, the same kind of matchups with the Tigers. I mean they were, they were great games, I think. I believe the Guardians came out ahead maybe seven to six in the 13 games. It was really close. But, but every game was 2 to 1, 3 to 1. It was, they were all very close, very competitive games and then they go three more in the wild card.

Joe Noga: Yeah, the, the Guardians did win the season, the regular season series against the Tigers head to head. So that was part of what, you know, propelled them to winning the division there at the end of the year. Framer’s an interesting, interesting guy. I mean, there was the controversy during the, this past season where he intentionally crossed up his catcher and hit him with a pitch and, you know, that there was a little bit of uneasiness there. I think, you know, his time had come to. Come to pass in Houston. It was, it was time for him to get out of there and make a change. But, you know, obviously the AJ Hinch connection, that kind of thing is, it’s, you know, alive and well. Houston success now translating over to Detroit, and they’re sort of trying to get the band back together in little different ways. You know, the flirtation with Alex Bregman throughout his free agency the last couple of years. So is Hinch just trying to rebuild a mini Houston dynasty in Detroit?

Paul Hoynes: Well, you know, I’m sure he played a part in, you know, getting Valdez there. You know, he managed him in Houston. He knows him. You know, I thought, Joe, you know, there was a lot of speculation that, you know, Framber was on the market so long because of that incident with the pitcher, you know, you know, pitcher. I guess he was mad at the catcher. You know, they had a cross up and then he. So he crosses the catcher up intentionally and hits him in the chest guard with a fastball, you know, and they said, you know, that that was supposedly, was why he lingered on the market so long. Do you really think that’s the reason? I mean, that one, that one pitch is going to ruin a guy’s value like that? I don’t know. I mean, that just seemed like a stretch to me. If you want to. If you’re looking for a good arm, you look for a good arm. I think it was more, you know, Valdez is what, you know, he’s 31, 32. He’s probably looking for the last big contract in his career, a longer contract, and it wasn’t out there. So he settles for a three year, $115 million deal.

Joe Noga: Yeah, I, I guess there are guys out there who have done worse things and gotten contracts with other teams and it’s not been a big deal. But basically, in any pro sport, if you’ve got the talent, if you’re that guy, you’re going to get the money, you’re going to get paid. There’s. They’re going to find a way to. I mean, Michael Vick played after the, the. The dog. The dog fighting. You know, he spent time in prison. It’s. There’s. People get second chances for stuff like that. Cesar Salazar was the catcher, young catcher. I think he might have been a rookie.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, he was a call up.

Joe Noga: Yeah, yeah, he was a, you know, not a guy who was on the roster. For a long time. And you know, you hit him in the chest with a 93 mile an hour sinker against, in a game against the Yankees back in September. And yeah, it made for headlines. And it’s, it’s like, oh, you know, is this guy a clubhouse, you know, cancer or something like that? Is he, you know, a guy you wouldn’t want on your team? It’s like, no. A guy who can pitch the way Framer Valdez pitches is a guy you’re going to want on the team. You were going to live with him doing, you know, crummy things if, if he wins your game. So I’m not saying that’s right, but that’s, that’s the way that, you know, 30 out of 30 teams in the big leagues are going to operate if they were given the chance to, to pick up Framer Valdez. So yeah, that this is the guy who’s going to be facing the guardians, you know, at least two or three times this year. So get ready for that. And you know, every time they see him, they’re going to have what, four series against the, the Tigers throughout the year. And chances are pretty good he’s going to pitch in, you know, at least three, maybe four of them. So, so keep an eye out for that as long as he’s healthy. Hoynsie, moving on to another, you know, big note from yesterday. Jose Ramirez named the number one third baseman by Major League Baseball Network’s top 10. Right now they’ve been going through and listing the, the top 10 players at each position and this is top 10 regardless of league. So, you know, just overall in Major League Baseball, it’s the second straight year Jose Ramirez been named the number one third baseman. Fourth time in his career that he’s been put on, on top of that list. That’s compiled by MLB Networks. The Shredder, that’s their, their algorithm, their, their, you know, however they put the, crunch the numbers together and you know, he was number one back in 2022. He slipped down to number two in the, in the rankings in 2023. But you know, he’s, he’s been at the top of the list the last two years, also on top of the fan vote for the second straight year. So the fan poll, I guess Major League Baseball fans out there appreciate what, what this guy can do. I, I guess he’s with the, the contract extension and with this number one ranking and you know, top five player in baseball right now according to MLB Network, he’s successfully shed that most underrated player in the game moniker, don’t you think?

Paul Hoynes: For sure, Joe. And that worries me a little bit. Maybe I, I’ve got. I’ve still got too much Cleveland in me. But, you know, I like. I like when the Guardians. The Guardians are kind of hiding in the weeds or, you know, there’s not much. Them the same with their players. You know, when they, when they step into the limelight and they get too much attention, that, that worries me. That, that, that makes. That makes me uncomfortable for some reason. And, you know, Jose has certainly, you know, gotten a lot of love this offseason. The extension, like you were saying, number five rank or. Yeah, the number five ranking in MLB’s top 100 players. And now he’s the best third baseman he. In the big leagues going into 20, 26. So the sky’s the limit, Joe, for this year.

Joe Noga: Yeah, I gotta look at the. The list here. Jose Ramirez, number one. There’s a couple of ones that make me, you know, scratch my head here. Max Muncie of the Dodgers Ranked number two. Max Muncie, he barely played third base, you know, all year. 300 at bats, you said, at the position. 300.

Paul Hoynes: 300.

Joe Noga: Played 100 games there. What. What the heck.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, he had. Two hundred and forty three, 100 games. He must have been hurt. I. I guess. I, I don’t know. But, you know, that, that does not seem like, you know, a great resume for. At least for the 2025 season.

Joe Noga: And number three, Alex Bregman. Four is Matt Chapman. Number five, Manny Machado. And we’ll go, we’ll go back to Manny Machado here in a second. Just let me run through the rest of them. Number six, Junior Caminero, who seems the heir apparent in the American League to Jose Ramirez at third base. Bo Bichette, ranked the number seven third baseman. He just signed with the Mets and he’s never played third base before in his career. So explain that one to me again. Isaac Paredes is number 8, number 9, Eugenio Suarez, and number 10, Austin Riley. Going back to Manny Machado being number 5, I guess the snub is very, very much still alive for this Dominican World Baseball Classic roster because Jose Ramirez shared the a post on his Instagram account. If you look at his story with it, just within the last 24 hours, it’s a, you know, a screenshot of, you know, Jose being named the number one third baseman. And then in the background, there’s like a shrugging meme like, yeah, well, I guess I’M the number one third baseman, but you’ve got this guy, number five, Manny Machado, starting for the Dominican Republic team. I really think Jose’s got, has been chewing on that for some time now and he’s going to use that as motivation.

Paul Hoynes: That would not surprise me at all, Joe. I mean, by the way he reacted to that question last week at the press conference of whether he was playing in the WBC for the Dominican or not. Yeah, there was, there’s something eaten at him. There’s a, there’s a story behind the story there.

Joe Noga: I love it. I hope. You know, Hoynsie, you love when the, when Guardians players are, are underrated and overlooked and, and I love it when they got a chip on their shoulder, they got something to play for. And Jose’s going to come out, you know, pretty fired up. This is going to be a lot of fun to watch this year. So, yeah, that, that top 10 list of third basemen and some of them are actually third baseman. I think the, the most pure third baseman on that list has got to be Matt Chapman and he’s number four. He’s, he’s the best defensive third baseman, I would say, for sure on that list. And you know, I gotta believe Machado, Caminero probably have the best power out of anybody on that list. Yeah, well, Soros had 49 home runs, but. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but as far as, you know, just the, the, the, the raw power. I think Caminero and Machado probably up there. Austin Riley can hit the ball a long way too, so. But yeah, it’s a, it’s a pretty solid list. I, you know, Jose’s got to be, got to be pretty pleased with himself that he’s, he’s a top of that list at this point.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, for sure, Joe. It’s, it’s, you know, you know, I’m not sure how much all that stuff means to Jose. You know, I think. But, you know, I think he is, he kind of uses that as motivation. You know, I think it lets people know that, you know, that he’s, that he’s made an impression, just not in Cleveland, but, you know, around the big leagues and that, you know, this guy is a serious player, that he’s a very good player and that, you know, he, you know, a lot of people look at him that way, just not, you know, the hometown fans.

Joe Noga: Yeah, it’s like I said, it’s good to have that, that motivation and something to, you know, sort of use moving forward into the season. All right, Hoynsie yesterday, the Guardians announcing their staff assignments for the player development system. So this is the, the farm system, the, the affiliates like Triple-A, Columbus Double, Akron, hia, Lake county, and the, the folks who are going to be managing, coaching in charge there, as well as throughout the player development system, the, the associate vice presidents and the people who are going to be running things in Arizona in the Dominican Complex League and down in the Dominican Republic. Couple of news and notes sort of things from that announcement. Actually, you know, one that’s kind of a bit of a surprise here at Triple-A where Andy Tracy is going to be back for his, what, seventh season leading the Clippers down there. Andy Tracy will be the manager, but his pitching coach, a name familiar to a lot of Guardians fans from the last couple of years. Nick Wittgren gonna get his first shot at being a professional baseball coach. Pitching coach for the Columbus Clippers. WICKREN Spent what, three years with Cleveland from 2019 through 2021. And he went 9 and 10 with a 3.88 ERA in 140 appearances for the Guardians during that stretch. Wittgren just a, an awesome guy, you know, great family and great to see him, uh, you know, sort of catching on as a part of the Guardians organization.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, and he’s, he’s the classic example of, you know, what the Guardians do when they, you know, they come up with these guys, you know, they’re kind of out of nowhere guys, you know, either in the off season or early in spring training. I think Wittgren, you know, joined the Guardians early in spring training as a reliever and really turned into a, you know, gave them three solid years of work out of the bullpen and now he’s going to get a chance to spread that knowledge to, you know, the Triple A Columbus pitcher pitching staff. It’s interesting, Joe. You know, when you talk to Nick, I didn’t get the impression that, you know, coaching was in his future, but, you know, hopefully this, this is, this works. I mean, it’s, you know, usually when, when they bring a new pitching coach in, you know, they start him at a lower level, you know, a ball or, you know, the Arizona Complex League. But they must really think highly of Nick because they’re starting them out at Triple-A. You know, that’s one that’s a phone call away from the big league. So, you know, it’s going to be fun to watch him progress as a coach in this part of his career and how much he helps the pitchers.

Joe Noga: Yeah, Cody. Cody Buckell, the. Who was the AAA pitching coach last year and he was an assistant in. In 2024. He has moved on to become the. He was promoted to pitching coordinator. So, you know, sort of a more important, like a higher. An elevated role for Cody Bacall and that created the opening for Nick Wicker to come on and sort of join the staff there. But yeah, you know, it’s. We talked, you know, you and I talked before we started recording how some of these moves are, you know, promotions and things to give people new titles to sort of retain that top talent. And the Guardians are an organization that does a great job of recognizing, you know, the people that you want in certain positions and keeping them around and incentivizing them to stay. And this might be a situation, you know, retaining Buckell and moving him on to a different, you know, sort of role and bringing in Wicker and giving him an opportunity. Eric Stamets is going to be the bench coach at Hia Lake County. He comes back to the organization after he spent three seasons as a developmental coach in the Astros system from 2023 to 2025. Stamets played for, for 10 years and appeared with the. The Guardians back in 2019. You know, opened. Made the opening day roster that year when uh, Francisco Lindor, uh, rolled his ankle late in spring training and he actually started at shortstop on opening day in 2019, which was kind of crazy.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, you know, he, he spent a lot of time in. In the Cleveland’s minor league organization. A good guy. I think he’s going to do nothing but help that the Lake county captains. You know, I interest. You know, it’s. I think he got his. Obviously got his feet wet in the coaching thing with, with the Astros and now he moves back to Cleveland. Be interesting to see how, you know, how much, you know, what, what he learned with the Astros and how he can deliver it to, you know, the young infielders and the, you know, just the captains this season.

Joe Noga: As far as the managers go. We talked about Andy Tracy in his seventh season at Triple-A. Greg DiCenzo back for his third season leading the double. Akron Arrows. They’ll have some, some big talent there at the double A level to start out the year. Uh, it’s DiCenzo’s fifth overall season in the organization and Omir Santos, who, you know, won an Eastern League championship with the Captains in Lake county, you know, two years ago. He’s back his fourth season, sixth overall in the organization and so. And Erlin Serta gets his first shot at Managing the Lynchburg team at single A, the Hillcats. He was the bench coach there. Cerda was the last two seasons. So those are the, the faces that will be leading the affiliates this year. And another sort of, you know, big sort of news promotions. Two women have been promoted within the player development system. Elena Mishkin is promoted to director of player development and player support. And Alyssa Nakken, director of player development at the Arizona development complex. So Michigan, she’s sort of like an international role there where she’s helping support players and put people in the right places there. And Nakken, she is basically running the show out at the Arizona development complex, which is, you know, a year round thing.

Paul Hoynes: Yeah, Michigan is, you know, I think involved in the development and support of the international players and staff members. Nakken, as you said, Joe, you know, is stationed out in Goodyear, Arizona and you know, really is in charge of running that, you know, that facility and helping with, you know, with the, you know, the players work on the field and off the field. She was a, you know, she’s a member of, you know, the Giants big league coaching staff before she joined the organization in 2024. So she’s got a lot of experience.

Joe Noga: Yeah. And that’s, you know, great to see, you know, more women getting involved in higher and more important roles within the organization and working their way up to, you know, you know, important spots with the club. All right, Hoynsie. Sports Awards tonight. I don’t think there’s going to be too much Guardians influence or activity around the Greater Cleveland Sports Awards, but it’s always a great event to sort of see people’s faces and chat with them. You know, hopefully we’ll maybe bump into some Guardians alumni there tonight and we’ll be back to talk about it and wrap up the week tomorrow.

Paul Hoynes: Good deal, Joe.