CLEVELAND, Ohio — The Guardians have always zigged when other organizations zag. Their latest signing, Italian right-hander Ettore Giulianelli, represents another bold experiment for an organization constantly seeking untapped potential in unexpected places.
The Guardians officially announced the signing of Giulianelli to a minor league contract, adding a fascinating arm to their system. What makes this 6-foot-3, 200-pound hurler so intriguing isn’t just his reported 98 mph fastball — it’s the pitch that has made him an internet sensation.
“It’s a pitch that he throws that not a lot of guys throw. And that’s the screwball,” explained Joe Noga on the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast.
The screwball — a pitch that breaks in the opposite direction of a slider or curveball—has become baseball’s forgotten art form. In today’s game dominated by velocity and power pitching, the screwball has nearly vanished. Yet here’s Giulianelli, throwing a pitch that “starts off basically at the belt of a left-handed hitter, breaks over the middle of the plate.”
Paul Hoynes noted the unique opportunity: “When you have not seen a lot of screwballs throwing in the big leagues recently, just because of the emphasis on velocity and power pitching. But this is an interesting diversion.”
What makes this signing both fascinating and frustrating are the statistics. Giulianelli’s strikeout numbers pop off the page — he fanned 34 batters in just 19 innings in the Florida Complex League and later recorded 39 strikeouts over 25 innings at Single-A Palm Beach. That translates to an elite 14.0 K/9 rate.
The problem? Control. Or rather, the complete lack of it.
“In those 19 innings, he struck out 34, but he walked 23,” Noga detailed. “And then he moves up to the Single A for Palm Beach in the Cardinals organization, a 3.96 ERA over 25 innings, 39 strikeouts and 31 walks. The walk rate a little higher than you would like at 11.2 walks per nine innings.”
“A little higher than you would like” might be the understatement of the year. That walk rate is practically giving away free bases with every appearance.
So why would the Guardians take a chance? As Hoynes aptly put it: “Organizations that can develop pitching never turn their back on a good arm.”
This philosophy has served Cleveland well. Their pitching development system has consistently turned unheralded arms into valuable contributors. Noga speculated that this reputation might be why they’re aggressively targeting these types of projects.
“Maybe they think they have the, the formula to sort of cure all of these right handed relievers that they’re signing of their inability to throw strikes,” he said. “At some point maybe they think they can fix them.”
Whether Giulianelli becomes the next Cleveland pitching success story or just another minor league flameout, his journey will be worth watching. The raw materials are tantalizing — elite velocity, a unicorn pitch, and the frame scouts dream about.
Want to hear more about Cleveland’s pitching philosophy and this fascinating international signing? Check out the full episode of the Cleveland Baseball Talk Podcast for deeper insights into how the Guardians approach player development and why they’re betting on this rare screwball specialist.
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. Hoynsie, it was a busy weekend for the Guardians. They bring in officially the right hander from Italy, Ettore Giulianelli. They sign him to a minor league contract. This is a guy who spent the first three years of his professional career in the Cardinals minor league system. And you know, we’ll get into what makes him an attractive addition to the, the minor league mix for the Guardians. But primarily, it’s, it’s a pitch that he throws that not a lot of guys throw. And that’s the screwball.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah. When you have not seen a lot of screwballs throwing in the big leagues recently, Joe, just because of such, of the emphasis is, is such on velocity and power pitching. But this is an interesting diversion and what he played for the Italian 23 and under team last season. So we’ll have to see how that translates to the big leagues and what the pitching factory can do with this guy.
Joe Noga: Yeah, and that’s sort of the thing you talked about, the velocity there. The reports are that he’s, he’s gotten his, his fastball velocity up to around the 98 mile an hour range. It’s a guy who stands 6 foot 3, you know, a little over 200 pounds. Developed from a, a showcase over in Europe back in, you know, a few years ago where you know, he was 17, 18 years old and the Cardinals saw him, they signed him, they brought him over and they, they put him in their Florida complex league for about two or three seasons and then he, he went to their single A affiliate and the walks were there, the strikeouts were there, but the walks were a little high. It was the fact that he was able to throw this pitch that sort of made him an Internet sensation. Because when you’ve got a screwball that, that starts off basically at the, the belt of a left handed hitter, breaks over the middle of the plate. It’s a pitch that not a lot of guys throw. Like you said, we, we haven’t seen it in a while, at least consistently. But you pair that with a 90mL on our fastball and a, a, a slot and you’ve got the makings of, you know, a potentially a good middle reliever there. Like you said, it’s the Guardians maybe with their, their pitching factory, maybe they think they have the, the formula to sort of cure all of these right handed relievers that they, they’re signing of their inability to throw strikes at. At some point maybe they, they think they can fix them and that’s really where the, where Giulianelli is going to sort of fall into that category.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, you know, you always take a chance, Joe. He’s got a good arm. Organizations that can develop pitching never turn their back on a good arm. This was a guy, Joe, that it took him a while to get the contract situation ironed out because from what I heard, he had already committed to an independent team. There was some contract, you know, kind of. There was a, there was a question about who, who he was going to pitch for this next season. And obviously the Guardians got it straightened out and we’ll bring him, bring him to minor league camp in late February and take a look at him. And who knows? The Guardians could use him in a, in a Cactus League game and maybe, you know, get him some exposure that way it’ll be.
Joe Noga: Be interesting to see when he gets an opportunity maybe to come up from depth camp and be an option out of the bullpen in some of these spring training exhibition games. I’m looking at his, his stat lines right now. I look back to the 2023 season with the Cardinals, Florida Coast League or Florida Complex League team. He was one in one with a 6.16 ERA. He doesn’t really give up too many home runs. Hasn’t really in his, his professional career. But you look at the, the innings pitched. He was in 15 games. He threw 19 innings. In those 19 innings, he struck out 34, but he walked 23. And then he moves up to the Single A for Palm beach in the, in the Cardinals organization, a 3.96 ERA over 25 innings, 39 strikeouts and 31 walks. The walk rate a little higher than you would like. 11.2 walks per nine innings. The strikeout, strikeouts per nine is exactly where you want it is that, that’s elite level 14.0. In that 2024 season for Palm beach, there, there’s something there. This is a guy who, if you can, you can get him to figure out how to throw strikes when he needs to not lose batters to walks. This is, you know, the, the raw materials, I guess, are there to build a pretty good reliever. And the fact that he’s, he’s, you know, straight over from Italy, you know, he was a guy who was in showcases in Europe, developed that way. You know, sort of found him over there, brought him to the States. He’s been in the States for, you know, four or five years. You know, shouldn’t be too much of a big cultural transition, but, you know, he’ll be pitching in Arizona instead of Florida now. Yeah.
Paul Hoynes: I wonder if he would pitch for Team Italy and WBC or if they gave him any consideration that way or he’s just, you know, so kind of, you know, he’s not that deep into his career and he wants to see if he can establish him himself in Cleveland. But it’s a great spring training story and hopefully he has some success Joe and can stick around and make some progress in Cleveland’s organization.
Joe Noga: Yeah, and that’s the, the thing. Even if he does go over and pitch with Team Italy, if he has an opportunity to either try out for them or even compete in whenever they’re playing in the World Baseball Classic, that can only build his reputation and give him that sort of experience that they like the young pitchers to get that sort of experience when you’re not really worried about risking them health wise. So yeah, great opportunities there for Tory, Julian, Ellie. We’ll, we’ll see if he, he makes it makes an impression this year in camp and what the Guardians dec do with them. Just another one of these right handed relievers that’s been added over the course of the offseason so far. Hoynsie, I know you reached out to Chris Antonetti this week. We’ll, we’ll get into Carlos Hernandez here in a, in a second. Just you know, where are the, the Guardians in terms of what they think about they’ve done this off season with their, their relief pitching and, and rebuilding that bullpen. Restocking that bullpen ahead of the 2026 season.
Paul Hoynes: Joe, they think they’ve done a, a, a good job strengthening the bullpen with the, the anticipated absence of Emanuel. Class A they, that was a goal going into the off season and they certainly have kind of, they’ve added a lot of. I don’t know how much they’ve strengthened the bullpen, but they’ve certainly given it, you know, a good try. You know, with Paulette, with you know, with you know, I mean Armstrong, I mean Brogdon. They’ve added you know, 5, 6 reliever to the pen so we’ll have to see how that all works out. But you know he was pleased with that. As far as the offense goes, they’re still looking for kind of they will add offense. I think as long as that that hitter or the person they add isn’t going to block one of their, the core players that they want to see progress and get a lot of at bats in the big leagues.
Joe Noga: Yeah, that, that’s really the sort of the line that they’re Walking in terms of the, the offense just going back to the guys that they added in the bullpen. The, the, the depth and the, it’s just, just the sheer volume of arms that they’ve added that’s sort of striking to me is, you know, there isn’t going to be room for all of these guys. You’re really creating sort of this competition to see who sort of rises to the top and does make the opening day roster and then, you know, who they can move on to AAA and sort of stash there and give themselves options throughout the season because, you know, you’re not, you know, gonna have the same 26 guys all year on the roster. So you’re gonna need guys to come up and down and sort of be those transition guys as well. Pedro Avila and Cody Heuer are also guys that they’ve added and they’re, they’re going to look to either, either start them at AAA or have them make an impact on the big league roster at some point. We’re, you know, we’re, we’re keeping an eye on that, but also we’re keeping an eye on sort of the first guy, the forgotten guy that they signed in November and that was Carlos Hernandez, a guy who had pitched him, what, a few games for them during the regular season. Hernandez involved in a car accident down in his N of Venezuela where he’s pitching winter ball for, you know, a team in Caracas. You know, Hoynsie. What, what did you hear about that and what, what were you able to find out from the Guardians?
Paul Hoynes: Joe? You know, unfortunately, Carlos was in a serious car accident to, you know, the sources. According to news reports, he, he and his brother, I, I believe. Right. Were in the car. They were taken out, removed from the car and Hernandez suffered, you know, a fractured left arm and a fractured right femur, which I guess is, is that a broken leg? Yes. You know, that would, you know, he was, he was coming to camp on a minor league deal anyways. So I don’t think he’s going to be pitching, you know, he’s going to be laid up for, for a while. And Joe, this is not the first time, you know, that a Guardians player or former Guardians player has run into trouble, you know, during the winter in Latin America. Unfortunately, we’ve had a list of these guys.
Joe Noga: Yeah, I, you know, you go back, you can go back more than 20 years to, to see instances of where Cleveland players or former Cleveland players have been involved in auto accidents, you know, other incidents that make news down there. I know you did Some digging. You came up with a list of, you know, a couple of players that, you know, fans will should remember in terms of their impact in Cleveland.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, my friend Holbert Cabrera in 2001 in his native Colombia was in, you know, somebody tried to carjack him. He got shot in, in the buttocks, you know, cost him, you know, a chunk of that season. He recovered, however, and you know, was able to go on and, you know, continue his career. Another pitcher on Lara, who pitched a few games for Cleveland in 2007, was involved in a serious auto accident in the Dominican Republic. His car was hit by a motorcycle. He was really close to death. He came back and pitched a little bit in the minors, but that effectively ended his career. And Andy Marte, a third baseman that played for quite a while For Cleveland in 2017, he was involved in a fatal car accident in the Dominican that claimed his life. You know, this is not a joking matter. A run of terrible luck. Cleveland, with their players in Latin American countries, hopefully gets better, he heals quickly and can continue his career. But right now, if the reports are accurate, those were serious. That’s a serious injury, two serious injuries. And we’ll have to see, you know, how he responds.
Joe Noga: And it’s, it’s, it’s hard for the guardians to comment or talk about details about, you know, whatever happened because there are restrictions when it’s a non baseball injury related matter. There’s sort of the, the health and employee records and all that kind of stuff that they can’t really talk about. So we’re left to sort of follow up through Latin American media and, and whatever they’re sharing with us about the, the accident and the injury. The, the, the photos that were posted on X, formerly Twitter, you know, paint a really scary sort of picture of what happened. The vehicle looked like it was flipped over and crushed and just a scary scene. So, you know, you hope that, you know, these guys when they, when they return to their, their native countries, that they, they take all the precautions that they, they can, that they keep themselves and their families safe. But, you know, it’s, it’s just a tough thing. You know, your, your mind immediately jumps to places that you don’t really want. You know, you hope guys like, you know, anybody, anybody on that roster who’s, who’s out of the country and traveling around, you know, it certainly makes it back and we see them again when they get to spring training. And that’s the case here as well. All right, big news over the weekend. If you were in Chicago over The weekend, it was sort of the epicenter of the sports world. Saturday night, the Bears complete a 25 point rally in the fourth quarter to beat the Packers. And in the middle of that, Alex Bregman signs a five year, $175 million deal with the Cubs. Bregman and the Cubs have been sort of dance in the dance last off season before he signed with Boston, but you know, now they finally complete the deal.
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, what a, what a great signing this is for the Cubs. I mean, and Bregman, what, last year he signed what, a four year, 120, $120 million deal with Boston and he had an opt out. So he opts out and now he turns that into a five year, $175 million deal with, with the Cubs. And Joe, I think, how much did he make last year? In one year, I think did he make 40 million? I don’t know, but I mean, he’s got a six year deal there. That’s really turned into that. That’s, that’s a huge get for not only for the Cubs, but for Bregman.
Joe Noga: Yeah, it’s, you know, nice, nice little turnaround. After opting out of the deal with Boston, really being able to sort of read the market and where things were going. You knew that the Cubs really wanted him last off season, so he sort of leveraged that again and turned it into even more money for himself. Great job by him and his agent. You know, what’s the impact there for, you know, the Cubs? And this is a team that was maybe a couple of players away last year from really breaking out. Obviously the brewers had a great season in the National League Central. Does Bregman sort of put the Cubs maybe over the top and to compete with the brewers at the top of that division?
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I think so. You know, they just added Edward Cabrera to the rotation. They’ve added five or six relievers to the bullpen, and now they add Bregman at third base or wherever he’s going to play. I would imagine it’s third base. You know, they, you know, they made the postseason last year. I would think that this probably makes him the favorite in the NL Central. Although Milwaukee, you know, like Cleveland always kind of puts together an unexpected run and, you know, does things that, that surprise people. But the Cubs have really put themselves in a, in a good position to, you know, win that division and, you know, make a, make a postseason run.
Joe Noga: So with Bregman off the board, in terms of the major free agent signings, sort of the attention now Turns to Kyle Tucker and Cody Bellinger. One, one of them is going to sign first and then the other is going to use that as leverage in his negotiations. But could Kyle Tucker, we’ve seen interest from the Blue Jays, the Mets, the Dodgers, even in on a guy like Kyle Tucker. This is a guy with, you know, 29 years old, but injury concerns. He, you know, he’s been injured the last parts of the last two years. Is, is he going to be the first one to sign before Cody Bellinger?
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, you know, I think it sounds like Bellinger and the Yankees have reached an impasse. They can’t, you know, they can’t make a deal. It sounds like a length of contract is a big question, you know, so we’ll see. Joe, I mean, Tucker is an interesting guy, like you were saying, you know, really a talented player, but he’s been hurt the last two years. That hasn’t helped his value. People were thinking he was going to get a $500 million contract. I don’t know if that’s, that’s the thing. I don’t know if that’s, you know, conceivable. Now maybe he’ll take a shorter term deal like Bregman did last year and, and, or, you know, maybe a one year deal and put himself back on the market after, after next, after this season if he, you know, if he, if he performs well.
Joe Noga: Yeah, and you got to think about the possibility of a lockout. And you know, guys want that guaranteed money. They want to be, you know, signed. They don’t want to be at the end of the 2026 season hanging out there in free agency while the labor negotiations are going on. So that’s also something for these guys to consider with the attention, with Bregman going to the, does that make Boston turn its attention towards the possibility of bringing in Bo Bichette?
Paul Hoynes: Oh, I think so, Joe. They need, they need some offense. You know, Boston is a team on the rise. You know, you talk to everybody. They, they really like their farm system. You know, they’re, they’re kind of leaning on their younger players more and more. So I think adding a Bichette, no matter where he plays, you know, third, short, second, he, he would really help them. And you know, he, this is a, this is a guy what, 27, 28 years old. So he’s looking for a longer deal for sure. He’s, I don’t think you’re going to sign him to a three year deal. You know, this is going to have to be a five to seven Year deal to get hit done. And Joe, he would have led. He was close to leading the league in hits last year when he hurt his ankle late, late in the season for Toronto. So, you know, this guy can hit. Some people question his. His range at shortstop, but he’s, you know, he showed he can play second base in the World Series. And, you know, I, I’m not sure if he could transition to third, but I think he’s probably a good enough athlete to do that.
Joe Noga: Yeah, that’s. That’s something that. If you can hit the way that Bichette hits and pile up hits the way that he does, in the numbers that he does, they’ll find a place for you on the. In the field somewhere. And, you know, second base looks like could be that. That spot for him. All right, Hoynsie, before we get going, wanted to take a minute here and just remark upon the. The passing of former Plain Dealer columnist Bill Livingston. Bill passed last week, age 77, after a brief illness. And this is a guy who, if you’ve. If you’ve been a Cleveland sports fan, if you’ve been a reader of the plain dealer of cleveland.com at any point over the last, you know, three to four decades, you knew Bill Livingston. You knew his work, and you knew what he thought. You knew his opinions. They were. They were crystal clear. Very opinionated, very creative, very passionate guy in terms of, you know, he loved the NBA. He loved covering baseball games as well, and just a character that we haven’t really seen the likes of since he wrote his last column in Cleveland in 2018. You know, what was, what was your reaction when you heard that Bill Livingston had passed? And, you know, what are some of your memories of working with him at some of the biggest moments in Cleveland sports history?
Paul Hoynes: Yeah, I was shocked, Joe. The day before he passed, I was having some lunch with some colleagues, people that knew Livy, and we’re trading Livy stories, you know, stories about Livingston. And then to hear him that he had. He had died unexpectedly early Friday morning, it just hit home with me. You know, I shared a lot of press boxes with Bill. You know, condolences to his family, his wife Marilyn, his three children and his grandkids. Just, you know, a big loss for sure. You know, Joe, this was a guy. I never saw him come to a ballpark or any sporting event unprepared. He could write on a variety of subjects in depth. He, you know, he loved the Olympics. He loved track and field. You know, he. He could write about boxing, he could write about Baseball, football. And he. And as you said, he loved the NBA. You know, he came from Philadelphia, where He covered the 76ers. He always used to say, you know, in talking about Dr. Dr. J. Julius Irving, he goes, Dr. J. Made history. And I wrote about it. So, you know, he was, you know, to. To be a columnist, I think you have to have, you know, you have to have a deep belief in yourself. You know, you have to have an ego. And. And Bill, you know, had that. He thought that he was going to write. He was going to be that. When he came into the press box, he was going to write the best story of anybody in the press box. He always said, when we were on deadline, oh, boys, Livy is working without a net tonight. And everybody else was working without a net, too, you know, meaning the deadline is coming and you got to get it in at a certain time. But he was excellent at that. He’s excellent under pressure. But the knowledge that he had on all sports was. Was remarkable. I always thought, you know, he came to the ballpark with. With a, you know, kind of a story almost written in his head that he was that prepared, you know, and that he would adjust. I can remember, you know, just him. You know, I was. I read his last column that he wrote in 2018, before he retired after 34 years. And, you know, he always. He took a hard line, like you said, you know, he was a. He was a. He was a columnist. And Bud Shaw was like this, too. There were columnists that wrote opinions. They didn’t write soft features. They didn’t write, you know, sentimental pieces. When they wrote, there was an opinion in there, you knew what they, the sub. Where they stood on the subject they were writing about. And it was, you know, so in the last column he wrote. But. But I think he also had a human side to him. You know, he said he was right. He talked. Talked about the Indians winning the. The ALCS and getting to the World Series in 1995 for the first time. He talked about being in the locker room in the celebration at. At. At the Kingdome. And he said he. He had to step outside and kind of shed a tear, you know, because he was. He knew what it meant to Cleveland. But, you know, you didn’t see that. You know, that was part of the. That part of Livingston you didn’t see in his column sometimes. But he, you know, he cared about who he wrote about. He cared about the city. And, you know, he came from Texas. You know, he’s kind of adopted. An adopted Clevelander but, you know, he spent the bulk of his career here, and it’s just anybody who read him was better off for reading them.
Joe Noga: Yeah, and that’s, that’s really the, the sense you got all the stuff just about writing on deadline and just sort of his passion for that and how much joy he took in sort of hitting send after that, writing that perfect column. I think all it resonates with all of us who have been in a press box and written on deadline and done that job. To do it the way that he did it for so long, you know, really, really just sort of stands out to me. So he will be missed around here. I know that there will be gatherings and, and conversations and, and folks will get together and share their memories. This week of Bill Livingston, and it’s a big loss for the Cleveland sports community for sure. That’s going to wrap up today’s edition of the Cleveland Baseball Talk podcast. We will check back in again tomorrow. Maybe we’ll, we’ll start talking about some hall of Fame stuff tomorrow. We’ll, we’ll check in with you then.