{"id":527902,"date":"2026-01-19T17:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-19T17:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/527902\/"},"modified":"2026-01-19T17:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T17:41:13","slug":"ralphy-velazquez-is-our-no-4-guardians-prospect-who-should-be-no-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/527902\/","title":{"rendered":"Ralphy Velazquez is our No. 4 Guardians prospect. Who should be No. 5?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The people have spoken and Ralphy Velazquez is our No. 4 Guardians prospect. Velazquez won with a whopping 84.4% of the vote despite competing against six other prospects. He moves up five spots from No. 9 last year <\/a>(and also No. 9 in 2024).<\/p>\n

Velazquez was Cleveland\u2019s first round draft pick in 2023, selected No. 23 overall out of Huntington Beach High School. Initially drafted as a catcher, it didn\u2019t take long for Velazquez to be converted to first baseman. His bat was what mattered however, and he has hit at every level he\u2019s played.<\/p>\n

Velazquez made his pro debut at in the Arizona Complex League the year he was drafted, smacking a pair of home runs in the six games he played while sporting an impressive 153 wRC+.<\/p>\n

In his first full season in the Cleveland system, Velazquez debuted at Single-A Lynchburg, where he blasted 10 home runs while slashing .243\/.362.414 with a 131 wRC+ over 82 games, good enough to earn an invite to represent Cleveland in the Futures Game. While there, he put on a prodigious display in the home run derby and wowed scouts with his exit velocity. He finished the season with a 19-game stint at High-A Lake County.<\/p>\n

The powerful prospect got off to a slow start to the 2024 season, which began at Lake County. After a rough first two months where he experienced a brutal .212 BABIP, although all of his other underlying data spoke otherwise. He broke out of his unlucky streak with an incredible two and a half months, slashing .287\/.357\/.522 with 10 home runs and a 143 wRC+. This earned him a promotion to Double-A Akron, where he made one of the most impressive Double-A debuts in recent memory, collecting 12 hits in 22 at bats with four home runs, four doubles and four walks, earning Eastern League player of the week<\/a>. In his 28 games at Akron, he slashed .330\/.405\/.589, posting a career-best 188 wRC+.<\/p>\n

Velazquez possesses a unique combination of power, athleticism, patience and contact. With improvements to his physical ability made over the past few years, he was able to withstand a full season of baseball in 2025, performing even better in his final month of the season.<\/p>\n

Now, it\u2019s time to determine who is number five in the Guardians\u2019 loaded farm system! Your options are below:<\/p>\n

Jaison Chourio, OF (Age 20)
2025 (CPX) 27 PA, .261\/.370\/.304, 0 HR, 1 SB, 14.8 BB%, 37.0 K%, 95 wRC+
2025 (A+): 353 PA, .235\/.380\/.284, 2 HR, 9 SB, 18.7 BB%, 21.8 K%, 103 wRC+<\/p>\n

Chourio was lining up to be Cleveland\u2019s top prospect after a sensational 2024, but he was slowed in 2025 by a nagging shoulder injury and had a very average season. He\u2019s looking to bounce back in 2026.<\/p>\n

Braylon Doughty, RHP (Age 20)
2025 (A): 22 GS, 85.1 IP, 3.48 ERA, 2.84 FIP, 27.3%, 6.4%, 1.25 WHIP<\/p>\n

Cleveland\u2019s competitive balance first round pick in 2024, Doughty debuted in full-season ball and put up solid numbers in his age-19 season at Single-A, showcasing elite control.<\/p>\n

Angel Genao, SS (Age 21)
2025 (CPX) 32 PA, .308\/.438\/.654, 3 HR, 0 SB, 18.8 BB%, 12.5 K%, 177 wRC+
2025 (AA): 341 PA, .259\/.323\/.359, 2 HR, 6 SB, 8.5 BB%, 15.8 K%, 103 wRC+<\/p>\n

Had an average regular season in 2025 after missing the first two months with a shoulder sprain, which likely sapped his power after he came back in June.<\/p>\n

Cooper Ingle, C (Age 23)
2025 (AA) 403 PA, .273\/.391\/.443, 9 HR, 0 SB, 16.1 BB%, 17.4 K%, 148 wRC+
2025 (AAA) 107 PA, .207\/.383\/.329, 1 HR, 0 SB, 19.6 BB%, 16.7K%, 105 wRC+<\/p>\n

Ingle has shown excellent offensive tendencies for a catcher. Will his defense and power be enough to earn an opportunity in Cleveland this year?<\/p>\n

Jace LaViolette, OF (Age 22)
2025 (NCAA) 262 PA, .258\/.427\/.576, 18 HR, 7 SB, 21.8 BB%, 25.2K%, 120 wRC+<\/p>\n

Cleveland\u2019s first round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, the 6-foot-6 LaViolette instantly becomes one of the top power hitting prospects in the system. Strikeouts and contact have been an issue, however.<\/p>\n

Alfonsin Rosario, OF (Age 21)
2025 (A+) 354 PA, .268\/.362\/.490, 16 HR, 12 SB, 10.8 BB%, 25.1 K%, 139 wRC+
2025 (AA): 145 PA, .211\/.303\/.391, 5 HR, 2 SB, 10.3 BB%, 33.1 K%, 105 wRC+<\/p>\n

One of Cleveland\u2019s most impressive hitters in its minor league system during his stint at High-A Lake County as a 20-year-old. Rosario has a unique combination of speed and power, but will need to overcome his strikeouts.<\/p>\n

Khal Stephen, RHP (Age 23)
w\/ TOR 2025 (A) 7 GS, 39.1 IP, 2.06 ERA, 1.97 FIP, 31.4 K%, 4.6 BB%, 0.92 WHIP
w\/ TOR 2025 (A+): 9 GS, 48.1 IP, 1.49 ERA, 2.70 FIP, 26.6 K%, 5.4 BB%, 0.85 WHIP
w\/ TOR 2025 (AA): 1 GS, 4.0 IP, 6.35 ERA, 1.88 FIP, 11.1 K%, 5.6 BB%, 1.68 WHIP
2025 (AA): 4 GS, 11.1 IP, 9.00 ERA, 9.54 FIP, 21.9 K%, 3.9 BB%, 1.50 WHIP<\/p>\n

Acquired from Toronto in the Shane Bieber trade, Stephen rocketed through the minor league system in 2025 before hitting a wall in Double-A. He instantly became one of Cleveland\u2019s top pitching prospects.<\/p>\n

NOTE ON POLL: We have moved to Google Forms Surveys in an attempt to eliminate vote spammers. Please vote below. Voting will close at 11:59PM ET<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The people have spoken and Ralphy Velazquez is our No. 4 Guardians prospect. Velazquez won with a whopping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2380],"tags":[5,135,51,38367,2565,538,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-527902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-guardians","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-cleveland","10":"tag-cleveland-guardians","11":"tag-cleveland-guardians-prospects-minor-leagues","12":"tag-clevelandguardians","13":"tag-guardians","14":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115922998692545895","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}