released over the weekend<\/a>, there is some agreement and some differences.<\/p>\nTo start, MLB Pipeline agrees that Bazzana is Cleveland\u2019s top prospect and deserves to be somewhere around No. 20.<\/p>\n
![\"RubberDucks](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/47ba1aacb29a988fe966435a0e423f09.jpeg\"\/)
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RubberDucks second baseman Travis Bazzana throws to first base to retire an Altoona Curve runner on April 13, 2025, in Akron, Ohio\u00a0\u00a9 Phil Masturzo \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n
However, McDaniel is much higher on Velazquez, who MLB Pipeline had ranked at No. 89. Perhaps No. 33 is a little high for Valazequez, but he did finish the 2025 season with an OPS of .994 in 28 games at Double-A, so he could be in the story for a breakout season.<\/p>\n
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McDaniel is extremely high on Vel\u00e1zquez because, \u201cHis exit velos are plus for the big leagues and his in-game metrics (50% hard hit rate, 21% barrel rate) are also plus while his contact\/approach metrics are above average and he’s still just 20 years old.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is hard to argue with that analysis.<\/p>\n
The biggest disparity between the two rankings is that ESPN\u2019s included pitchers Khal Stephen and Braylon Doughty, while MLB Pipeline included C Cooper Ingle in their place.<\/p>\n
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Doughty could definitely end up on more top-100 prospect lists by the end of the 2026 season. Right now, his biggest knock is his lack of experience, having made only 22 starts at the minor league level.<\/p>\n
However, in Doughty\u2019s appearances at Singel-A, he logged a 3.48 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, and a strikeout rate of 27.3 percent. There\u2019s a ton of potential in the 20-year-old.<\/p>\n
Stephen is another promising pitcher who owns a minor-league career 2.53 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP. Even if some of those numbers inflate as he makes his way through the farm system, McDaniel is incredibly high on the right-hander\u2019s floor.<\/p>\n
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\u201cStephen’s command is among the best in the minors, so he’ll be an innings eater of some kind, but he could become a No. 2\/No. 3 starter with another step of development,\u201d wrote the analyst.<\/p>\n
Even though some of the players and their positions may differ from list to list, it\u2019s pretty clear that the Guardians have an exciting future ahead of them, or some interesting prospects who could be dangled in trade discussions if Cleveland opts to go that route.<\/p>\n
Guardians Roundtable also offers a fan community and message board. We\u2019d love to have you join us to talk all things Guardians. Click the \u201cJoin\u201d button at the top of the page to join our community for free.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Before spring training officially gets underway and the minor leagues begin, now is a perfect time to rank…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2380],"tags":[5,65753,22912,135,51,2565,649,538,32105,3967,4,991,34644,709,45056,12569],"class_list":{"0":"post-543425","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cleveland-guardians","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-braylon-doughty","10":"tag-chase-delauter","11":"tag-cleveland","12":"tag-cleveland-guardians","13":"tag-clevelandguardians","14":"tag-espn","15":"tag-guardians","16":"tag-khal-stephen","17":"tag-minor-leagues","18":"tag-mlb","19":"tag-mlb-pipeline","20":"tag-parker-messick","21":"tag-prospects","22":"tag-ralphy-velazquez","23":"tag-travis-bazzana"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115976202323117300","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543425","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=543425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}