The people have spoken and right-handed pitcher Yorman Gomez is our No. 18 Cleveland Guardians prospect for 2026. Gomez snuck through in a tight race, earning 22.9% of the vote, defeating the likes of the likes of Andrew Walters (17.1%), Austin Peterson (12.9%), Josh Hartle (20%) and Petey Halpin (10%).<\/p>\n
Not every path to becoming a top prospect is a straight line. Gomez was signed as an international free agent out of Venezuela in 2019. Due to the lost COVID season, he didn\u2019t make his pro debut until appearing in the Dominican Summer League in 2021, where he had a 3.58 ERA in 12 starts at age 18, striking out 23.3% of batters he faced.<\/p>\n
Gomez made his stateside debut in 2022, posting a 3.76 ERA and a more impressive 3.49 FIP over 10 starts in the Arizona Complex League. The following season, he spent the entire year at Single-A Lynchburg where he made 25 appearances (22 starts) and had a 4.40 ERA. He repeated 2024 at Lynchburg, but earned a late promotion to High-A Lake County after 20 additional starts where he dropped his ERA to 3.81 and FIP to 3.75.<\/p>\n
The talented right-hander took off as a prospect after adding some velocity this past offseason, which paid dividends across the board with all of his numbers. He began the year repeating at Lake County as a piggyback partner, pitching 4.0 or more innings of long relief after another starter began the game.<\/p>\n
Gomez pitched so well out of the piggyback role that he was moved back to starting pitcher by early June and he continued to dominate. Over 17 appearances (six starts) at High-A spanning 76.0 innings, he had a 2.84 ERA and an elite 2.92 FIP. Gomez\u2019z strikeout rate improved six percentage points to 27.3% while his walk rate was 9.5% with a rock solid 1.11 WHIP.<\/p>\n
This earned Gomez a promotion to Double-A Akron for the final 1\/3 of the season. He did not slow down while there, maintaining his improved strikeout numbers at 28.0% and not dropping his walk rate even one-tenth of a point, keeping it at 9.5%. Over nine starts spanning 45.2 innings, he had a 3.15 ERA and a career-best 2.50 FIP at Akron.<\/p>\n
Gomez had been Rule 5 eligible for several years, but Cleveland protected him this past November by adding him to the 40-man roster. He\u2019s now one of the team\u2019s top starting pitcher depth options, although with two above average pitches and the ability to hit 97 mph, he could eventually be slated for the bullpen at the major league level.<\/p>\n
Now, it\u2019s time to determine who is number 19 in the Guardians\u2019 loaded farm system and you now have a whopping 10 players to choose from! Your options are below:<\/p>\n
Robert Arias, OF (Age 19)
2025 (ACL) 198 PA, .287\/.389\/.402, 2 HR, 29 SB, 14.6 BB%, 11.1 K%, 116 wRC+<\/p>\n
A top Cleveland international signing out of the Dominican Republic in 2024, Arias has easily walked more than striking out and had a strong stateside debut last year in the Complex League.<\/p>\n
Dauri Fernandez, SS (Age 18)
2025 (ACL) 176 PA, .333\/.398\/.558, 6 HR, 16 SB, 9.1 BB%, 12.5 K%, 147 wRC+
2025 (A): 24 PA, .273\/.250\/.318, 0 HR, 2 SB, 0 BB%, 12.5 K%, 57 wRC+<\/p>\n
One of Cleveland\u2019s top performers in the Arizona Complex League in 2025. Undersized, but makes solid contact and doesn\u2019t strike out often. Earned a small taste of full-season ball at the end of the year.<\/p>\n
Franklin Gomez, LHP (Age 20)
w\/ Mets 2025 (A): 14 G, 82.0 IP, 1.85 ERA, 3.63 FIP, 21.4 K%, 11.7 BB%, 1.09 WHIP
w\/ Mets 2025 (A+): 6 GS, 48.2 IP, 1.70 ERA, 3.65 FIP, 23.4 K%, 9.9 BB%, 1.83 WHIP<\/p>\n
Acquired from the Mets in a trade for international bonus cash, Gomez lit up Single-A in his age-19 season, then improved his walk and strikeout numbers after being promoted to High-A.<\/p>\n
Jacob Cozart, C (Age 23)
2025 (A+) 308 PA, .229\/.344\/.364, 7 HR, 0 SB, 13.3 BB%, 21.1K%, 106 wRC+
2025 (AA) 94 PA, .256\/.330\/.390, 2 HR, 0 SB, 8.5 BB%, 25.5K%, 113 wRC+<\/p>\n
Selected as a defense-first catcher with some pop in the second round of the 2024 MLB Draft, Cozart had above-average offensive seasons at both High-A and Double-A in 2025.<\/p>\n
Petey Halpin, OF (Age 23)
2025 (AAA) 553 PA, .249\/.321\/.414, 14 HR, 15 SB, 9.2 BB%, 28.2 K%, 95 wRC+
2025 (MLB): 8 PA, .333\/.500\/.333, 0 HR, 0 SB, 25.0 BB%, 25.0 K%, 157 wRC+<\/p>\n
Earned a cup of coffee in Cleveland last season after an average year at Triple-A at age 23. Impressed with five runs scored in just six games played with the Guardians.<\/p>\n
Josh Hartle, LHP (Age 22)
2025 (A+): 22 GS, 103.1 IP, 2.35 ERA, 3.06 FIP, 24.0 K%, 8.9 BB%, 1.05 WHIP
2025 (AA): 2 GS, 10.0 IP, 4.50 ERA, 2.79 FIP, 16.3 K%, 4.7 BB%, 1.50 WHIP<\/p>\n
Acquired from Pittsburgh in the Spencer Horwitz trade, Hartle was one of Cleveland\u2019s most successful starting pitchers in its minor league system in 2025. Stands 6-foot-6, but doesn\u2019t have a ton of velocity.<\/p>\n
Austin Peterson, RHP (Age 26)
2025 (AA): 11 GS, 55.0 IP, 1.47 ERA, 3.29 FIP, 23.9 K%, 4.9 BB%, 0.84 WHIP
2025 (AAA): 15 GS, 90.2 IP, 4.27 ERA, 4.37 FIP, 20.2 K%, 7.8 BB%, 1.37 WHIP<\/p>\n
Absolutely dominated Double-A to begin 2025 looking well on his way to repeating his tremendous 2024 season, but then struggled after an early-season promotion to Triple-A. Remains on the 40-man roster.<\/p>\n
Gabriel Rodriguez, SS (Age 18)
2025 (ACL) 122 PA, .294\/.393\/.402, 1 HR, 11 SB, 12.3 BB%, 18.9 K%, 116 wRC+<\/p>\n
One of Cleveland\u2019s top recent international signings, Rodriguez put up strong offensive numbers in his stateside debut in his age-18 season in 2025. Expected to transition to full-season ball this year.<\/p>\n
Andrew Walters, RHP (Age 25)
2025 (AAA): 12 G, 12.0 IP, 1.50 ERA, 1.91 FIP, 46.0 K%, 18.0 BB%, 1.17 WHIP
2025 (MLB): 2 G, 1.1 IP, 13.50 ERA, 9.89 FIP, 33.3 K%, 0.0 BB%, 1.50 WHIP<\/p>\n
Walters maintains his rookie status due to limited MLB appearances because of an injury in 2025. If he returns at 100%, he\u2019ll once again be a factor in the back end of Cleveland\u2019s vaunted bullpen.<\/p>\n
Our list so far:
1. Chase DeLauter, LHH OF
2. Travis Bazzana, LHH 2B
3. Parker Messick, LHP
4. Ralphy Velazquez, LHH 1B\/RF
5. Angel Genao, SH SS
6. Braylon Doughty, RHP
7. Cooper Ingle, LHH C
8. Khal Stephen, RHP
9. Juan Brito, SH 2B\/1B\/RF\/3B
10. Jaison Chourio, SH OF
11. Kahlil Watson, LHH OF
12. Daniel Espino, RHP
13. George Valera, LHH OF
14. Jace LaViolette, LHH OF
15. Joey Oakie, RHP
16. Alfonsin Rosario, RHH OF
17. Juneiker Caceres, LHH OF
18. Yorman Gomez, RHP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The people have spoken and right-handed pitcher Yorman Gomez is our No. 18 Cleveland Guardians prospect for 2026.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558257,"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-558256","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\/116025132889706561","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558256","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=558256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}