![\"Jos\u00e9](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/jose-scaled-e1776640237984.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCLEVELAND \u2014 The Guardians have started three players at second base this season: Brayan Rocchio, Juan Brito and Daniel Schneemann. Angel Mart\u00ednez could fill in there if needed, too.<\/p>\n
Eventually, though, the organization will hand the keys to Travis Bazzana, its top prospect.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen?\u201d asked every Clevelander and Australian reading this.<\/p>\n
Perhaps team president Chris Antonetti will tip his hand.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne, what\u2019s the opportunity up here, both in the immediate and the long term?\u201d Antonetti said Sunday, when asked what goes into such a decision. \u201cAnd then the individual\u2019s readiness to come up and help contribute at the major-league level. Those are the two considerations we weigh.\u201d<\/p>\n
OK, maybe not.<\/p>\n
Bazzana was the No. 1 pick in 2024 out of Oregon State. Six of the eight players taken immediately after him have already debuted in the majors. The other two are Charlie Condon, who\u2019s off to a blistering start at Triple A for the Colorado Rockies, and Hagen Smith, who is pitching well for the Chicago White Sox Triple-A affiliate.<\/p>\n
Bazzana, meanwhile, has shaken off a so-so start to supply five multihit efforts in his last seven games. In his last eight games, Bazzana is 13-for-32 with seven doubles, five walks, three stolen bases and a home run for Columbus.<\/p>\n
Of course, that\u2019s a small sample and those are surface-level numbers. Antonetti noted the Guardians will study \u201cunderlying indicators\u201d to determine what might translate at the big-league level. Bazzana\u2019s scouting report has long included high-level plate discipline and swing decisions, but lately, it seems as though he has been more aggressive at the plate. It\u2019s one thing to draw a bunch of walks in the minors, but when big-league pitchers attack the zone, will Bazzana be able to inflict damage? He smoked a double and a homer to the opposite field Saturday before getting an off day Sunday.<\/p>\n
Bazzana in Triple A in 2025: .225\/.420\/.438 slash line, 24.2% BB rate, 26.7% K rate
Bazzana in Triple A in 2026: .278\/.374\/.481 slash line, 13.0% BB rate, 17.4% K rate<\/p>\n
The Guardians are past the first stage of service-time manipulation. If they promote him at any point this season, they\u2019ll control him for the remainder of this year, plus six more seasons, unless he finishes in the top two in the AL Rookie of the Year balloting. That\u2019s a crowded field, one that includes Guardians outfielder Chase DeLauter and pitcher Parker Messick.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s also the Super Two cutoff that typically arrives in mid-June, which grants players who were called up early in the year an additional trip to arbitration. The Guardians haven\u2019t always cared about the Super Two financial ramifications, but they did conveniently wait until mid-June to promote Francisco Lindor in 2015.<\/p>\n
They didn\u2019t play service time games with DeLauter, and he has repeatedly delivered since Opening Day. When Bazzana demonstrates he\u2019s ready, they should follow the same protocol. Rocchio has asserted himself at shortstop since Gabriel Arias suffered a hamstring injury. Brito\u2019s defense has been rough at second. Schneemann has proven valuable in a super-utility role.<\/p>\n
Bazzana, in the near future, should simplify things on the middle infield.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s continuing to progress and build consistency with his at-bats,\u201d Antonetti said.<\/p>\n
Before it chipped in 4 1\/3 scoreless frames Sunday, the Guardians\u2019 bullpen ranked 26th in the league with a 5.52 ERA. It\u2019s been a shaky start for just about everyone in the group, including closer Cade Smith, though Smith delivered his most effective outing of the season Saturday.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not all Emmanuel Clase\u2019s fault, by the way. Cleveland\u2019s relievers posted the league\u2019s No. 1 ERA last season after Clase landed on the restricted list in late July. Plus, there\u2019s a decent chance Clase would have been traded before this season had his alleged involvement in a pitch-rigging scheme not surfaced.<\/p>\n
This group is different. The Guardians added Connor Brogdon, Shawn Armstrong, Peyton Pallette and Colin Holderman to the mix over the winter.<\/p>\n
There could be more turnover in time, but it\u2019s a bit complicated to project.<\/p>\n
Franco Aleman could be an option at any point. He\u2019s off to a great start at Columbus (5 2\/3 hitless innings), and he\u2019s on the 40-man roster.<\/p>\n
Andrew Walters seemed poised to carve out a high-leverage big-league role last year until injuries essentially wiped out his season. He\u2019s on a rehab assignment in Columbus, though Antonetti stressed he\u2019s still building up his volume and intensity.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s Daniel Espino, once a wunderkind ace-in-the-making before he missed nearly four years because of a pair of shoulder surgeries. Also in Columbus, he\u2019s fully healthy, and he topped out at a season-best 100.6 mph Thursday and 100.2 mph Sunday. Since he missed so much time and he\u2019s learning the routines of a reliever, the Guardians are taking a deliberate approach with him. Both he and Walters have had at least three days between each of their appearances.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re trying to take it in stages,\u201d Antonetti said. \u201cDaniel\u2019s now getting to a point where he\u2019ll have a little bit less structure to his outings.\u201d<\/p>\n
They should both eventually join the big-league pen, but Antonetti noted the Guardians have to think about how many innings each pitcher can contribute, how often they can pitch and how their workload limitations might influence the rest of the pen.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez is approaching both 300 steals and 300 home runs for his career. (Nick Cammett \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n
On Sept. 1, 2013, Jos\u00e9 Ram\u00edrez made his major-league debut as a pinch runner in the ninth inning, wearing a pair of cleats two sizes too big, because he forgot to bring his own. Antonetti remembers Ram\u00edrez taking a massive lead off first base. \u201cLike 30 feet off the base, or that\u2019s what it seemed,\u201d Antonetti said. Manager Terry Francona later joked that Ram\u00edrez ran the bases as if he were invisible.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe might still think he\u2019s invisible,\u201d Antonetti said, \u201cbut it\u2019s obviously served him well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ram\u00edrez leads the league with 10 stolen bases this season. He\u2019s now 33, and he\u2019s never rated as one of the speediest sprinters, yet he consistently rates as one of the league\u2019s top base runners. He has topped the 40-steal mark each of the last two years, and could be headed for another career high in 2026.<\/p>\n
Ram\u00edrez sits three steals away from 300 for his career. He\u2019d join Kenny Lofton as the only players in franchise history to reach that total in a Cleveland uniform. With three more steals and nine more home runs, Ram\u00edrez will become the ninth member of the 300\/300 club, joining Barry Bonds, Bobby Bonds, Alex Rodr\u00edguez, Willie Mays, Andre Dawson, Carlos Beltr\u00e1n, Reggie Sanders and Steve Finley. Barry Bonds is the only one with 350 of each, another milestone that seems within reach.<\/p>\n
Schneemann started in center field on Opening Day. He\u2019s made diving stops at shortstop. He has filled in at second and third base. And he entered Sunday ranked 10th in the American League in OPS. The leaderboard includes Yord\u00e1n Alvarez, Mike Trout, Aaron Judge \u2026 and the 1,003rd pick in the 2018 draft.<\/p>\n
In 2019, Steven Kwan, another member of that 2018 draft class, was playing for High-A Lynchburg, and Schneemann earned a promotion to the same affiliate. The two were chatting over lunch one day when Schneemann was called into the manager\u2019s office. When Schneemann returned, Kwan joked, \u201cWhat happened, they send you down already?\u201d That\u2019s precisely what happened.<\/p>\n
They had promoted Schneemann to replace an injured player, but it turned out the injury wasn\u2019t serious, so they didn\u2019t need Schneemann after all.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat can be really deflating to some players,\u201d Kwan said. \u201cHe took it all in stride.\u201d<\/p>\n
A 33rd-round pick, Schneemann wasn\u2019t on the radar until he overhauled his swing and approach following the 2022 season. That elevated his profile and helped him break through to the majors as a 27-year-old in 2024. Now, he\u2019s roaming center field, patrolling the middle infield and slugging grand slams.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor him to blossom into what he is,\u201d Kwan said, \u201cI think good things happen to good people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND \u2014 The Guardians have started three players at second base this season: Brayan Rocchio, Juan Brito and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2380],"tags":[5,135,51,2565,538,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-679495","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-clevelandguardians","12":"tag-guardians","13":"tag-mlb"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116434228144710242","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679495","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=679495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}