The Cleveland Guardians are relying on prospects and youth to fix their offensive shortcomings.
The Cleveland Guardians are well aware of where their shortcomings were a season ago. Despite making it to the American League Wild Card Series, the lineup was simply not good enough to go on a deep run in October.
Cleveland’s President of Baseball Operations recently appeared on MLB Network Radio and made it clear where the team must improve in 2026.
“We know we need to be better offensively. We need to be meaningfully better offensively than we were last year,” said Antonetti.
The question everyone wants an answer to is how the Guardians will accomplish that task.
Yes, they recently signed Rhys Hoskins to a Minor League deal, who could certainly help at some point in 2026, possibly even as soon as Opening Day.
However, Anonetti reiterated that the majority of the Guardians’ improvement on the offensive end must come from within the organization.
Apr 20, 2025; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; Cleveland Guardians President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti tosses a baseball on the field before the game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images“We believe we have the group of players internally, both guys that have already appeared at the major league level, and then a wave of guys, we think, are on the cusp of contributing at the major league level that could help fuel that offensive improvement that we know we need,” continued the Guardians executive.
“We need to build teams differently, but the objective is the same, and our goal is to win a World Series. We recognize that, given the economic system, we are going to have to do that with a younger group. So for us to win, we need to accelerate that development of young players, where they're not just getting to the major leagues and getting their feet wet or focused on individual statistics, they're focused on helping us win games.”
Antonetti didn’t name any players individually, but it’s a secret about who he’s referring to when discussing the next wave: Chase DeLauter, George Valera, CJ Kayfus, and eventually Travis Bazzana and Juan Brito.
Time will tell if Cleveland’s offseason strategy to improve the at-bats will pay off, but the Guardians are clearly confident that youth will help them when they win a third-straight American League Central crown.
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