The Cleveland Guardians signed Italian pitcher Ettore Giulianelli to a minor league contract.
The Cleveland Guardians have a history of developing some of the most interesting arms in baseball into productive big-league pitchers.
The organization will attempt to do that once again as the team officially announced they’d signed RHP Ettore Giulianelli to a minor league contract. The Italian pitcher will report to Minor League camp in late February.
Giulianelli was previously part of the St. Louis Cardinals organization after signing with the team as a free agent in 2019. He spent the first three seasons of his professional career pitching in the Florida Complex League.
He never made it to affiliate ball as a member of the Cardinals organization, but there are still some encouraging pieces to his game that should pique the interest of the Guardians.
From 2021-2023, Giulianelli appeared in 37 games at the rookie level. In his last season at that level, the right-hander logged a 6.16 ERA and a 1.632 WHIP, but he only registered 16.1 strikeouts per nine innings.
Feb 22, 2024; Goodyear, AZ, USA; The details of a Nike Cleveland Guardians jersey during Media Day at the Cleveland Guardians Spring Training Facility Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn ImagesGiulianelli pitched for the Italian U23 team in 2025. In 8.2 innings, the right-hander allowed three earned runs (2.42 ERA) and struck out 11 hitters with an opposing batting average of .235.
The prospects’ ability to miss bats is certainly something for the Guardians to be excited about. That said, limiting the hard contact will be vital if Giulanelli is going to actually start to make his way through Cleveland’s farm system.
The most intriguing piece of Giulianelli’s development is that he’s recently significantly increased the velocity of his fastball. In a recent bullpen session at Thread Athletics, Giulianelli was seen throwing up to 98 mph. It remains to be seen whether that velocity can translate to his in-game arsenal, but it’s still encouraging.
With the Guardians' assigning Giulianelli to minor league camp heading into spring training, they clearly view him as more of a project pitcher, rather than someone who will immediately contribute out of Cleveland’s bullpen. It’ll be interesting to see what level he starts at, and if the 22 ever reaches the big-league level.