Many members of the Cleveland Guardians have high expectations heading into spring training and, eventually, the regular season. However, there’s also a group of players the Guardians would be ecstatic if they could get any positive production from, and possibly not on everyone’s radar.

Here are three players who could be pleasant surprises during spring training. 

The Guardians are well aware of the pitcher Trevor Stephan can be when he’s healthy. In his last full big-league season, the righty logged a strikeout rate of 25.5 percent and a whiff rate of 30.6 percent. However, that was before Tommy John surgery.

Stephan hasn’t appeared in an MLB game since 2023, but he’s healthy now, even though his minor league appearances in 2025 didn’t go great.

Sometimes, it just takes time for players recovering from Tommy John to get back to their pre-procedure level. With Stephan having a full offseason of work, and not rehab, he could be a pleasant surprise in spring training and could set himself up to be a nice addition to Cleveland’s bullpen at some point in 2026. 

Johnathan Rodriguez’s natural power will always garner attention. 

While that hasn’t translated to the big-leagues came with two clutch hits for the Guardians to help them punch their ticket to the postseason. The 26-year-old was also named MVP of the Puerto Rican Winter League over the offseason.

Rodriguez had a lot of momentum heading into the offseason, and followed that up with a strong showing in the Winter League. It isn’t impossible to believe that the 26-year-old is finally finding his footing and could be an unexpected bright spot for Cleveland during Cactus League action. 

Injuries have attached a massive “what if” to Daniel Espino’s big-league career. The 25-year-old may never be the unicorn starting pitcher he had the potential to be when he joined Cleveland’s organization during the 2019 draft.

That said, Espino is healthy right now and was even seen throwing a bullpen session early on in training camp.

Espino showed he still has the skill set to be in the high 90s with his fastball and generates some swing-and-miss during the Arizona Fall League. If he can do the same thing against live hitters during spring training, he could end up being a pleasant surprise for the organization. 

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