Earlier this week, the Cleveland Guardians had a pair of prospects named to Baseball America’s Top 100 list ahead of the 2024 season.
Now, another has been named to a publication’s Top 10 list at his position.
On Friday, MLB Pipeline announced its top-10 first baseman prospects before the 2024 campaign begins. Guardians prospect Kyle Manzardo comes in ranked as their second-best such prospect in baseball.
This comes just two days after the 23-year-old was named one of 15 prospects who just missed Baseball America’s Top 100. Earlier this offseason, he was also named Cleveland’s top Rookie of the Year candidate by MLB.com for this upcoming season.
Manzardo ended the 2023 season as MLB Pipeline’s top first baseman prospect, ahead of Tampa Bay Rays first baseman prospect Xavier Isaac. Now, the two have flipped positions in MLB Pipeline’s first rankings of the year.
After being traded from Tampa Bay to Cleveland this past July, Manzardo had a strong showing with Triple-A Columbus to end his 2023 campaign. In 21 games, he hit .256 with 20 hits, eight doubles, six home runs, 16 RBI, a .590 slugging percentage, and a .938 OPS.
He followed up this substantial performance with another in the 2023 Arizona Fall League, where he was named a Fall Star and participated in the league’s home run derby.
During MLB’s annual winter meetings this past December, Guardians President of Baseball Operations Chris Antonetti said that Manzardo has “positioned himself to have a really good offseason, and it should be fun to watch him compete in spring training.”
Cleveland fans are certainly hoping that this will be the case, with the team’s first spring training game coming up soon on Saturday, February 24.
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