The Cleveland Guardians have been very aggressive in promoting prospects to the Major League level and filling up the transaction report with other roster moves over the last two seasons.
This means that a certain jersey number may not be available for a player when they are called up.
A trio of players have already committed to changing their jersey numbers for the 2024 season. Paul Hoynes of Cleveland.com reported that Tanner Bibee, Gavin Williams, and Brayan Rocchio will all make this swap.
Bibee wore "61" last season but will switch to "28". Rocchio sported the number "6" in 2023 but will now wear "4" for his second Big League season. Williams made his debut wearing "63" but is changing his to "32."
Hoynes says he has "confirmation from the highest source possible" that the changes will happen. One can only assume the "source" he's referring to is the players themselves.
It's not uncommon for players to change their numbers after their rookie season.
Would you believe me if I said that Jose Ramirez got his first Big League hit wearing the number "62?" Well, that would be the case. J-Ram obviously went on to switch to to the iconic number " 11" he wears today.
One of the more recent examples of a Guardians player doing this is Gabriel Arias. He wore the number "8" during the 2022 season and then swapped to "13" last season.
All of this may seem silly, but numbers can have significant meaning attached to them and players may not feel complete without it. Sometimes, players will go to high extremes in order to get the number they want but Williams, Rocchio, and Bibee just waited for them to be available.
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