Former Cleveland Guardians Outfielder Resurfaces in Minor Leagues as Relief Pitcher

Minor League Baseball's official website says that while this was his first performance at High-A, it's not his first performance of the season.

Naquin spent the early portion of the summer making Rookie-level appearances in the Arizona Complex League. He posted a 5.14 ERA across 13 outings, but a pair of multirun appearances stained the overall mark -- batters hit just .170 against him, while he didn’t allow a hit in his final five outings at the level.

The Texas native was the No. 15 pick in the 2012 draft and spent five years with Cleveland, and then some time with the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago White Sox and New York Mets. A lifetime .263 hitter, he had 61 career home runs, including 19 for the Reds in 2021. He helped the Guardians reach the World Series in 2016, which they lost to the Chicago Cubs in seven games. He appeared in five games of that Fall Classic, hitting .143 (1-for-7).

The Guardians enter play on Thursday at 43-48 and in fourth place in the American League Central. They have lost seven of their last 10 games.

They'll be back in action against the White Sox on Thursday night with first pitch at 7:40 p.m. ET. The White Sox are 31-62 through 93 games.

Related MLB Stories

NO HOME FOR LIVVY? Livvy Dunne, the girlfriend of Paul Skenes, recently tried to buy Babe Ruth's old apartment. So why didn't she get it? CLICK HERE:

THE MIZ MAN: Jacob Misiorowski continues to wow the baseball world, even busting out a 97 MPH slider in his last start. CLICK HERE:

TYING THE IRONMAN: Giancarlo Stanton moved into a tie for 50th on the all-time home run list on Tuesday with his second home run of the season. CLICK HERE: