Jhonkensy

Noel

What a moment for Noel to send one over the fence in his first at-bat as a big leaguer. He put up 18 homers, a .578 slugging percentage, and had three batted balls over 115 MPH in 65 games at AAA this year, so power is his calling card. Josh Naylor is the Guardians’ every day first baseman, but David Fry has faltered in June and played a good bit of corner outfield and catcher along with being the Guardians’ usual DH. Noel may have an opportunity to prove himself over the next few weeks.

Noel had an 1.156 OPS for Columbus this month, putting him at .295/.359/.578 with 18 homers for the season. It’s unclear how much of a role the Guardians will carve out for him versus righties, but he should definitely be the right fielder against lefties. He struggled to hit for average in previous years, and he’s a zero when it comes to steals, so he’ll need to keep showing plenty of power in order to be useful in fantasy leagues.

Noel’s stock slipped a bit last year as he struggled in the upper minors, but he’s really turned things around this year, cutting back on the strikeouts and still hitting for power. The 22-year-old slugger has 17 round-trippers in 62 games so far this season at Triple-A Columbus. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see him get a shot in Cleveland at some point later this year.

No real surprises among the latest round of cuts from earlier this week out of Guardians camp. Noel and Brito are probably the closest to the big leagues of the quartet, but there isn’t exactly a clear path to at-bats in Cleveland right now.

Noel was put on Cleveland’s 40-man roster back in 2021 and has yet to reach the majors. The 21-year-old infielder slugged 32 homers in 134 games across three minor-league levels last year. He’ll open the 2023 campaign at Triple-A Columbus and figures to get a shot at some point later this year.

Noel drove in four runs in the contest. The homers give him four on the young year, and he’s slugging .632 thanks to those roundtrippers and a pair of doubles. Signed all the way back in 2017, Noel put up sensational numbers last year with a slash of .340/.390/.615, and there’s plus power in his right-handed bat with a decent chance to hit for average on top of it. The bat doesn’t have many questions, but he’s a below-average runner and poor defender, so he’s likely to land at first base. There’s enough offensive upside to justify playing him there, however, and he could be a regular for the Guardians in a couple of years. He’s a player fantasy managers have to keep an eye on.

A trio of the Guardians top position player prospects will open the 2022 season in the minors. Freeman and Jones have dealt with their share of injuries, but aren’t too far away from making an impact at the highest level.

The 20-year-old infielder has just 100 at-bats at the High-A level, but that was more than enough for the Guardians to protect him from next month’s Rule 5 Draft. Noel slashed .340/.390/.615 with 19 home runs, 14 doubles, and five stolen bases over 265 at-bats last season.