Johnathan

Rodriguez

Jhonkensy Noel has been red hot in Triple-A, so the Guardians are going to give him a chance now, even though they deemed Rodriguez the better option 11 days ago and he’d since reached five times and driven in two runs in his four starts. It’s a tough break for the 24-year-old.

Rodriguez has been summoned to join the Guardians in Toronto for the rest of their weekend series against the Blue Jays with franchise cornerstone José Ramírez away from the club on paternity leave. The 24-year-old infielder got into eight contests earlier this season for Cleveland, going 3-for-23 with three RBI in 28 plate appearances.

Rodriguez hit just .130 in his limited action with the Guardians after being promoted. He’ll head back to Triple-A to get regular playing time with Daniel Schneemann heading to Cleveland to take his spot on the roster.

Vogt said the plan is for Kwan to play 6-8 innings in the field. If Kwan were to do that and come out feeling good, he might only need one or two more starts before the Guardians feel good about activating him from the IL. That could mean that Jonathan Rodriguez heads back to Triple-A.

Rodriguez has started in four of five games since being called from Triple-A but three of those came against left-handed pitchers. Facing a right-handed starter on Monday, it will be Will Brennan in the outfield. It seems like Rodriguez will need to hit his way into a starting role, which could make it hard to roster him right now outside of deeper fantasy formats.

It was a slow start for Rodriguez, but the Guardians’ rookie has been solid his last two times out. Today, he had two of the four hardest-hit balls of the day with a 110.6 mph single and a 107 mph double. It is fair to point out that he also struck out twice and has made three of his four starts against left-handed pitching. That last part is important because it makes it a bit harder to trust that the Guardians will play him over Will Brennan or Kyle Manzardo when they face righties.

The 24-year-old Rodriguez was off to a strong start in Triple-A, slashing .276/.389/.449 in 43 games with seven home runs, 30 runs, 28 RBI, and four steals. While he still sports a 25 percent strikeout rate, it’s an improvement on the 33 percent rate he posted in Triple-A last year, and Rodriguez is also posting a 16 percent walk rate. He hit 29 home runs across two levels of the minors last year, so he could bring some solid power to the middle of the Guardians’ order. Ramon Laureano was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

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.

We were hoping the Guardians would give Rodriguez a look late in the year while he was tearing it up in Triple-A. That didn’t happen, but he’s on the 40-man now, preventing him from becoming a minor league free agent. Rodriguez hit .286/.368/.529 between Double- and Triple-A as a 23-year-old last season. He has contact issues, but the power is legit and he’s a pretty good defender in right. He’ll be a sleeper if the Guardians decline to upgrade in the outfield.

Even though he’s striking out 39 percent of the time, the 23-year-old Rodriguez is batting .321/.360/.762 in 21 games since moving up to Triple-A. Before that, he hit .289/.364/.512 with a 27% strikeout rate in Double-A. The Guardians might want to give him a look in right field during September. While his offense might be similar to Oscar Gonzalez’s, he should offer a better glove in the process.