Guardians could use a little luck in developing slugging outfielders

For far too long the model has been devouring itself because there is not enough talent to go around because there are too many superfluous, light-hitting hitters who take up too much space and are simply not hitting. That is the shortened version of the Guardians. All is not lost, however. In his ranking of all minor league systems, ESPN's Kiley McDaniel has the Guardians' ranked No. 7 overall. Among American League teams, only Seattle (No. 3) and Minnesota (No. 5) rank higher than the Guardians. So that's not nothing. It's not like the Guardians' minor league system is devoid of talent. If you go by McDaniel's rankings, the Guardians consistently seem to come away with more than their share of prospects than most major league teams. What the Guardians ARE devoid of, however, is good luck, and power hitters. Indeed, if it wasn't for bad luck, the Guards wouldn't have any at all. Take forever injured Guards pitcher Daniel Espino, for example. If it wasn't for bad luck, who knows? Espino might have already started a couple of Major League All-Star Games by now. In the 2018 Under Armour All-America Game, the flame-throwing Espino, who had committed to LSU, uncorked a 99 mph fastball. Those kind of arms don't grow on trees. Injuries, however, apparently do. The luckless Espino, and his untouchable fastball, have been in the system for six years, but he has only pitched competitively in three of them. During his injury-riddled career, Espino has held opposing hitters to a .184 batting average. In 133 career innings, he has struck out 221 batters. If there is a silver lining for the franchise, it is that Espino, the 24th player taken in the first round of the 2019 Major League Draft is still only 24. Talk about a pitcher that could use some good luck, and good health. Or how about three hitters, and the team that drafted them, who could use some good luck? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Chase DeLauter, Jace LaViolette and Travis Bazzana. If these three former first-round picks — the law firm of Chase, Jace, and Bazzana — reach their potential and still are playing in Cleveland when it happens, all bets are off. All three are first-round picks: Bazzana, the first overall pick in 2024, DeLauter, the 16th pick in 2022 and LaViolette, the 27th pick last year. Now, on a normal playing field, a team lucky enough to get a first-round pick three times in the span of six years should be sitting pretty moving forward. But as we all also know, these are the Guardians being the Guardians, which means we are permitted to assume nothing, other than bad luck is undoubtedly in play. Sure enough, almost, instantly upon arrival, DeLauter was felled by the injury bug. That was a given. No matter what injury bug bit him, it bit him good. Of course it did. It's the Guardians' way. Bobbing and weaving his way through the expected hailstorm of injuries that players from the first round that are drafted by Cleveland seemingly must endure (it's an MLB directive, or so it seems), DeLauter spent most of his first three seasons greeting acquaintances with the standard opener: "Hey, how's it going? What's that? Oh yeah, the injury is coming along." Amazingly, the injury was "coming along." DeLauter only played two seasons in Cleveland's system. But his production was quite a production. In a total of 96 games in two seasons trying to avoid injuries, DeLauter had plenty of success. He hit .317 with 13 home runs, 32 doubles, 63 RBI and a .517 slugging percentage. That opened the eyes of the front office, and it wouldn't be a surprise to see DeLauter finding a home somewhere in Cleveland's outfield at some point next year. That of course would translate into good luck, which, of course, might actually add a much needed bat in Cleveland's offensively challenged offense — assuming DeLauter can stay healthy. The potential second new member of the outfield, not next year but somewhere down the road from there, one presumes, is this year's first-round pick, LaViolette, who broke a bone in his foot during the conference tournament for Texas A&M. LaViolette spent the night in a hospital, then came back the next day and continued raking. Don't think team officials didn't notice that. DeLauter and LaViolette, once they reach the big leagues, could bring some much-needed punch to the punchless and woefully weak outfield. After watching their little pea-shooter outfield for the last couple years, Guards officials may be finally coming around in acknowledging that in today's game, you win with home runs, not with ground-ball hitting middle infielders. Contact Jim Ingraham at jingraham4@gmail.com.