Guardians announce 15 spring training invitees

Feb 3, 2023 - 9:06 PM

With spring training just around the corner, the Guardians have announced 15 players invited to participate — in addition to everyone on the 40-man roster, of course.

Internal players

• Logan Allen, LHP
• Peyton Battenfield, RHP
• David Fry, C
• Nick Mikolajchak, RHP
• Andrew Misiaszek, LHP
• Luis Oviedo, RHP
• Micah Pries, INF
• Cade Smith, RHP

The internal group is headlined by pitching prospect Logan Allen, who has made multiple top-100 lists leading up to the season and is a consensus top-10 prospect in the Guardians organization. He was ranked No. 9 in our community vote and No. 4 by FanGraphs.

Reliever Nick Mikolajchak has fallen out of the spotlight a bit as his strikeout rate came back to human levels in 2022 following a shoulder injury, but with just a 3.04 ERA in Triple-A last year we could potentially see him make his MLB debut out of the ‘pen this season. You can’t tell a lot from a few weeks of spring training, but if his pitches can show some of the life they did pre-injury, it will be a good sign.

Luis Oviedo is another interesting arm to watch as a 23-year-old former Rule 5 draft pick. He was selected out of the Guardians system by the Pirates back in 2020, pitched a disastrous 29.2 innings in 2021, and returned to Cleveland after being waived last offseason. His lack of command didn’t magically return while back in the Guardians organization, however, and he finished with a 5.44 ERA in 51.1 Double-A innings while walking almost seven batters per nine innings.

External players

• Caleb Baragar, LHP
• Cam Gallagher, C
• Michael Kelly, RHP
• Roman Quinn, OF
• Caleb Simpson, RHP
• Touki Toussaint, RHP
• Meibrys Viloria, C

Touki Toussaint is the most intriguing name here, along with Cam Gallagher and Meibrys Violoria potentially battling for the backup (or third) catcher spot out of spring training. All of these guys are on minor-league deals with spring training invites.

In case you missed it, today was officially Truck Day, unofficially marking the beginning of spring training. The real beginning will be on Feb. 17 when pitchers and catchers start working out in Goodyear, Arizona, followed by full squad workouts on Feb. 21, and the first exhibition game against the Reds on Feb. 25. We’re almost there.