Cleveland Guardians Add Daniel Espino, Cade Smith To 40-Man Roster

Cleveland has protected the pair of right-handed pitching prospects from this year's MLB Rule 5 Draft.

The Cleveland Guardians have submitted their 40-man roster for this year’s MLB Rule 5 Draft ahead of today’s 6:00 PM deadline.

The team announced that right-handed pitching prospects Daniel Espino and Cade Smith have been selected to Cleveland’s 40-man roster.

This means that they are now protected from the 2023 MLB Rule 5 Draft, which will take place at MLB’s winter meetings on December 6th.

.@CleGuardians Moves this afternoon in advance of today's 40-player roster deadline:

+Selected RHP Cade Smith from AAA Columbus and RHP Daniel Espino from AA Akron, adding the duo to the 40-man roster.

+Designated RHP Michael Kelly & RHP Cal Quantrill for assignment.

— GuardsInsider (@GuardsInsider) November 14, 2023

Per MLB Pipeline, Espino is currently the Guardians’ third-ranked prospect and MLB’s 80th-ranked prospect. The 22-year-old starting pitcher was Cleveland’s first-round pick in the 2019 MLB Draft out of high school.

After a promising start to his Minor League career, Espino did not pitch at all this season due to right shoulder surgery.

Akron RubberDucks pitcher Daniel Espino warms up between innings against the Erie SeaWolves at UPMC Park in Erie on April 9, 2022 :: © GREG WOHLFORD/ERIE TIMES-NEWS / USA TODAY NETWORK

He most recently made four starts with Double-A Akron in 2022, going 1-0 with a 2.45 ERA, 35 strikeouts, 0.71 WHIP, and .141 opposing batting average. However, less than a month into the season, Espino was shut down due to both knee and shoulder soreness.

Guardians fans did recently get encouraging news on him, as he was activated from the 60-day injured list eight days ago.

While Smith is not a top-30 Cleveland prospect per MLB Pipeline, he has become one of the team’s premier Minor League relief pitchers.

Cleveland signed Smith as a non-drafted free agent in 2020 out of the University of Hawai’i.

After converting 13 of 15 save opportunities across High-A and Double-A in 2022, Smith converted 15 of 17 chances across Double-A and Triple-A Columbus this season, leading Cleveland’s player development system in both saves and appearances (47).

#Guardians 24yr old RHP relief prospect Cade Smith with another dominant outing last night striking out 5 over 2.0 scoreless innings for Columbus topping out at 97.6 mph.

Line - 2.0(IP) 1H 0R 0ER 0BB 5SO

Last 10 appearances:

- 11.1(IP) 5H 0R 0ER 5BB 20SO 0.00 ERA#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/bBWiiZPB4P

— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) August 30, 2023

In three Minor League seasons between Single-A and Triple-A, the 24-year-old has a 3.61 ERA, 262 strikeouts, 1.21 WHIP, and .195 opposing batting average.

In a corresponding move, the Guardians designated both Michael Kelly and Cal Quantrill for assignment.