Cleveland Guardians Promote Organizational Top-10 Prospect
So far this season, the Cleveland Guardians have promoted multiple prospects to their Major League club, including Kyle Manzardo, Johnathan Rodríguez, and Daniel Schneemann.
Now, another Cleveland prospect has joined this group.
On Friday, the team announced that INF/OF Angel Martínez has been promoted from Triple-A Columbus. In a corresponding move, the Guardians have placed INF Gabriel Arias on the family medical emergency list.
Angel Martínez has been recalled before tonight's game.#ForTheLand pic.twitter.com/GNCat50tQr
— GuardsInsider (@GuardsInsider) June 21, 2024
The 22-year-old Martínez is MLB Pipeline’s ninth-ranked Cleveland prospect, and was a 2023 MiLB.com Organization All-Star. In 17 games with Columbus this season, he has hit .333 with 20 hits, four doubles, three home runs, 11 RBI, and a .988 OPS.
Martínez had an impressive spring training with the Guardians earlier this year, playing 13 games before being placed on the 10-day injured list with a right foot contusion. He hit .423 with 11 hits, two doubles, one triple, two home runs, seven RBI, and a remarkable 1.256 OPS. However, in the third game of a rehab assignment with Columbus, he sustained a hamate fracture in his left hand, which kept him on the 60-day injured list for over a month.
The switch-hitter has proven to be versatile defensively. During his professional career, he has played 166 games at second base, 138 games at shortstop, 74 games at third base, and three games in center field, two of which have been with Columbus this year.
Martínez is also the son of former MLB catcher Sandy Martínez, who played eight Major League seasons for six teams, including one game for Cleveland in 2004.
The Guardians are set to begin a three-game home series against the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday night at 7:10 p.m. Time will ultimately tell if this is when Cleveland’s newest addition will make his Major League debut.
LOGAN POTOSKY
Logan Potosky is an aspiring play-by-play sports broadcaster who, to date, has called approximately 350+ hours of professional, college, and high school sporting events. He is currently the Play-by-Play Broadcaster for the Lake County Captains, the High-A Affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians. He graduated from John Carroll University in May of 2023 with a degree in Communication, with a concentration in Digital Media, and a minor in Entrepreneurship.