Guardians Prospect Receives Major Honor

A Cleveland Guardians' pitching prospect has received a major honor for the 2024 season.

Jul 23, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; A fan wears a Cleveland Guardians cap during a game against the Detroit Tigers at Progressive Field. / David Richard-Imagn Images

While the Cleveland Guardians are gearing up for the MLB postseason and a hopeful run at the World Series, their future is also looking very bright.

Throughout the course of the 2024 MLB season, quite a few of their young players made major jumps. One of them was pitching prospect Matt Wilkinson.

Currently rated as the No. 29 overall prospect in the Guardians' farm system, Wilkinson has received a major honor for the way he played this year.

Just Baseball has revealed their "2024 All-Minor League Baseball Team" and Wilkinson was placed on that list.

"The legend of “Tugboat” grew by the week in the front half of the minor league season, with the poor camera angle of his Low-A telecasts only feeding into the mystery. Once he got to High-A Lake County, Wilkinson’s 90 MPH fastball continued to baffle Midwest League hitters, and his low release paired with high carry on the heater made it one of the more valuable pitches in Minor League Baseball. While his stuff is nowhere near as loud as top 100 prospects, Wilkinson could very well continue to make opposing offenses scratch their heads, level by level."

At 21 years old, Wilkinson offers the potential of a future elite arm for Cleveland.

During the 2024 minor league season, Wilkinson was dominant. He ended up starting in 24 games, compiling an 8-6 record to go along with a 1.90 ERA, a 0.91 WHIP, 174 strikeouts, 37 walks, and 118.2 innings pitched.

Those numbers are well-deserving of being named to this list. He was an absolute ace all season long.

Looking ahead to the future, starting pitching is going to be something that the Guardians need. Wilkinson could become an option for them in the fairly near future. He certainly has an opportunity to be a big part of keeping the team's championship window open moving forward.

It will be interesting to see what the 2025 season has in store for Wilkinson. He will likely jump in Cleveland's farm rankings and is clearly forcing the media to take notice of him.