Cleveland Guardians: Velazquez Waves Goodbye To His Time As A Catcher
\The catcher position has been one of the hardest positions for the Cleveland Guardians to find sustained success at over recent years. With no disrespect to Bo Nalyor (who will be mentioned more in-depth later), the best offensive and most capable catcher on the Guardians is likely first-year manager and catching veteran, Steven Vogt. With Ralphy Velazquez still lightyears away from the majors, the 2023 first-round pick looked as if he will be the team’s future at the backstop position. However, Cleveland has seemingly nixed that idea early.
High school catchers are some of, if not the, most polarizing and difficult prospects for teams to develop. Perhaps this is a reason why there has not been one High School catcher drafted number 1 since Joe Mauer in 2001. That gamble paid off for Minnesota. Many will argue Joe Mauer is the greatest catcher of the modern era. Yet, for every Joe Mauer, there is a Ryan Christianson, a career minor leaguer who was taken 11th by Seattle in 1999. A majority of the top catchers are college-bred. In fact, most high school catchers end up as 1B or convert elsewhere in the majors. Tyler Soderstrom is a perfect case of that for the Oakland A’s who has found success as a 1B. This is the route the Guardians seem to be taking with Velazquez.
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What is it about Velazquez that sets him apart? Why move the prep catcher to 1B so early on in his career? Take a moment to consider that Soderstrom was still thought of as a catcher until he showed a more consistent bat at 1B. This went on even at the AAA level. Bo Naylor, current Guardians catcher and prep school draftee, was a dynamo throughout the Cleveland minor leagues that have yet to really showcase himself (lately he has sort of turned a corner).
It seems this quick transition for Ralphy has a lot to do with the Guardians’ belief in Naylor as a breakout, more so than the catching ability of Velazquez. Or, perhaps the Guardians want to let the bat do the talking and take a more aggressive and faster approach to getting Velasquez to the majors after seeing the elongated adjustment period for Naylor. Thus far, the bat has proven this is a possibility.
The former prep catcher has established himself as one of the best prospects, not only in Clevelands’ system but in baseball as well. Velazquez, who is hitting only .261, has shown an ability to hit for power with 9 HRs and 20 doubles, and draws his fair share of walks while also not striking out at an alarming rate. The power itself makes for an intriguing 1B power hitter, however, his ability to make smart decisions at bat will help his cause in the eyes of the Guardians’ front office.
Given all of Cleveland’s recent success developing minor-league hitters, it would be no surprise if Velazquez was a major-league bat and a consistent one at that. Ralphy was selected to the MLB Futures Game during All-Star Weekend and just nabbed a spot on MLB Pipeline’s Top-100 prospect list. The league sees the potential as well. Cleveland assistant GM, James Harris, stated the following to MLB Guardians writer, Mandy Bell, about Ralphy in the Futures Game,
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“Yeah, he’s a really exciting young player for us. Futures Game acknowledged that. They came to us and asked if he could play. We’re excited to have him there.”
Needless to say, this is a big honor for Velazquez. He will join fellow Lynchburg teammate and fellow recent Top-100 prospect, Jaison Chourio, in the game which showcases some of the best players in minor league baseball. The sudden emergence of Velazquez is not a surprise to Harris who also stated the following about the adjustments made to Velazquez,
“He’s hit quite a bit. We were really excited with him last year. We’ve slimmed him down. He’s gonna play a little bit of the outfield. He played some left field the other day. The bat’s electric. He’s hit, I think, [nine] home runs so far already.”
In regards to the Guardians’ future at catcher, while Velazquez was slated to be a possibility there on draft night, the belief now is Cooper Ingle, a starting catcher at the Hi-A level, will be the next catching star the Guardians groom. Cleveland also selected NC State catcher, Jacob Cozart, at pick 48 of the 2024 MLB Draft further adding to the depth at catcher in the minors. These players take a bit of the pressure off Velasquez as he can continue to feel confident in growing his game as a true offensive dynamo without the possibility of an everyday role as a catcher due to limited depth in the Guardians system. While Velazquez would most certainly be up to par if that were to happen, his bat is developing steadily enough that it is best Cleveland just continues his development as they are currently.
Daniel is a guru of baseball and basketball prospects. He’s a very experienced Amusement Park traveler as well. Follow him and his hot takes on Insta @dgentleman9288
