3/28/26 Guardians Weekly

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Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network.

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Hi everyone, welcome to Guardians Weekly Jim Rosenhouse along with you from Seattle. The season is underway and it is great to have in season 2.

This is our first as the season is underway. It's starting on Thursday night in Seattle. We'll have a week in review coming your way shortly.

A little bit later on in our show we'll hear from Mike Churnoff.

Guardian's general manager also chased a lotter who's been the talk of baseball. Not only Cleveland with his red hot start to his rookie season and we'll get a full report on Triple A Columbus.

Our first minor league update from Vice President and a player development Steven Osterer.

So a really good show lined up for you and we are pleased to be able to bring you some highlights in our first week in review of the season.

And what a great opening night it was for the Guardians in Seattle on Thursday night.

Chase DeLotter was the talk of spring training one of the hottest hitters in the cactus league. He stayed healthy was ready to go as the starting right fielder for the Guardians on opening night.

And he stepped to the plate in the first inning in his first regular season major league game.

Here's Chase DeLotter. What a camp he had this spring. Big man six four two thirty five. He sends us one high in the air to deep right.

Really back track wall leaps it is gone. Chase DeLotter with a solo home run in his first at bat in 2026.

How about that? You heard Steven votes say on the pregame show. The number two hole in the batting order a year ago was a problem area.

And he goes I think DeLotter's the perfect fit between Stephen Kwan and Jose Ramirez. His mom and dad his brother are here from West Virginia.

And what a moment he just gave his family. And for Chase DeLotter that is his first major league home run in his first regular season major league game.

How about that? Much more from DeLotter still to come by the way. However, in the bottom of the first Seattle answered with one of their new additions, Brendan Donovan.

Now the three one pitch to Donovan and it's hammered to right will be tied momentarily.

Right down the right field foul line and Brendan Donovan in his first at bat with a Seattle Mariners hit a moonshot down the right field line to tie this game.

And Bobby gave up 27 bombs a year ago and there was no doubt about that one.

And in the second inning, it was a North East Ohio native dominant can zone who put the Mariners in front.

Now the two one swung on. This is pounded deep right center field and gone.

Dominic can zone. Can you imagine what a thrill that is for him. He was a mammoth Cleveland Indians fan growing up.

He just tortures his hometown team with a line drive solo shot to right center. 418 feet.

But and hopefully you can tell from the crowd noise. It was wild and team mobile park on Thursday night a sell out crowd.

They are geeked up about their Mariners as they were a team that took Toronto to seven games in the ALCS a year ago and they have world series aspirations.

If they can get there, it would be the first time in their 50 year history. So anyway, back to the game on the opening night Thursday.

It stayed two to one Seattle until the fifth. That's when the guardians started the inning with back to back hits from Reese Hoskins and Daniel Schneeman.

Then Brian Roqueo delivered in a big way. Here's the 1-0 swung on rip to first down the line fair ball.

It rolls toward the corner and right. That'll score two and put the guardians in front on his way to second in with a slide and a two run double is Brian Roqueo.

And just like that, the guardians have taken the lead by a score of three to two.

But in the bottom of the fifth inning, another solo home run by the Mariners. This one from another Cleveland area native Luke Rayley.

Luke Rayley leads things off for Seattle. Tanner Bible working with a lead. Here's his pitch and it's swung on and drilled to right. This is deep back goes to Lauder looking up.

Wow to that get out in a hurry on a line. Luke Rayley with one swing has tied this game at three.

Then in the bottom of the seventh inning singles from Roqueo and De Lauder set the table for Jose Ramirez.

Now the 1-1 pitch swung on drill deep left field back as a Rosarena over his hand. Short hops the wall. Roqueo scores the water coming home.

Here's the threat of the plate slides in safely. Jose Ramirez with a two out to run double the left and the guardians take the lead.

5-3 in the seventh. In the bottom of the seventh, Seattle got a little closer once again. Thanks once again to Dominic Kanzone.

Sean Armstrong is on the pitch now for Cleveland. Again his career with Cleveland. Now he's back. 5-3 Cleveland. Bottom of the seventh. Dominic Kanzone with a drive.

Deep to right center. Go on again. The Cleveland Kanz had two. Both to right center. Seattle with four solo home runs tonight.

So it was a one run lead for the guardians as the game went to the ninth inning and leading things off the rookie chased to Lauder.

Got a home run to start his regular season. Major league career hit it to right in the first. He drives this one deep right center.

Four get about it. Chase the water. What a regular season debut. A bond to right center.

And it's six to four. Cleveland and chased the water. Has hit two home runs in his regular season. Major league debut.

Then one four hundred and twenty two feet. Deep into the lower deck and right center.

And historic night for the lottery. And then it will be up to Cade Smith in the bottom half of the ninth inning to seal the win for the guardians.

Now the parents swung on rip to short caught on his knees. Biarius bold game. And the guardians have come back to win the opener.

Over the Seattle Mariners by a final score of six to four. So the guardians win the opener. But then Seattle came back on Friday night and took game two of the season.

Five to one. Chase De Lauder though. He provided a spark again early in the first inning.

De Lauder became the first player in Cleveland baseball history. Never hit two home runs in his regular season debut.

Now the wine in the one oh. And it's drilled into deep right field. There she goes.

One nothing Cleveland on a laser to right that snuck over the eight foot wall and chased De Lauder with his third home run in six at bats.

Mom dad his brother other family and friends. Wow. The five and a half hour flight from West Virginia has well been worth it.

So once again the guardians with that early lead thanks to De Lauder. But Seattle got things started in the third with a lead off triple by Leo Revas and Gavin Williams making his first start of the season.

He had his hands full facing the top of the Mariners order. Here it comes. Swing and a messy came back in with a fastball. What a job after the lead off triple Williams gets Raleigh and Rodriguez with strikeouts.

And stand one nothing Cleveland going to the fourth. How about that but in the fourth inning. The walks cut up with Gavin Williams as the Mariners made him pay for back to back walks to open the inning.

And Cole Young was at the plate ready to do some damage. The set the O2 pitch. Swung on and drilled high and deep to right. De Lauder back leaps at the wall. But this one is gone.

Cole Young with the big blow. And finally the Mariners are able to make Gavin Williams pay for the walks. It is three to one Seattle.

In the sixth inning another long ball for the Mariners with a runner on it was Luke Rayley with his second home run on the young season.

And now the two to pitch. Swung on hammer the right. There she goes. Way out of here.

Well Luke Rayley and Dominic Calzone grew up huge Cleveland Indians fans and they are making life miserable for Cleveland fans this weekend.

They each have two home runs.

And that was just too much for the guardians to overcome on Friday nights. Seattle wins it by that final of five to one to even the series at a game of peace.

That's our weekend review. Stay with us when we come back. We'll hear from General Manager Mike Churnoff. That's next.

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Welcome back. It's Guardians weekly from Seattle as the season is underway.

Two games in the Guardians one and one heading into weekend action nine forty first pitch.

On Saturday night and then on Sunday evening.

It's a seven twenty first pitch for Guardians baseball.

Of course you can hear both of those games right here on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians radio network.

Bike turn off is the Guardians general manager.

And he has just been through a spring training putting a team together getting it ready with high expectations for another winning season.

And perhaps a postseason appearance once again.

The front office and the coaching staff were very happy with how the spring went.

And when we caught up with churny as the team hit Seattle he talked about why they felt so good about their club coming out of Arizona and heading into the regular season.

Well I'll tell you what going into Arizona we had more uncertainty than I can remember in years.

You know usually you have maybe a spot or two open on the team and you have to work through those decisions.

This year we had a lot of spots open and with so many young players and the thing that I'm most excited about.

A lot of those guys really emerged in spring training to have great camps and hopefully provide us you know a ton of the offense that we need heading into this year.

You mentioned a lot of it obviously pertains to the club here.

But how good do you feel about later in the season when the inevitable moves come in terms of the death that you have.

Apparently from from what we saw in the spring.

That's a great point.

There's such a focus put on the 26 man roster and I get it for opening day.

It's a special thing to be put on the roster.

But you know in a lot of conversations with voter throughout the spring.

He's been here for two previous years and hasn't been through times where you know he just hasn't seen a lot of minor league systems.

Right he's been through two years of watching our minor league players.

This is the most optimistic he's felt about our minor league group.

And I think we're feeling very similarly of just the wave of players that is hitting the upper levels of our minor league system.

Especially the position player side is really exciting.

You mentioned a bullpen and some different arms out there.

That was a focus in the off season and it seems like those that you brought in are going to have the impact that was intended.

How difficult can it be sometimes to find not only good arms but available arms to help no doubt about it.

And look our bullpen was maybe the greatest strength of our team again in the second half after the class A stuff.

The team actually had the best DRA best bullpen ERA and all of baseball in the second half of the year.

So really impressive to see what that group has done two years in a row.

But we've relied on them a lot too.

So we we made a real concerted effort to bring in some depth behind the group that we had.

We acquired Sean Armstrong as a free agent who brings a lot of veteran presence.

He'd been here in the past. We knew him, but he can really step into any role in the bullpen.

And then we targeted some young guys, Peyton Paulette, a roll five pick, Connor Braugden, Colin Holderman.

All three of those guys that we feel like can really solidify the depth of our pen and hopefully add to the group that we already had back there.

General manager Mike turn off joining us.

Am I getting back to offense and it'll be some young hitters who could provide the keys.

And let's start with Chase DeLotter.

What a great spring he had.

An opportunity here to talk about the medical staff and what they've done.

What are some of the keys to keeping him on the field now and letting him show what he can do, which has been pretty impressive.

Yeah, Chase, unfortunately, over the past several years has dealt with a lot of injuries.

And so he just has never built up a huge amount of game volume.

And so, you know, you're heading into a season where we're expecting a lot out of him.

It took a tremendous effort from our strength and conditioning staff and especially our medical staff to try to get that buildup right.

And to make sure that we're not overloading him, but also giving him enough that he can hopefully have a really durable season.

It's going to be a grind.

You know, it's going to be hard to try to build that on the fly at the major league level while looking to rely on him.

But that group has been tremendous in building an open line of communication with Chase to make sure that he's feeling good every day or that we're providing him what he needs every day.

And to also provide that open line of communication to voter and the staff to determine what he can and can't do.

Stephen, vote back for a third season.

Can you say manager that you're again?

Like is that a shoe in since he seems to be really good at that?

I mean, he's on pace, Rosie.

He's on pace for every year of his career.

It would be a disappointment if he didn't get it.

Does he know that?

Well, we make sure we tell him that every day just to get under his skin.

He voter continues to create such a great dynamic with these players.

It's hard, especially when you have a young team like we do.

It's a new beginning every year.

You know, it's not like you're bringing the same veteran players back every year and they know exactly what to do.

Voter and the entire staff does such a great job of helping our players prepare and creating an environment where these guys can both develop and perform at the same time.

It's interesting because I think he joked that there were 50 Zoom calls in the interview process.

So you got to know him really well, but is there something in these as you've gotten to know him through these two seasons that maybe you couldn't get from the interview process that's really surprised you in a good way?

Oh, there's so much.

You know, we do 50 Zoom calls and we try to really get to know him and you think you know someone really well.

But then you work with him for two days and it's more than you ever interacted with in the interview process.

So what has stood out to us is two things.

One, voters ability to connect with people, whether it's us, whether it's staff, whether it's analysts, whether it's players.

He is an unbelievable connector.

And the second thing is, although he has strong opinions and I think that's important for a manager to have strong convictions, he is so open-minded to learning and continuing to learn.

And I think, okay, he's already won two manager of the year awards, right?

But I think that openness to learning will help him continue to be a great manager way into the future.

Now, it's all part of a new season, a box club with high expectations.

And I can enjoy the year if you can.

And we'll look forward to seeing you soon.

Thanks, Rosie.

That's Guardian's general manager.

Mike Churnoff is always optimistic.

He feels good about the team, but obviously taking into account a lot of the concerns along the way to try and keep it moving in a positive direction.

One of the reasons for optimism is Chase DeLotter.

And he has done nothing to disappoint in the early season.

Two games in, it's been tremendous.

And we'll talk to him about his hot start next on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians.

For the radio network.

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Jim Rose announced back with you from Seattle team mobile ballpark where the Guardians are taking on the Mariners on opening weekend.

And if you want to catch our show each week on the radio, you can do so at 7 a.m. on our flagship station WTAM in Cleveland.

Also WMAN in Mansfield and WMRN in Marion.

A little bit later on Saturday mornings on WKBN over in Youngstown.

And of course you can hear it whenever you like as it turns into a podcast after it airs on the radio.

And you can check that out wherever you download your favorite podcast.

Well, it's been a great start to the career of Chase Delater.

Remember he was called up and participated in the American League Wildcard series against the Tigers last year.

But now his regular season major league career begins.

It can't have begun any better than it has so far.

Two home runs on opening night, another one in game two.

And we caught up with him after the opening night.

Two home or barrage.

And then we talked about carrying over a great spring into the regular season.

And he talked about what it meant just to make the big club for the first time in his career coming out of camp.

Yeah, I mean, it was great.

I was more excited to just have an opportunity to play with the guys in this clubhouse.

Kind of be around them all spring.

You know, it was first spring in a while.

I was, you know, available for all spring and able to practice and be out there.

So it was great.

I mean, got to know the guys really well.

And I think the best part is, again, I've set this many times.

But just having the opportunity to play like meaningful winning baseball again.

It's great.

And that opportunity to play obviously, but you've been able to stay on the field and produce in spring training.

And when did you have a pretty good idea that things were going to work out the way they did?

Oh, honestly, not till the voter came up and had mentioned it to me during one of the games there at the end.

You know, I had a hunch, but for me, I never, something I just, I'm not truly bought into until, you know, for sure.

You know, my main goal is to make sure I was doing whatever I needed to to be available every night and just hoping the rest kind of took care of itself.

And last night, you have an opening night to remember for anybody, uncommon, a couple of home runs.

They say sometimes the transition to the regular season from spring training is difficult because of scattering reports, pitch to that.

Did you notice much different last night or were you able to stay with what you do well?

Oh, yeah.

I mean, I was able to stick to my plan.

I mean, you know, Gober had a great night.

You know, got got on a slider there in the first step at, but after that, you know, he was able to get me with cutter and, you know, another good heater there and my third at that.

So, you know, you can definitely tell that the guys, you know, pitch a little differently.

I mean, they all just know how to pitch well.

It's not necessarily just stuff up here.

It's they know how to pitch with their stuff.

So that's going to be a big transition.

I think for me, it's just, you know, being calm, again, making sure I'm available every night and kind of letting the rest take care of itself.

And at the plate, it doesn't seem to matter if it's a fastball or off speed.

You're ready for it.

And how did that develop over the course of your career where you can hit any type of pitch?

It seems like that and nothing.

You know what's coming, but you're able to make good contact no matter what it is.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm always, you know, trying to make sure I'm, I'm ready for the, for the firm stuff.

You know, all these, especially nowadays, everyone throws so hard.

Even the breaking stuff is hard, but I was kind of making sure I'm on time for the fastball.

I think that kind of just helps me react to the other stuff.

So you have this big night.

It's across the country from where you're from.

But you have family here.

What did that mean to you?

Oh, yeah, it was great.

I mean, just having, having them by my side is, is unreal.

You know, they don't, they don't really travel much like that.

You know, driveable places for sure, but getting on flights and going across the countries is something that's new for my entire family.

So I was glad they were, they were able to make it out here at, it's actually my mom's birthday tomorrow.

It was, it was cool little gaffer for them to be able to come out here.

Team reaction, do you notice what the guys are saying and doing when you do something big?

No, not necessarily.

I mean, I haven't, I haven't seen anything personally.

But it, this seems like a fun group that, that allows you to play your game and have fun.

Oh, yeah, absolutely.

I mean, this is, this is what Guardians are all about.

You know, just having a close bond, playing guards ball and, you know, being there for each other, you know, no matter what.

It's a good feeling.

He mentioned all that and it doesn't seem, you've been here for a minute, but do you feel that coming up through the system and as you get closer, you know what it's about?

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, I think you just start building connection with these guys and, you know, it starts in the off season, you know, you have, you have, I mean, most of the guys were here February, late January.

So being able to practice with them and just being the building together, I think builds that culture.

Well, that was a fun night, night to remember.

I'm sure, thanks a lot for coming by.

Sir, first share to thank you.

That is Chase DeLotter and, oh, he has something special so far.

He's going to have his ups and downs every rookie does.

But there's a lot to like so far and he is certainly off to a great start.

What's the next wave of young players?

Well, they're at AAA Columbus and when we come back, we'll talk about it with Vice President of Player Development.

Steven Osterer, that's next on Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.

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Welcome back to Guardians Weekly, our final segment and our first farm report of the season.

Triple A Columbus began its season on Friday night in Iowa against the Triple A Cubs.

And a couple of games of note.

Travis Basana with a base hit.

And his season opener in five trips to the plate.

One burrito.

Had a three hit night as the Cubs won that game.

Five to two.

A clipper season underway.

And we had a chance to visit with Stephen Oster of the vice president of player development for the Guardians and talk about the Columbus roster.

And who some of the key names are there to keep an eye on.

They will once again be managed by Andy Tracy who's had an outstanding run as the clippers manager in a very difficult spot.

Triple A managing might be the most difficult on the minor league ladder.

And we talked to Oster about what has made Andy Tracy so effective in preparing players to get either back to the big leagues or make it for the first time.

Yeah, it's so valuable to have someone like Andy lead the charge at the Triple A level just having experienced himself as a player and now having a ton of experience managing it.

He understands what it's like to be in the player's shoes and to go up and have the tough conversation when they're coming down and how to support them and find out or figure out and help support the stuff figure out how to get them back.

So Andy is well experienced on both sides of this as a player and as a staff member and having them there to study the ship is something that we are very fortunate to have.

And on his staff as part of the pitching team assistant pitching coach is Nick Whitgren a familiar name I'm sure to a lot of fans.

Yeah, we're really excited that Nick decided to join us as a coach this year.

We've been talking to him for a couple of seasons about what it could look like from a coaching standpoint after playing and he had a lot of opportunities.

And I think he just had such a great experience with the Guardians organization that he decided to choose us of a number of different orgs and opportunities that he had.

So having them there is going to be great for some of those younger players that get into that level and similar to Andy the experience of being up at the big league level and then also being in Triple A is going to be really impactful for us.

Alright, let's get to the good stuff on the field with Stephen Osterer the Guardians Vice President of player development and Oste Travis Buzana obviously the big name at Columbus after a huge spring training for him.

What is the key now as he begins his year at Columbus to to make sure he continues what has been a really nice development track.

I mean, I would even go backwards a little bit about just some of the conversations and his mindset heading into the off season.

So just given what we know of a Travis, we knew he's going to be incredibly intentful with his work.

And it's not surprising that he he translated all of the work into just some productive off season or was it had a really productive off season.

He got to live out his dream playing for Australia in the WBC. He had a really strong major league camp and I think just the mindset right now about taking it pitch by pitch is what's going to drive a lot of the success this year.

His offensive profile has just such a high floor and he's incredibly disciplined. He knows his own well. He's got great back to ball skills and he can pull and elevate mistakes when he needs to.

It's about putting it all together and I think that mindset is going to really help him this year hopefully at the big league level at some point.

But Travis has really worked a great camp and made a lot of strides this off season. We're just couldn't be more excited about what this year is going to look like for him.

And the talent's obvious because he's a 1-1.

But the growth in a year's time, how impressive has it been from this time a year ago to where he is now?

Yeah and I think he's grown a ton obviously but I think part of that is just how he's done it too.

It's also been battling through some injuries and not being fully healthy and it's about his day to day.

So the process that he brings every single day to try to be in tenfold with his work is what has given him the runway and the success that we've had in some of those areas.

His defensive work is something that maybe isn't talked about as much in terms of how much he's grown but we've seen a lot of improvement in his range and he always picks the plays.

So there's a lot of growth that we've seen but I think honestly it's also the way that he's done that and having a battle through some things and then get a little bit earlier readiness to go out and perform this year at the WBC and all these other little challenges that otherwise players wouldn't have.

Let's touch on the outfield and you have some older players there but some young ones who made a nice impression in major league spring training.

Let's start with PD help and all of a sudden it seems like he has big time on the radar for a lot of different reasons.

What did you see this spring that was really impressive?

Yeah PD has grown a lot as a person and as a professional and to your point he had a really really good camp.

I think it started even just in last year in AAA so he was really young for the level.

It was put on the 40 men but he just grew so much being around some of those more experienced players and then got to experience major league playoff baseball and what that looked like.

So he carried I think a lot of that vision of what he could become into the offseason work.

He made some really nice swing adjustments this offseason and we think that will make him more resilient in the box.

We already know he can play center field and he's a really good defender out there.

He made some strides in being able to take more bags and we think there's probably more room to grow there but overall I think it's just the professionalism and the understanding of what it takes to be a big league player was a bit of an aha moment for PD last year and he's always been a good worker.

But now he's a little bit more intentful of the specifics day to day and yeah he's at a really good camp.

So some similarities in terms of growth for Khalil Watson who really had a nice camp while he was in matrily camp.

Yeah he opened up a few eyes this spring. He was added to the 40 men in the offseason.

I think we've seen like a nice steady upward trajectory of development over the last couple of years.

He made the switch to exclusively playing in the outfield and we saw all the athleticism translate.

I think we're also impressed by just like the natural talent out there.

His reads are really good. His reactions are really good and he picked things up really quickly.

His back came alive towards the end. He's got great bad speed.

He's got great power and we just got to continue to gain the reps against better competition so you can understand the approach and maybe work to pull some pull some of the whiff down.

Khalil is similar to PD. He's just, he's still young and he was really young at the level last year and just being around that and seeing it and getting the cues in the clues from some of the more experienced players.

I think it's helped him grow as a professional and just as a player as well.

A couple of other position players before we head to the mound will go behind the plate Cooper angle.

You love to have good catching and what are some of the next steps for him that you're looking for development wise?

Yeah, this is going to just be a theme. But Cooper, I think he played just 28 games last year in Columbus.

After getting called up, he got to see the level of experience, some of the challenges of facing better pitching and everything that comes with that.

And then gave a bunch of time in the major league environment this spring.

I think he took a lot out of it.

I think Cooper just being around and paying attention to Bow and Hegey and Fry was really, really important for him.

He said in our conversations, he paid a lot of attention to how they support the pitchers, how they talk to the coaching staff, how they even think about creating culture around all of that.

I think those are obviously really important things for our organization and how much we value the catching position.

Cooper was really intentful and attentive to those things this camp, which is great.

I think offensively, that's his carrying trait.

And he got a little taste of what AAA exposure can do to you in the box.

So the way that he described it to us was, you know, he had to learn a little bit more about his actual approach when he has someone on the mound pitching against his weaknesses and able to execute on that.

So yeah, I think similar to Travis, it's like some of that exposure, the mindset of the day to day that's going to be really big for him, but he just continues to grow.

He hasn't caught a ton behind the plate in his entire career is basically half the games that bow caught as a professional at this point.

So there's still so much to grow. He works really hard in that area and, you know, just like last year, just the eyes are opening to all the things that he can and will do in the future.

But similar with the other guys, it's like a lot of growth and really excited about Cooper.

And with Juan Brito, it seems like an interesting case for him and that he's developing.

It looks like he's trying to find that niche though. Where does he fit?

So how does he go about just trying to get better and then let that other stuff take care of itself?

Yeah, just a tough year for him in general last year.

When he played I think 24 games for Columbus after battling all the injuries and he worked really hard this off season.

I don't think he would say that he had the major league camp that he wanted to, but he's still a really good player with a great track record.

He's a well-rounded switch hitter. He can control the zone. He gets on base to your point.

He's a reliable defender in a number of different positions and he's probably going to move around a little bit and that versatility pieces is just so important to the major league composition.

We're going to probably get him to move around a little bit so that when the opportunity comes, there are a number of pieces in places that he can play at.

So yeah, again, tough year last year, the major league camp, maybe not as good as he wanted to, but this is still a really good player.

And he's got a lot of baseball to play this year and we're excited to see him take off, honestly.

All right, on the mound, great story, the comeback of Daniel Espino, a healthy pitcher. So now you can see what he can do.

What's the plan at AAA Columbus starting, relieving, how are you going to take care of that at the outset?

Yeah, so this was something that we talked to Daniel about quite a bit and there was a lot of conversation internally.

I think at the end of the day, we want to do what's best for him in terms of continuing to get him on the mound and get back into games more consistently while also respecting and having an appreciation for how he's feeling and how he's viewing that question.

So he's going to be built up as a reliever for now.

Intentionally, we're going to take it day by day. I mean, he told us the other day that he's he's excited to do that. And there's, you know, a bit of a challenge to it.

And if you ask anyone in the org, the one person you don't want to bet against, it's Daniel Espino of like living up to a challenge.

So just generally speaking, I think there's just so many people here that are incredibly excited and joyful and happy to see him out there competing against hitters every every other day.

Yeah, we're going to do everything we can to support him, but God, it's just it's just such a treat to see him go out and compete right now. We're all really happy that he's able to do it.

One of the nice guys in the game for sure.

Your man Gomez a name that maybe doesn't get as much notoriety on the outside, but I know you guys like him. What are you seeing there and what has you excited?

I would say this is probably one of our favorite development stories in the time that I've been here in the last six years.

He was a low dollar sign internationally in 2019. He didn't come in with a ton of baseball experience or knowledge, honestly.

He's grown a ton as a person, not just as a player and he's always had talent. It was just a matter of building all these other blocks around that and piecing it together.

And he kind of did that last year and things started to click. So yeah, he's going to start in Columbus and we're just incredibly excited to see him build off of last year.

And similar to the rest of these guys when he got young players like every year they grow and get better.

And this is also a great human being who works really hard and is a phenomenal teammate.

So similar to all these guys, we think it's going to be a great year and we're excited for him to continue to develop and live up to another challenge that he's going to get in AAA.

Well, a lot of names right there to keep an eye on this season and you can be sure that many of those names that Stephen Oster had just talked about will be in the major leagues before it's all said and done.

No, that's going to do it for our show this week is always thanks to Brian lot's say for helping to put together our show each and every week until we join you next week from back home.

Finally, it will be a progressive field next weekend for our show as that home opening series against the Cubs will be underway.

We'll talk to you then until then this is Jim Rosenhouse reminding you that you've been listening to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.

We'll see you next week.

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