The Cleveland Guardians continue to add new faces to their lineup, as they plan to promote top prospect Angel Genao to the big-league roster Wednesday, multiple league sources told The Athletic on the condition of anonymity because the transaction is not yet official. Earlier this week, Cleveland made a pair of trades in a bid to upgrade the group that totes a league-worst OPS.Genao, a switch-hitting infielder, socked a pair of home runs for Triple-A Columbus on Tuesday in Syracuse, N.Y., to give him a .309 average and an .889 OPS in 72 games at that level this season. The Athletic’s Keith Law placed Genao at No. 14 in his recently updated ranking of the league’s top prospects.Law wrote Genao is “going to be an above-average regular at second.” That position, however, belongs to Travis Bazzana. Brayan Rocchio has emerged as Cleveland’s everyday shortstop. Third base, of course, is José Ramírez’s domain, though Ramírez is dealing with lingering soreness in his wrist after a June surgery to excise the hamate bone in his left wrist.
Ramírez returned from the injured list July 22 after he missed a little more than five weeks with the injury. He told The Athletic on Tuesday he was dealing with a bit of inflammation in his wrist. Manager Stephen Vogt said the hope was for Ramírez to return to the lineup Wednesday, though he acknowledged it would be something the perennial All-Star and the club would have to manage each day.Genao has spent the bulk of his season at shortstop, though he has shifted to second and third on occasion. Gabriel Arias has been handling the role of utility infielder and is carrying a .244/.284/.386 slash line with a 42.5 percent strikeout rate, which ranks last among big-league hitters with at least 130 plate appearances.Genao would be the fifth Guardians position player to make his major-league debut this season, after Bazzana, Juan Brito, Cooper Ingle and Kahlil Watson. The 22-year-old was a consensus Top 100 prospect entering the season, ranked No. 33 by The Athletic, No. 55 by Baseball Prospectus, No. 66 by MLB Pipeline and No. 67 by Baseball America.The Guardians welcomed two other additions to their lineup Monday as they swung trades for right fielder Jo Adell and first baseman Nathaniel Lowe.
