First baseman Deyvison De Los Santos, who was chosen by the Guardians within the Rule 5 Draft again in December, was returned to the Diamondbacks right this moment, per a membership announcement. Arizona is just not required so as to add him to the 40-man roster.
De Los Santos, 20, loved a breakout season in 2022 on the age of 19, slashing a formidable .306/.348/.499 in 126 video games break up between the Single-A, Excessive-A, and Double-A ranges that 12 months. He principally held his personal in a return to the Double-A degree final 12 months, slashing 254/.297/.431 whereas crushing 20 dwelling runs in simply 481 journeys to the plate. That efficiency was sufficient for De Los Santos to get plucked from the Diamondbacks group throughout the Rule 5 Draft by the Guardians, the place he figured to compete for taking part in time with high first base prospect Kyle Manzardo on a roster in determined want of extra pop.
The information comes as one thing of a shock following the membership’s determination to reassign Manzardo to minor league camp earlier this week, which seemingly opened the door for De Los Santos to be the membership’s Opening Day starter at first base. That hasn’t come to cross, nonetheless, as Cleveland clearly decided that De Los Santos wouldn’t make the membership’s Opening Day roster and as an alternative opted to ship the 20-year-old again to his unique group.
The transfer appears to go away slugger Josh Naylor to take over first base duties on Opening Day. A profession .270/.325/.439 hitter who posted a career-best 128 wRC+ final season, there’s little query that the 26-year-old is as much as the duty. With that being mentioned, Naylor appeared poised to be slotted into the membership’s DH spot regularly this season. Which will nonetheless find yourself being the case assuming Mazardo makes his technique to the majors later this 12 months, however as issues stand the membership as an alternative seems prone to depend on the likes of Will Brennan and Estevan Florial at DH to open the season.
As for De Los Santos, he’ll return to the Diamondbacks group and sure start the season within the higher minors. With veterans Christian Walker and Joc Pederson slated for the lion’s share of taking part in time at first base and DH this 12 months, it’s unclear if De Los Santos may have a lot of a possibility to succeed in the majors this season. With that being mentioned, each Walker and Pederson are set to hit free company after the 2024 season, so a robust exhibiting from De Los Santos within the higher minors this 12 months may put him in line to influence the membership as quickly as 2025.
