Angel Genao, Cleveland Guardians, Double-A, #36

The Cleveland Guardians have had a recent run of churning out intriguing switch hitting middle infield prospects; Francisco Lindor, Brayan Rocchio, and now Angel Genao. A 21 year old middle infielder in the Guardians farm system that topped out at Double-A Akron, he possesses an intriguing contact and power ceiling at a premium position.

Standing at 5’ 9” and weighing 150 pounds, what Genao may not possess in stature he makes up for in skill. He was signed out of the Dominican Republic in Cleveland’s January 2021 amateur free agent class, and just last year was promoted up to Double-A Akron.

It’s commonly understood that the first crack at Double-A often provides the biggest development challenges for a player, and that was on display as he saw some important statistics take a downturn.

In his 66 games at High-A Lake County in 2024 he rocked a .322/.377/.463 slash line while also showing great plate discipline with an 8% walk rate and a 16.3% strikeout rate. All of this contributed to him being deemed a 40% better hitter than average by wRC+.

This past year, however, he experienced those aforementioned growing pains. His slash reduced to .259/.323/.359, showing a marked reduction in power production.

This bore out in his batted ball data. The home runs he hit per fly ball dove to just 2.5% in Akron, down from 6.3% during his time in Lake County. This is likely due to generally worse fly ball contact as his rate of infield fly balls almost tripled from 7.8% in 2024 to 20.3% in 2025.

These weak infield fly balls spiking almost 300% is something that can both serve as a red flag and perhaps a sign of hope. He had a similar spike in his first go around in the complex league and Single-A Lynchburg, and in his second season in Lake County he was able to course correct.

As such, I am expecting to see a positive regression during his second year in Akron, and since he was selected to the 40 man roster in November if it all clicks he could catch on with the big club by mid to late summer. Of course, given his size there is a large risk in trying to project power potential, but at the very least he had all the makings of an above replacement level middle infielder in his first MLB season at the age of just 22.

I see Genao as a serious add candidate, and recommend buying into his helium as soon as April if the batter ball trends seem to be correcting themselves. This is especially so if we see an uptick in power production as well.