Recap of Guardians’ Win of Spring Breakout Game

News and Notes for Sunday, March 17th, 2024

The Guardians won their Spring Breakout matchup 6-2 vs. the Cincinnati Reds, and lost 6-0 to the Giants in their Spring Training game.

First, the good. Guardians’ pitching looked good in the Spring Breakout game, with Doug Nikhazy striking out six in three innings, giving up one earned run, and the rest of the staff completely shutting down the Reds, with scoreless innings from Nic Enright and Andrew Walters and two scoreless from Ryan Webb. Walters blew away the competition, striking out three in the ninth.

Guardians prospect hitters also looked good, with Jhonkensy Noel and Kyle Manzardo mashing home runs. Listen to the sound of this Manzardo bomb:

And Jaison Chourio adding a double. Juan Brito had a hit and a walk but did make an unfortunate throwing error in the first, leading to an an unearned run. It’s the first defensive miscue I’ve observed from him this Spring, so of course it came in an exhibition game with plenty of prospect experts no doubt present to continue to doubt his defense.

Just to clarify, I missed yesterday that Terry Pluto offered some Guardians’ notes for Cleveland.com. Pluto predicts that Deyvison De Los Santos and Estevan Florial will make the Guardians’ Opening Day roster, for what it’s worth. Paul Hoynes, also of Cleveland.com, agrees with Pluto on these spots and leans toward them selecting Gabriel Arias over Brayan Rocchio to get first crack at being the team’s starting shortstop. Mandy Bell of MLB.com’s prediction has David Fry over Deyvison De Los Santos, but that’s the only notable difference among hitters the writers project. So, we likely won’t see any players on the Spring Breakout roster make the team from the sounds of things.

In other news, Happy St. Patrick’s Day for all who celebrate