George

Valera

Brito’s case was pretty obvious, but this is actually a second straight extra option year for Valera. He never used one in 2025, though, since the Guardians non-tendered him and then re-signed him to a minor league contract. He finally made his major league debut in September and performed well enough overall to keep himself in the Guardians’ plans for 2026. However, now there’s no pressure on the team to save room for him on the Opening Day roster. The Guardians will still have Nolan Jones, Jhonkensy Noel, Brayan Rocchio and Gilbert Arias as out-of-options players, which could make it more difficult for C.J. Kayfus, Angel Martínez and maybe Daniel Schneeman to make the team, depending on how the rest of the offseason goes.

Valera took Casey Mize deep to give the Guardians a 1-0 lead in the first inning. The 24-year-old has shown flashes of why he was once widely considered one of the best prospects in baseball, but this was obviously the biggest hit of his (very) young career.

Cleveland is now one game up on Detroit. The fates really put the exclamation point to their AL Central preference tonight, as Valera hit a rare one-ballpark-out-of-30 homer at Progressive Field. That can only happen in an area a bit to the right of dead center, and Valera made it happen with a 393-foot fly just over a jumping Parker Meadows. He has two homers and a .242/.359/.485 line in 39 plate appearances since debuting at the beginning of the month.

Valera pulled a ball 358 feet to right against Joe Ryan. He’s started three out of the last four games at DH after being included in the lineup just five times in his 15 games on the roster, and he’s gone 7-for-26 overall. He’ll probably continue to start against most righties, especially now than Nolan Jones is out.

Valera, who returned from a ruptured patella tendon in July, will make his major league debut after hitting .255/.346/.457 with three homers in 28 games for Columbus. He’ll probably see a fair amount of time against righties as the Guardians try to figure out whether he should be in their plans for 2026. It could mean fewer at-bats for Daniel Schneeman and Angel Martínez.

The oft-injured Valera suffered a ruptured patella tendon last September, and though he initially returned in May, a setback put him on the shelf again in early June. Last night’s game was just his third for Columbus this season.

Enright is dealing with a lat strain, and is a candidate to open the year on the 60-day injured list. Espino is one of the most talented young pitchers in baseball, but hasn’t been able to pitch since 2022 because of injuries. DeLauter is one of the top hitting prospects in the Cleveland system and stands a good chance of making his MLB debut before 2025 comes to a close.

Valera is expected to begin running in the coming days, and it sounds like he might be able to join Triple-A Columbus soon after the season starts. The 24-year-old hit .248/.337/.452 for Columbus last season. He was non-tendered by the Guardians and then re-signed to a minor league deal over the winter.

Valera finds himself back in the fold with Cleveland as extra outfield depth heading into spring training just a few days after being non-tendered. The 24-year-old former top prospect has fallen off fantasy radar screens after several injury-marred seasons in the upper minors that have prevented him from reaching the big leagues. There’s still time for him to carve out a role at the highest level, but he doesn’t project as an impact fantasy contributor anymore.

Valera had already been designated for assignment on Tuesday as the Guardians tried to make some room on their 40-man roster, so it’s not shocking to see that he wasn’t tendered a contract. It’s possible that they could still attempt to bring the 24-year-old outfielder back into the fold on a minor league contract.