I am doing a series where I offer up three fantasy baseball thoughts for every MLB team. I’ll take a look at under-the-radar stats, playing time projections, projected roles, and off-season news to try and highlight the nuggets that might help you in your 2025 fantasy baseball drafts. We’ll do this thing in alphabetical order, and next up are three thoughts for the 2025 Cleveland Guardians.
3 Fantasy Baseball Thoughts for the 2025 Cleveland Guardians
Carlos Santana is Not Josh Naylor
By no means am I implying that the Guardians actually think this is a fair or equal swap. However, based mostly on economics, that is essentially what Cleveland did this winter. Naylor is an emerging threat who is one year away from free agency while Santana is a 38-year-old veteran who doesn’t exactly bring any upside to the table.
However, that doesn’t mean we should treat Santana poorly or sleep on him as a depth option. Just remember, that is all he is. Santana is very much an option for deeper leagues.
Santana enters the season batting cleanup for Cleveland and that puts him in prime RBI territory. Durability isn’t an issue as Santana played in 150 games last year while hitting 23 home runs to go along with 71 RBI. That was the second straight year in which Santana went deep 23 times after driving in 86 runs in 2023.
The batting average likely won’t go over .240 (.247 xBA last year), but Santana is a solid producer at the plate who provides a consistent level of production. He’s not going to be a league winner, but he can be an adequate depth option.
Don’t Sleep on Gavin Williams
We know all about the Guardians’ track record when it comes to developing pitching, and Gavin Williams belongs on that list. It was an uneven 2024 season for the right-hander as he averaged less than five innings, 76 in total, over 16 starts. His 4.86 ERA isn’t going to generate much optimism, but the 4.14 xERA and 3.67 FIP will certainly paint things in a more optimistic light.
Year over year, Williams boosted his average fastball velocity from 95.8 miles per hour to 96.6, and that tracks well for his health. Williams strikes out more than a batter per inning and does a decent job of keeping the ball in the park. In our current climate, allowing 0.83 home runs per nine innings and a home run to fly ball rate of 8.4% tracks as being successful. Bringing the walks down from 3.79 per nine innings will be the next step for Williams.
The good news is that with a 6.9% barrel rate against, opposing hitters are struggling to square up against Williams. Pitching in the AL Central will also help Williams with the hope that the schedule lines up for him to face the White Sox for a few starts.
Cleveland Will Live with Jhonkensy Noel’s Strikeouts
Down the stretch and into the postseason, we saw the impact that Jhonkensy Noel’s power could have on the game. Noel had some big home runs and finished with 13 in 67 regular season games. That came after he went deep 18 times in 65 games at Triple-A prior to his promotion.
We know that we can’t expect to see that pace on display in 2025, but it does point to his potential. Based on the current expectations, Noel will have to work to find regular playing time, but his power will make it difficult for Cleveland to keep him on the bench. The fact that Noel can play in both right field and at first base will help his case to get into the lineup. And then his aforementioned power potential will keep him there.
Noel had an eyepopping .268 ISO last year with a 14.5% barrel rate. When Noel puts the bat on the ball, good things happen with a maximum exit velocity of 115.9 miles per hour. What Noel does need to find though, is consistency. While he isn’t going to hit .291 like he did in Triple-A last year, there is a little room for improvement. But if Noel finds his way into regular playing time and flirts with 30 home runs, a .240 batting average after pick 350 will certainly play.
For more of the great fantasy baseball rankings and analysis you’ve come to expect from FantraxHQ, check out our full 2025 Fantasy Baseball Draft Kit! We’re here for you all the way up until Opening Day and then on into your championship run.
