Daniel Espino is the best prospect in the Cleveland Guardians organization and is widely respected as one of the best pitching prospects in all of baseball. However, it's going to be a while until the Guardians get to Espino on the mound in Cleveland.
Espino recently underwent right shoulder surgery and is poised to miss the next 12-14 months, via Zack Meisel of The Athletic. Due to injuries, Espino hasn't actually pitched since April 2022.
The Guardians drafted Espino in the first round of the 2019 MLB Draft. He quickly made his way up to AA. However, once there, he saw his season end after four games due to patellar tendinitis. Now, Espino is facing an even longer recovery period following shoulder surgery.
When healthy, Espino offers plenty of upside. Alongside being the Guardians' best prospect, he ranks as the 14th best prospect in all of baseball, via MLB Pipeline. He is considered the fourth-best right-handed pitcher in all of the minor leagues.
Espino made 33 professional starts before going down with his injuries. Over 133.2 innings, the right-hander racked up a 4-11 record with a 3.57 ERA and a 221/53 K/BB ratio. He was off to a solid start in double, pitching to a 1-0 record with a 2.45 ERA and a 35/4 K/BB ratio over his four starts.
Daniel Espino's strikeouts numbers jump off the charts. When he does make the jump to the MLB, Cleveland will get a major boost in their rotation. However, after shoulder surgery, Espino's eventual path to the Guardians just got much, much trickier.
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