Last season, the Cleveland Guardians gave their fans a summer’s worth of good feelings that lasted well into autumn. The Guardians won the American League Central division and reached the AL Championship Series.
Spring training is just weeks away so BetOhio.com, as part of our Ohio sports betting coverage, wanted to know which teams in the AL Central have the greatest potential in the coming years based on their farm systems. We used MLB.com, FanGraphs.com and Baseball-Reference.com to create a ranking system. This list factors in the average future value of the top 10 prospects for each team, overall farm system ranking, and number of players among the top 100 prospects.
Rank | Team | Score |
1 | Cleveland Guardians | 74.3 |
2 | Minnesota Twins | 73.3 |
3 | Chicago White Sox | 73.2 |
4 | Detroit Tigers | 65.7 |
5 | Kansas City Royals | 48.3 |
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Cleveland has made the MLB playoffs in six of the past nine seasons. In 2024, the Guardians won 92 games, the best mark for the franchise since 2019 (93 victories).
And based on our farm system rankings, the team should continue to thrive in the immediate future. Based on the categories we used to rank MLB teams by the potential of their prospects, the Guardians came out on top with 74.3 points, edging the Minnesota Twins (73.3 points) and Chicago White Sox (73.2).
As for the 2025 season, bet365 Ohio Sportsbook has Cleveland at +190 odds to win the division again, and +2200 odds to win the organization's first World Series title since 1948.
The MLB.com prospect rankings list five members of the Guardians organization among the top 100 around the minor leagues (plus some who made their Major League debut last season).
Here are the five Guardians prospects among the MLB.com Top 100, with position, ranking and the highest level that they have reached:
At the top of the list is second baseman Travis Bazzana, the top overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft out of Oregon State. He made his professional debut with Lake County in the Advanced A Midwest League, hitting .238 with three home runs and 12 RBIs in 122 plate appearances. Bazzana is from Australia and turned 22 last August. MLB.com ranks him as the No. 12 prospect in baseball.
The FanGraphs.com prospect rankings have Bazzana at No. 29, second in the Guardians organization behind outfielder Chase DeLauter (No. 10). MLB has DeLauter No. 41 overall.
Of the top five prospects in Cleveland’s system, DeLauter has reached the highest level, having played briefly at AAA Columbus last season. The former college standout at James Madison joined the Cleveland organization as a first-round pick (No. 16 overall) in the 2022 Draft.
Our BetOhio.com guide to MLB betting will keep you informed throughout the 2025 baseball season.
USA Today photo by Peter Aiken
Author
Ohio native Jim Tomlin has 30 years of experience in journalism, mostly in sports. He lends his expertise to BetOhio.com as a writer and editor after previous experience at the Tampa Bay Times, FanRag, Saturday Down South and Saturday Tradition.
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