Jhonkensy Noel

The Guardians sent Rodriguez down a week ago, but he's back now to join Jhonkensy Noel as a second right-handed corner outfield/DH option. Somewhat surprisingly, he is sitting in favor of Kyle Manzardo against a tough lefty in Cole Ragans today.

This seemed like a foregone conclusion after Juan Brito was sent to the minor leagues, but we now have confirmation. The Guardians are high on Arias, and the 25-year-old did hit three home runs and slug .469 in 51 plate appearances this spring. He's probably only an option in AL-only leagues at this point. The full Guardians lineup is: LF Steven Kwan, 3B Jose Ramirez, CF Lane Thomas, Carlos Santana, DH Kyle Manzardo, Jhonkensy Noel, Bo Naylor, Gabriel Arias, Brayan Rocchio.

With left-hander Cole Ragans on the mound, it will be Noel in the starting lineup and Nolan Jones on the bench. This is how we expected the platoon to work, but now we're getting confirmation of it. Expect to see Jones in the starting lineup tomorrow.

Making his first appearance against big league hitters since the 2023 season, Woodruff issued a one-out walk to Tyler Freeman. Freeman then stole second base before the right-hander battled back to strike out Kyle Manzardo. He then retired Jhonkensy Noel on a ground ball to get out of the inning. There's a good chance that he'll open the season on the injured list as he continues to build his pitch count up, but this was a strong first step for Woodruff.

He delivered two-run blasts off Gabe Speier in the sixth and Collin Snider in the eighth. Brennan is 8-for-28 this spring as he attempts to make the Guardians as their right fielder against right-handed pitchers. He hasn't shown much upside in that role, but it's still quite possible he'll outperform Jhonkensy Noel versus righties. We'd rather see Noel get a look as the full-time guy initially, but he'll at least play versus lefties.