The Guardians are recalling right-hander Franco Aleman from Triple-A Columbus for what will be his major league debut, reports Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com. The team has yet to formally announce Aleman’s promotion or a corresponding transaction.
Aleman, 25, was a 2021 tenth-rounder. The former Florida Gator was added to Cleveland’s 40-man roster following the 2024 season in order to protect him from the Rule 5 Draft. He’s missed significant time in each of the past two seasons due to a lat strain in 2024 and hernia surgery in 2025.
Now healthy, Aleman has gotten out to a dominant start in Columbus. The big 6’6″, 235-pound righty is unscored upon through a dozen innings of relief. He’s fanned 40.9% of his opponents against a 9.1% walk rate. Aleman’s tiny .143 average on balls in play isn’t sustainable, nor is it reasonable to expect him to continue on without allowing a home run, but his small-sample results are nevertheless excellent.
Aleman is a two-pitch reliever, focusing on a classic fastball/slider pairing. However, he’s changed up his fastball selection in recent years. In 2024, he used both a sinker and four-seamer. In ’25, he went with a pure sinker/slider. This season, he’s throwing only four-seamers and sliders with his best results to date. That heater is sitting 96.2 mph and can climb as high as 99. His slider clocks in at an average of 85.6 mph.
Cleveland has had a middle-of-the-pack bullpen thus far in 2026. Guardians relievers rank 16th in ERA (4.12), seventh in strikeout rate (24.7%) and are tied with the Cubs for 12th in walk rate (9.3%). While those rate stats are generally solid, Guardians relievers have also allowed the third-most homers per nine innings pitched of any team in baseball, at 1.24. That’s not due to a fluky homer-to-flyball rate but rather due to the Guardians’ status as MLB’s most flyball-heavy relief corps. Cleveland relievers have only induced grounders on 34.6% of the batted balls against them — the lowest mark in baseball. (Houston is second-lowest at 36%, followed by Cincinnati at 37%.)
Aleman and his 38.1% grounder rate isn’t going to change that much, but he’ll add some velocity to a Cleveland bullpen whose average 94.2 mph four-seamer ranks 22nd in MLB. This is the second of three option years for Aleman, so he can shuttled between Columbus and Cleveland freely both this year and next while he looks to cement himself as a presence in Stephen Vogt‘s bullpen. He can’t get to a full year of service in 2026, so Aleman will remain controllable for the Guardians for at least six years beyond the current season.
