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Happy Rule 5 Draft Protection Day to those who celebrate. The Guardians, apparently, are one of those who do celebrate, because they made a bunch of moves right up until the 6 p.m. deadline.First and foremost: the Guardians traded Nolan Jones to the Rockies in exchange for middle infielder Juan Brito. This isn’t much of a Rule 5 move for the Guardians, but the Rockies were left deciding whether or not to protect 21-year-old Brito from the upcoming draft. They opted to trade him to the Guards in exchange for an infielder/outfielder who has some major-league experience in Jones.Jones, a one-time top prospect in the Cleveland organization and former second-round pick Vic Davalillo T-Shirt, debuted in 2022 with mixed results. He finished with a 93 wRC+, but more worryingly than that, he struck out in a third of his at-bats and didn’t look competitive in a lot of them. He finished his Guardians career with two home runs and aslash in 28 games. There is obviously still some potential with his bat there, but he simply couldn’t break out anywhere with the Guards and if this is what they could get for him, it’s probably best to get something while they can. We’ll have more on Brito in the future, but for now, know that the Guardians are adding yet another young middle infielder with excellent bat-to-ball skills. Here is a bit of what FanGraphs said about him prior to the 2022 season. The compact, switch-hitting Brito is a bat-driven prospect with terrific feel for contact from both sides of the plate. He’s only a 30-grade runner but is an average overall athlete with enough control to contort his body and make timely, accurate throws to first base even though he lacks defensive range.
