Dodgers sign former top Guardians prospect to minor-league deal with high upside

Cleveland Indians Summer Workouts
Cleveland Indians Summer Workouts | Ron Schwane/GettyImages

The Dodgers have yet to do anything major in the way of headlining signings or re-signings, but their minor league recruiters have been hard at work over the last week. On Nov. 16 and 17, they signed Joe Jacques and Justin Jarvis, two relievers, to minor-league deals with a invitation to spring training thrown in for Jacques.

Another small signing flew under the radar last week: on Nov. 15, the Dodgers gave a minor-league contract to utility infielder Aaron Bracho, who spent five seasons in the Guardians' system.

Cleveland signed him in 2017 as an international free agent and gave him the largest bonus of any prospect in the Guardians' international class that year ($1.5 million), and he was their No. 9 prospect by 2021.

However, Bracho's been stuck at Double-A since 2023 and elected free agency on Nov. 4 before the Dodgers decided to give him a drive.

Dodgers sign former Guardians top-10 prospect Aaron Bracho to minor league deal

Bracho earned top prospect status after hitting .281 with a .972 OPS in 2019 across 38 games at the rookie and Single-A levels. However, after losing a season to COVID in 2020, he put up some of his worst numbers in 2021 at High-A (.174 average, .568 OPS) and had fallen out of the Guardians' top-30 prospect rankings by 2022, when he continued to struggle at High-A.

He still earned a promotion to Double-A in 2023 and had his most consistent season at the plate. In 104 games, he hit .245 with a .781 OPS, 18 homers, and 59 RBI. Still, he stayed at Double-A in 2024 and underperformed again this season before becoming a free agent.

Upon signing with the Dodgers, he was sent to Double-A, where he'll join top prospects Jackson Ferris (No. 4), Jared Karros (No. 22), and Noah Miller (No. 25). It's unclear if Bracho's deal includes an invitation to spring training, but he'll at least get the opportunity to try to break into Triple-A and maybe even get an MLB debut as a stopgap infielder with the Dodgers somewhere down the line.

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