Myles Straw's Stats, Metrics, Game Logs, Projections & Rankings

Cleveland Guardians outfielder Myles Straw has cleared waivers and accepted an assignment to Triple-A Columbus. Straw struggled mightily at the dish last year, slashing .238/.301/.297 with one home run and 20 steals across 518 PA. He will likely be called up when an injury happens, but the speedster is unlikely to have a role big enough to warrant consideration in fantasy leagues. Will Brennan and Estevan Florial will likely benefit from the move and gain more playing time, but also do not need to be considered in fantasy.

The Cleveland Guardians placed outfielder Myles Straw on waivers on Friday. Straw is fully expected to clear waivers and still has minor-league options remaining, so he's likely to open the 2024 season at Triple-A Columbus. It doesn't mean that we won't see the 29-year-old with the Guardians at some point this year, but he's obviously off the fantasy radar for now after hitting .238/.301/.297 with a home runs, 29 RBI, 20 stolen bases and 52 runs scored in 147 games in his second full season with the Guardians in 2023. With Straw out of the picture on the major-league roster to begin the year, Cleveland could mix and match in center field among names like Ramon Laureano, Esteven Florial and Tyler Freeman. Florial is the most intriguing player in AL-only setups.

Cleveland Guardians outfielder Myles Straw is not practicing on Thursday due to a viral infection. The 29-year-old is in a battle with Estevan Florial for the primary center-field role in Cleveland as he is coming off another disastrous season at the plate. Straw hit just .238 with one home run and a .598 OPS across 518 plate appearances with the Guardians a season ago, production that graded out 31% below the league average, as per his 69 wRC+. He did swipe 20 bags on the season but his power has been non-existent in his career as he has slugged just six home runs in nearly 2,000 trips to the plate. Straw's usually stellar defensive metrics also took a hit last season as he continues to remain far from the fantasy radar.

Cleveland Guardians hitting coach Chris Valaika said this week that outfielder Myles Straw is competing for the center field job this spring, and The Athletic's Jason Lloyd gets the sense that the team would love to see Estevan Florial claim the job in spring training. Ramon Laureano has plenty of experience in center field, but Florial is the one that manager Stephen Vogt called "a specimen." Florial, 26, had no logical path to playing time with the Yankees. He hit 28 home runs at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2023 but has never had more than 71 plate appearances in a big-league season. Straw offers Cleveland Gold Glove-caliber defense, but he hasn't hit much. Florial strikes out too much, but there's no debating that he offers a much higher offensive ceiling in center field than Straw does.