Cleveland Guardians Top 30 Prospects: #25 Isaiah Greene

For what feels like a decade Cleveland's outfield has been a sore subject outside of a few select players. Michael Brantley, half of an Oscar Mercado season, a Rajai Davis home run for the ages, and a few bright Taylor Naquin moments feel the most noteworthy among a sea of veteran signings that didn't pan out alongside Bradley Zimmer and Daniel Johnson. However, the winds of change started blowing along the shores of Lake Erie at the 2021 Trade Deadline when Cleveland acquired center fielder Myles Straw from the Houston Astros.The 2022 season would continue to alleviate the fan base's woes when Steven Kwan and Oscar Gonzalez burst onto the scene to help the Guardians win the AL Central manning the corner outfield spots, and there's more outfield help just below the surface. Though for my 25th ranked prospect you'll have to dig a little further into the system, back to the Low-A Lynchburg Hillcats to find outfielder Isaiah Greene.Greene came to Cleveland from the New York Mets in January of 2021 along with Amed Rosario, Andres Gimenez and Josh Wolf in return for shortstop Francisco Lindor. He was a second round pick by the Mets from Corona High School in California, and signed for a  bonus of $850,000 to go pro instead of playing college baseball for Missouri. Greene had only attended instructional ball with the Mets and got his first taste of affiliate ball when he joined the Guardians for the 2021 Minor League season.[embed]https://twitter.com/CleGuardPro/status/1571663345794830339?s=20&t=wi5j26OncynMwe8JnR_6ng[/embed]Greene played 114 games for the Hillcats in 2022 slashing .226/.393/.340 with 14 doubles, four home runs, 97 walks (20.4% BB%), 114 strikeouts (23.9% K%), 39 stolen bases and a 117 wRC+. Alright, there's a lot to unpack there. The then 20-year-old displayed somewhat advanced plate discipline and awareness with a walk rate over 20%, and paired a .393 on-base percentage with dangerous speed on the base paths. His .314 BABIP is counterintuitive to his .226 batting average, but his near-elite speed and 49.8% ground ball rate in 2022 suggest he can beat out his fair share of infield grounders.Greene is raw in almost every sense of the word. His swing relies more on pure athleticism rather than mechanics, and his speed has helped him mask questionable decisions on the base paths. He's even noted to be a sub-optimal route runner in center field, which paired with his average arm might force him to a corner outfield spot if he doesn't improve his tracking. Yet Greene put up some ridiculous numbers despite needing, well, quite a bit of instruction. Although the speed may be his best tool there's reason to believe Greene is plenty malleable.Greene has the potential for more power, but he's better served tuning his left-handed stroke to focus on line drives where he can make the most of his speed. Depending on where you look Greene's power grades out between 30 and 60 on the 20/80 scale, which leaves a ton of room for variation, but it's easy to salivate over the idea of 20 home runs and 40-plus stolen bases. It's a long shot, and considering the snags involved in re-educating Greene how to swing a bat those power projections may be optimistic, but all 6 foot 1 and 180 pounds of him suggests he could still add some muscle to the frame and naturally grow into a few more home runs.[embed]https://twitter.com/ProspectsWorldW/status/1438685250666713089?s=20&t=wi5j26OncynMwe8JnR_6ng[/embed]Like Jake Fox, his Hillcat teammate before him on this list, Greene has a long path to development. He'll enter his age-21 season likely as a member of High-A Lake County where Greene will continue to flesh out his swing mechanics and hopefully grow as a defender. He's not eligible for the Rule 5 Draft until December of 2024 so there's plenty of time to mold Greene, and he shouldn't face much competition for playing time in the lower levels. Greene is much less polished than almost every other entry in my top 30, but his theoretical ceiling might be higher than several of his peers.The List so far:26. Jake Fox27. Jhonkensy Noel28. Jack Leftwich29. Trenton Denholm30. Peyton Battenfield