Guardians' moves suggest Cooper Ingle promotion is imminent for catching prospect

Guardians' moves suggest Cooper Ingle promotion is imminent for catching prospect originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Cleveland Guardians haven't made anything official.

But all the Guards fans reading the tea leaves think Cooper Ingle, the promising catching prospect, might be getting promoted to MLB.

This post on X from Adam Hintz started the feeling:

"Cooper Ingle was just removed after getting his second straight hit. He advanced to 2nd on a walk to Dom Nuñez and walked off the field after a discussion. Did not seem to be limping or favoring anything."

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That certainly sounds like it could be the way to take a guy out of the game when it's been decided that he's being promoted.

The Guardians are about to go on a road trip, too, so they'd need Ingle to come along with them if that was the plan.

The Guardians currently have Bo Naylor and Austin Hedges as catchers. They're actually 9-0 in games Hedges starts, but things haven't gone well so far this season for Naylor.

Ingle is a top-100 prospect, and while this would be a bit ahead of schedule, he seemed likely to get a chance in the major leagues at some point this season.

He's 24 years old and was a fourth-round pick out of Clemson in the 2023 MLB Draft.