The Guardians announced this afternoon that infielder Gabriel Arias has been designated for assignment. His 40-man roster spot will go to top prospect Angel Genao, whose previously reported promotion to the majors has now been formally announced by the club.

Arias, 26, was a well-regarded prospect prior to his big league debut. He came to Cleveland alongside Joey Cantillo, Josh Naylor and Cal Quantrill in the trade that sent Mike Clevinger and Matt Waldron to San Diego. While several of those players worked out quite nicely for the Guards, Arias hasn’t contributed much — despite frequent playing time and myriad opportunities to do so.

Dating back to his 2022 debut, Arias has 1168 plate appearances but just a .219/.275/.359 batting line. The resulting 77 wRC+ suggests he’s been 23% worse than average at the plate in that span. Among the 338 players who have tallied at least 1000 plate appearances since 2022, that 77 mark is tied for 23rd-lowest.

Cleveland has steadfastly held onto Arias throughout all of his minor league option years — and through two-thirds of 2026, his first out-of-options season — seemingly hoping for a breakout. It hasn’t happened. Arias has never produced an average offensive season. He’s a versatile glove who can handle any infield spot, but Arias is more “good” than “great” with the glove. If he had a knack for hitting lefties, there’d likely be a more prominent role for him either in Cleveland or with another team, but Arias is a career .171/.224/.295 hitter with a 41% strikeout rate against left-handed pitching.

Since the trade deadline has come and gone, there’s no choice for Cleveland but to place Arias on waivers. If he goes unclaimed, he has enough service time to reject an outright assignment to the minor leagues in favor of free agency. If another club picks him up, that previously mentioned lack of minor league options means he’ll need to jump right onto that new club’s major league roster. That team would gain control over three additional years of Arias, though his persistent struggles in the majors would make him an obvious non-tender candidate if he’s still on a 40-man roster come November.