Cleveland Guardians Receive Impressive Organizational Praise

It's no secret that the Cleveland Guardians organization doesn't go after the big-name free agents in the offseason. They also aren't a team to have one of the highest payrolls in MLB, either.

Yet, the Guardians are consistently in playoff contention every year and routinely have some of the top talents in baseball.

So, how do they manage to achieve this?

It all comes down to Cleveland's ability to identify and develop young talent into productive big-league players. One analyst believes the Guardians are the best at this in MLB.

Joel Reuter of Bleacher Report recently ranked every team's homegrown talent for this season, and the Guardians appeared at No. 1 on his list.

(For reference, Reuter defines homegrown talent as a player who was drafted or signed as an amateur free agent by an organization.)

"The Guardians lead all teams with 24 homegrown players on their 40-man roster, and that group includes their two best position players (José Ramírez and Steven Kwan) and their two best starters (Tanner Bibee and Gavin Williams), with Shane Bieber also eventually rejoining the mix," wrote Reuter.

"They are able to contend as a small-market club thanks in large part to their ability to develop their own in-house talent into impact contributors."