GOODYEAR, Ariz. — He's one of the most important players to the Guardians' hopes in 2024, and he has yet to take a single at-bat in the majors.

In fact, he hasn't even logged 100 at-bats for the Guardians organization at all, including the minor leagues. But if Cleveland's lineup is to receive the boost it needs to vault the Guardians back to the postseason in 2024, it's likely that Kyle Manzardo will play a major role in all of it.

Manzardo was acquired at last year's trade deadline from the Tampa Bay Rays in exchange for Aaron Civale. The Rays were in need of a starting pitcher for a hopeful World Series run. The Guardians jumped at the chance to deal from a position of surplus and add a top-100 level hitting prospect.

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And just like that, it could be argued that few players are as crucial to the Guardians lineup in 2024 than a 23-year-old prospect, even if it's still unclear whether he makes the Opening Day roster. At some point, they'll likely need him.

Guardians first baseman Kyle Manzardo ranked as MLB top-100 prospect for 2024 season

Manzardo was recently rated as one of the top 66 prospects in baseball by two different rankings, Keith Law (No. 66 overall) and MLB Pipeline (No. 59). A left-handed first baseman, it's a safe bet that, barring a major injury, Manzardo will see significant at-bats in Cleveland in 2024. It's also entirely possible he makes the Opening Day roster, especially with MLB's new rules that incentivize teams who call up their top prospects.

And, yet, the Guardians still haven't had the chance to work with him a ton, given that he was injured at the time of the trade. He logged only 92 plate appearances with Triple-A Columbus before the minor league season ended.

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But since the trade, Manzardo has been on fire. In those 92 plate appearances in Triple-A, he hit .256 with a .348 on-base percentage and .938 OPS, along with six home runs, eight doubles and 16 RBIs. That success continued into winter ball, where he had a .340 on-base percentage and .905 OPS (six home runs, seven doubles, 19 RBIs) in 22 games.

Guardians hitting coach Chris Valaika says of Kyle Manzardo: 'He looks like Wade Boggs to me'

Guardians hitting coach Chris Valaika, after watching Manzardo at the team's spring training complex in Goodyear, Ariz., brought out a pretty big name to describe what he had seen — though, of course, it is an extremely limited sample so early in camp.

"He looks like Wade Boggs to me," Valaika said, smiling. "He's been awesome in the box. … It's been good since we got him. So let him play, see what he's going to show us, and then we need to make the necessary interventions. We're going to let the game tell us what we need to focus on rather than trying to jump into something that hasn't really shown up yet."

Kyle Manzardo has chance to make Guardians 2024 Opening Day roster out of spring training

The more immediate question is if Manzardo can play his way onto the Opening Day roster. At some point in 2024, the designated hitter and first base spots figure to be occupied by Manzardo and Josh Naylor. In the short run, though, it remains to be seen how new manager Stephen Vogt and the Guardians will construct the roster. Rule 5 selection and corner infielder Deyvison De Los Santos could very well factor into that situation as well.

For Manzardo, it's a hope he can ride the wave of what he did from September to now.

"I had kind of a rough year before the trade, and then being able to finish strong throughout the rest of the year and being healthy and playing all the time was definitely a good sendoff for that year," Manzardo said.

The next two boxes to check with his progression are his footwork on defense and his ability to hit left-handed pitching. Manzardo said footwork defensively was his top focus in the offseason, and president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti noted his splits against lefties — he hit just .159 with a .595 OPS against lefties last season.

Those two elements might help determine whether he breaks camp with Cleveland or begins the 2024 season with Triple-A Columbus. But regardless, at some point, the Guardians are likely going to need the Civale trade to pay dividends in 2024.

Ryan Lewis can be reached at rlewis1@gannett.com. Read more about the Guardians at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/cleveland-guardians. Follow him on Threads at @ByRyanLewis.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Guardians prospect Kyle Manzardo could make 2024 Opening Day roster