C.J. Kayfus was drafted by the Cleveland Guardians in round 3 of the 2023 draft, 93rd overall. He has steadily worked his way through the farm starting his 2025 campaign in Double A Akron. In 18 games
with the RubberDucks he posted .364/.475/.591 and 209 wRC+ with 24 hits. He was quickly promoted to Triple A Columbus in late April. For the Clippers Kayfus played 68 games and put up a .283/.367/.526 with 13 home runs and 135 wRC+ in 289 plate appearances.
The Cleveland Guardians called C.J. Kayfus up for his major league debut on August 2nd against the Minnesota Twins. In his first major league at bat, Kayfus hit into a RBI ground out to put the Guardians on the board.
The next game Kayfus got his first major league hit, a double to right.
The next week, he hit his first major league home run.
In his 42 games in the bigs Kayfus smacked four home runs, ten doubles, and knocked in nineteen RBIs. He, like many other hitters in the lineup, saw success when the ball was put in play (.280 BABIP) but his low walk rate (8%) and high strike out rate (27.5%) meant there weren’t a lot of balls being put in play. However, as quickly as the league adjusted to him, his September and October numbers clearly indicate that he adjusted back. In his first month of play his batting average was a concerning .176. His September and October batting average was a very impressive .286. The small sample size indicated to fans that Kayfus was likely the platoon answer at 1B and has great potential. His ability to come up in high leverage situations only supporting that.
During the fight to chase down the Detroit Tigers in September, Kayfus hit a game winning go-ahead homer against the Royals.
And who can forget the most memorable at bat of his short career. The game winning HBP that sent the Guardians to the Wild Card. In a 2 out, bases loaded situation with an 0-1 count, C.J. was hit by pitch to bring in the game winning run.
Kayfus’ bat wasn’t the only promising part of his game in his short time with the club. C.J. platooned at both 1B and RF. He did have a couple of errors at first and didn’t exactly put up Gold Glove numbers, but his athleticism was put on display during multiple plays. By Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average, he was slightly below average at both first base and right field, but there is clear potential for improvement, especially at first.
Will Kayfus be the primary plan for the Guardians at first base to enter the 2025 season? Something that MAY help Kayfus’s case is his minor league splits vs. LHP: In 2023, he put up a .958 OPS against LHP, In 2024, it was .925 OPS, and in 2025 it was .847. If Kayfus can hit major league pitching, his minor league numbers indicate he should be able to hit lefties. (Kayfus had only a 67 wRC+ against lefties with Cleveland last season, but it was in only 22 plate appearances which doesn’t really tell us anything). The more important question is whether or not Kayfus will hit major league pitching, as a whole. A concerning sign for Kayfus that carried over from the minors is that he had only a .192 weighted on base average against pitches over 95 mph. Admittedly, he may improve vs. high velocity with more reps – but… he also may not.
Kayfus has below average bat speed, below average chase rate, and a poor whiff rate. He has to be able to take his walks (and hit by pitches, memorably!) and maintain a solid contact rate in the zone, continuing to get to the optimal launch angle-sweet spot as he did in 2025 (LA/Sweet Spot% was his best hitting metric) to offset his issues with swing-and-miss and lack of elite exit velocity. The best news for Kayfus can be found in his September stats where he put up a 145 wRC+ and reduced his strikeout rate by 7% and upped his walk-rate by 2%. These stats indicate there is still reason to hope that additional major league reps will make Kayfus into an average-good major league player, but they also indicate that Kayfus should probably not be the Guardians’ primary plan at first base or in right field to begin 2026. Kayfus, right now, is amazing roster depth but has yet to prove he should be the plan-A at a starting position for a team with title aspirations. Hopefully, he will earn that distinction in 2025, maybe even with a carryover of his late-season approach in Spring Training.
Overall, it would come as no surprise to see C.J. Kayfus on this roster to start the 2026 season. He seems like a great person and fun young player, as a whole. Put on your shades now, if Kayfus’ 2025 is any indication, the future is bright for the now 24 year old.
