Jhonkensy Noel...Pronounced \\jh-AAN-ken-zee\\; which rhymes with SHAWN-ken-zee...Daughter, Jala Marie...Hobbies include spending time with family/going on getaways with them, enjoying the beach...Favorite artists are Future, 50 Cent and Lil Baby...Favorite players growing up were David Ortiz and Adri¨¢n Beltr¨¦....Nicknamed La Belleza (the Beauty) by teammates...In his first year with the ML club, Noel contributed to multiple baskets for the Guardians Significant Others Auction and spent time on the field with Cleveland Clinic patients.
2024
"Big Christmas" began the season in AAA Columbus and ended the year hitting one of the biggest homers in Guardians postseason history... Hit .295 (76-for-258) with 15 2B, 18 HR, 59 RBI, a .578 slugging percentage and a .937 OPS in 65 games with AAA Columbus prior to his June 26 recall...At the time of his first and final promotion, he was leading the International League in RBI, total bases (149) and extra-base hits (35), also ranking in home runs (second), hits (fifth), slugging percentage (fifth) and OPS (eighth), appearing at first base (26 GS), LF (16 GS) and RF (nine GS) for the Clippers...At the time of recall, he was the 26th ranked prospect in the system (MLB.com)...Became the fourth Cleveland hitter to homer in his first career plate appearance on June 26 at Baltimore (off Grayson Rodriguez), and first since Kevin Kouzmanoff on Sept. 2, 2006 at Texas (first pitch grand slam)...At 22 years, 347 days old, Noel became the youngest Clevelander to achieve the feat since Jay Bell (20 years, 292 days) homered in his debut on Sept. 29, 1986...Later homered again on June 29 at Kansas City, becoming the sixth Clevelander to homer in each of their first two MLB starts, the first since Chris Gimenez (June 4-7, 2009)...Slugged three home runs in his first eight games, the fifth Cleveland hitter to turn the trick and the first since Ben Francisco (three HR) in 2007...His homer on June 29 at KC had an exit velocity of 115.4 mph, the hardest-hit homer by a Cleveland hitter in the Statcast era (2015-present)¡Four of Noel¡¯s 13 home runs in 2024 had an exit velocity of 110+ mph (Cleveland¡¯s four hardest-hit homers of the year were from Noel)...Lifted 13 homers through his first 45 career games from June 26-Aug. 30, tying Russell Branyan (1998-2000) for the most homers through 45 career games in club history¡Over that stretch, Noel owned a 9.69 HR/AB ratio, the second-best mark in MLB (min. 100 AB) behind only NYY¡¯s Aaron Judge (8.59)...Clobbered a tie-breaking, pinch-hit, two-run homer in the eighth inning of Cleveland's 4-2 victory at Tampa Bay on July 13, his fourth career homer and first pinch-hit blast...Per STATS LLC, Noel became the first Cleveland rookie to record a pinch-hit, go-ahead homer in a regular season game in the eighth inning or later since Bill Davis on Sept. 9, 1966 vs. California...His game-tying, two-run, pinch-hit homer in the ninth inning of ALCS Game 3 was the fifth such homer (PH, tied game) in the ninth inning or later of a postseason game, the first since Raul Iba?ez turned the trick for the Yankees in the 2012 ALDS Game 3 vs. Baltimore...It was also the first such homer by a Clevelander in the club's postseason history ¡Became the first rookie in MLB history to hit a game-tying/go-ahead home run with his team trailing in the ninth inning or later of a postseason game (Elias)...Was 1-for-14 in the regular season as a PH...The game-tying blast was the third pinch-hit postseason homer in Cleveland history, joining David Fry (2024 ALDS Game 4) and Hank Majeski (1954 World Series)...The last MLB club to hit multiple pinch-hit home runs in a postseason was the 2021 Atlanta Braves (three PH-HR)...Noel had not homered since Aug. 30, snapping a drought of 76 plate appearances without a home run...Also marked his first extra-base hit since Sept. 13, snapping a drought of 41 plate appearances without an extra-base hit...Delivered two OF assists (ALDS Game 2; ALCS Game 5), becoming fourth Cleveland player with multiple outfield assists in a single postseason, joining Manny Ramirez (1996), David Justice (1999) and Franklin Gutierrez (2007)...Ended the regular season 6-for-his-last-52 (.113) after Aug. 30 (22 games)...Career-high two HR, four RBI on Aug. 12 vs. the Cubs (first career multi-HR game)...Started two games at DH, played nine games (four starts) at 1B and 54 games (42 starts) at RF (one DRS in OF)...Overall was 2-for-21 in the postseason (.095), with both RBI coming on the PH-HR.
2023
Spent entire season at AAA Columbus, leading team in HR (27) and RBI (85)...Finished T1st in the CLE PD system in runs (81), second in HR, RBI, XBH (50) and TB (218)...Was seventh in the Int'l League in HR and T9th in RBI...Reached safely in 19 straight games, April 16-May 9 (had a 15-game streak in June)...Made 45 starts in LF, 39 in RF, 25 at 1B, 18 at 3B and 10 at DH...796 OPS vs. LHP...At 21, was five years younger than average IL player (just 5 PA vs. younger pitchers).
2022
Batted a combined .229 (111/485) with 26 2B, two 3B, 32 HR, 80 runs and 84 RBI in 133 games¡60 of his 111 hits went for XBH...Led the organization in homers and XBH and finished second in RBI and total bases (237) and third in slugging pct. (.489)¡32 HR were tied for sixth in all of Minor League Baseball...His 19HR at High-A Lake County were T5th in the Midwest League despite not appearing there after June 23¡ Promoted to Akron on June 24 and AAA on Sept. 21¡ Participated in the Futures Game in LA...Started the season at 3B, made transition to OF on 5/21 and appeared in just one game at third the remainder of the season¡Combined on the year he made 24 starts at third base (all with LC), 49 starts in RF, 25 at DH, 17 apiece in LF and first base...Enjoyed 5 two-homer games, including back-to-back on June 30-July 2 at Erie (4HR, 6 RBI)¡ HR in three straight, 6/2-6/4, and, 6/12-6/15¡Went 84 AB between HR on 7/29 vs. Harrisburg and 8/25 vs. Richmond¡Batted .330 (30- for-91) over his last 25 games in Akron, 8/21-9/18, with 12 2B, 4HR, 20 RBI¡All but nine PA came against pitchers older than him¡Split wise had a .218/.293/.488/.781 slash line vs. RHP and .269/.372/.490/.862 vs. LHP
2021
Had a tremendous year, hitting a combined .340 (90-for-265) with 14 2B, 1 3B, 19 homers and 66 RBI in 70 games between Low-A Lynchburg and High-A Lake County (.390/.615/1.005)...Would have led organization in all of the ratio stats with the requisite number of plate appearances and finished second in the system in homers (19) and RBI (66) despite missing almost two months due to injuries (hand/ankle)...His combined .340 average would have been third-highest among all 2021 Minor Leaguers while his .615 slugging pct. and 1.005 OPS would have placed fourth...Was limited to just two games over a 57-day span at Lynchburg with a bruised hand (HBP, 5/24-6/3) and left ankle sprain (6/6-7/19) and appeared on a 6-game rehab in the Arizona Complex League... At this time of his original hand injury (May 23) he was tied for first in the Low-A East League in HR (5), leading in slugging (.672), second in RBI (21) and fourth in OPS (1.052)...His second stint with Lynchburg, July 20-Aug. 14, he batted .436 (34-for-78) with 4 2B, 6 HR, 19 RBI in 21 games (1.220 OPS) before being promoted to High-A Lake County on August 15, spending the rest of the year with the Captains....Posted a pair of two-homer games for the Captains, giving him four for the season.. Combined on the year he batted .350 (71-for-203) off RHP, .306 (19-for-62, 7 HR) off LHP, .380 (35-for-92) with RISP and .404 (55-for-136) with runners on base...Batted .512 (22-for-43) with RISP for Lynchburg...Combined on the year he appeared in 35 games at third base and 18 games at first base...Named top power-hitting prospect hitter in the system according to Baseball America.
