Cleveland Guardians outfielder Jo Adell finds himself on path less chosen

CLEVELAND — The rhythm of postgame music pierced the clubhouse doors at Progressive Field, setting the soundtrack for another Cleveland Guardians victory celebration Saturday.

By the time the media entered, eye black was still visible on Jo Adell‘s face after he hit two doubles to lead the Guardians past the San Diego Padres. It was another productive night for a player settling into a new uniform and, finally, into himself.

That journey has taken time.

Drafted 10th overall by the Los Angeles Angels in 2017, Adell spent much of his early career trying to live up to the lofty expectations of a heralded prospect. Now, the Guardians are getting a 27-year-old who knows exactly who he is.

Adell began learning that valuable lesson in 2020, when he was called up to the Angels at 21.

“When you’re really young, you’re trying to figure out what other guys are doing, but you end up wanting to be more like other players than yourself,” said Adell, who was teammates with All-Stars Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani with the Angels. “You have to be you, because you got this far for a reason.”

For much of Adell’s baseball life, scouts and other baseball know-it-alls envisioned a specific path for him. The irony is that having gotten on their radar at all meant he had chosen a sport few around him expected him to play.

Raised in basketball-crazed Louisville, Kentucky — in a state that’s also passionate about football — Adell seemed destined for one of those sports. Add in his father, Scott, an offensive lineman at North Carolina State drafted by the New Orleans Saints in the 12th round in 1992, and the path appeared set.

However, childhood epilepsy led doctors to recommended that he not play contact sports, especially football.

Despite his own football background, Scott Adell readily accepted the medical advice regarding his son. Before embarking on his own NFL career, doctors warned Scott he risked permanent paralysis if he kept playing. He retired on the spot.

“So, when doctors told us about Jo’s risks if he played football, there was never a doubt in my mind that he’d play another sport,” Scott said. “No matter how many coaches pleaded with us to let him play football, because he became such a good athlete, the answer was always the same: ‘No chance.’”

Instead, Adell competed in swimming, soccer, basketball, gymnastics and what eventually became his love.

“I was good enough to play any other sport, but I chose baseball,” Adell said. “Baseball was the thing I put my heart and soul into, and I really wanted it to work.”

Adell, like many Black youth dedicated to baseball, was an outlier. The sport was not even a secondary interest among his friends; conversations among peers centered on their favorite football team and whether they could play basketball.

“Baseball was the path less chosen,” Adell said. “Sometimes if something speaks to you, you got to go with it.”

Baseball took Adell on a journey in which he grew into a 6-foot-2, 195-pound high school senior and developed into one of the top players in the amateur draft. Scouts raved about his speed in the outfield, base-running, arm strength — clocked in the mid-90s as a pitcher — and raw power.

“Watching him take BP [batting practice] when we were 16 made me want to quit baseball,” said Guardians pitcher Gavin Williams, who played a season of summer ball with Adell. “When he hit the ball, it sounded like a gunshot. Growing up in a small town, I just didn’t think [high school players] could hit like that.”

That talent led to the Angels to select Adell in the first round, but his projected stardom stalled. He made his MLB debut during the shortened 2020 season despite having played just 27 career games in Triple-A, struggling without sufficient seasoning. From 2020-24, he bounced between Triple-A and the majors while battling a high strikeout rate and defensive inconsistencies.

The biggest gaffe came during his rookie season, when Adell misplayed a fly ball that popped out of his glove and over the outfield wall for a rare four-base error.

“That was probably the lowest time we had,” Scott Adell said. “He was able to take everything else in stride. For example, when they’d send him down to Triple-A, he’d rake and come right back up. But that [error] was the first situation that really shook him, especially because it was made such a big deal in public.”

Privately, Adell regrouped from that gaffe and other inconsistencies by hitting 37 home runs and driving in 98 runs for the Angels last year. This season has featured a two-homer game, a 4-for-4 night, a career-high six RBI on Wednesday against the San Francisco Giants, and three home-run-robbing catches in a single game in April. The final catch came dramatically, as Adell tumbled over the wall and into the seats as he made the play.

His season has been so impressive that the Guardians acquired him from the Angels at the trade deadline this month for a catching prospect.

Guardians manager Stephen Vogt is familiar with Adell’s past.

“So much talent, and such a great person … his abilities [are] going to take him as far as he wants to go, and we’re just fortunate to have him,” Vogt said.

Adell’s understanding of himself extends beyond the batter’s box. After selecting “the path less chosen” as a Black youth in Louisville, he now helps young Black players find their way into baseball.

Adell and his family started the Jo Adell Foundation while he was in high school, focusing on youth mentorship, community service and academics while also helping families offset the rising costs of travel baseball.

One of the players the foundation had a role in fostering was Washington Nationals outfielder Daylen Lile. The foundation helped him for two straight summers while he was in high school in Louisville, and when Lile was drafted in 2021, his family made a donation to the foundation.

“It was something we wanted to do to say, ‘We appreciate what y’all did, and we want to pay it forward,’” Lile’s father, Danny, said. “They’re a great family and very generous. Now, we’re trying to be that family to help other kids.”

In June, Lile and Adell played against each other for the first time. Lile delivered an RBI single. Adell hit a solo home run.

For Adell, seeing them on the same major league field represented something bigger than baseball.

“It gives me chills, because I’m thinking about the fact that I had something to do with it,” Adell said about helping Lile along the way. “That’s really what the foundation is all about.”

Early in Adell’s career, much of his energy was spent trying to become the player others expected him to be. Now, he is more comfortable with who he is and has a chance to reach the postseason for the first time in his career, with the Guardians in the thick of the wild card race and still within striking distance of winning the AL Central.

“I’m proud of my years with the Angels, and proud of it getting me to this point where I’m ready to go play with a team that’s pretty much in the dance every year,” Adell said. “I’m really excited for that opportunity. This organization, this team, it’s awesome.”