José Tena has been back in the Cleveland Guardians organization for barely a week, and he is already giving the front office something to smile about. The club claimed the infielder off waivers from the Washington Nationals on Nov. 6, bringing him back to the organization that originally signed him. Tena did not have to wait for spring training to make a good first impression. He is spending the winter playing for Estrellas Orientales in the Dominican Winter League, and on Friday night he delivered his biggest swing of the season.
“Cleveland #Guardians 25yr old INF Jose Tena collected a pair of hits tonight (2-5 R HR RBI) including his 1st HR of the LIDOM season a 396 foot solo shot 104.8 mph off the bat in the 8th inning for Estrellas! Tena is hitting .314 with a .832 OPS through 9 games,” Guardians Prospective wrote.
Cleveland #Guardians 25yr old INF Jose Tena collected a pair of hits tonight (2-5 R HR RBI) including his 1st HR of the LIDOM season a 396 foot solo shot 104.8 mph off the bat in the 8th inning for Estrellas!
Tena is hitting .314 with a .832 OPS through 9 games.#StandGuard pic.twitter.com/I1xyZYX7iu
— Guardians Prospective (@CleGuardPro) November 14, 2026
Tena went 2-5 in the game with a run scored, the homer and an RBI. The blast came off Toros del Este pitcher J. Lara and showed off the kind of power that has always been part of the scouting report on the left-handed hitter. Through his first nine games of the winter, Tena is hitting .314 with an .832 OPS.
That is an encouraging start for a player who needs a bounce back. Tena hit just .222 with a .302 on-base percentage, seven home runs, 25 RBIs and six stolen bases in 114 games for Washington this season. Over parts of four big-league seasons, he owns a .240 average with 10 home runs.
There was a time when he looked like a rising piece in Washington. Tena was part of the 2024 deadline trade that sent him, Alex Clemmey and Rafael Ramírez Jr. to the Nationals for Lane Thomas, and he hit .274 for Washington after the deal. He struggled to build on that over the next two seasons, and the Nationals designated him for assignment earlier this month.
Tena’s winter performance matters more than usual because of his roster status. He is out of minor league options, which means the Guardians would have to pass him through waivers to send him to Triple-A Columbus. Cleveland’s 40-man roster is getting crowded, especially with the Rule 5 protection deadline approaching later this month. A strong showing in the Dominican Republic could help Tena make a case that he deserves a spot.
The 25-year-old grew up in San Cristóbal, Dominican Republic, and baseball runs in his family. He is the nephew of former big leaguer Juan Uribe, who won World Series titles with the White Sox in 2005 and the Giants in 2010.
It is still early in the winter, and nine games is a small sample. Even so, Tena is off to the kind of start that gets noticed, and he has given the Guardians an early reason to believe their low-risk waiver claim could pay off.
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