Cleveland Guardians Prospect Report 6/4/24 (2024)

Scoreboard:

Triple-A: Columbus Clippers 15, Indianapolis Indians 4
Double-A: Portland Sea Dogs 12, Akron RubberDucks 5
High-A - Lake County Captains at Beloit Sky Carp (PPD - Rain)
Single-A - Delmarva Shorebirds 6, Lynchburg Hillcats 3
ACL - Guardians 3, Brewers 2
Dominican Summer League: DSL Guardians Mendoza vs DSL Dodgers Bautista (PPD - Rain)
Dominican Summer League: DSL Guardians Goryl 7, DSL Rays 5

Rehab:

Gavin Williams (Columbus, Rehab SP): ND, 2.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R (all earned), 2 BB, 5 K - Williams was dominant in the first two frames when his four-seam velo was its usual mid-90 self.He’s healthy again and the stuff is back, but the stamina of a big league starter is still en route

*The two pitches are lumped together velo-wise here as Statcast misclassified all of Gavin;s cutters last night as four-seamers.

Highlights:

Johnathan Rodriguez (Columbus, LF): 4-6, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 K - While Rodriguez was one of only two Clippers to not drive in any runs in last night’s slugfest, he led the team in hits with four in his return to Triple-A after a cup of coffee with the Big Club. I think it;s fair to say that his last (as in most recent) game as a Cleveland Guardian won’t be his last (as in final).

Jhonkensy Noel (Columbus, 1B): 3-5, 4 R, 1 3B, 3 RBI, 1 BB - With Manzardo, Schneemann, and Rodriguez all seeing playing time at the Corner of Carnegie and Ontario this season, the next candidate for a trip up Interstate 71 is Noel, who was one of four Clippers to amass five total bases (which is actually one less than than his total from this past Sunday’s homestand finale) on Tuesday and was involved in nearly half of the Clip Show’s runs (seven of 15) - with his trio of RBI bringing him within one of Norfolk (Orioles) LF Heston Kjerstad for the International League lead.

Bryan Lavastida (Columbus, C): 3-5, 1 R, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 1 K - Lavastida’s contribution to the Clipper blowout victory continued a resurgence for the backstop following an early/mid-May slump that saw him slip below the Mendoza Line. Since bottoming out at .195/.313/.329 on May 16, Bryan has brought his slash line back up to .241/.343/.379 - the .722 OPS being his highest since it was .766 following May 7’s game (dropped 50 points after an 0-for-5 two days later).

Myles Straw (Columbus, CF): 3-5, 2 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K - Straw rounded out the trio of three-hit evenings with his first multi-hit performance since May 25 in Omaha. Hopefully, he can add more such big efforts to his already improved consistency (at ;east one hit in nine of his last eleven games played).

George Valera (Columbus, RF): 2-3, 2 R, 1 2B, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 1 SF, 1 SB - After finishing up the previous roadtrip in Omaha with a multi-base game and recording three more against the IronPigs last week in Columbus, Valera got the Clip Show’s week in the Hoosier State started with his fifth one in his last eight games. The rust from sending all of April on the Injured List seems to finally be gone and Valera is finally looking, well, Valera-esque, again.

Connor Gillispie (Columbus, scheduled SP): W (1-5), 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R (earned), 1 BB, 6 K - the excellence wasn;t limited to the plate last night as Gillispie turned in a mound gem that earned him a previously elusive first individual victory of the 2024 campaign.

C.J. Kayfus (Akron, LF): 3-4, 1 R, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 1 K - Yes, it’s only one game and Eastern League pitchers still haven’t seen enough of Kayfus to effectively counter his strengths yet, but if there were any questions as to whether now was the right time for him to make the leap to Double-A, they were answered in the affirmative last night in Portland, Maine. Yes, he will likely hit some speed bumps with the Mallards of Main Street, but the fact that he is capable of a performance like this right out of the box makes it clear he had nothing left to prove in the Midwest circuit.

Wuilfredo Antunez (Lynchburg, RF): 2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI - Antunez is on a massive hot streak right now with at least one hit in eleven of his last twelve games and multiple total bases in six of his last seven. The twelve-game stretch has seen his slash line go from .266/.333/.415 to .278/.344/.479, thanks in large part to his .313/.333/.781 slash in his last seven contests. For those wondering, that .468 ISO comed from a double, four triples, and two homers out of ten total hits.

Luis Merejo (ACL, LF): 2-4, HR - The still 17 year old 6’2 1B/3B got some work in the OF and popped his first stateside homer of the year after having a strong DSL campaign last year

2B Jonathan Taveras (DSL Goryl): 2-for-4, 2B, 3 RBIs, DP - The 18-year-old Taveras had the biggest hit of the day for the DSL Goryl squad with a two-run double to go up 4-2 in the eighth and fuel a victory in the team’s first completed game of the season. His line drive up the middle in the fifth plated the game’s first run as well from the nine-hole.

DH Pablo Arosem*na (DSL Goryl): 2-for-3, R, 2B, HBP - The only man to reach base three times for DSL Goryl was Arosem*na from the designated hitter spot. The Panama native had a double in the top of the eighth that resulted in a run as well as a two-out single in the second and he was plunked in the fifth where he would come around to score.

Notable Performances:

Angel Martinez (Columbus, 3B): 2-5, 2 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 BB,1 K - Martinez continued his post-IL stint raking (5-for-11 with three runs and three walks in a trio of post-activation contests) in a performance that would probably have been a highlight on most nights.

Juan Brito (Columbus, DH): 2-6, 2 R, 2 K - After reaching in all five games he played in the Lehigh Valley series, Brito extended his on-base streak to six in last night’s roadtrip opener.

Jose Tena (Columbus, SS): 2-6, 1 RBI, 1 K,1 CS - Tena has reached multiple times and/or amassed multiple total bases (i.e. on a single extra-base hit) in eight of his last ten games. His OPS over that stretch is .999 - .999493, to be precise - or .000007 from rounding up to 1.000.

Christian Cairo (Columbus, 2B): 1-4, 2 RBI, 1 HBP - Cairo hit the ground running in an impressive Triple-A debut that, astonishingly, can be argued to be the least good (there were no bad ones, that’s why they’re all featured here) offensive performance by a Clipper last night.

Wes Parsons (Columbus, RP): 1 IP, 1 H, 2 K - Parsons shone in a low(zero?)-leverage ninth with a pair of strikeouts to bring the team tally to 14 (Randy Labaut, who got the Clips out of the third following Williams’ removal, got one of his two outs via punchout).

Nate Furman (Akron, 2B): 0-4, 1 R, 1 BB,1 K - While Furman;s Double-A debut was nowhere near as impressive as Kayfus, he did reach via walk and later score to provide a little foretaste of what the World Furmanation Tour will look like when it arrives at full force in the EL.

Aaron Bracho (Akron, 1B): 1-4, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K - Bracho’s first-inning two-run double was pretty much the extent of non-Kayfus-generated offensive excitement for the RubberDucks on Tuesday.

Lenny Torres Jr. (Akron, RP): 0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB - Not much of an outing in and of itself, but his 0.46 ERA certainly is notable.

Ralphy Velazquez (Lynchburg, 1B): 1-3, 1 R, 13B, 1 BB, 2 K - As impressive as Velazquez’s season has been, there was one thing he hadn’t done (either this season or at all as a professional), and that’s hit a triple. That was, until yesterday.

Esteban Gonzalez (Lynchburg, CF): 0-3, 1 BB,1 SB - Gonzalez stole his 23rd base of the season to put him in a three-way tie for the Carolina league lead.

Alberto Mendez (ACL, 2B): 2-4, RBI- The 19 year old switch hitter is in his second ACL stint.

Raudy Rivera (RP, ACL): 3IP,H, 2BB, 6K - Rivera is a 19 year old 5’10 hitter that missed a lot of bats in the DSL last year but also issued tons of walks as well.

LF Luis De La Cruz (DSL Goryl): 1-for-4, R, BB, SB, E7F - De La Cruz reached twice with a walk in the seventh and a single to lead off the ninth.

RF Yeiferth Castillo (DSL Goryl): 2-for-5, R - The 17-year-old was credited with a multi-hit game in his professional debut.

SS Jhorvic Abreus (DSL Goryl): 1-for-4, R, RBI, SB, HBP - An RBI single in the ninth helped extend the team’s lead.

PR-DH Brayan Guedez (DSL Goryl): 1-for-1, R, RBI - After entering as a pinch runner late in the game, he received an at-bat in the ninth and continued the run with an RBI single.

3B Alejandro Blasco (DSL Goryl): 1-for-4, R, BB, E5T, DP - The 17-year-old Blasco twice reached base with a single and a walk. Defensively, he made up for an error with a double play.

RP Alejandro Rivera (DSL Goryl): 3.0 IP, H, 0 R, 2 BBs, K, WP - Rivera worked a scoreless fourth, fifth and sixth innings and forced groundball outs with runners aboard in his final inning of work.

RP Erick Padilla (DSL Goryl): W (1-0), 2.0 IP, H, 0 R, BB, 0 Ks, WP - Padilla kept the ball on the ground for five groundball outs in his two innings of scoreless baseball.

RP Oscar Melgarejo (DSL Goryl): S (1), 0.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BBs, K - The go-ahead run was already on base when Melgarejo entered the game, but he slammed the door shut for the save with a strikeout to end it.