it's time for some of the 2021 draft choice pitchers to trade places. Following up on Boone's good work on Friday night, Will Dion followed Saturday with 6 4 hit shutout innings, dropping his league leading ERA to 1.22

Meanwhile in Lake County Jake Nikhazy's line looks ok 5 innings 3 hits 2 runs until you reach the right side: 6 walks, 2 strikeouts; He takes over the Midwest League walk lead
and today 3rd round pick Tommy Mace lasted 1 2/3 walking 4 and his ERA went up to 6.23

also notable: Saturday Tanner Burns on a pitch count went 2 scoreless in Akron; Xzavion Curry followed him with 5 scoreless innings, then ran out of gas and allowed 3 [2 earned] in the 6th, he walked 1 and fanned 8

Noel homered for the 3rd game in a row last night to take the Midwest League lead in long balls.

Angel Martinez with 2 [his 2nd and 3rd] today for the Captains

sunday games

CLE AAA #1 Tyler Freeman, SS 5 0 3 1 .233
CLE AA #3 Brayan Rocchio, SS 4 1 1 0 .224 2B (8),
CLE AA #4 George Valera, SS 3 0 2 2 .283 2B (10), BB (29), CS (2),
CLE HiA #10 Angel Martinez, SS 5 3 3 3 .279 2B (7), 2 HR (3),
CLE AA #11 Jose Tena, SS 3 0 0 0 .279
CLE MAJ #13 Richard Palacios, 2B 3 0 0 0 .275
CLE HiA #18 Gabriel Rodriguez, 3B 4 1 2 1 .246 HR (3), CS (2),
CLE HiA #20 Jhonkensy Noel, 3B 2 1 0 0 .226 BB (14), [homer streak ends; N.B. He's been playing some Rightfield lately]
CLE HiA #22 Petey Halpin, OF 4 0 0 0 .199 BB (14), CS (4),
CLE MAJ #24 Ernie Clement, 2B 1 0 0 0 .213
CLE MAJ #27 Steven Kwan, OF 4 0 1 0 .254
CLE LoA #32 Isaiah Greene, OF 4 0 0 0 .228
CLE LoA #33 Milan Tolentino, 2B 4 0 0 0 .349
CLE LoA #38 Yordys Valdes, SS 4 1 2 1 .268
CLE AAA #39 Will Brennan, OF 5 0 0 0 .284
CLE LoA #40 Jake Fox, SS 3 0 1 0 .242 BB (35),

CLE AAA #23 Tobias Myers, RHP 5.0 4 0 0 2 1 4.60 scoreless but otherwise not exciting
CLE HiA #29 Tommy Mace, RHP 1.2 1 1 1 4 1 6.43 this kid has been pretty reliably awful
CLE HiA #31 Lenny Torres, RHP 4.0 0 0 0 1 1 6.75 let's see more like this!

with his recent power surge, Valera is now hitting 283/393/500 fpr a fine 893 OPS. Clearly our best performing position player

10 doubles 1 triple 8 homers
29 walks 45 strikeouts

May and June totals: 317/398/567

no one hot enough last week to make the 20-man BA Hot Sheet, although Naylor and Valera continue to do well; Isaiah Greene and Will Benson have some solid performances.

I imagine that they will give Benson a shot this year if he doesn't regress. At every level during his career he is awful after his promotion and the next year registers much better numbers. There's every reason the same will happen if/when he gets to Cleveland. Expect some really terrible numbers in year one.

and continued solid pitching from Gavin Williams, a better week from Logan Allen, lights out from Will Dion and Boone at Lynchburg.

and my question on the group was answered:

Elliot (Youngstown OH):

It looks like time for Cleveland to promote a bunch of pitchers: Logan Allen from AA, Gavin Williams to replace him and Rodney Boone and Will Dion from Low A to High A. How do you rate that quartet?


Geoff Pontes: Highly. I have been a fan of Logan Allen since I saw him on the Cape back in 2019. It's a really good fastball shape wise and he has a bag full of average or better secondaries. He gets a ton of whiffs on the fastball, slider and splitter. Uses the cutter to get weak contact. Williams is one of my favorite pitchers in the minor leagues, great fastball, he's got the hammer curveball, a harder slider and he'll flash the change. There's a case to be made he's as good as any pitcher from last year's college draft class. Boone has tremendous feel for his changeup, a good slider and a lot of hop on his four-seam, he just doesn't have much velocity sitting 86-88 mph touching 89-90. He's someone who had some helium heading into the 2021 draft but didn't show the low-90s velocity people hoped to see. Dion is a lefty with a deep arsenal of pitches, tons of depth on the curveball and a good changeup. The Guardians have a knack for finding these guys.

[Emphasis added]

Fred is one of us, too

Frederick (Boston):

Hi Geoff, thanks for the chat! With Gavin Williams being promoted to AA, if all goes right could we see him at AAA by the end of the year? Debuting next season? and Do you think he has true ace potential?


Geoff Pontes: I think he could see some late Triple-A time, with a summer callup in 2023. I try and be conservative with those expectations because lots of stuff happens in a year. Cleveland is also deep with options. Biggest question for me with Williams is health. If he remains healthy he has top of the rotation ceiling, with a good mid-rotation arm as a realistic outcome.

[apparently Fred knows something I don't; hadn't seen the promotion but have been looking for it for a while]

the summer leagues are getting started; BA lists top kids to watch for.

https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories ... -republic/

We score 1 one of the 15:

Jaison Chourio, OF, Guardians
Chourio inked with Cleveland in the most recent international signing period on the strength of an enviable skill set. He performed well at Cleveland’s complex during spring training in the Dominican Republic and has already jumped into the organization’s Top 30 prospects. He’s already earned a reputation as a player with top-of-the-order skills and a knack for contact but could develop into more of a power threat depending on the way his body develops as he gets older.

Frederick was right

I see Gavin Williams now listed on the Akron roster
and Rodney Boone now listed at Lake County

Nolan Jones debuted Tuesday 0-5
But Wednesday 3-3 and 2 walks

Bo Naylor 2-2 and 2 walks. Second in the EL with 444 OBP
Tuesday 2 doubles

Will Benson double and 3 walks

Noel 3k and 14th homer

forgot to mention that in his first two games Nolan Jones has played right field

Naylor in June: 11 walks and 2 strikeouts. 356/621/471'
Was pretty solid in May, too 279/446/456

He is a catcher who bats leadoff and has 10 steals.
He should moving to Columbus soon.

thursday games:

CLE AAA #1 Tyler Freeman, SS 4 1 1 0 .227
CLE AA #3 Brayan Rocchio, SS 4 0 0 0 .207
CLE AA #4 George Valera, SS 3 1 0 0 .271 BB (30),
CLE HiA #10 Angel Martinez, SS 4 0 1 0 .270 2B (9), BB (19),
CLE MAJ #13 Richard Palacios, 2B 1 0 1 2 .274 2B (10),
CLE AAA #16 Bryan Lavastida, C 5 1 2 1 .229 3B (2),
CLE HiA #22 Petey Halpin, OF 4 1 0 0 .196 BB (15),
CLE MAJ #24 Ernie Clement, 2B 3 1 1 0 .225 BB (5),
CLE HiA #25 Aaron Bracho, 2B 2 0 0 0 .154 BB (6),
CLE MAJ #27 Steven Kwan, OF 4 1 3 1 .271 BB (21), SB (4),
CLE LoA #32 Isaiah Greene, OF 3 0 1 0 .222
CLE LoA #32 Isaiah Greene, OF 1 2 0 0 .222 3 BB (39), SB (9), E (6),
CLE LoA #33 Milan Tolentino, 2B 4 0 0 0 .333
CLE LoA #33 Milan Tolentino, 2B 4 0 1 0 .333
CLE LoA #37 Luis Durango, OF 2 0 0 0 .181
CLE LoA #38 Yordys Valdes, SS 2 1 0 0 .257 BB (15),
CLE AAA #39 Will Brennan, OF 4 1 3 1 .299 2B (17), BB (23), SB (8),
CLE LoA #40 Jake Fox, SS 2 0 0 0 .242 2 BB (39),
CLE LoA #40 Jake Fox, SS 3 1 1 3 .242 HR (3), BB (39),

CLE AA #9 Logan Allen, LHP 6.0 3 3 3 3 9 3.90 2 homes
CLE MAJ #30 Konnor Pilkington, LHP 5.2 4 4 4 4 2 4.14

OUR Arizona team has played its first 3 games, won all 3.
some early "stars"
Angel Genao, IF 6 for 12 double triple 2 walks
Juan Benajmin 3 for 8 with a double and a homer a walk a steal 4 RBI; 3rd baseman


2 teams in the Dominican summer league; the Blue are 3-1 and the Red are 2-2. We're sure to add one win and one loss today, since they're playing each other. I have no idea who any of these guys are.
a catcher named Jose Cedeno has 8 rbi on 5 hits, one a double, in 9 at bats
CF Moises Molero is 6 for 11 plus 4 walks for an OBP of 667