Jose Tena 3 hits on Friday.

another 3 hit day for Tena; not beyond Lake County but do they protect him? I would. I would be happy to dump 10 guys and add everyone on my list of prospects

CLE AFL Jose Tena, SS 3 2 3 0 .414 BB (5), SB (1), [walked infrequently during the season; nice to see more BBs too]
CLE AFL Mike Amditis, C 3 0 0 0 .107 BB (3), E (2),
CLE AFL Aaron Pinto, RHP 1 1 0 0 1 0 13.50

BAseball America is starting its team top 10 lists and chats. The chats often go on to cover dozens of players. No scheduled posted for when Cleveland is the team of the day. Lots of interesting players to hear professional comments about from AAA OF Steven Kwan to Arizona League hotshots Jorge Burgos Isaiah Greene and Jr Sanquintin with stops in between with Brian Lavastida [a catcher or something else?], Jhonkennsy Noel [worth protecting already after only 1/3 of a season in High A], the XMan [another Morgan-Tomlin type?], and what to do with all those shortstops.

They're publishing Draft Report Cards too. They can't judge many of our guys on first season performance since most didn't perform.

CLE AFL Jose Tena, SS 3 0 1 0 .406 2 BB (7), CS (1), [he may wind up the fall with more BB than all summer]
CLE AFL Mike Amditis, C 4 1 0 0 .094 BB (4), no one ever said he can hit
CLE AFL Richard Palacios, 4 2 1 1 .292 2B (5),

CLE AFL Matt Turner, LHP 2 2 1 1 0 1 7.71 [1 horrid performance is hard to work off]
CLE AFL Damon Casetta-Stubbs, RHP 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00

BA "report card" for 2021 draft

Best Pure Hitter: The Guardians took just two hitters in their 2021 draft class, so shortstop Jake Fox (3) is the easy nod here. He’s got a good hitting eye, loose swing and solid bat path and had a loud pro debut as well, hitting .405/.469/.429 in 13 games in the Arizona Complex League. He’s got a chance for an above-average bat, while outfielder Connor Kokx (12) had a breakout season with Long Beach State and could get to an average bat.

Best Power Hitter: Kokx hit seven home runs this spring with Long Beach State and has above-average raw power in the tank. Catcher Seth Caddell (NDFA) is coming off a 14-homer season with East Carolina and is worth mentioning as well.

Fastest Runner: Fox is a plus runner who went a perfect 7-for-7 in stolen base attempts during his pro debut, while Kokx is more of an above-average runner who went 5-for-6 (83.3%) in stolen base attempts in the Arizona Complex League. He also stole 14 bags in 17 tries (82.3%) this spring with Long Beach State.

Best Defensive Player: While Cleveland took just two hitters, both have a chance to be solid defenders at premium, up-the-middle positions. Fox could be an average shortstop but might be a better fit at second base thanks to fringy arm strength, but he could work to 60-grade defense at the keystone. Kokx has solid running ability and outfield instincts to be average or a tick better in center field, though he’s played all three outfield positions.

Best Fastball: Righthander Gavin Williams (1) had one of the best fastballs in the entire 2021 draft class and grades out exceptionally well across the board—in terms of velocity, spin, extension and performance generating whiffs in college. Righthander Franco Aleman (10) was previously a two-seam pitcher, but he transitioned to more of a four-seam fastball this spring with Florida, and is regularly in the upper-90s, while lefthander Doug Nikhazy (2) excels with riding life up in the zone from a high slot that is deceptive and helps him generate tons of whiffs.

Best Secondary Pitch: Williams has a chance for multiple plus pitches between his upper-70s curveball and mid-80s slider. Both pitches could have a case for this category, with his curveball perhaps being ahead now. Righthander Aaron Davenport (6) has a vertical hammer of a curveball in the upper 70s with plenty of spin, while lefthander Rodney Boone (8) and righthander Trenton Denholm (14) both bring plus changeups to the table.

Best Pro Debut: The Guardians were conservative with their assignments this summer given the late draft date, with just five players activated this year. Fox impressed with his contact ability and an .898 OPS, while Davenport struck out 38.9% of the batters he faced in Rookie Ball and Low-A while upping his velocity as well. If Cleveland had to go with just one player for this category, it might be RHP Alaska Abney (15), who posted a 0.56 ERA over 16 innings with a 34.9 K% and 11 BB% between the ACL and Low-A East. Abney would run away with ‘best name’ if that were a category as well.

Best Athlete: Fox is a plus athlete who doesn’t have much competition on the position player side of things for this category.

Most Intriguing Background: The background of Cleveland’s class itself is intriguing, with 19 of the team’s 21 picks being pitchers from four-year colleges. From an individual player perspective, righthander Jake Miller’s (20) father Michael played in the NFL. Fox’s father played pro baseball and now runs a baseball academy, while Boone is partially deaf and has a cochlear implant.

Closest To The Majors: Williams has explosive stuff and could miss high-level bats extremely quickly (or right now), while Nikhazy and righthander Tommy Mace (2s) have the sort of advanced feel for pitching that could have them moving fast through the system as well.

For those still in mourning for Sicnarf Loopstok:

Alaska Abney would run away with ‘best name’ if that were a category as well.

but it's no Sicnarf

he keeps hitting;

Richie Palacios, OF, Guardians — Very quietly, Palacios—the brother of Josh and nephew of Rey—put together an excellent season in the Cleveland system. He struck out just 70 times while drawing 58 walks over the course of 428 plate appearances spent between Double-A Akron and Triple-A Columbus, and posted an .874 OPS in the process. He had a big day on Tuesday in AFL action, collecting three hits—including his third home run of the AFL—and scoring three times in his team's win over Salt River.

CLE AFL Richard Palacios, 2B 5 3 3 2 .321 HR (3),

CLE AFL Tanner Tully, LHP 3.1 4 2 2 3 3 6.23

Jose pulls into the Guardians' winter lead, but I'll post something on Rocchio too if I can re-located it

CLE AFL Jose Tena, SS 3 1 2 2 .429 2B (4), BB (8),
CLE AFL Richard Palacios, 2B 4 0 0 0 .298
CLE AFL Mike Amditis, C 4 0 2 0 .139 E (3),

Well this is more on Tena

Cleveland: Jose Tena, SS (No. 12), Scottsdale Scorpions
Tena’s third multihit performance in four games improved his average to .421, which would lead the AFL if he had enough plate appearances to qualify. The 20-year-old doubled, singled, walked and drove in two runs in Scottsdale’s loss. Tena has collected a hit in nine of his 10 games and has walked eight times, leading to a .533 OBP.

this is for Tuesday games:

Indians: Brayan Rocchio, SS (No. 7), Tiburones De La Guaira
Richie Palacios, OF (No. 14), Scottsdale Scorpions

Rocchio’s time in the Venezuelan Winter League has been fruitful in the early going. The 20-year-old clubbed his second home run and fell a triple shy of the cycle while scoring three times. Rocchio is batting .409/.435/.864 with five extra-base hits and six RBIs over 22 at-bats in six games. The Venezuela native batted .277 with a .806 OPS, 15 homers and 63 RBIs for High-A Lake County and Double-A Akron.

Palacios has been one of the most consistent hitters in the AFL, and that continued with a three-hit effort for Scottsdale. The 24-year-old belted his third long ball, scored three runs and drove in a pair. Palacios has collected a hit in 12 of 13 games and is batting .321/.429/.623 with nine extra-base hits and 10 RBIs.

only guys in box scores yesterday in Arizona

CLE AFL Aaron Pinto, RHP 1.2 2 0 0 1 1 10.57
CLE AFL Damon Casetta-Stubbs, RHP 1 0 0 0 0 2 0.00

DCS was an 11th round pick of Seattle in 2018 draft. 6-4 225 pound RH. He pitched one inning for our Arizona summer team after coming over in exchange for Jake Bauers. With the M's he had 40 innings this year at Low A and an ERA of 6.42. Sounds like a fair exchange for Bauers, who if you missed it was DFA'd by the Mariners recently and should be a really hot commodity this winter.

Jose Tena with 2 3-hit games in a row moved into the Arizona batting lead; in fact he was as of Saturday 6 AB short of the official qualifying total but even assuming he went hitless in his next 6 at bats he'd still hold the lead. And at age 20 he is one of the youngest in the league.

He is one of the least experienced of the 10 or 11 I thought should all be added to the roster.
If they can drop Francisco Perez they can also drop Justin Garza who is 3 years older and at least as unimpressive in his big league debut.
I think the deadline is 5 days after the world series, but maybe that's for making qualifying offers

CLE AFL Jose Tena, SS 4 2 3 2 .442 2B (5), BB (9),

Earning their spots on the roster

CLE AFL Jose Tena, SS 5 2 2 0 .438
CLE AFL Richard Palacios, 2B 5 1 2 1 .292 2B (6), [described as a 2b, he's been playing OF in Arizona]

Enjoying their time in the sun

CLE AFL Aaron Pinto, RHP 1.2 1 0 0 1 2 8.68
CLE AFL Tanner Tully, LHP 4 6 6 6 0 3 7.94

minor league free agents; the list for all other teams is available at baseball america


Cleveland Guardians

RHP Kyle Dowdy had some very brief moments a couple years ago
RHP Heath Fillmyer fill in for the Clippers when all their pitchers went to Cleveland
C Gianpaul Gonzalez had one day in the big leagues this summer
RHP Cameron Hill throws hard, drives badly
LHP Juan Hillman drafted a round behind McKenzie, no out pitch, slow career development
RHP Matt Koch see Fillmyer above
SS Tyler Krieger part of one of those middle IF college pairs we often go for, Mark Mathias was the other HE"s made it to the majors
OF Connor Marabell seems like he's been around forever, good solid organizational player
IF Andruw Monasterio came over in a trade a few years ago; suddenly starting hitting this summer for AKron and Columbus
RHP Jordan Stephens He is not the Stephans on the big league club
LHP Daniel Young He is not Alex Young, the dreadful lefty on the big league club