Cleveland Sports Forum

Columbus a winner; Benson doubled and walked; Gonzalez singled twice; Tyler Freeman in the lineup is good, hitless so far in 9 AB,
Mikolajchak 1 inning, 1 hit, 1 unearned run

Akron got fine pitching from both of their piggyback starters:
Hunter Gaddis 5 4 1 0 0 7
Joey Cantillo 4 3 0 0 2 4
Hits from the top prospects: Tena's 1st homer; Rocchio and Valera each with 2 singles, both caught stealing

Lake County on top, too. 3rd round pick Tommy Mace with his best start although not an exciting line: 5 3 1 1 0 0 6.23 ERA
Petey Halpin with his 1st homer; Joe Naranjo singled and doubled, avg down to 267 but OPS still at 988; G. Rodrieguez doubled, hitting 341 but OPS only 794

Lynchburg shut out on 2 hits; their star Milan Tolentino had one of them and drew a walk Now hitting an even 400 Has 16 walks compared with 11 strikeouts; interestingly in his first pro season last year he also drew 16 walks vs 62 K.

Additionally, INF Gabriel Arias sustained a fractured right hand (5th metacarpal) during yesterday’s Clippers game vs. Louisville (5th inn.). Additional testing is being conducted, he is expected to miss several weeks and will be placed on the IL.
11:56 AM · May 2, 2022·TweetDeck

shoot

in better news, Tolentino's last week totals:
24 plate appearances
14 official at bats
10 runs scored
7 hits, 6 were singles, one double
10 walks
2 steals
2 strikeouts

AVG: 500
OBP: 708
SLG: 571
OPS: 1279

two prospects land on this week's Baseball America Hot Prospect List:

No. 15 Oscar Gonzalez
OF, Guardians
Team: Triple-A Columbus (International)
Age: 24

Why He's Here: .393/.393/.643 (11-for-28), 5 R, 1 2B, 0 3B, 2 HR, 5 RBIs, 0 BB, 2 SO

The Scoop: Make a mistake into a hot zone for Gonzalez and he can make pitchers pay with his above-average raw power. Gonzalez is still a free-swinger, something that will always hinder his ability to get on base and could end up leaving him as a 4-A player. But his ability to drive the ball for damage is clear, with a .319/.340/.596 line through 22 games.

No. 18 Hunter Gaddis
RHP, Guardians
Team: Double-A Akron (Eastern)
Age: 24

Why He's Here: 2 G, 1 GS, 10 IP, 10 H 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 14 SO

The Scoop: Gaddis has a superb 22-3 K-BB mark through 16 innings this year. He operates off a low-to-mid-90s fastball, getting a bundle of swing and miss this year on offspeed stuff. His slider doesn't have the biggest break on it, but he's effective at starting it on the outer edge to righthanded hitters and getting them to chase it off the plate, while his changeup is another effective pitch for him that he will use for swing and miss against both lefties and righties.

Baseball America has re-ranked their top 100 prospects. Most changes are minimal: from18th to 17th, from 23rd to 20th, however, as I'd expected,
Espino has leapt from 51 to No. 21 which puts as the Number 4 pitcher on the list.

Other Guardians: Freeman from 64 to 63
Rocchio from 65 to 64
Valera from 67 to 66
Arias from 97 to 91
Kwan from 100 to 93

Espino is on the Injured list after his knee injury last week. I've read nothing suggesting the extent of the injury or likely time away

Tyler Freeman had his first hit yesterday, 1-13, gives him one more hit in 13 more at bats than Nolan Jones

Could Brennan surprise? A poor man's Kwan?

civ ollilavad wrote:Eastern League leaders:

Espino: No. 1 in avg against, strikeouts, 2nd in WHIP, 6th in ERA and in HR allowed
Allen: 3rd in K and ERA 9th in WHIP and AVG
Note Reliever Andrew Misiaszek 11 2/3 IP 6 H 0 runs 3 walks 20 K. He and Mikolajcheck who's in AAA will potentially give us a couple hard to pronounce bullpen guys

Will Brennan a 24 year old OF, rated about no. 35 on our prospect list: 2nd in hits, in RBI 3rd in Avg, 6th in doubles
Valera is 5th with walks
and speedster catcher Bo Naylor is tied for the lead in triples and for 9th in steals

[*] AB R H HR RBI SB AVG OBP OPS
2022 MiLB Stats 71 5 25 1 19 3 .352 .419 .912
MiLB Career Stats 673 113 193 8 101 27 .287 .369 .775
Year
2022 MiLB Stats
MiLB Career Stats Next AKR Game: 5-05 @ RIC
[*]

912 OPS this year

Scouting report from when he was drafted

Jeff Ellis: The Indians official transactions twitter account announced Will Brennan as a two-way player, which in and of itself is very interesting. All three years at Kansas State Brennan played both ways. I think he's better as a hitter, and the profile really fits the Indians. Brennan was rated the hardest player to strikeout in all of the NCAA this year. He struck out just 12 times in 223 at-bats. He averaged over 18 at-bats per one strikeout this year. He really struggled in the Cape this year, but once he was in Big 12 play he walked over 12 percent of the time for his college career. His best tool outside of the eye at the plate is his speed, though the whole profile is likely that of a fourth outfielder.

Grand slam by Jose Fermin, his 5th homer of the season leads Clippers to a 5-4 win
Mikolajchak 2 perfect innings 2 strikeouts ERA remains 0.00 in 10 2/3 innings. 24 year old righty with Clevinger hairstyle should be in Cleveland soon enough.

Xzavion Curry with a bounceback night 5 innings 8 strikeouts a solo homer. Homers are his bane, 4 this year in 21 innings. 13 last year in 97.
Luis Oviedo with his Akron debut fans 2 in one inning
Bo Naylor must have got hurt, he exited early.
Will Brennan 3 hits including his 7th double, 2 RBI brings his total to 19
Valera doubled and walked.

Wednesday performances:

CLE AA #3 Brayan Rocchio SS 4 0 0 0 0.210
CLE AA #4 George Valera SS 3 2 1 0 0.247 2B (3) BB (17)
CLE HiA #10 Angel Martinez SS 3 1 3 2 0.294 2B (3) BB (10)
CLE AA #11 Jose Tena SS 4 0 1 0 0.281
CLE MAJ #13 Richard Palacios 2B 4 0 1 0 0.253
CLE AAA #16 Bryan Lavastida C 4 0 1 0 0.196
CLE HiA #18 Gl Rodriguez 3B 4 0 1 2 0.321 2B (5)
CLE HiA #20 Jhonkensy Noel 3B 3 0 1 0 0.246 2B (5)
CLE HiA #22 Petey Halpin OF 2 0 0 0 0.197 2 BB (8) CS (1)
CLE MAJ #24 Ernie Clement 2B 3 0 1 1 0.188 2B (3)
CLE HiA #25 Aaron Bracho 2B 3 0 0 0 0.207 [had a lousy 2021 and not much better 2022]
CLE MAJ #27 Steven Kwan OF 3 0 1 1 0.328
CLE MAJ #27 Steven Kwan OF 5 0 1 1 0.328
CLE LoA #32 Isaiah Greene OF 3 2 1 1 0.222 3B (1) SB (2) E (2)
CLE LoA #33 Milan Tolentino 2B 4 0 2 0 0.407 2B (6) [should be found in Easlake soon]
CLE LoA #37 Luis Durango OF 3 1 3 0 0.194 SB (6) CS (3) [speed demon starting to improve]
CLE LoA #38 Yordys Valdes SS 4 1 1 1 0.216 E (2)
CLE AA #39 Will Brennan OF 4 1 3 2 0.338 2B (7) SB (3)

CLE AA #28 Xzavion Curry, RHP 5.0 2 1 1 1 8 5.14

Thursday, Columbus and Akron lost, Lake County rained out, surprising Lynchburg won

Tyler Freeman a double, his second hit on his return; Lavistida two singles; Battenfield 7 7 5 3 1 5 2.81

Rocchio single, his 2nd double and a walk. Tanner Burns left early 3 2/3 2 1 1 2 5 1.69

Milan Tolentino hits and hits and hits; his 7th double 2 singles, he's at 429. Jorge Burgos double, single, 2 walks, 259; Will Bartlett 7th double, 1st homer 4 RBI, hitting 254 823 OPS.

Another outstanding game for Gavin Williams: 5 innings 0 runs 2 hits 2 walks 10 strikeouts. ERA 1.46 39 K in 24 2/3 innings 6-6 righty

Another good day at the plate for Gabe Rodrirguez 6th and 7th doubles, a nd a walk hitting 360 889 OPS Game two 0-2 but a walk.
A Martinez in game two triple 2 walks 309 932 OPS

Another outstanding game for Hunter Gaddis 5 innings 0 runs 2 hits 2 walks only 9 striekouts ERA 3.26 [his first start was awful, great since then] 6-6 right hander

Bo Naylor single double3 walks; 242 777 ops
Tena single and double 272 682
Rocchio double and exited early; another injured SS??

Benson 3rd homer, 2 walks, 230 771
Freeman settling in, a single and an rbi

Williams tallies second double-digit strikeout performance (May 7)
Gavin Williams racked up his second 10-plus strikeout appearance in High-A Lake County's 2-0 victory over Dayton.

In the win, Cleveland's No. 7 prospect threw five scoreless innings allowing just two hits and walking two while striking out 10 batters.

This is the 22-year-old's best performance through five starts to begin his professional career. This is the second time that he's thrown over five innings and allowed no runs; the first was against Lansing on April 30.

This is the right-handed pitcher's first season in the professional system after being drafted with the 23rd overall pick in 2021.

Williams already had a double-digit strikeout count to his ledger when he fanned 11 on April 15 against the Dragons.

To begin his young career, Williams has tallied 39 strikeouts in five starts, which places him atop the Midwest League. --

more on Williams:

he's allowed 8 hits in those 24 2/3 innings. walked 9, 3 runs in his second start, only 1 in the other 4 combined.