Cleveland Sports Forum

It may be in part because a lot of our top prospects are playing as among the youngest kids in their leagues [e.g Rocchio, Valeraa, Noel, Tena] but not one of the top position players on our list is having much of a start to the season statistically. Noel's 7 home runs for Lake County stand out but not his average; Valera walks plenty and has some extra base hits; Tyler Freeman has just returned from injury is warming up.

Thursday highlights, including one of the day's top performers:

Milan Tolentino, DH, Guardians: Tolentino went 4-for-4 with four singles as he raised his batting average back above .400 to .410. Tolentino is hitting .433 this month. [He is probably the only position player to be outperforming his preseason prospects. Onward to Lake County!]

And:

CLE AAA #1 Tyler Freeman, SS 4 1 1 1 .227
CLE AA #4 George Valera, SS 5 0 0 0 .229
CLE HiA #10 Angel Martinez, SS 4 0 1 1 .268 2B (4),
CLE AA #11 Jose Tena, SS 6 1 2 2 .264 E (4),
CLE AAA #13 Richard Palacios, 2B 5 1 3 2 .258 E (1),
CLE HiA #20 Jhonkensy Noel, 3B 3 0 0 0 .218 BB (10),
CLE HiA #22 Petey Halpin, OF 4 0 1 0 .167
CLE HiA #25 Aaron Bracho, 2B 3 0 0 0 .146
CLE LoA #32 Isaiah Greene, OF 3 1 1 2 .232 3B (2), 2 BB (18), he's fast and he gets on base
CLE LoA #33 Milan Tolentino, 2B 4 4 4 1 .410 CS (1),
CLE LoA #37 Luis Durango, OF 4 0 0 0 .159
CLE LoA #38 Yordys Valdes, SS 5 1 3 5 .262 known as a super fielder, now he's hitting too in his return to Lynchburg
CLE AA #39 Will Brennan, OF 5 0 1 1 .323
CLE LoA #40 Jake Fox, SS 5 1 2 0 .239

CLE AAA #23 Tobias Myers, RHP 6.0 4 3 0 2 2 5.63 W (1-3) his best start of the year
CLE AA #34 Joey Cantillo, LHP 4.0 1 0 0 1 8 2.63 his third straight scoreless outing

As someone had noted last week, another of the 6 top notch Akron starters is out with injury:

Tanner Burns joins Danny Espino on the IL

all our minor league teams won on Friday here are some noteworthy performances:

for Columbus:
Will Benson his 4th homer and 2 singles and his 8th steal 240 avg 802 OPS
Tyler Freeman single and 3 runs scored 229 652
Oscar Gonzalez 9th homer and a single 3 rbi total 30 now 314 928 [no strikeouts; 20 in 148 plate appearances isn't so bad]
somewhat out there has been a Ben Krauth fan; the now 28 year old lefty is still with us; 2 perfect innings with 3 strikeouts; 1.59 EAR 0.76 WHIP

Akron:

Bo Naylor's 8th double and a walk hitting 247 OPS 799; major improvement in strikeouts and walks
2021 112K/37 BB
2022: 19K/20 BB
Hunter Gaddis allowed runs for the first time in 4 starts: 5 6 3 3 2 3 3.12 ERA

High A Lake County:
2 singles for Angel Martinez 276 803 OPS
1st homer for Aaron Bracho 156 475 OPS
single and 2 walks for 19 year old Petey Halpin 174 509

Gavin Williams 5 2/3 5 1 1 1 6 1.48 3rd in the league with 45 K in his 30 1/3 innings. 3rd in WHIP 6th in ERA

Lynchburg:

Jake Fox 1st homer; 2 walks, total now is 26 2nd n the league [identical K total]
Tolentino 0-5 386 947 narrowly leading the league in avg and on base pct
Jack Leftwich 7th round 2021 RHP 4 innings 2 hits and runs and walks 8 strikeouts 2.70

Is Will Benson rising from the dead?

Every stage of his career he is terrible offensively in his first season at a new level and the second season he's a lot better. He still strikes out too much, but he walks, steals bases, hits a fair number of homers and is considered a very good defender. Has never been put on the 40 man roster but yeah, he is still a possibility.

only class A teams played yesterday, Akron and Columbus rained 0ut

Hillcats won but nothing notable in the box score; is catcher Victor Planchart someone to follow? 2 hits yesterday; he's hitting 326 OPS 802. 20 year old from Venezuela

Captains lost. Martinez two singles; J.Rod single and 2 walks;
Nikhazy 2 4 3 3 1 3 . Had a one game reprieve from a pretty lousy season; ERA 5.29

Logan Allen with a dreadful line except for the walks and strikeouts: 5 10 7 7 0 10 3 homers

Big game for Jhonkensky Noel in Captains' 10-9 loss: single, double, 2 homeruns. 240 avg 910 OPS
Homers for JRod and GRod
3rd round pick Tommy Mace continues to unimpress 2 1/3 6 5 5 0 0 2 homers 6.30
Lenny Torres not much better 3 4 4 1 3 3 4.50

Lots of games on Sunday, a handful of impressive performances

CLE AAA #1 Tyler Freeman, SS 3 2 2 1 .241 HR (1), BB (1), SB (1),
CLE AAA #1 Tyler Freeman, SS 3 0 0 0 .241
CLE AA #4 George Valera, SS 1 2 0 0 .220 2 BB (23),
CLE AA #4 George Valera, SS 3 0 0 0 .220
CLE AA #11 Jose Tena, SS 3 0 0 0 .246 E (5),
CLE AA #11 Jose Tena, SS 2 0 0 0 .246 BB (7),
CLE MAJ #13 Richard Palacios, 3 0 2 0 .270 SB (5),
CLE HiA #18 G Rodriguez, 3B 3 2 2 1 .292 2B (8), HR (1), BB (4),
CLE HiA #20 Jhonkensy Noel, 3B 5 3 4 2 .240 2B (6), 2 HR (9), SB (1),
CLE HiA #22 Petey Halpin, OF 5 0 0 0 .168
CLE HiA #25 Aaron Bracho, 2B 5 0 1 1 .160 2B (3),
CLE MAJ #27 Steven Kwan, OF 4 0 0 0 .281
CLE LoA #32 Isaiah Greene, OF 4 1 1 0 .220 2B (3), E (3),
CLE LoA #33 Milan Tolentino, 2B 4 0 1 0 .368
CLE LoA #37 Luis Durango, OF 3 0 0 0 .148 BB (13),
CLE LoA #38 Yordys Valdes, SS 3 0 2 0 .267 2B (2), BB (9), CS (2),
CLE AA #39 Will Brennan, OF 3 0 1 0 .314 2B (10),
CLE LoA #40 Jake Fox, SS 4 0 0 0 .235

CLE AA #9 Logan Allen, LHP 5.0 10 7 7 0 10 3.41 L (2-2)
CLE HiA #29 Tommy Mace, RHP 2.1 6 5 5 0 0 6.30
CLE AAA #30 Konnor Pilkington, LHP 4.0 5 1 1 1 3 4.50 the only good pitching line
CLE HiA #31 Lenny Torres, RHP 3.0 4 4 1 3 3 4.50 L (1-1)

Bobby Bradley off to a 0-10 start with the Clippers.

BA will be updating the top 30 this week for AL Central teams. A few expected changes for the Guardians:

Since 45 days on a big league roster terminates Rookie status, Kwan [#6] and Clement [#26] will have graduated.
Aaron Bracho [27]'s second dreadful season will bump him off the list.
Carson Tucker [18] a number 1 pick in 2020 batted 150 in limited time last year; is hitting 083 in limited time this year and is now hurt again; should sink some more
Nolan Jones [7] still hasn't returned to action; should fall a few spots
Meanwhile Gavin Williams [9] looks great; Logan Allen [10] did too before yesterday. I'd rank Williams among the top 5 now.
Neither Rocchio [3] nor Valera [4] has set the house on fire although admittedly among the youngest in the Eastern League.

Milan Tolentino is certain to debut on the list. He's hitting near 400 although with little power
Tanner Bibee with 36 K in 21 2/3 innings and a 1.25 ERA was the no. 5 pick in 2021; he has been far better than No. 2 and No. 3 Nikhazy and Mace and should debut too.

BA CHAT:

Ken (Lakewood CA): Logan Allen is back in AA this year and his stats are impressive to me. He is only 6' and doesn't have big time velocity. Do you think he will have the same kind of success when he gets bumped up to AAA & Cleveland? Or does his kind of stuff work better facing AA hitters? What's your guess for his future? Cleveland seems to have a lot of minor league pitching talent. Where does he rank with all of this talent? Thanks.


J.J. Cooper: At this point, being "only" 6-foot is not nearly as much of a kiss of death as it used to be for a pitcher. Right now, flat approach angles at the top of the strike zone are coveted among MLB front offices. Guess which pitchers can get those flatter angles on their high fastballs? Shorter pitchers and ones who throw from a lower arm angle. We'll have an update on the Guardians top 30 coming out later this week, so I'm not going to spoil that update today, but he's a legit pitching prospect who has a solid shot of being yet another Guardians pitching success story.

Elliot (Youngstown OH): When do we expect Espino to return?


J.J. Cooper: Hopefully before too long, but with knee injuries and potential cascading effects on the delivery, it's better to be safe than sorry. The last thing you want a young pitcher to do is to adjust his delivery because of knee pain, which leads to altering other aspects of your delivery, putting new stresses on the arm and unexpected effects.

some impressive pitching


In AAA Peyton Battenfield was only OK 5 1/3 7 2 2 2 2
In AA Xzavion Curry was better 5 2/3 6 2 1 1 10K homer 3.51 ERA 46K in 35 innings 5 homers
In relief Andrew Misiaszek 1 1/3 1 0 0 1 4 0.46 ERA by the lefty 34 K in 19 2/3 innings
In High A Tanner Bibee continues to impress 6 3 1 1 2 9K homer 1.30 ERA 45K in 27 2/3 innings
In Low A Lefty Rodney Boone 5 3 1 0 2 4 1.71 ERA 45K in 31 2/3 innings

BA updates Top 30s for all teams after a month or so of the season

Nothing new at the top, lots of rearrangments at the bottom; in general pitchers rise, position players fall, which is what the performances to date indicate


upgrades in bold
downgrades in italics

1. Espino
2. Freeman
3. Rocchio
4. Valera
5. Arias
6. Kwan guess he's not quite used up his prospect eligibility, but that will end soon
7. Gavin Williams up from 9
8. Jones down from 7
9. Bo Naylor down from 8
10. Allen
11. Martinez
12. Tena
13. Burns
14. Palacios
15. Battenfield
16. Morris
17. Lavistida
18. Gabriel Rodriguez up from 19
19. Hankins up from 20 although he hasnt played
20. Xzavion Curry up from 29
21. TANNER BIBEE up from not in the top 30
22. Noel down from 21
23. Tucker down from 18
24. Nikhazy down from 22
25. Halpin down from 23
26. Tobias Myers down from 24
27. Jaison Chourio down from 25
28. Will Brennan UP FROM NOT IN TOP 30
29. Milan Tolentino UP FROM NOT IN TOP 30
30. Isaiah Greene UP FROM NOT IN TOP 30

Departing from the Top 30
formerly No. 26 Ernie Clement graduated
formerly No. 27 Aaron Bracho
formerly No. 28 Carlos Vargas
formerly No. 30 Tommy Mace

selected player notes for those promoted to the list


TANNER BIBEE May Update:
The Guardians’ scouting and development staffs have done a tremendous job with Bibee, whose stuff has jumped tremendously since his days at Cal State Fullerton. His fastball in particular has taken a leap, now averaging 94 mph and touching 98. He pairs the pitch with a potentially plus slider and a changeup, which gives him a strong three-pitch mix. The Guardians chose to develop Bibee post-draft instead of sending him to an affiliate. So far, the work they did has paid off in his early starts with High-A Lake County.

WILL BRENNAN May Update: The Guardians believed last season that Brennan, their eighth-rounder from 2019 out of Kansas State, had flown somewhat under the radar. He controlled the strike zone quite well at both Class A levels, but did not show much in the way of impact. That’ s changed this year. The organization credits strong work between Brennan and his hitting coaches for changing the way he moves in the box as the reason he’ s tapped into more power, including three home runs so far—he hit just two in 40 Double-A games last year—while still maintaining the same level of strike zone control.

MILAN TOLENTINO
May Update: The Guardians scouting and player development groups worked with Tolentino to change the way he moves in the box in order to tap into more impact without sacrificing his bat-to-ball skills. The results have shown up in a scorching start for the team’ s fourth-round pick from two seasons ago. Scouts inside and outside the organization see a player who can hit his way to the big leagues, but there are questions about where he’ ll wind up defensively.

ISAIAH GREENE
May Update: The Guardians snagged Greene from the Mets in the Francisco Lindor trade. He was lauded in high school for a smooth, polished swing and an excellent approach. So far, both of those traits have shown up in pro ball. He could stand to add more strength, but already shows strong hand-eye coordination and pitch recognition skills. He’ s got some work to do defensively, but with enough improvements he could play his way into a fourth outfielder’ s role. Scouts would also like to see more continuity between his swings during BP and in games.