Cleveland Sports Forum

Thanks Civ

General update for me, I have been taking some time off and have more time to look at baseball (and other things).


I was looking at Bo Naylor's improvement to see if it was real and how excited Guardian fans should be. My estimation after the research is that he could end up as a helpful (average) player but does not look like an impact player if he can keep up the improvement.

Below is some of the info that I found if anyone is interested.

Naylor and Lavastida were both pretty far down the top dynatsty ranking before the season.

https://www.fantraxhq.com/top-30-dynast ... -rankings/

Tier 5
21. Logan O’Hoppe, PHI | 2| 25. Bryan Lavastida, CLE | 26. Endy Rodriguez, PIT | 27. Bo Naylor, CLE |

Fangraphs has Naylor currently rated as below average future major leaguer

28 Bo Naylor 22.2 AA C 2023 40

Fangraphs write up

28. Bo Naylor, CVideo
Drafted: 1st Round, 2018 from St. Joan of Arc HS (CAN) (CLE)
Age 22.2 Height 6′ 0″ Weight 205 Bat / Thr L / R FV 40
Tool Grades (Present/Future)
Hit Raw Power Game Power Run Fielding Throw
30/35 55/60 30/45 50/40 35/40 55
Naylor hit just .188 in 2021, the first severe offensive struggles of a career that has otherwise been all about offensive performance. His grooved bat path and inability to catch up to letter-high fastballs became a real issue last year, and while he still brings an interesting toolset to the table for a catcher, his chances of being an impact everyday backstop now seem remote. He lacks the defensive polish of a typical upper-level catching prospect, especially one who’s still considered a prospect even though he spent a whole year hitting near the Mendoza line. Naylor’s foot speed and power are special for the position, though, and if we put his career in its proper context (he was a multi-positional Canadian high schooler who missed his age 20 season due to the pandemic), you can find optimism that 2021 was just a developmental hiccup. His swing is a persistent issue and can really only cut through the heart of the zone, something major league pitchers will be able to expose, likely limiting Naylor to a 30-grade hit tool. If he can get to power and be a viable defensive catcher, that will still play. Naylor is still rough around the edges defensively but he’s not in danger of moving to another position. He’s tracking like a power-dependent backup, with a sliver of hope left for him to rebound or eventually return to playing other positions (he has third base experience and runs well enough for an outfield corner) en route to a cool, versatile bench role.


Naylor is currently in the top 20 OPS batters from the Eastern League but so are 2 other catchers https://www.milb.com/stats/eastern


5
BlakeSabol
C
ALT 26 97 15 31 6 2 4 19 12 24 2 1 .320 .394 .546 .940
6

9
LoganO'Hoppe
C
REA 29 103 21 28 5 1 6 19 14 22 4 1 .272 .380 .515 .895
10

WillBrennan
CF
AKR 31 113 12 36 11 0 3 35 15 14 3 2 .319 .391 .496 .887


BoNaylor
C
AKR 27 83 14 22 5 2 2 11 22 23 7 1 .265 .425 .446 .871

Naylor and O'Hoppe are both 22

Lavastida

022 COL INT AAA 14 58 9 13 21 2 0 2 4 8 0 12 0 0 .224 .338 .362 .700

Naylor 2021

87 313 41 59 104 13 1 10 44 37 112 10 0 .188 .280 .332 .612

I was just about to post and will now some upbeat stats on Naylor who also was very young for a AA catcher in 2021. Playing this year at age 22

Yesterday he had two doubles and a walk; Tuesday a homer, a walk and a single.
For May his line is 33-9-10-5 4 doubles 1 homer 14 walks 11 strikeouts. That comes in at 303/511/505.

So maybe? he's making a big move?

Also in Akron yesterday:
Valera single and double
Rocchio walk and steal
Tena single and double

in Columbus:
Benson walked and hit his 6th homer

Besides both being first draft picks, Benson and Naylor have something else in common this year: both are batting leadoff.

for Lake County:
Petey Halpin 2 singles and a wal
Joe Naranjo single and homer
Aaron Bracho 2nd homer

Lynchburg:
another top pick who's improved his offense this year: Yordes Valdes single and triple is hitting 291 with a 746 OPS
Last year at the same level 212 and 533

Tolentino hit 3 doubles giving him 10; Will Bartlett hit his 11th double [the former a 4th round pick, age 20; the latter 9th round, age 21]

a couple pitching notes:

AAA Tobias Meyers was terrible again 4 2/3 6 6 6 4 2 6.52
Low A lefty Will Dion a 9th round pick last year 5 1 1 1 0 6 35 K in 29 1/3 innings ERA 1.91

3 big stars yesterday, all at Akron:

Valera doubled his home run total with 2 of them and added a single
Bo Naylor with his 3rd straight 2 hit day, one a double, plus 2 sac flies.
Hunter Gaddis 6 no hit innings, with 11 strikeouts.

and in Lynchburg Yordes Valdes keeps hitting and in Lake County Christian Cairo keeps not hitting.

BA notes on stars of the day and stat lines include:

Hunter Gaddis, RHP, Guardians: Gaddis set a career high in strikeouts as he fanned 11 Double-A Binghamton hitters in six hitless innings of work. Gaddis left with a no-hitter intact, but it was broken up three batters later by Ronny Mauricio.

George Valera, OF, Guardians: Valera had his first two-home run game of the season for Double-A Akron.

CLE AAA #1 Tyler Freeman, SS 4 0 1 0 .242 2B (5),
CLE AA #4 George Valera, SS 4 2 3 5 .254 2 HR (4), 2 BB (25),
CLE AA #11 Jose Tena, SS 5 1 1 0 .252 2B (6),
CLE MAJ #13 Richard Palacios, 3 0 0 0 .262
CLE AAA #16 Bryan Lavastida, C 4 0 0 0 .189
CLE HiA #18 Gbrl Rodriguez, 3B 4 1 1 0 .278
CLE HiA #20 Jhonkensy Noel, 3B 4 0 0 0 .220
CLE HiA #25 Aaron Bracho, 2B 4 0 1 2 .172
CLE MAJ #27 Steven Kwan, OF 2 0 0 0 .265 2 BB (17),
CLE LoA #32 Isaiah Greene, OF 3 0 0 0 .233 2 BB (21),
CLE LoA #37 Luis Durango, OF 3 1 2 0 .168 BB (15), 2 SB (8),
CLE LoA #38 Yordys Valdes, SS 5 0 2 3 .297 BB (11), CS (3), E (3),
CLE AA #39 Will Brennan, OF 5 1 1 0 .305
CLE LoA #40 Jake Fox, SS 5 1 2 0 .250 SB (6),

CLE AA #36 Hunter Gaddis, RHP 6.0 0 0 0 1 11 2.53 W (4-1)

Valera with another homer and a single and 3 rbi; that's 3 homers and 8 rbi in 2 days
Tena double and single
Brennan 2 singles and 2 steals
Rocchio single and walk
Joey Cantillo nearly echoes Hunter Gaddis' game with 4 shutout innings, 1 hit no walks 8 strikeouts: maybe it will turn out we got a decent crop of talent in the Clevinger deal after all

for Lynchburg in a 10-9 win:
Jake Fox single and double and , as usual, a walk
Tolentino single and two walks; narrowly leads the league in hitting at 377 and his 7th steal
Planchart 2 hits
Isaiah Greene 3rd triple, 2 walks

5-1 win for Lake County
Planez returns from injury and hits his 1st homer, driving in 3
Joe Naranjo's 8th homer and 2 singles hitting 252; OPS 927
Noel and Halpin each with a double
Gavin Williams not as efficient as usual, reached his pitch limit after 4 2/3 4 hits 3 walks 1 run 7 strikeouts

Clippers lost their game
Benson with a single in 2 at bats, and his 10th steal
27 year old sort of journeyman IF Tolman with his 5th homer, 10th double and a single hitting 336/460/564 more walks than strikeouts; not that we're short on infielders, but could be more useful than Chang, who is still hitting 000
speaking of the unproductive bats, Bobby Bradley went 0-4 and is batting 083 for Columbus

Pilkington 4 2/3 6 3 1 0 4 5.02 in AAA
recently acquired Y Romero debuted in style: retired one batter, walked 3 , allowed 1 hit 3 runs ERA 81.00

Early Rule 5 article

Guardians facing tough 40-man roster decisions in months ahead

By JUSTIN LADA |
PUBLISHED: May 20, 2022 at 2:04 p.m. | UPDATED: May 20, 2022 at 2:06 p.m.
One sign of a healthy minor-league system in baseball is running into the “problem” of having the roster spaces necessary to protect the prospects who have a chance to be selected in the offseason Rule 5 draft. What comes along with that problem, however, is also tough decision-making of who to protect, who to expose to the Rule 5 draft, or even who to add in the event you want to have them available to package in a trade with another team.

During the 2021-2022 offseason, the Guardians minor-league system, which features plenty of depth, though maybe not a ton of high-end talent, added 11 players to the 40 man roster from the minors to protect them from the Rule 5 draft and turned over a whopping 18 spots on their roster in doing so.

Of course, that Rule 5 draft never happened due to the lockout, which benefitted Cleveland as even with 11 players added, they had unprotected candidates who could have been selected. Between the lost minor-league season during the pandemic in 2020, no Rule 5 draft, and the lockout halting the team’s time and ability to use their prospect depth in a trade, they may be headed for a somewhat similar situation this summer and offseason.

Here are a few names who will be Rule 5 eligible this coming offseason. Not all will be added or need to be added, but ones that are worth noting.

• RHP Peyton Battenfield (Acquired from Tampa Bay in 2019, currently having a solid season at Triple-A.)

• RHP Hunter Gaddis (Fifth-round pick in 2019 and part of a talented rotation at Double-A.)

• RHP Ethan Hankins (First-round pick in 2018; currently recovering from Tommy John in 2021.)

• RHP Nick Mikolajchak (11th-round pick in 2019, closer in Triple-A that is almost big-league ready.)

• RHP Lenny Torres Jr. (First-round pick, 2018; currently off to a slow start at High-A.)

• C Bo Naylor (First-round pick, 2018; Starting catcher at Double-A, having an offensive resurgence after tough 2021 season.)

• SS Angel Martinez (International free agent, 2018; Starting infielder is 20 at High-A off to another strong start.)

A group of three relievers are also off to a strong start in 2022 — RHP Kevin Kelly, LHP Tim Herrin, and RHP Nic Enright are all racking up strikeouts at Double-A Akron, and relievers are the easiest area to target in a Rule 5 draft. LHP Joey Cantillo, who was Rule 5 eligible last winter, was left unprotected and is off to a strong start in 2022 after missing most of 2021 with a core muscle injury.

Currently, Cleveland’s 40-man roster has seven players on it without any major-league experience. That number could potentially grow to nine when they will likely have to add RHP Carlos Vargas (Tommy John in 2021) and RHP Cody Morris (Teres major strain) back to the 40-man roster.

At the moment, you could make a case for at least six or seven players from the 2022 class, and that still doesn’t factor in spots that were already made for Vargas or Morris, or even Cantillo.

The Guardians are already the youngest team in the majors with prospects like Steven Kwan, Richie Palacios, Konnor Pilkington and Gabriel Arias making their major-league debuts this season. All of whom were added to the roster last offseason.

June is fast approaching, which puts the trade deadline a little over two months away, setting up an important summer and fall for the Guardians’ front office to come to some critical decisions on the future of the roster.

Over the next few months, players should mostly make some roster decisions for them whether in Cleveland or the minors. But with a 40-man roster that already includes a sizeable number of prospects and more to be added this fall, their situation may require them to find a trade partner to make additions to the major-league roster by drawing on some of the depth to capitalize on it and help create additional space.

Strong minor league systems serve as a way for teams to build the core of their roster through promotions of prospects as well as through trades. It’s the decision of which prospects should be part of the future here or which should possibly be part of a trade that are the hard ones. It may be a good problem to have, but the Guardians still figure to face some tough roster decisions one way or another over the next six months. Even if it’s still a good problem to have, the decisions are still difficult and have the ability to positively or negatively shape the future of the team.

Noel, Captains pop Kernels, 12-4
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Jhonkensy Noel
Jhonkensy Noel
By FROM STAFF |
May 21, 2022 at 10:41 p.m.
The Captains collected 14 hits from 10 players on the way to a 12-4 victory over host Cedar Rapids on May 21.

Lake County has won four of the first five games of the series to pull within a game of .500 for the season at 18-19.

The Captains were 6-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

Right fielder Jhonkensy Noel and DH Johnathan Rodriguez each had two hits and three RBI. Noel had a double and home run. He has eight doubles, 10 home runs and 23 RBI in 2021.

First baseman Joe Naranjo had two hits and scored twice. Connor Kokx also had two hits.

Doug Nikhazy went 4 1/3 innings and gave up two runs. He struck out seven.

The series is set to conclude at 3:05 p.m., May 22 at Cedar Rapids. Lenny Torres is the scheduled starter for Lake County.

4 straight 2 hit day for Josh Naylor, one a double, along with a walk and HBP.

• RHP Peyton Battenfield (Acquired from Tampa Bay in 2019, currently having a solid season at Triple-A.) RATED ABOUT #15 ON TEAM'S TOP 30

• RHP Hunter Gaddis (Fifth-round pick in 2019 and part of a talented rotation at Double-A.) HAVING A GREAT STRETCH; I KEEP HIM.

• RHP Ethan Hankins (First-round pick in 2018; currently recovering from Tommy John in 2021.) HASN'T PITCHED IN A YEAR AND A HALF; THINK HE'LL SAFE LEFT UNPROTECTED

• RHP Nick Mikolajchak (11th-round pick in 2019, closer in Triple-A that is almost big-league ready.) I'M A FAN

• RHP Lenny Torres Jr. (First-round pick, 2018; currently off to a slow start at High-A.) SLOW INDEED, DON'T SEE HIM PROTECTED

• C Bo Naylor (First-round pick, 2018; Starting catcher at Double-A, having an offensive resurgence after tough 2021 season.) CERTAINLY WILL BE ADDED

• SS Angel Martinez (International free agent, 2018; Starting infielder is 20 at High-A off to another strong start.) MAKES ABOUT 10 SS BUT HE'S FOR SURE

A group of three relievers are also off to a strong start in 2022 — RHP Kevin Kelly, LHP Tim Herrin, and RHP Nic Enright are all racking up strikeouts at Double-A Akron, and relievers are the easiest area to target in a Rule 5 draft. LHP Joey Cantillo, SURE THINK IMO who was Rule 5 eligible last winter, was left unprotected and is off to a strong start in 2022 after missing most of 2021 with a core muscle injury.

They can find room:
They won't be protecting Luke Maile; this is it for Mercado I suppose; could be the same for Chang unless he really turns it on; on the current roster Pitcher Tobias Myers has been terrible in AAA, don't see much reason to retain Anthony Castro or Yohan Ramirez unless they really show something in the majors.

other notes from Saturday's games:

Freeman singled and walked; Benson 0-4; Oscar G 0-4 for Columbus

Rocchio and Tena each with a single and a double Valera 1-6; Brennan tripled
Logan Allen one lousy 4 run, 5 hit inning; 5 shoutout 4 hit ininngs; totaled 9 K in 5 innings

Story was posted on the Lake County game; that gives Noel 10 homers and 8 doubles;
G. Rodriguez had cooled off, a single and a walk, he's hitting 272, 729 OPS
Nikhazy 4 1/3 2 2 2 2 7 ERA 5.06

for Lynchburg Tolentino with another pair of doubles, that makes 12; hitting 378, OPS 968

apparently a different approach this season for Tolentino; did well last year, too, but with very different stats

2021 in AZ and Lynchburg combined:269/333/425 6 doubles 1 triple 7 homers in 202 at bats. 62 strikeouts 16 walks 3/4 in steals
2022 so far just in Lynchburg he's :378/482/485 12 doubles 0 triples 0 HR in 135 at bats, 24 strikeouts 24 walks 7/8 in steals

Sunday

Columbus:
Palacios triple 2 walks
Freeman 3 singles
Battenfiled 5 3 0 0 3 2 2.37
McCarty 3 1/3 4 2 2 1 1

Akron:
Naylor only 1 hit but it was his 3rd homer
Tena double and single
Valera single
Rocchio walk
Curry 4 2/3 4 4 4 3 1 homer 4.03

Lake County:
Halpin single
Noel single and walk
Rodriguez single
Bracho nothing but 2 strikeouts
Torres 3 2/3 6 6 6 3 5 6.48
R Burgos an old favorite of mine 2 0 0 0 0 4 3.00 like to see him starting again

Lynchburg:
J Burgos 2 singles
Tolentino first homer and a single and 8th steal 379 988 OPS Lake County soon I'd have to assume
Valdes and Fox each a single
Boone 4 6 2 2 1 5 2.02
Here's a name to quickly forget: Tyler Thornton, 17th round pick last year;
yesterday: 2/3 0 2 2 4 0 plus hit a batter
for the year: 5 5 8 8 9 6 14.40

Tolentino remains among leaders in most offensive categories

batting avg No. 1
Doubles No. 1
On Base Pct No. 1
OPS No. 3
Hits No. 3
Walks No. 6
Runs No. 7
Slugging No. 8