Cleveland Sports Forum

at last, Rocchio to Columbus; and Angel Martinez to Akron.

#Guardians have optioned OF Nolan Jones to Triple-A Columbus and recalled OF Richie Palacios.

New York Yankees

SWB RailRiders
@swbrailriders
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First professional outing in 1,085 days? Danny Salazar records a strikeout on the first batter he faces.

I’ve been hoping to see Palacios again. He’s another contact hitter good base runner

According to PD story Jones asked for an opportunity to work at first base

Cleveland’s No. 11 prospect Gabriel Arias, a shortstop by trade, recently made his debut at first for the Clippers, and Jones should be in the mix there as well.

Nearly all big league 1st basemen started playing somewhere else. That's largely why minor league 1B are downgraded as prospects.

TFIR wrote:Cleveland’s No. 11 prospect Gabriel Arias, a shortstop by trade, recently made his debut at first for the Clippers, and Jones should be in the mix there as well.

I like the thought of Arias at first!

Arias' offense has been much worse this summer, an alarming increase in strikeouts
AAA line: 228/283/422 7 doubles and 11 homers, 11 walks and 59 strikeouts, but there's been a pickup in August: 292.333/523 although still 15 strikeouts, 2 walks.

He's playing against the Guardians Type, where even an Oscar Gonzalez doesn't swing for the fences.

CLE AA #10 Angel Martinez, SS 4 0 2 2 .291 2 2B (19), SB (11), Great AA debut
CLE AA #11 Jose Tena, SS 5 0 1 0 .265
CLE AA #16 Bryan Lavastida, C 5 1 0 0 .218
CLE LoA #17 Carson Tucker, SS 4 0 0 0 .141 E (4), this guy was a No. 1 draft pick; they cannot all succeed.
CLE AA #20 Jhonkensy Noel, 3B 5 3 4 0 .214 2B (14), first good day at the plate in ages
CLE HiA #25 Aaron Bracho, 2B 4 0 1 1 .183 2B (11), E (5),
CLE LoA #32 Isaiah Greene, OF 3 1 1 0 .230 BB (83), avg is poor OBP is excellent
CLE HiA #33 Milan Tolentino, 2B 3 1 0 0 .280 BB (63), SB (21),
CLE LoA #38 Yordys Valdes, SS 4 0 0 0 .245

CLE AA #8 Gavin Williams, RHP 4.2 5 4 4 2 5 1.80 worst day as a pro?

on Saturday, for which BA does not give reports, Will Dion with a gem for Lynchburg: 7 1 0 0 2 7 ERA 2.30 in 110 IP 134 K 30 BB. But he hasn't impressed them enough for a promotion. He is a 5-10 180 lefty. I'll guess he does it miss finesse and doesn't project well.

his predraft report

Drafted in the 9th round (276th overall) by the Cleveland Guardians in 2021 (signed for $125,000)
The Southland Conference pitcher of the year, Dion was also a Freshman All-American as a reliever in 2019. As a starter in 2021, Dion went 9-4, 3.07 and helped McNeese State earn an NCAA postseason appearance. Dion is a crafty lefty whose stuff may end up being a little short in pro ball. His fastball will touch 93-94 mph but he generally sits in the upper 80s. He mixes a slower, bigger, early-count curveball with a slightly harder (80-81 mph) slurve. The slurve has a pretty large break as well, but more sweep than his curve. He has plus command of all three pitches. He generally gets ahead of hitters and rarely hurts himself (1.7 walks per nine innings). Dion tries to mess with hitters’ timing. He’ll adopt a Johnny Cueto-esque pause mid-delivery at times and does everything he can to keep hitters guessing.

Sounds like he may give them another couple good years and top out in Akron.

civ ollilavad wrote:Arias' offense has been much worse this summer, an alarming increase in strikeouts
AAA line: 228/283/422 7 doubles and 11 homers, 11 walks and 59 strikeouts, but there's been a pickup in August: 292.333/523 although still 15 strikeouts, 2 walks.

He's playing against the Guardians Type, where even an Oscar Gonzalez doesn't swing for the fences.

I think this Arias thing says more about the middle infield situation.

Amed Rosario and Andres Gimenez ARE the middle infield now - and for the foreseeable future.

They now either have to deal the Arias' of the world (Rocchio etc) or move them to other positions.

I am not sure that Rosario makes it until next season. I like him but the reality is that after next season he becomes too expensive when you have a lot of potential cheaper options. Now they may let him play it out next season and let him walk.

and then Rocchio takes over his spot in the infield.

How about Giminez: you'd give him a long term deal wouldn't you? New minor owner, they can afford some top dollar contracts and a super middle infielder is worth it.

I am sure they will try to sign Gimenez long term.

As for Amed I am definitely not ruling out an extension for him too in a team friendly context - a la Jose Ramirez.

'Professor' Rocchio a quick study in Minors
2:29 PM EDT
Pat Ellington


Shortstop Brayan Rocchio, who was promoted to Triple-A Columbus on Saturday, patterns his game after a few of the greatest shortstops to ever suit up for Cleveland.

If all goes according to his plan, the organization’s No. 4-ranked prospect hopes to have a similar career one day.

“Growing up I watched a lot of Asdrúbal Cabrera, he was my favorite player,” Rocchio said after taking batting practice recently in Akron. “I love [Francisco] Lindor. I try to do every single thing on the field like him.”

A switch-hitting shortstop who was born and raised in Venezuela -- like his baseball heroes Omar Vizquel and Cabrera -- Rocchio was one of the standout prospects from Cleveland’s highly touted international class of 2017 that included No. 2 prospect George Valera, No. 17 prospect Jhonkensy Noel and No. 18 prospect Jose Tena. Rocchio signed for $100,000 out of Caracas and immediately made an impact.

Starting out in the Dominican Summer League, he posted a .323/.391/.434 slash line across 25 games. He later earned a promotion to the Arizona Rookie League, slashing .343/.389/.448 with 14 steals while putting up a higher walk rate and lower strikeout rate than he did in the DSL.

He was added to Cleveland’s 40-man roster after a breakout 2021 season in which he hit .277/.346/.460 with 15 homers and 21 steals in 108 games between High A Lake County and Double-A Akron.

Assigned to the Double-A Rubberducks to start the 2022 season, the 21-year-old posted a 1.086 OPS in July after averaging a .702 OPS from April to June. He made his Triple-A debut over the weekend -- putting him just one step away from his big league dreams.


It's worth noting that he is ultimately competing against a plethora of other talented young infielders -- like current teammate and No. 11 prospect Gabriel Arias -- for a big league opportunity. He also has No. 12 prospect Angel Martinez (Lake County) and Dayan Frias (Low A Lynchburg) to consider.

At the big league level, Amed Rosario and Andrés Giménez are entrenched in the middle of the infield, so Rocchio’s road to the top won’t be easy. There’s also superstar José Ramírez and recently called-up No. 10 prospect Tyler Freeman.

Rocchio, who is nicknamed “The Professor” for his makeup and intelligence, knows the situation. But history could work in his favor.

Like Cabrera and Lindor, Rocchio played short-season Class A ball by the time he was 18, and he had at least 200 plate appearances at Double-A or higher by his age-20 season. He has also posted a walk-to-strikeout ratio in the Minors that hovers between 0.50 and 0.60 -- just like his heroes did. He also has a similar career OPS in the Minors, posting a .777 mark in comparison to Cabrera’s .772 and Lindor’s .744.

In the meantime, Rocchio is enjoying the ride and carving out his own path. Friends like Valera, Noel, and Tena make the journey easier.

“They’re like my family, I enjoy the brotherhood we have,” Rocchio said. “Getting to grow up with these guys at different levels makes me feel lucky.”