Cleveland Sports Forum

Maracaibo. October, 2022-

The Zulia Eagles signed prospects Jaison Chourio (17) and Oscar Cedeño (19). Both players belong to the Cleveland Guardians and are on the team's preseason roster.

Jaison Chourio, is the younger brother of Jackson Chourio considered the second best prospect in MLB

Jaison is 17 years old plays center field and comes from playing in the rookie league of the Dominican Republic where he went 132-37 in 40 games.

Jaison has been part of the team's first inter-squad games

Jaison and Jackson dreamed about playing together as they have done since we were children. That dream came this winter. Jason and Jackson were on the same Zulia roster and shared several games in the outfield together.

Overall, Jaison's winter stats: G11 H0 R2 W3 K1 AVG .000 OBP .333

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Infielder Oscar Cedeño also hopes to debut this season in the LVBP, the 19-year-old switch hitter played this year in the Dominican Republic with the Cleveland Guardians team. In 85 at-bats he hit 22 hits with two doubles and three triples

Cedeño has been part of the team's first inter-squad games defending second base " In the days that I have practiced I feel that I have improved receiving advice from many more experienced players " said the player born in the town of Santa María south of Lake Maracaibo

When signing with the Cleveland Guardians, Cedeño stands out for his defense, speed and good projection of being a power hitter. This year rookie league was alternated between second base, shortstop and third base.

I am trying hard to find some outfielders to add to the pipeline.
I am curious if Jonathan Rodriguez is taken seriously; he shows up nowhere on prospect lists but his slow rise through the system has him now showing plenty of power in AA and he's also been rated as having an excellent arm.
Petey Halpin is very young in AA, not a power hitter I'm afraid, but gets on base, runs and plays CF
The Class A crowd is almost all power-starved. W. Antunez in Lynchburg shows a bit of promise
Temporarily our best OF prospects are in Arizona: the usually injured Valera and last year's top pick DeLauter.

Steve Hajjar who we got in trade for Will Benson has appeared in Arizona.
He's a LH starter, 2nd round pick in 2021, so he's not a slouch In his career he's fanned 90 in 59 innings 4 5 1 1 2 4 yesterday

saturday games notes

in the Dominican
W. Francisca 2 singles, a steal; hitting 500 with 1464 OPS in 20 at bats
in Arizona:
Valera 2 doubles
Catcher Victor Izturis [BA listed him as our #3 catcher on depth chart after Naylor and Lavastida] 2-3 600 avg 1100 ops after a few games
DeLauter 2 walks
Low A:
Genoa 0-4
High A
Furman 2 singles a walk a steal
Lampe single and double
Fomer prospect Tolentino 0-5 156/410
AA:
Nikhazy 6 3 2 2 0 8 348
Halpin single, double#8 285 757 not much power
Brito 3 hits 370-1004 since promotion: another good hitting 2B
AAA
Oscar G 2 doublls 354/720
Collins 2b14 hr13 291.915
Bo single walk 257/897
unkn own IF Scheenman 3 hits 302/824
Toussaint 2 2/3 5 5 5 3 6

Columbus and Lake County in rain delays

Akron down 3-2antoher 2 hits for Brito, up to 396 1 for Halpin 1 for Tena
Lynchburg behind 7-5 their pitching is among the worst in the league; today's starter Peterson had been perhaps their best, not today 4 12 7 7 0 3 2 hm
Juan Benjamin's 1st homer Jordan Brown's team leading 4th

Cleveland #Guardians 17-year-old switch hitting OF prospect Jaison Chourio (Right) with his older brother Brewers top prospect Jackson Chourio before an opening day game in the Venezuelan Winter League.

Each team's best prospect in Rookie ball

June 7th, 2023

Jim Callis, Jonathan Mayo and Sam Dykstra

AMERICAN LEAGUE CENTRAL

Guardians: Chase DeLauter, OF (No. 7/MLB No. 94)

The 16th overall pick in the 2022 Draft, DeLauter reinjured his left foot after signing, leading to surgery to replace a screw with a bone graft in January and delaying his pro debut until Monday in the Arizona Complex League. He offers a rare combination of tools, performance, plate discipline and size (6-foot-4, 235 pounds), and he won't stay in the ACL for long. Once he departs, Cleveland's best Rookie-ball prospect will be another toolsy outfielder, Jaison Chourio, whose older brother Jackson is one of the game's best prospects with Milwaukee.

Scouting grades: Hit: 55 | Power: 45 | Run: 55 | Arm: 55 | Field: 55 | Overall: 45

The younger brother of Brewers outfielder Jackson Chourio, the biggest breakout prospect of 2022, Jaison offers considerable upside as well. He landed the top bonus in the Guardians' 2022 international class, signing for $1.2 million out of Venezuela in January. He broke into pro ball by hitting .280/.446/.402 in the Rookie-level Dominican Summer League, walking nearly twice as much (40) as he struck out (22).

One of several gifted young switch-hitters in Cleveland's system, Chourio recognizes pitches and controls the strike zone well beyond his years. He shows good feel for the barrel from both sides of the plate and distributes hits all over the field. Once he adds some needed strength and learns to turn on and lift pitches, he should have 15-20 homer power.

A well-rounded player, Chourio earns solid-to-plus grades for his speed, arm strength and center-field defense. His instincts enhance his physical ability and could make him a 20-20 player one day. He possesses one of the highest ceilings among Guardians farmhands and also comes with a higher floor than most teenagers.

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Sunday:

CLE AA #8 Angel Martinez, SS 4 0 1 1 .230
CLE MAJ #10 Will Brennan, OF 4 0 0 0 .267 SB (6),
CLE MAJ #11 Tyler Freeman, 2B 2 0 2 1 .320 2B (9),
CLE MAJ #12 Gabriel Arias, SS 2 0 1 0 .212 2 BB (17), CS (2), 2 E (5),
CLE AA #14 Jose Tena, SS 4 1 1 0 .209 E (8),
CLE AA #16 Juan Brito, 2B 4 0 2 0 .297 in Akron 380 with a 1003 OPS. The kid can hit. We need another 2nd baseman??
traded NolanJones for Brito; Jones is off to a great start for the Rockies, 18-50 with 4 homers and only 17 strikeouts
CLE LoA #23 Angel Genao, SS 4 0 0 0 .275
CLE AA #25 Petey Halpin, OF 4 0 1 1 .284
CLE AA #30 Bryan Lavastida, C 4 0 0 0 .253

a new prospect takes off

Helium [on the BA weekly hot prospect shhet]

Welbyn Francisca, SS, Guardians

In the most recent international period, Cleveland gave its highest bonus to Francisca, a shortstop from Venezuela. The 17-year-old doesn’t cut an imposing figure … but he can hit. He shows good rhythm and barrel accuracy from both sides of the plate, and he’s gone off in the early days of the DSL. So far, Francisca has hit in every game, recorded multiple hits in all but one contest and finished two games a hit shy of the cycle. Francisca has made enough defensive progress that he might stick at shortstop, but even if he has to move to second base he seems poised to add to Cleveland’s wellspring of talented middle infielders. (JN)

[one site lists him as 5-0 148 I have to believe he is bigger than that!] MILB.com says 5-8. He still has plenty of time to grow

And it is nice to know that the Guardians have finally acquire a good hitting 2nd baseman.

Tough night for Arizona Guardian catcher Paz....10 stolen bases by the Brewer.

A trade that could just go down in infamy; remember Pedro Guerrero for Bruce Ellingsen? Junior Caminero for Tobias Myers could be similar

Junior Caminero, 3B, Rays: Chourio wasn't the only teenaged sensation in the Biloxi-Montgomery tilt on Tuesday. The other player fitting that description is Caminero, who has taken the prospect world by storm after laying waste to the competition at High-A and earning a quick bump to Double-A. Caminero came to the Rays from Cleveland in a small deal that sent righthander Tobias Myers to the Guardians. Against Biloxi, Caminero reached base four times, going 2-for-3 with a pair of walks. The game pushed Caminero's Double-A slash line to .306/.357/.469, which, while not as gaudy as his High-A output, is pretty darn impressive for a player his age.

Guys we still have:

CLE AAA #3 Bo Naylor, C 5 1 1 2 0.254 HR (13), The brothers are both having quite a year for RBI: 48 for Bo now]
CLE R #4 George Valera, OF 2 0 0 1 0.250 2 BB (9),
CLE AAA #5 Brayan Rocchio, SS 4 0 0 0 0.301 BB (26),
CLE AA #8 Angel Martinez, SS 4 2 2 3 0.236 2B (10), BB (25),
CLE MAJ #10 Will Brennan, OF 3 1 1 0 0.268
CLE MAJ #11 Tyler Freeman, 2B 3 0 0 1 0.313
CLE MAJ #12 Gabriel Arias, SS 1 0 0 0 0.211
CLE AA #14 Jose Tena, SS 4 2 2 0 0.216 BB (22),
CLE HiA #15 Jake Fox, 2B 3 0 0 0 0.181 BB (20),
CLE AA #16 Juan Brito, 2B 4 0 0 0 0.290 BB (35),
CLE AAA #20 Jhonkensy Noel, OF 5 1 2 0 0.193
CLE AA #25 Petey Halpin, OF 3 0 0 2 0.278 BB (18),
CLE HiA #28 Justin Boyd, OF 3 0 0 0 0.138
CLE AA #30 Bryan Lavastida, C 4 1 1 3 0.253 HR (3), BB (26), 2 E (8),

LE MAJ #7 Tanner Bibee, RHP 4.0 8 6 6 2 3 3.39 L (4-2)
CLE MAJ #17 Cody Morris, RHP 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0.96
CLE AAA #17 Nic Enright, RHP 0.0 3 2 2 0 0 not sure how he suddenly appeared as #17 prospect
CLE AAA #18 Joey Cantillo, LHP 6.2 3 2 2 2 8 3.23 best AAA start
CLE MAJ #22 Xzavion Curry, RHP 2.0 0 0 0 0 2 2.36

this afternoon, Bo Naylor singled and walked twice; he's up near the top of his league in walks as well as xtra base hits so his batting average is his least significant statistic; Bo also stole his first 2 bases on the year.
Gonzalez single and sac fly. Oscar is still Oscar: he's walked 5 times in 134 plate appearances for Columbus,
Rocchio drew a couple walks and stole a base.
Gavin Williams 5 3 3 2 2 5 [2 of the 3 hits were home runs
Karinchak walked only 1 of the 5 batters he faced, struck out one

Akron and Lake County games cancelled due to weather

Parker Messicak 5 4 3 2 2 7 for Lynchburg. You'd hope he'd be up to LC by now but he's been erratic

Carson Tucker, a first round pick 3 3 years ago, a SS, has been either injured or awful since we signed him. Until last night when he had 2 doubles plus 2 singles, lifting his career average by 30 points all the way to 158.
By now he's 21, still in Low A, with a career 158 at bats.

Wednesday

CLE AAA #3 Bo Naylor, C 2 0 1 0 0.256 2 BB (49), 2 SB (2),
CLE AAA #5 Brayan Rocchio, SS 3 0 0 0 0.297 2 BB (28), SB (13),
CLE MAJ #10 Will Brennan, OF 2 0 1 0 0.271 CS (3),
CLE AAA #20 Jhonkensy Noel, OF 4 0 0 0 0.190
CLE LoA #23 Angel Genao, SS 3 2 1 0 0.278 2 BB (7),

CLE AAA #1 Gavin Williams, RHP 5.0 3 3 2 3 5 2.39 L (4-2)
CLE LoA #19 Parker Messick, LHP 5.2 4 3 2 1 7 3.38
CLE MAJ #22 Xzavion Curry, RHP 1.0 1 1 1 1 0 2.55

White Caps scored 4 in the 10th but the Caps mounted a 5 run rally in the bottom half of the 10th to score a 9-8 win.