Cleveland Sports Forum

Chase LeLauter is No. 11 on the Prospect Hot Sheet this week; I believe the writeup may be identical to the comment posted yesterday for his hot day Sunday'


11. Chase DeLauter, OF, Guardians
Team: High-A Lake County (Midwest)
Age: 21

Why He’s Here: .611/.611/.944 (11-for-18), 4 R, 6 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 4 RBIs, 0 BB, 1 SO, 1-for-1 SB

The Scoop: After having his pro debut delayed by a pair of foot injuries, DeLauter wasted no time showing why Cleveland spent its first-round pick on him a year ago. The James Madison alum jumped from rehabbing in the ACL all the way to High-A and immediately hit the ground running. The lefty has already racked up seven doubles in eight games with Lake County, which puts him just six off of the team lead.

BA posting some midseason stats; so far our Minor League pitchers have allowed 347 homeruns and our hitters have hit 226 which is [SURPRISE!] lowest of any team

Our hitters collective OPS 709 is third lowest "Guardians hitters consistently show the least power in the game. Their total bases (3,854), home runs (226) and slugging percentage (.366) each are the lowest in the minors."

And this year's draft class will not change any of that for the better.

Individual leaders in each minor league: none of ours lead any of the categories highlighted in the report

Our first half minorleague player of the year:'

Cleveland Guardians
Gavin Williams, RHP
Triple-A Columbus

Williams made four starts for Cleveland in the first half, but the 2021 first-rounder from East Carolina spent most of his season carving Double-A and Triple-A hitters. The 24-year-old struck out 81 and walked 24 in 60.1 innings to go with a 2.39 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in 12 starts.

BA has made some major adustments to their Top 100 prospects, deleting "graduates" like Bibee and Allen; and adding the best of this year's draft class.
CLE as a result has a greatly reduced presence which will soon be nearly none

Gavin Williams has ascended to No. 9 but will be off the list soon
Naylor is at No. 51 and also will soon graduate
That leaves Rocchio at No. 55 and Espino sunk to No. 84 due to the unlikelihood that he will be healthy enough to pitch for some time yet.

Biggest move among our prospects is Valera: his combination of repeated injuries, extreme lack of success in Columbus, and recent suspension has caused him to lost his spot on the 100.
I'd guess DeLauter makes it onto the second half of the 100 by the end of the season, and perhaps Cantillo?

Minors back in action

on Friday another bad start by Plesac. Yesterday Cantillo had a fine start to a start but left very early: 2 2/3 1 0 0 1 5. Hope he isn't joining the IL club.
Karinchak wants back in CLE faced 3 struck them all out
Noel a 3 run homer on Friday an rbi double on Saturday. Gonzalez homered yesterday

Playing their big league counterparts Akron lost 1-0. Tena with the only hit and 2 walks. Nikhazy 4 2 1 1 4 3. He routinely walks too many

light hitting Lynchburg with an unusual offense explosion and a 12-10 win Still manged to go homerless. [the team total is 29; 1 more than the league worst]
Juan Benjamin double and 2 singles 278/731
the fact that OF Angel Zarate is hitting 319/864 seems less significant than his age: 24 in Low A. His future is in his past
likewise 1B Zac Fascia another 24 year old.
Apparently Cleveland doesn't enough young players to fill their low A roster.
sometimes effective Austin Petereson wasn't 4 2/3 8 9 9 3 2

Columbus lost 4-3,blowing a lead with a 3 run 8th.
Rocchio and Scheenman each with 2 hits.
Lavastida a 2 run homer
Gonzalez 0-4
Gaddis 5 innings 1 run
Newly acquired Chris Vallimont fine debut, 1 inning, 3 runs, 2 homers. For no clear reason they added him to the 40 man roster when they picked up for $19.99 from the Orioles. Thank goodness it was not another Tobias Myers for Junior Caminero [now rated #7 prospect in all of baseball] deal
Valera remains suspended which perhaps gives him some time to work on his offense.

Akron lost 6-5, blowing a 5-2 lead with 3 in the 7th, and a walkoff ninth.

Angel Martinez 6th homer, 3 singles and a steal
Jose Tena 3 singles.
Leftwich 2 scoreless innings 2 walks

Lake County lost 6-2, blowing a lead with a 5 run 6th.
Ethan Hankins 2 innings, 1 run 1 hit 1 walk 5 strikeouts
Previously 0.00 ERA for Magnus Ellerts, perfect no more 1 4 5 5 2 2

heres's one that went the other way: Captains tied the score in the 5th and won in the final innings, the 7th 2-1
Tolentino 2 hits
Lampe 3B
Frias single and rbi and error
Messick good day: 5 1/3 3 1 1 2 10 High A ERA drops to 7.32

and back to the same theme: Lynchburg took a 3-0 lead, saw it tied in the 4th; and lost on a walkoff in the 9th
No individual lines worth noting

a rare notice on the BA top prospect performance report

Parker Messick, LHP, Guardian: The Guardians promoted Messick to High-A Lake County at the end of June. In his first start, he allowed seven runs, eight hits and three walks in 4.1 innings. In his next start, he allowed six runs and eight hits in five innings. Even his third start wasn’t much better. He allowed five runs, but only two earned, in five innings. On Sunday, he finally got on track. Messick allowed just three hits, two walks and one run while striking out 10 in 5.1 innings against Dayton.

other lines on Sunday, today alpahbetical rather than in prospect order:

Arias, Gabriel Cleveland Guardians CLE 3 1 0 0 1 0
Brennan, Will Cleveland Guardians CLE 4 0 0 0 0 0
Brito, Juan Akron RubberDucks CLE 4 0 1 1 1 2
DeLauter, Chase Lake County Captains CLE 4 0 1 1 0 0
Fox, Jake Lake County Captains CLE 4 0 1 0 0 3
Genao, Angel Lynchburg Hillcats CLE 4 0 1 0 1 0
Halpin, Petey Akron RubberDucks CLE 5 1 1 0 0 3 2B
Lavastida, Bryan Columbus Clippers CLE 3 1 1 2 0 1 HR
Martinez, Angel Akron RubberDucks CLE 5 2 4 2 0 0 HR, SB
Noel, Jhonkensy Columbus Clippers CLE 3 0 0 0 1 0
Rocchio, Brayan Columbus Clippers CLE 4 1 2 0 0 1 2B
Rodriguez, Gabriel Akron RubberDucks CLE 4 0 0 0 0 4
Tena, Jose Akron RubberDucks CLE 4 2 3 0 1 0

Bibee, Tanner Cleveland Guardians CLE 6.0 5 2 2 1 1 6
Gaddis, Hunter Columbus Clippers CLE 5.0 2 1 1 1 2 3

Tuesday lines for our top 30 preseason prospects. New format at BA doesn't list season average. Or useful facts like how many homeruns and steals; or list walks.

Brennan, Will Cleveland Guardians CLE 4 0 0 0 0 0
Brito, Juan Akron RubberDucks CLE 4 2 1 3 0 0 HR
DeLauter, Chase Lake County Captains CLE 2 1 2 1 0 0 2B#9 in 41 at bats! 488/1292 for Lake County BUT why was he pulled after 2 at bats?
Fox, Jake Lake County Captains CLE 5 2 2 1 0 2 HR, SB
Genao, Angel Lynchburg Hillcats CLE 4 0 1 0 0 1 2B
Halpin, Petey Akron RubberDucks CLE 2 1 1 0 4 1
Lavastida, Bryan Columbus Clippers CLE 2 0 1 0 1 0
Martinez, Angel Akron RubberDucks CLE 4 1 1 1 1 1
Naylor, Bo Cleveland Guardians CLE 4 0 0 0 0 0
Noel, Jhonkensy Columbus Clippers CLE 4 1 2 2 0 0 HR#17 last 5 games: 18 4 7 9 3homers 2doubles 2walks 2K 389/450/833/1283
Rocchio, Brayan Columbus Clippers CLE 4 1 1 0 0 0 2B, SB
Tena, Jose Akron RubberDucks CLE 4 1 2 1 2 1 2B#19 in July 360/450/480

Allen, Logan Cleveland Guardians CLE 5.0 1 0 0 0 1 8 W

why was he pulled after 2 at bats?

Game story in the News Herald says he "suffered an apparent ankle or foot injury"

Is this a third iteration of the same injury?
"He reported pain in his left foot while running in December. Imaging showed a small fracture at the base of his fifth toe and he underwent surgery on Jan. 10."
at which time it was noted that "an injury that caused him trouble (and required surgery) in his final year at James Madison University flared back up to sideline him again."

One of the more statistically effective Guardians pitchers this year is LH Will Dion. Not a hard enough thrower to probably get to the majors unless there's been an uptick this year I have not seen anything written about him during the season.

Between Lake County and Akron 70 IP 53 H 19 BB 81 K 2.43 ERA [it's 2.95 in AA]

Preseason report included:
What Dion does well
By grade alone, Dion’s curveball is probably his best asset and pitch, but it’s his control and full arsenal that creates the package for him. His fastball, through well below average velocity, has carry and ride thanks to a high arm slot and unique release. The fastball and curveball play well off of each other thanks to the high release. Dion also improved his changeup from college and that helped him keep hitters off his curveball that comes with his scouting report. He has good control of his four pitches. His changeup gets just enough separation from his fastball despite the velocity. Dion also fields his position well.
Future
Unless at age 23, Dion finds two or three more inches of height and two more LBs, his stature will continue to be something that is looked at with regard to his long term future as a starter. Again, pitchers like Xzavion Curry and Logan Allen have been able to vault themselves through the system despite smaller statures. However, both throw 91-94. So Dion needs to prove he can sit in the low-90s at the least as a starter going forward to continue in the future as a starter. Given his arsenal and control, he’ll probably continue as a starter in the meantime anyway. What he has now should work in High-A and then Double-A will likely tell how far it carries him without an uptick in velocity. Added velocity could take his ceiling to something as a sixth starter/swingman role, and where he is now, more of a system depth arm or would see him shift to a bullpen role that could help his velocity and perhaps he could find something of an Eli Morgan type future, who also has a smaller frame, lower velocity, but plus control and an above average secondary to fall back on.

Columbus off to an early 8-1 lead.
Oscar G has a single and 2 rbi and perhaps more impressive to the front office, he drew a walk
J Noel is now playing more often at 3B although usually in the OF.
Lavastida 1-3 is hitting 423 since his promotion back to Columbus
Valera hit his first homer of the season

Plesac was less bad than often 3 2/3 3 1 1 5 3

It's been awhile but J Rodriguez got his 16th homer today for Akron; delayed due to rain and based on the forecast I doubt they'll resume
Tanner Burns 3 3 1 1 3 2 3,33 ERA Making little progress, proof Cle doesn't always succeed in developing pitchers; he was a Round 1A pick