Velezquez with only his 2nd and 3rd hits of the season; they were also his 2nd and 3rd homeruns.

Saturday early game, Jose Devers elevated to leadoff his having a wonderful day; He's driven in all 4 Lake County runs with his 3rd homerun, his 2nd double and a pair of singles He's stolen his first 2 bases of the season.

Real solid start by Jackson Humphries: 4 innings, 1 hit, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts.

Guardians First Base Prospect Keeps Turning Heads In Double-A

April 11, 2025

By Andres Chavez

In the third round of the 2023 MLB Draft, the Cleveland Guardians took a rock-solid offensive player.

First baseman C.J. Kayfus has hit in every level he has played in: Single-A, High-A, and Double-A.

Last year, the slugger posted a solid 139 wRC+ and 10 home runs in 67 Double-A games.

However, since he struck out 28.2 percent of the time at the level, the team wanted him to bring that down before considering a call-up to Triple-A.

The minor league season is very, very young still, but Kayfus is off to a fantastic start and not only made huge gains in contact (in the first few games, at least), but he has also retained the power that separates him from the rest.

He had another amazing game on Thursday.

“Cleveland #Guardians 23yr old (1B) prospect C.J. Kayfus reached base 3x tonight for Akron (1-2 2BB) against Altoona. He’s currently hitting .522 over his first six games of the season. 12-23 6R 2(2B) 1(3B) 1HR 7RBI 5BB. AVG .522, OBP .607, SLG .826, OPS 1.433,” Guardians Prospective posted on X.

Cleveland #Guardians 23yr old (1B) prospect C.J. Kayfus reached base 3x tonight for Akron (1-2 2BB) against Altoona.

He's currently hitting .522 over his first six games of the season.

12-23 6R 2(2B) 1(3B) 1HR 7RBI 5BB

AVG .522
OBP .607
SLG .826
OPS 1.433

It’s only six games, sure, but if that’s any indication, he won’t be with the Akron RubberDucks for long.

Triple-A awaits if he can keep some of his contact gains for a few weeks.

Kayfus is highly regarded as a prospect, currently the eighth-best in the organization according to MLB Pipeline.

He won’t keep getting on base 60 percent of the time, no one does it over a full season.

However, the team does hope he can maintain the 14.4 percent strikeout rate he is currently running or something below the 20 percent mark.

He has been the talk of the RubberDucks to open the year, and for good reason.

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Kayfus and Bazzana sat out yesterday, and Burgos failed to homer, but he hit a double and single.
Austin Peterson extended his scoreless streak to 9 innings, he walked none, struck out 4 and allowed 3hits in 5 innings Friday. He's issued no walks yet and fanned 8 in his first two starts. In half season in Akron last year he had 2.88 ERA, in 75 innings walked 15 struck out 72.

Guardians Underrated Prospect Throws Another Gem In Triple-A

April 11, 2025

By Andres Chavez

Most of the attention the Cleveland Guardians’ farm system gets goes to their impressive group of position players.

Travis Bazzana, Jason Chourio, Cooper Ingle, Angel Genao, C.J. Kayfus, and other hitters are highly regarded by prospect evaluators around the league, more so than the Guards’ pitchers.

Maybe the league should really start paying attention to left-hander Parker Messick because Cleveland might have a good one in him.

On Thursday, the southpaw tossed yet another gem in Triple-A to extend his excellent run of form.

“Cleveland #Guardians 24yr old LHP prospect Parker Messick remains unscored upon on the season striking out eight Worcester batters tonight over five scoreless innings for Triple-A Columbus. Line – 5.0(IP) 5H 0R 0ER 0BB 8SO (73 Pitches 50 Strikes). 2025 season: 9.0(IP) 8H 0R 0ER 2BB 10SO 0.00 ERA,” Guardians Prospective posted on X.

Cleveland #Guardians 24yr old LHP prospect Parker Messick remains unscored upon on the season striking out eight Worcester batters tonight over five scoreless innings for Triple-A Columbus.

Line - 5.0(IP) 5H 0R 0ER 0BB 8SO

(73 Pitches 50 Strikes)

2025 season:

- 9.0(IP) 8H 0R 0ER 2BB 10SO 0.00 ERA

Guardians Underrated Prospect Throws Another Gem In Triple-A

Most of the attention the Cleveland Guardians’ farm system gets goes to their impressive group of position players.

Travis Bazzana, Jason Chourio, Cooper Ingle, Angel Genao, C.J. Kayfus, and other hitters are highly regarded by prospect evaluators around the league, more so than the Guards’ pitchers.

Maybe the league should really start paying attention to left-hander Parker Messick because Cleveland might have a good one in him.

On Thursday, the southpaw tossed yet another gem in Triple-A to extend his excellent run of form.

“Cleveland #Guardians 24yr old LHP prospect Parker Messick remains unscored upon on the season striking out eight Worcester batters tonight over five scoreless innings for Triple-A Columbus. Line – 5.0(IP) 5H 0R 0ER 0BB 8SO (73 Pitches 50 Strikes). 2025 season: 9.0(IP) 8H 0R 0ER 2BB 10SO 0.00 ERA,” Guardians Prospective posted on X.

Messick has yet to allow a run in nine innings of work in the hardest minor league level of all.

He doesn’t have huge velocity, sitting in the 92-93 mph range and topping out at 94 mph, but his fantastic changeup is a perfect complement to the heater and he rarely hurts himself by walking people.

On Thursday, Messick generated an incredible 18 whiffs, which is a strong indicator of future success because it means he can easily fool hitters and get swinging strikes.

Of those 18 whiffs, eight came on his changeup, six on the fastball, three on the curveball, and one on his cutter.

Man, this is an impressive start for Parker Messick.

18 whiffs, 8 on his changeup, 6 on the fastball. For only averaging 90-92 and topping out at 94, he had six whiffs and a z-contact % of 69%.

It's cold and hard to hit right now. But also not easy to feel for your pitches too






That right there is why Cleveland is so high on the lefty: he can get whiffs with virtually all his pitches, and that’s a manager’s dream.

Don’t be surprised if you see Messick in Cleveland in a few weeks.

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