Cleveland Sports Forum

Saturday game notes:

Columbus

Freeman 3 singles Jones single double and walk Brennan 1 single
McCarty was almost as bad as the start for Cleveland
Karinchak faced 4 struck out 3: that sounds like the old Karnichak

Akron

Naylor 12th double
Valera walk
Delgaro homer
Burns 2 2/3 4 2 2 1 3
Oviedo 3 2/3 4 2 2 2 4

Lake County

Noel homered as noted above
Planez also homered, having a good week, but his avg is 224 and OPS 669, so looking another one-trick pony
Halpin two singles and a steal
Martinez single and a walk
Nikhazy didn't repeat last week's success 5 3 2 2 4 5 one of baseball's top walkers

Lynchburg

Durango 2 hits, Greene 1
another of the 2021 draft choice pitchers: Denhom 7 8 2 2 0 4

Arizona
Angel Genoa IF homer walk hitting 379 1041 OPS
Gabriel Arias rehabbing a double in 3 at bats

Carlos Vargas with his first inning pitched since 2019
For Akron
How did he earn a spot on the 40 man roster without ever pitching for a full season team?

Sunday:

CLE AAA #1 Tyler Freeman, SS 5 2 1 0 .248
CLE AA #3 Brayan Rocchio, SS 4 1 1 0 .218
CLE AA #4 George Valera, SS 3 1 0 0 .284 BB (38),
CLE AAA #6 Nolan Jones, 3B 3 1 1 1 .317 2 BB (9),
CLE HiA #10 Angel Martinez, SS 5 1 1 1 .269 HR (4),
CLE MAJ #13 Richard Palacios, ph 1 0 1 1 .273 2B (11),
CLE HiA #18 Gabriel Rodriguez, 3 0 2 0 .250 BB (14),
CLE HiA #20 Jhonkensy Noel, 3B 4 0 1 0 .223
CLE HiA #22 Petey Halpin, OF 3 1 1 0 .217 BB (18), SB (11),
CLE MAJ #24 Ernie Clement, 2B 4 0 2 1 .213
CLE MAJ #27 Steven Kwan, OF 2 1 1 0 .267 BB (22),
CLE LoA #32 Isaiah Greene, OF 3 0 0 0 .224
CLE HiA #33 Milan Tolentino, 2B 4 0 1 2 .319 2B (13), [that's his combined average, not up to 200 at lake County]
CLE LoA #37 Luis Durango, OF 3 1 2 0 .194 CS (8),
CLE LoA #38 Yordys Valdes, SS 2 1 0 0 .258

CLE AA #8 Gavin Williams, RHP 3.0 4 1 1 2 6 1.53 [not sure why he left early]
CLE AA #26 Carlos Vargas, RHP 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0.00 W (1-0)
CLE HiA #29 Tommy Mace, RHP 3.0 2 1 1 2 2 5.54 L (0-2) [left early too, 3rd round 2021 pick but about 10th best pitcher so far]

if I posted this before, you don't have to read it today [Note: Tolentino has moved up to Lake County and went 3-17 his first week]

Milan Tolentino’s Bat Does The Talking For Guardians In Low-A

In a Guardians system flush with talented infielders, it might be easy to get lost in the shuffle.

With his hot start, 20-year-old shortstop Milan Tolentino is making sure that doesn’t happen to him.

The 2020 fourth-rounder starred at Santa Margarita High in Orange County, California, and has had no trouble transitioning to pro ball.

Through 35 games for Low-A Lynchburg he hit .373/.474/.492 with one home run and eight stolen bases.

“We are really excited about Milan,” Guardians assistant general manager James Harris said. “He is putting up quality at-bats so far this year. His approach and instincts in the box have allowed him to have offensive success in Low-A.”

Standing 6 feet, 180 pounds, the lefthanded-hitting Tolentino must develop his power stroke in pro ball after receiving below-average grades in that regard as an amateur.

Tolentino also was showing growth in pitch recognition and strike-zone judgment. He had dramatically improved his walk (16%) and strikeout (18%) rates compared with his 19-game pro debut in the Arizona Complex League a year ago.

Tolentino comes from a baseball family. His father Jose Tolentino was a member of Texas’ 1983 College World Series winners and played professionally for 15 years. He is currently a Spanish-language broadcaster for the Angels.

In the field, Milan has the versatility and athleticism to play any of the infield positions. His focus this season has been on shortstop and third base, with some time at second base.

“He has solid arm strength at shortstop and third base,” Harris said, “but he’s moved around due to our depth in the middle of the diamond—and to add to his versatility.”

—Jim Ingraham

2 representatives on the 20-man Hot Prospect report this week, one I didn't anticipate

16. Logan Allen, LHP, Guardians
Team: Double-A Akron (Eastern)
Age: 23

Why He’s Here: 1-0, 0.00, 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 11 SO,

The Scoop: The Akron staff is arguably the best in all of minor league baseball and performances like Allen’s on Thursday have become weekly occurrences for the Rubber Ducks. Allen punched out 11 batters on 16 swinging strikes while generating seven ground balls. It was another dominant performance from the lefthander, who’s struck out 34.7% of the batters he’s faced this season while holding opponents to a .229 batting average. Allen is likely to spend all of his season split between Double-A and Triple-A. (GP)

19. Tyler Freeman, SS, Guardians
Team: Triple-A Columbus (International)
Age: 23

Why He’s Here: .417/.517/.500 (10-for-24), 7 R, 2 2B, 0 3B, 0 HR, 6 RBIs, 5 BB, 0 SO, 1-for-1 SB

The Scoop: Cleveland’s farm system is bursting with middle infield talent from top to bottom. In Triple-A, Freeman holds down the fort. He missed a chunk of time in 2021 with a shoulder injury but this season has returned and is showing excellent plate discipline (15 walks against 18 strikeouts in 41 games) and bat-to-ball skills, albeit with little impact. If he can continue to show the skills of a table-setter, he might not need to worry about doing anything more than getting on base and causing havoc with his legs. (JN)

[Hmm, the Freeman description fits the "Classic Guardian" mold ]

minor league transactions, not too much exciting here except perhaps for Minor League mavens

Cleveland Guardians
Released: RHP Serafino Brito Tedesco | RHP Nick Gallagher | RHP Liam Jenkins | RHP Eric Mock | RHP Nate Ocker | RHP Alec Wisely | LHP Skylar Arias | C Miguel Jerez | SS Joab Gonzalez | OF Daniel Aguilar | OF Skeiling Rodriguez
Traded: SS Ike Freeman to Padres

WhiteSox signed Jenkins, a 6-8 RHP, and Arias a 6-3 LH, who were 17th and 24th round draft picks respectively.

Reds traded Josh Bauer to the Yankees, who are in desperate need of someone who cannot hit for some balance in their red hot lineup

San Diego already released Ike Freeman within days of his acquisition

Seattle signed our former 20th round pick, 5-10 LHP Jake Miednik

Washington released Mayfield HS and Cleveland State OF Mitch Longo

Hey civ need your help.

Just added Will Brennan to one of my dynasty teams and need another suggestion - about that level.

You know - all the usual prospects are already taken. Jose Tena is available....anyone else around there or better?

I don’t know how you get points in this game.
J Noel will keep hitting homers but maybe not much else
Tolentino might make it
I like Isaiah Greene but hes more of a long shot

Can you take pitchers? Lots of interesting candidates there. Bibee. Boone. Gaddis. Cantillo I assume Gavin Williams is not available
Reliever? I like Mickelojchek

Bo Naylor debuts for Columbus

Tyler Freeman a 3 hit game

Will Benson walks homers (and 3 k’s

And your guy Brennan drew 3 walks

Gaddis and Bibee both with 10K 1 run in 5+ innings
Tolentino single and double

civ ollilavad wrote:I don’t know how you get points in this game.
J Noel will keep hitting homers but maybe not much else
Tolentino might make it
I like Isaiah Greene but hes more of a long shot

Can you take pitchers? Lots of interesting candidates there. Bibee. Boone. Gaddis. Cantillo I assume Gavin Williams is not available
Reliever? I like Mickelojchek

I already have Cantillo and Gavin Williams on the team.

Yeah thanks I'll take a closer look to see who's available off the waiver wire. Lots of minor leaguers there - but the top ones long gone.

150-101 combined record for our teams

And all have many below average age players

Bibee taken? He is getting very good write ups

We hear very little [if anything from BA] about

Alexfri Planez, OF Guardians: The power-hitting outfielder did damage on both ends of Wednesday’s doubleheader in Daytona. Alexfri the dragon slayer homered twice in game one in consecutive innings before going 2-for-4 with a double in the nightcap. Planez has a hyper-aggressive approach at the plate with big raw power. After a difficult opening two months, Planez has turned it on in June with seven home runs and 18 RBIs this month.

The "hyper-aggressive approach" has always been the knock on Gonzalez who has dramatically refined his approach since he arrived in the majors