Cleveland Sports Forum

BA Sunday wrapup featuers among half a dozen top players of the day

Will Brennan, CF, Guardians: Yet another in the Guardians long line of minor league hitters with excellent contact skills, Brennan went 3-for-6 with two doubles yesterday. He’s hit .348/.426/.491 since his late May promotion to Triple-A Columbus.

We are developing a reputation for the Typical Guardian Hitter to accompany the Typical Guardian Pitcher

Also these lines by our top 40 players
[Note: the final game completed featured an insane bullpen blowup by the Clippers, including by Nick Mickolojchek]

CLE AA #3 Brayan Rocchio, SS 5 1 1 1 .221 HR (4), E (9),
CLE AA #4 George Valera, SS 4 1 1 0 .296 BB (41),
CLE AAA #5 Gabriel Arias, SS 1 0 0 0 .209
CLE AAA #6 Nolan Jones, 3B 5 2 1 1 .279 HR (1),
CLE HiA #10 Angel Martinez, SS 3 1 0 0 .256 BB (31),
CLE AA #11 Jose Tena, SS 4 1 1 1 .257 HR (3),
CLE HiA #18 Gabriel Rodriguez, 3B 4 1 2 1 .265 HR (5),
CLE AA #20 Jhonkensy Noel, 3B 4 1 2 0 .226 BB (20),
CLE HiA #22 Petey Halpin, OF 3 0 0 0 .214 BB (20),
CLE MAJ #24 Ernie Clement, 2B 4 1 0 0 .196
CLE HiA #33 Milan Tolentino, 2B 4 0 0 0 .309 BB (42),
CLE LoA #37 Luis Durango, OF 3 0 0 0 .184 BB (25),
CLE LoA #38 Yordys Valdes, SS 3 2 0 0 .254 2 BB (21),
CLE AAA #39 Will Brennan, OF 6 1 3 4 .324 2 2B (22),
CLE LoA #40 Jake Fox, SS 5 1 3 1 .244 2B (8),

CLE AA #8 Gavin Williams, RHP 0.2 1 1 1 3 2 1.67 L (2-2)
CLE AAA #14 Peyton Battenfield, RHP 5.0 6 4 4 3 2 3.11
CLE AA #26 Carlos Vargas, RHP 2.0 1 0 0 1 1 0.00
CLE HiA #29 Tommy Mace, RHP 4.0 7 4 4 1 4 6.00 L (0-

You may have noted that Nolan Jones hit his first homer. Amazingly he is most recently rated as the "top power prospect" in the Cleveland farm system, despite the strengths and successes of Valera, Noel, Planez and the forgotten Will Benson

Benson drew 5 walks yesterday; sense total is 54. He also has 11 doubles 12 homers and 13 stolen bases. Still a bunch of strikeouts but his lowest percentage as a pro. OPS of 862. And he can play the OF.

Benson looks like he's getting better. Maybe somebody will take him in a trade. Before now, he was worthless.

He just turned 24. So he's younger than Gonzalez and Kwan and Palacios.
If there's a major league role for Brad Zimmer there could be a major league role for Will Benson. I'm impressed with the improvements he has made.

Nice to see Arias is back.

but he got hit by another pitch and left his game early, so not sure where he's at now...

We nearly ever get shut out on the Hot Prospect List

18. Logan Allen, LHP, Guardians
Team: Akron (Eastern)
Age: 23

Why He’s Here: 1-0, 1.29, 7 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 SO, 1 HR

The Scoop: A week after striking out 11 over six scoreless innings on June 16, Allen tossed seven one-run innings, striking out 11 once again as he allowed just three batters to reach base. Over four starts in the month of June Allen has 39 strikeouts to six walks over 25.2 innings. This was a return to normalcy for Allen, who struggled in May after a stellar opening month. The lefthander mixes four pitches with a four-seam fastball, cutter, slider and splitter. His fastball sits 90-91 mph, touching 93 mph, but features a lot of ride from a low release height, giving Allen’s fastball a flat plane of approach, making it deadly when elevated. His slider and splitter are his primary weapons and each boasts a whiff rate above 40% and a strike rate above 60%. Allen has the rare ability to miss bats with three pitches at a plus rate while mixing in a cutter to give batters a variety of looks. What Allen lacks in power he makes up for in pitchability and distinctive shapes across a variety of offerings.

It's all me on the Baseball America chat today

Kyle Glaser: Hey everyone, thanks for coming out to the chat this week. I'm back from vacation and feeling refreshed and ready to go. Let's get started.

Elliot (Youngstown OH): After making a repeat appearance on the Hot List, I would expect Logan Allen to make it to Columbus soon.... Guardians might be ready for an infusion of starting pitching at the big league level and with some at AAA perhaps Allen can be an answer?


Kyle Glaser: Allen is certainly showing he’s ready and worthy of a promotion. If he successfully makes the leap to Triple-A, I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t be considered for a callup if the need arises.

Elliot (Youngstown OH): Jhonkensy Noel's home runs alone haven't made him a Hot prospect but did -- to my surprise -- earn him a promotion at age 20 to AA. He has been playing RF after previous work at 1st and 3rd. Does he realistically have more than the one power tool? Are you surprised Cleveland is moving him so quickly?


Kyle Glaser: Power really is Noel's one and only major tool. He’s playing multiple spots in the minors but he projects to be a 1B-only in the majors who mashes against lefties in a platoon role, and that’s only if he makes enormous strides in his breaking ball recognition and contact skills. As for him being moved up, after spending time at High-A both last year and this year, it's understandable that Cleveland would want to give him a new challenge. High-A to Double-A is the biggest jump in the minors, so we’ll see how he handles it.

Elliot (Youngstown OH): While I just asked why Noel is moving so quickly up the Guardians' system, I'll ask the reverse here and Why are they delaying the promotion of George Valera to AAA? He seems to be doing everything right and despite the discovery of some OF talent, at last, Cleveland can still use him at the big league level sooner than later.


Kyle Glaser: Valera is doing well, but this is why it’s important not to scout the stat line. He’s still learning to how to put together a consistent gameplan against the pitcher he’s facing each night and working on some behind the scenes preparation things. It’s better for him to work through and master those things at Double-A before pushing him to Triple-A, where experienced pitchers who can execute their pitches and hit their spots will make you look foolish if you don’t have an effective gameplan against them and stick to it.

excellent explanations I thought about all 3 of those guys

Big day for the Naylor family; Bo is the lead off name on the BA prospect report

Prospect Report: Guardians' Naylor Continues Resurgence
Bo Naylor, C, Guardians: After a tough season in 2021, Naylor, who began the season back in the Double-A Eastern League, where he was still one of the circuit's youngest players, has shown all season that he's refined his approach and tightened his strike zone discipline. Before a promotion to Triple-A Columbus, Naylor had drawn 45 walks (against just 46 strikeouts), which was eight more than he'd drawn in 87 games at the level in 2021. BA's Geoff Pontes noted that Naylor has improved in plenty of underlying metrics. He's shown well in an admittedly tiny sample at Triple-A, and on Wednesday went 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles

CLE AAA #1 Tyler Freeman, SS 6 1 4 3 0.269 BB (17), CS (2),
CLE AA #3 Brayan Rocchio, SS 5 1 1 0 0.221
CLE AA #4 George Valera, SS 5 0 1 0 0.292
CLE AAA #5 Gabriel Arias, SS 6 1 1 1 0.198
CLE AAA #6 Nolan Jones, 3B 5 2 3 4 0.314 HR (2), BB (12),
CLE HiA #10 Angel Martinez, SS 4 3 2 2 0.267 HR (5), BB (32),
CLE AA #11 Jose Tena, SS 2 1 0 1 0.258 BB (11),
CLE MAJ #13 Richard Palacios, 2B 1 1 0 0 0.263
CLE AA #20 Jhonkensy Noel, 3B 5 0 0 0 0.222
CLE HiA #22 Petey Halpin, OF 5 2 2 2 0.219 2B (6),
CLE HiA #25 Aaron Bracho, 2B 1 1 1 3 0.151 HR (3), BB (9),
CLE MAJ #27 Steven Kwan, OF 4 3 3 0 0.288 2B (8), BB (27), SB (5),
CLE LoA #32 Isaiah Greene, OF 3 0 1 0 0.216 BB (48),
CLE HiA #33 Milan Tolentino, 2B 4 3 3 0 0.311 2 2B (17), BB (43), SB (10),
CLE LoA #38 Yordys Valdes, SS 4 1 1 0 0.252
CLE AAA #39 Will Brennan, OF 4 1 1 1 0.325 3 BB (35),
CLE LoA #40 Jake Fox, SS 3 0 0 0 0.246 BB (53),

and ONE pitcher

CLE AA #34 Joey Cantillo, LHP 4.2 6 2 1 1 9 2.05 Typical Cleveland young pitcher: 9 K 1BB

And today Logan Allen will be debuting at AAA. If he does well there, we could see him in Cleveland by August. Lots of our top pitchers have spent little time in AAA on the way from Akron to Cleveland.

On a BA list of players who have made significant improvement this season, includes one of ours but I could nominate others like Bibee

Milan Tolentino, SS, Guardians: Following an early June promotion Tolentino has struggled to find his footing with High-A Lake County. Prior to the jump up in level Tolentino was among the best hitters in the Carolina League. At the time of his promotion Tolentino ranked second in the Carolina League in batting average and on-base percentage. A greater than 11% jump in both Tolentino’s contact rate and whiff rate have seen the infielder’s in-game production blossom in 2022. How he fares in the coming months will be worth monitoring, but it’s important to keep in mind that Tolentino’s first half shows his ability to make tangible improvements year over year. A contact-driven profile suits Tolentino well as a potential super-utility type.

Logan Allen debut in AAA a bit of a stumble

5 runs in 2/3 inning
ERA. 67.50
Ok we can wait awhile

Meanwhile

Nolan Jones grand slam and 5 rni
Rocchio 2 homers double single 5 rbi
Noel 2 AA homers
Brennan single and double
Benson single double walk

Brayan Rocchio, SS, Guardians: Rocchio has had a pretty modest season so far, struggling to hit for average or power. Last night that wasn't an issue, as he had his first two-home run game of the season, boosting his season homer total to six. He's now hitting .234/.327/.378.