Prospect Scouting Report: #19 INF Welbyn Francisca

Will Francisca work as a hit over power infield prospect?

JUSTIN LADA

MAR 24











Welbyn Francisca Bio

Age (2024 season): 18
Acquired: International Free Agent (2023)
2023 Level: DSL Rookie League
Height: 5’8
Weight: 148
Bats: Switch
Throws: Right

Welbyn Francisca Stats

PA: 179
AVG/OBP/SLG: .316/.419/.500
2B: 7
HR: 3
SB: 11/18
K%/BB%: 19.6%/13.4%

Welbyn Francisca 2024 Scouting Grades

Hit: 60
Power: 45
Speed: 55
Defense: 50
Arm: 50
Overall: 40

Risk:

High
ETA: 2027

Build & Background

Compact, athletic middle infielders build. Moderate projectable to add strength to frame. Strong hands. Wide open stance. Leg kick is mostly inwards to the plate with short landing forward. Whippy like, quick swing. Signed for $1.375M out of the Dominican Republic.

What Francisca Does Well

Given that Francisca hasn’t played any stateside ball yet, I don’t have much, but off reports I’ve heard from people who I trust, this has the potential to be a special, bat-driven profile. Plenty of quick whip and bat speed in the swing. Looks to have strong hands and can get to the ball with some poolside pop. It might be hit over power profile as the Guardians tend to collect, but it shouldn’t be empty contact. Looks to be an athletic mover on the run and in the field.

Where Francisca Needs to Improve

With his frame, whatever growth he has might still lead to gap power mostly. Most see a future move to second base but should still be an athletic infielder. Runs well but needs to learn more about reading pickoff moves and being smarter on the bases. Arm profiles as average. More pressure on the bat i he moves to second.

Key Stats

All data from this level should not be taken seriously. But as far as data goes, I’d like to see if he can keep up the 53% pull rate and 30.4%/36.5%/33% line drive, fly ball, ground ball rate that was pretty evenly distributed.

Intangibles

Hard to know much about Francisca given his age and no full season experience. But Cleveland usually vets these players pretty well for character and work ethic.

Future

Really hard to project the long term future for Francisa at this point. All signs so far would point to a bat driven second baseman with athletic defensive skills. He’ll spend all of 2024 in the ACL likely.

Role

40 - Hit over power infield with heavy reliance on his bat as a prospect. Good upside, high bust rate at this point.

<

2024 Cleveland Guardians Prospect Scouting Report: #18 INF/OF Kahlil Watson

Can the Guardians help Kahlil Watson unlock all of his offensive gifts?

JUSTIN LADA

MAR 28











Kahlil Watson Bio

Age (2024 season): 21
Acquired: Trade - Miami (Josh Bell)
2023 Level: High-A
Height: 5’10
Weight: 189
Bats: Left
Throws: Right

Kahlil Watson Stats

PA: 347
AVG/OBP/SLG: .217/.329/.406
2B: 13
HR: 14
SB: 25/30
K%/BB%: 26.2%/11.3%

Kahlil Watson 2024 Scouting Grades

Hit: 40
Power: 55
Speed: 60
Defense: 50
Arm: 55
Overall: 40

Risk:

Extreme

ETA: 2026

Build & Background

Athletic build in a compact frame. Not much room for projection left. Good strength in a smaller frame, especially in lower half. Twitchy athlete with good rotational ability. Evident bat speed in swing. Moderate weight transfer. Watson was the Marlins first round pick (16th overall) in 2021. He was in the conversation for the top pick that year. After struggling with the Marlins system and some rumored coaching issues, Cleveland acquired Watson in exchange for Josh Bell.

What Watson Does Well

Athletically, Watson is something of a toolshed. Don’t judge him by his frame. There’s good raw power in that frame thanks to good bat speed and his rotational ability. He’s also an easy plus runner. Watson has more than enough range to play on the left side of the infield. He’s a potential 20-20 player tools wise. Watson shows enough power to all fields and loft in his swing to get the ball in the air to max out his power when he makes contact.

Where Watson Needs to Improve

An aggressive approach has gotten Watson in trouble in his career. He’s got some swing and miss issues as well, unafraid to chase heat high and unable to lay off offspeed stuff in the dirt. In zone, he’s able to make contact, but chasing and not getting himself into good counts is where he’s getting in trouble right now. Susceptible to changeups. Lacks consistency in throwing accuracy at short and hands could be better.

Key Stats

Watson hit five homers in 23 games with Lake County after the trade, hitting seven in 243 games with Beloit.

Intangibles

Watson was suspended by the Marlins after an on-field incident that involved reportedly pointing his bat at an umpire. He reportedly also had some run-ins with the Miami coaching staff. But since he’s been in Cleveland, everyone has suggested that things with Watson are going well. He’s been coachable and has been forthcoming about even moving to the outfield.

Future

A more permanent move to center makes a lot of sense for Watson. For 2024, he’ll still see time on the infield too. But either way he projects as a high-risk up the middle star. He’s got to improve his approach and make more contact still to get to all of his offensive gifts. There’s a lot of upside here and even though it’s difficult to help players make more contact and improve their approach, I’m pretty hopeful about Watson’s outlook, especially if any maturity issues are behind him. He could start in Double-A Akron but don’t be surprised to see him log some time in High-A against first.

Role

40 - 20/20 up the middle player with a high risk of failing due to approach and contact issues.

<

Guardians & Clippers Announce Opening Day Triple-A Roster

Home Grown Talent Mixes with Experience from Outside the Organization

COLUMBUS, OH – The Columbus Clippers Opening Day roster has been finalized by the Cleveland Guardians for the International League schedule beginning this weekend. Seven players on the active Opening Day roster will be making their debuts at the Triple-A level in 2024, while eight Clippers have already seen time in the Major Leagues including former Guardians and Astros outfielder Myles Straw.

Fans in Columbus are very familiar with the infielders on this season’s initial roster. Juan Brito, Raynel Delgado, Kyle Manzardo, Jhonkensy Noel, Micah Pries, Daniel Schneemann, and Jose Tena all suited up for the Clippers during the 2023 campaign. Manzardo and Brito are rated by MLB Pipeline among the top ten prospects in the Cleveland organization. Tena made his big league debut last August for the Guardians, collecting seven hits in 31 trips to the plate.

Roaming the outfield with Straw will be another highly rated prospect, Johnathan Rodriguez, who showed his power last season by hitting 26 doubles, 4 triples and 29 home runs with 88 RBI combined between Double-A and Triple-A. Free agent Lorenzo Cedrola is one of six Clippers new to the Guardians organization in 2024.

The catching contingent will consist of former Colorado backstop Dom Nuñez and returning Clipper in Bryan Lavastida who made his Major League debut in 2022 with Cleveland.

The starting rotation is headlined by up-and-comers. 23-year-old lefty Will Dion gets the Opening Day assignment, bringing a career 2.14 ERA in the minors to Columbus for his rookie season at this level. Also making their Triple-A debuts will be Hunter Stanley and Connor Gillispie. Gillispie is new to the organization this year, same as Zak Kent and Adam Oller.

Making up the bullpen will be right-handers Franco Aleman, Tyler Brown, Jaime Barria, Tanner Burns, Nic Enright, Mason Hickman, and Peter Strzelecki along with southpaws Jaime Arias, Anthony Banda, John Doxakis, Anthony Gose, Randy Labaut, and Erik Sabrowski.

The Clippers will be led by fourth-year manager Andy Tracy, who brings back hitting coach Junior Betances and pitching coach Owen Dew. New to the staff this year are hitting coach Mike Mergenthaler, bench coach Daniel Robertson, pitching coach Andrew Moore.

The 2024 season will begin on Saturday, March 30 in St. Paul, Minnesota when the Clippers will battle the St. Paul Saints. The Columbus home opener is Tuesday, April 2 at 6:15pm against the Omaha Storm Chasers for the world famous Tansky Tuesday Dime-A-Dog Night. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit ClippersBaseball.com.

<

RubberDucks to Feature Five of Top 30 Guardians Prospects, 16 Returners on 2024 Opening Day Roster

March 29, 2024 - Eastern League (EL)

(AKRON, OHIO) - The Cleveland Guardians and the Akron RubberDucks announced the 28 players on Akron's Opening Day roster for the 2024 season that opens Friday, April 5 at Canal Park.

Outfielder Chase DeLauter is Cleveland's No. 1 prospect (No. 31 prospect in all of MLB), according to MLB.com and among five 2024 RubberDucks ranked among the Guardians' Top 30 prospects. Joining DeLauter on that list are infielder Kahlil Watson (#15), outfielder Petey Halpin (#16), right-hander Andrew Walters (#26) and infielder Dayan Frias (#30).

In all 16 members of the 2024 roster received Double-A experience with Akron in 2023. Those include pitchers Tommy Mace, Doug Nikhazy, Davis Sharpe, Tyler Thornton, Trey Benton, Jack Leftwich, Ross Carver, Bradley Hanner, Jordan Jones; catcher Micael Ramirez; infielders Milan Tolentino, Joe Naranjo, Aaron Bracho; outfielders DeLauter, Halpin and Alexfri Planez.

Hanner returns to Akron after leading the RubberDucks in wins (eight) and finishing second in saves (eight) during the 2023 season. In 41 games for Akron last season, the right-hander was 8-6 with a 2.78 ERA and 70 strikeouts over 64.2 innings.

The newcomers to Akron in 2024 are headlined by Watson, who comes to the RubberDucks after batting .233 with five homers, 16 RBI and 11 stolen bases in 23 games for High-A Lake County in 2023 after being acquired by the Guardians in the Josh Bell trade. Other newcomers to Akron in 2024 are pitchers Ryan Webb, Aaron Davenport, Rodney Boone, Ethan Hankins, Walters, Lenny Torres Jr; catcher Kody Huff; infielders Frias, Christian Cairo, Yordys Valdes, Watson; outfielder Joe Lampe.

"We are excited to welcome this talented group of players to Akron for the 2024 season," RubberDucks President and General Manager Jim Pfander said. "With a great mix of returning talent led by the Guardians top prospect Chase DeLauter and exciting new faces, we can't wait to see this team take the field at Canal Park in a week."

Walters comes to Akron after being drafted by the Guardians in 2023 draft as the Competitive Balance Round B pick (62 overall) out of the University of Miami. In three seasons for the Hurricanes, Walters was 4-1 with a 1.41 ERA, 26 saves and 170 strikeouts in 102 innings. He was named to All-Spring Breakout second team after striking out three and walking one over an inning pitched in the Guardians 6-2 Spring Breakout game win over the Reds.

Cairo comes to the RubberDucks after batting .239 with three homers, 13 RBI and 10 stolen bases in 61 games for Lake County in 2023. He is the son of Miguel Cairo, who played 17 seasons in MLB.

The RubberDucks' Opening Day roster will take the field on Friday, April 5, against the Altoona Curve at 7:05 p.m. Season tickets, ticket packages and single game tickets are on sale now by calling 855-97-QUACK or visiting akronrubberducks.com.

Mandy Bell

@MandyBell02

Joey Cantillo strained his hamstring at the end of Spring Training and will be out for 8 to 10 weeks.

<

Cleveland Guardians 2024 Prospect Scouting Report: #17 LHP Alex Clemmey

Can Clemmey throw enough strikes to reach his sky high, but high-risk ceiling?

JUSTIN LADA

MAR 30











Alex Clemmey Bio

Age (2024 season): 18
Acquired: 2023 MLB Draft (Round 2)
2023 Level: High
Height: 6’6
Weight: 205
Throws: Left

Alex Clemmey 2023 High School Stats

IP: 35.2
ERA: 0.59
K: 85

Alex Clemmey 2024 Scouting Grades

Fastball: 60
Curveball: 55
Changeup: 40
Command: 30
Overall: 40

Risk: Extreme

ETA: 2028

Build & Background

Strong, but long and lanky build. A lot of arms and legs. High waisted and broad shoulders. Projectable frame of a durable starting pitcher. Funky, nasty delivery. Drops down into his back hip deeply and bends his waist down with it. Hides the ball well with this movement. Long arm swing. Very quick arm through his delivery and the high 3/4 arm slot. Good arm timing. Lot of moving parts in delivery overall. Cold weather area arm (Rhode Island) without a ton of innings and development. Was Rhode Island’s Gatorade Player of the Year. Vanderbilt commit. Signed for $2.3M.

What Clemmey Does Well

Clemmey will carry 94-97 and hit 98, and he may be able to touch 100. He does it from a high 3/4 arm slot and a funk, deceptive delivery that has a lot of moving parts. His curve can get up to 16 inches of vertical break. It’s a nasty offering with real depth. Is also working on a slider. The velocity, size and deceptive drive his strengths right now. Does a great job getting into his backside and hiding the ball in his delivery as it stands. He’s got a lot of traits to dream on as a top of the rotation arm, or a very devastating late inning reliever. The size and long levers are things that will help with extension, which could help his fastball play up even more, and those are some things you can’t teach.

Where Clemmey Needs to Improve

While he has bat missing stuff, Clemmey has a lot of moving parts in his delivery. His torso tilt and long arm swing, plus his overall size forces him to work to repeat his delivery consistently. There is effort in the delivery and the long levers that aid his extension also make it hard to keep all the moving parts in sync. All of this has led to concerns about control as an amateur. He needs a clear third pitch right now, hopefully the changeup.

Key Stats

In 2022, Clemmey pitched six innings for the Team USA 17U team and struck out seven while walking five.

Intangibles

Character wise, Clemmey checks a lot of boxes. He was a good student in high school, volunteered with the Special Olympics and with youth baseball camps.

Cleveland values character and high level amateur experience and likely valued Clemmey’s experience with the Team USA 17U team.

Future

Obviously, there’s a wide range of outcomes for Clemmey’s potential here. A big, lanky frame with a hard fastball and a devastating curve make you want to dream on Randy Johnson, Chris Sale, Andrew MIller or Josh Hader. There alone, you see a potential ace, or a potential ace reliever. Baseball history is also littered with arms and bodies like Clemmey that don’t throw enough strikes to make it to the majors. Ryan Anderson, Jesse Biddle, Andy Sisco - you get the idea. The good outcomes here are really good. A Chris Sale or Andrew Miller, or never makes it to the majors. Of course there is always room for the in-between, but if you were to ask what the highest likelihood of outcomes for Clemmey are, it’s probably these, ace/ace reliever, or a lot of untapped potential.

Given his age and inexperience pitching in a cold weather area, it would seem likely Clemmey ends up playing most of 2024 in the ACL rookie setting, and if all goes well, maybe he sees a handful of outings in Lynchburg.

Role

40 - Boom or bust frontline starter/ace reliever

<

Cleveland Guardian Prospect Report 3/30/24

JUSTIN LADA

MAR 31

TRIPLE-A: St. Paul Saints 8, Columbus Clippers 1

Highlights

RHP Nic Enright (Columbus): IP, 3K -

Enright was truly a lone bright spot for the Clippers in their second attempt at the season opening in St. Paul. He struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth, sitting 92-94. That’s a nice development for the Virginia reliever. At one time as a reliever, he was 90-94 and now has a higher velocity floor and can hit 95. One year removed from beating cancer while with Miami as a Rule 5 pick, he is back to proving he deserves a real MLB chance yet again.

Daniel Schneemann (Columbus, SS): 1-2, RBI, BB, 2B -

Schneemann had a nice offensive performance with a walk and a double to drive in a run. It was a tough day for the Clippers offense otherwise. There’s some talk that Schneemann could make his major league debut this year. It would be hard to see it in Cleveland with all of the infielders on the 40, but as we continue to state, he has earned it, if they find a spot somehow.

Notable perfomances

Jhonkeny Noel (Columbus, LF): 1-4, 2B, K -

It was a tough day for Noel but he still managed the only notable hit for the Clippers with a double. He struck out chasing a slider from David Festa out of the zone and then had some trouble in left defensively with the wind.

LHP Will Dion (Columbus, SP): 4.2IP, 5H, 7ER, 4BB, 6K -

Tough Triple-A debut for Dion as he gave up a pair of hard hit homers. His velocity was 88-90, which is where he’d been. There was some though tweaks to his delivery and working with Driveline might help increase his velo. One start it, that hasn’t happened yet but we’ll see. He still managed to miss some bats, but the walks where uncharacteristic for him and the homers were too a year ago. Will Triple-A change that?

RHP Hunter Stanley (Columbus): 1.1IP, 2H, K -

Hard to say who is going to be in Columbus’ rotation right now with Cantillo hurt. It looked like Stanley might be again but he following Dion. Stanley profiles better as a reliever anyway but I'd imagine he’ might be needed to start.

RHP Tanner Burns (Columbus): IP, H,BB, K, HR -

Burns gave up a homer to the first batter he faced. It looks like the move to the pen will stick for now. He was only 92-93 out of the pen to start. But it is March and it’s cold.

Juan Brito (Columbus, 3B): 0-3, 3K, BB -

Not often you see Brito strike out like this. Hopefully just some first game rust in the cold.

BOX SCORE

https://www.milb.com/gameday/clippers-v ... dium=email

<


<

Cleveland Guardians Perspective

I have been posting on Indians' forums and blogging about the Indians for most of the last 30 years. Stop by here to read interesting articles and opinions not allowed on most Tribe forums. This site is not affiliated with the Cleveland Guardians - Dennis

... MINOR LEAGUE ROSTERS

The minor league rosters are being rolled out for Guardians' affiliates. Let's look at them to see what stands out.

Columbus (AAA)

This roster is stacked with prospects, but not so stacked that it will be hard to find playing time for our high level prospects coming out of the gate. Here is a projected opening day lineup.

Straw CF
Brito 2B
Rodriguez RF
Manzardo 1B
Noel LF
Schneeman 3B
Tena SS
Lavastida C
Delgado DH

When Angel Martinez comes back, hopefully soon, you could plug him in for Delgado and have a lineup of all prospects plus Straw. This does hurt the chances of Pries, Delgado and Cedrola getting playing time and if Valera comes back soon, probably one of those guys will have to be reassigned or released.

As far as the pitching staff, it is readily apparent for the entire off-season that there is a problem with depth starters at AAA now that Cantillo is out for 2+ months with the hamstring injury. Maybe when Lively and Curry Will Dion is the only prospect starter they have with the rest of the rotation being pieced together with AAA types. The bullpen, on the other hand, looks really interesting with Aleman, Burns, LaBout, Gose and Enright, not to mention all the AAAA guys we acquired last fall and this spring. Hopefully those 5 get the bulk of the bullpen experiences this season although I think their reps may suffer now that 40-man guys Kent and Strzelecki are in the group.

Akron (AA)

There are a number of interesting positions players here. At catcher we get our first look at Kody Huff who was acquired in the Quantrill giveaway to Colorado. He looks like an organizational guy to me but the Guardians are apparently higher on him than his stats and pedigree would seem to warrant. Backing him up is Micael Ramirez who still is on the edge of being a prospect. The infield has Bracho, Frias, Watson and Tolentino, all who have prospect potential and the overdrafts Cairo and Valdes who have fizzled as prospects. In the OF there is DeLauter, Halpin, Lampe and Planez. DeLauter is obviously the crown jewel but Halpin is a true prospect, Planez had a Noel trajectory before he was injured and Lampe is on the borderline of being a failed slap hitter from the 2022 draft who needs a big year to redeem the scouting department for overdrafting yet another LHH slap hitter with a good batting eye. If you remember Lampe started hot at Lake County but fizzled out, becoming more of an afterthought as the year went on.

As far as pitching, there are a lot of underperforming guys, guys with limited tools but who are grinders and guys with potentially electric stuff if they can harness it. EIGHT pitchers from the 2021 draft are here and they all have various levels of ML potential. Put those guys together with Benton, Torries Jr.,, Carver, Hanner and Jones and this would be the best collection of arms on a team in our entire minor league system. That doesn't even count former first rounder Ethan Hankins and 2023 2nd rounder Andrew Walters who has stuff electric enough he could be in the big leagues in the last half of this year. As I said, clearly, to me, the most exciting minor league pitching staff in our system with every single guy having some chance of pitching in the majors some day. EVERY SINGLE GUY.

Lake County (High A)

***Updated as LC roster has now been published:

C Cooper Ingle
1B - CJ Kayfus
INF - Maick Collado
INF - Jose Devers
INF - Nate Furman
INF - Alex Mooney
INF/OF Jake Fox
OF - Guy Lipscomb
OF - Justin Boyd

LHSP - Parker Messick
LHSP - Steve Hajjar
RHRP - Magnus Ellerts
RHP - Trenton Denholm
RHRP - Alaska Abney
RHRP - Shawn Rapp
RHRP - Jake Miller

The rest of the players and pitching staff appear to be just organizational guys and/or returning players, making this team not very competitive in their league but at least the guys in bold above are somewhat interesting with a number being top 30 prospects. Maybe some of these guys, as well, will surprise us and rock our top 30 list come November.

Lynchburg (A)

Every position player is either an interesting prospect or a high college draft pick who should perform at a high level and make the team more competitive. The pitching staff is less stacked than the position players with a lot of organizational college pitchers from the 2023 draft and some interesting returning and new arms signed through our international system. There is a chance this pitching staff, performance-wise, could be very competitive with, of course, heightened interest in Clemmey, Humphries, Gomez and Richardson. In summary as far as Lynchburg, I could see this being one of the most exciting teams in our system to watch as either guys will explode out of Lynchburg this year or, if healthy and not performing, fall into the organizational player bin by the end of this season.

I did want to interject one comment, though. At least 50% of the value of Ralph Velasquez was the possibility that he could catch as a pro. While he has a good hit tool it is, in my opinion, a Comp A or early 2nd round profile w/o being a catcher. So the fact that they list him as an infielder is disappointing if they have, indeed, given up on him as a catcher. My pick for that spot was Hurston Waldrep who is the 87th ranked prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline and is starting his first full pro season in AA with a real chance to pitch in Atlanta this year, exactly where he could have been if the Guardians drafted him instead of letting him fall to the very next pick where the astute Atlanta Braves picked him up. BTW, Velasquez was nowhere to be found in the MLB Pipeline top 100.

<

Clips had 3 first inning hits but failed to score. Straw singled for the second day in a row, Tena hit into a dp, Brito singled, Rodriquez doubled, but Noel grounded out.

Pries, DelGado, and Nunez all struck out in the second.

Brito got the Clips on the board with a 2-run blast. End of 3, Clips on top on 2-0 Middle of 4.

Clips take a 2-1 lead into the home half of the 5th.

Clips holding on to a 2-1 lead after 6.

Bottom of 7. Clippers still on top 2-1. Alemam on in relief. A ground out and a pair of strikeouts. End of 7, Clips 2-1.

The south paw, Banda on in relief for the Clippers in the bottom of the 8th. Clippers hanging on by a thread with a 2-1 lead.