Cleveland Sports Forum

ESPN calls the Guardians the 7th best minor league system.

Among the highlights are last year's batch of high school pitchers; Doughty has had a very solid first full season in Lynchburg and really excelled in July and August
I know he's now on the IL, haven't read why... sure hope it's minor we can't afford to lose him.

Another of the kids is Joey Oakie, has just completed a stellar night for Lynchburg: 5 no-hit innings, he walked 4 but also struck out 11.
His first couple months in Arizona were not pretty, 21 innings, 24 hits, 18 walks, 25 earned runs; 28 strikeouts\
Settled down in July with only 4 runs and 12 hits in 14 innings, 5 walks and 19 K's
Then up to Lynchburg. Before tonight his 4 starts had totalled 14.2 innings, 16 hits, 6 ER, 3 homers, 10 walks, 9 strikeouts

The third is Chase Mobley. Big 6-5 kid, some reviews suggest he has the most talent of the three. Has not shown his best yet.
Plenty of K's 27 in 18 1/3 innings. But a 9.33 ERA, His Lynchburg debut last week his line was 1.1 5 5 3 2 2

as noted
Joey Oakie, RHP, Guardians: Low-A Lynchburg righthander Joey Oakie struck out 11 of the 18 Fredericksburg batters he faced on Thursday. The 19-year-old covered five innings and allowed four walks and no hits. He struck out the side in the first, fourth and fifth innings. The Guardians drafted Oakie in the third round in 2024 out of high school in Iowa. He opened this season in the Arizona Complex League, striking out 47 in 35 innings to go with a 7.46 ERA. Cleveland pushed Oakie to Low-A after the ACL season ended.

and that was not the only fine start yesterday, Austin Peterson aiming to prove he belongs on the 40 man roster
goes 8 shutout 4 hit innings, no walks; 2 strikeouts. Not the hardest thrower but can be quite effecitive
He's a 6-6 righty
I can make a case for him over Nikhazy for the roster

And speaking of big guys with good control and not the hardest stuff, 6-6 LH Josh Hartle went a solid 6 innings in his second AA start, 2 runs on 6 hits, no walks and 5 strikeouts.

as for the offense yesterday

AAA: waiting for the call to CLE, Halpin and Valera each with a single; patient Bazzana 2 walks, Ingle with 3 walks.
AA: Antunez 2 singles and a walk; Velazquez and Rosario each a single; Genao nothing
High A: Chourio and MItchell each with a pair of singles
Low A: 18 year old Caceres 2 singles and a walk; college guys [perhaps they should be in LakeCounty?]
Nolan Schubert 3rd homer, single; 2 walks; steal
Walton a double
Howard double and 2 singles
teenage Arizona star Dauri Fernandez debuted in Lynchburg, hitless with a steal

Minor league walk leader Jackson Humprhies only issued 2 yesterday but still tagged for 3 earned runs in 4 innings

Friday highlights

Michael Kennedy (SP, Lake County): L (2-2), 5.2 IP, 7 H, 1 R (earned), 2 BB, 4 K - Kennedy continued his impressive August with his third five-plus inning/one-earned run start of the month. If only the Captains offense was this good last night…

Dean Curley (SS, Lynchburg): 3-4, 1 2B, 1 K - Curley wasn’t the entire Hillcat offense on Friday night, but there were points where it sure felt like it. Dean’s first professional multi-hit night included his first double as a pro.

Melkis Hernandez (SP, Lynchburg): ND, 6 IP, 2 H, 7 K - Hernandez’s no decision joins Kennedy’s individual defeat in making last night in the Guardians org a textbook example of why win-loss record is a lousy way to evaluate pitchers. Melkis did literally everything he could do, since allowing negative runs isn’t physically possible, topping his five-inning, one-run outing from last week with six shutout frames, and it still wasn’t enough to put him or the team as a whole in the W column.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES

Jhonkensy Noel (1B, Columbus): 2-4, 1 K - Noel just keeps hitting, with his third multi-hit game in his last six bringing his productive plate appearance streak into double digits.

Travis Bazzana (2B, Columbus): 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K - Bazzana doubled in the fifth (and later scored on the J-Rod homer) to break out of a three-game 0-for-9 slump.

Angel Genao (SS, Akron): 1-4, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 E - Genao’s second multi-RBI game of the week was the top performance from a RubberDucks lineup bereft of multi-hit performances on Friday night.

Ralphy Velazquez (1B, Akron): 1-3, 1 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP - Velazquez has reached multiple times in ten of his fifteen Double-A games, including five of the seven games in his active hitting streak, resulting in a .362/.471/.672 slash line at the level.

Jacob Cozart (C, Akron): 1-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K - Speaking of reaching safely multiple times, Cozart has done exactly that in each of his last four games, including all three he has played in this week.

Wuilfredo Antunez (LF, Akron): 1-5, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K - Antunez’s first-inning RBI double gave him his third multi-base game in as many days and fourth in his last five games played.

Joe Lampe (DH, Akron): 1-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 1 K - Lampe stayed hot at the plate on Friday, extending his hit streak to eight games.

Jaison Chourio (CF, Lake County): 2-4, 1 K, 1 E - Chourio’s second straight two-hit performance was the only one the Captains would get.

Bennett Thompson (DH, Lake County): 1-3, 1 BB, 1 K Thompson, the only other Captain to reach safely multiple times in Friday night's pitchers’ duel, has a 13-game productive plate appearance streak that includes his last two games as a Hillcat. Unsurprisingly, his High-A slash is .326/.375/.442.

Nick Mitchell (Lake County): 1-4, 1 K - Mitchell, who now has hits in ten of his last eleven games, extended his hit streak to seven contests with a fourth-inning single.

Esteban Gonzalez (Lake County): 1-4 - Gonzalez has now reached in 15 straight games dating back to August 10 in Dayton, with a hit in all but one of those contests.

Cannon Peebles (C, Lynchburg): 1-4, 1 2B, 2 K - Peebles joined his fellow 2025 draftee Curley in opening his doubles account on Friday night,

Saturday games as of 9 pm

Akron lost but Ralphy with AA number 5 and a single; Antunez sac fly;

Columbus behind 6-0. Bazzana and Watson with singles. JRod a double; Valera walked, maybe not ready for CLE after all? He's 2 for 18 this week.

Lake County likewise trailing 3-0 in the 9th. MItchell and Devers singles are the only hits. MItchell also a steal, 27th of the season, in 78 games.
hourio has, naturally, walked. Bennett Thompson has 3 walks.

Lynchburg also about to be shutout, 6-0 in the 9th. Schubert single and walk [364 with 1197 OPS], Hill with a double [351, 1036]
Mobley's second Lynchburg start another stinker: 4 walks and 2 runs in 1 2/3