Cleveland Guardians Prospect Report: 4/11/26

George Valera (LF, Columbus): 0-5 – This is really the first game of Valera’s rehab that he didn’t do anything at the plate. However, he did hit the ball 102, 98, and 97 off the bat, so the batted ball quality was still good. Ironically enough, the batted ball data at this point hasn’t really been great for him despite the performance. He’s been on rehab assignment since April 1, and position players get 20 days. So he’s still got a little over a week before Cleveland needs to make a decision.

Kahlil Watson (RF, Columbus): 3-4, 3B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, BB, K – The stats for Watson coming into this game weren’t great, but the underlying batted ball data suggested he was getting unlucky, and he was doing a great job not chasing and hitting the ball hard. He finally broke out in a big way in this game.

WHAT A GAME FOR KAHLIL WATSON🤯

11, 2026

Travis Bazzana (2B, Columbus): 2-4, 3R, BB, K – Singled at 110 MPH off a Kutter Crawford cutter in a five pitch at bat, and then another cutter off Kutter on the first pitch (99). He did later chase a slider for a strikeout, grounded out on a changeup out of the zone, and did work a six pitch walk later. Right now, breaking balls are giving him a hard time between swing and miss and making bad quality contact. So before he’s ready for his MLB debut, those are things he needs to have better success against those pitches.

Travis Bazzana starts the game with a pair of base hits👏

11, 2026

Rorik Maltrud (SP, Columbus): 6IP, 2H, BB, 4K – Maltrud is essentially in the Columbus rotation right now because of Yorman Gomez’s shoulder injury. His fastball did average 92 and get up to 94, generating five whiffs and he also through his slider for strikes and got three whiffs on it. So overall a solid day for him stuff wise.

Wuilfredo Antunez (LF, Akron) 3-5, 3B, HR, 3 RBI – Antunez is off to a good start in Double-A this year, showing that his shoulder issue in the AFL is past time and he is hitting for power again.

Ralphy Velazquez (1B, Columbus): 2-5, HR, 3 RBI – Ironically, Ralphy is running a very high groundball rate, which isn’t great. But the production is quite good so far and is hitting like a future start and the best hitting prospect this organization has had in a long time.

BOOM! Ralphy Velazquez crushes his 2nd homer of the season!
107 mph🚀425 feet
TOP 1 | Akron 2 | Harrisburg 0

11, 2026

Caden Favors (SP, Akron): 5.2IP, H, ER, 3BB, 8K – Another really strong start for Favors, who got up to 94 with his fastball in this one. Still, he’s not really a hard stuff kinda pitcher anyway. It’s mostly cutters and breaking stuff and it’s working and he’s sort of emerging onto the radar as a prospect now.

Harrison Bodendorf (SP, Hill City): 4.2IP, 2H, BB, 9K – The 2025 10th rounder out of Oklahoma State has a 13-2 K:BB ratio in his first two pro outings (7.2 IP).

Nolan Jones (DH, Columbus): 1-5, HR, 2 RBI, 3K – Hit a 113 MPH homer, giving him four. The underlying data looks like Nolan Jones again, hitting the ball hard, not chasing, but also being passive. His average launch angle is still below 10, so he’s not getting the ball in the air enough either despite his homers. So this just looks like the same Nolan Jones, dominating Triple-A but hard to see how it works in MLB.

Franco Aleman (RP, Columbus): IP, BB, 2K – Got four whiffs on 10 swings, two each with the fastball (averaging 96) and the slider. Continues to look very solid and should be on track to make his MLB debut this year if he stays healthy and when the need arises.

Angel Genao (SS, Akron): 2-5, RBI, BB, Error (F) – It’s shocking to see Genao walk so much, as he’s always been mostly an aggressive hitter. His swing rate is so down from normal (48.3% from last year to 32.4% so far in 2026), but that looks to be mostly from the quality of pitching he is seeing. He’s definitely not chasing an is really raising his stock again. The error is also surprising.

Nick Mitchell (RF, Akron): 2-4, BB, K – Mitchell has had a solid start at Double-A so far despite not having a ton of High-A experience last year.

Cam Schuelke (RP, Lake County): 2IP, 2H, K – Only needed 28 pitches (18 strikes) to get through two innings and was the only Captains pitcher on the day to not allow any runs.

Tyler Howard (C, Hill City): 2-3, 2 BB – Reached based four times in this one for a short career best.

Jose Pirela (LF, Hill City): 2-4, 2 RBI, BB – And 20 year old OF is off to a much better start in 2026 than he showed in 2026.

Luis De La Cruz (1B, Hill City): 2-3, 3 RBI, BB – A switch hitter, De La Cruz has played all over the field in his short career.