For the first time since 2023, none of the Guardians’ minor-league affiliates are playing in the minor-league playoffs.

Single-A Hill City and High-A Lake County are finished, and Double-A Akron wrapped up its season this weekend. Triple-A Columbus will end the season at the end of the month without a playoff spot.

In 2025, Columbus, Lake County and Hill City (then known as Lynchburg) all qualified for the playoffs, with the Howlers (Hill Cats) winning the Carolina League title.

Akron is now two years without a playoff appearance.

How much does winning at the minor-league level really matter?

Well, for Akron in 2024, their roster had Parker Messick and Chase DeLauter, though DeLauter was hurt most of the year.

Petey Halpin, CJ Kayfus, Cooper Ingle, and Nate Furman have all been in the majors and have contributed something to Cleveland (Furman via trade to the Giants).

Lake County’s 2024 roster when it won the championship had Travis Bazzana, Angel Genao, Ingle, Fuman and Kayfus, as well as Messick for part of the year, as well as Matt Wilkinson.

Going back to 2010, the previous Lake County championship, only Roberto Perez and Danny Salazar ended up as impact major leaguers.

Playoff experience is important, and the players certainly care. Winning in the minors should mean you have a good, competitive roster. But it may not mean that those rosters are going to be full of future major leaguers or impact players.

Cleveland Guardians minor league news and notes

• Matt Foreman, assistant GM for the Guardians, told reporters that Ralphy Velazquez is day to day with “lingering lower body soreness.” They’re hoping to get him back in the lineup soon, but did not specify when. He last played Sept. 6.

There is no reason to have Velazquez play through any sort of injury at this point in the season, especially in Triple-A. Still, it will be a good sign to see him return before the end of the season and hit that 30th home run so everyone can be assured he is going into the offseason healthy and ready to go for spring training in 2027, where he will be able to report to in the event of a lockout, as he is not on the 40-man roster.

• Guardians free-agent relief signing Shawn Armstrong suffered a “pretty significant calf tear,” according to Manager Stephen Vogt, and was placed on the 60-day injured list. He pitched in his first rehab appearance with Columbus on Sept. 11, allowing two hits and a run in an inning. He’s eligible to be activated on Sept. 23.

• When the Guardians used their Competitive Balance Round B pick in 2023 on reliever Andrew Walters, Cleveland hoped it was getting a quick-to-big-leagues bullpen arm who would slide into a high-leverage role. While he did make it to the majors by 2024, after having UCL brace surgery on his right elbow this past week, Walters is now likely to miss the majority of three straight seasons from 2025, 2026 and 2027. He was recovering from surgery for his torn lat muscle in 2025 when he started dealing with an illness and then returned to have elbow pain requiring surgery.

• Drafting college relievers in early rounds comes with risk. Cleveland had success with Nick Sandlin (second round, 2018) but Zack and Nick Burdi both were highly drafted and went through several injuries. The Angels’ Ben Joyce was one of the most coveted college relievers and has struggled with his health as well.
Left-hander Rafe Schlesinger finished the season with his longest career outing, going 6 1/3 innings on Sept. 11, another shutout performance by the Miami product. He struck out five, walked two and allowed four hits. He didn’t allow a run over his final three starts (17 innings), and struck out 15, walked just five and allowed 10 hits. There is a good chance Schlesinger starts next year at Double-A Akron again, but ends up in Triple-A Columbus pretty quickly. It’s still possible his future and best role is as a reliever, but it’s likely he’ll continue to work as a starter in the near future.

✨A dazzling start by @SlushSlinger

6.1 scoreless innings, 4 hits, 2 walks, 5⃣ strikeouts@GuardsInsider @MLBPipeline pic.twitter.com/er6LewIR38

— Akron RubberDucks (@AkronRubberDuck) September 11, 2026

• Another left-handed starter who ended the year on a strong note is Franklin Gomez at Double-A Akron. He came off the injured list (elbow) on Aug. 21, and made his first start since June 13 at Akron, and allowed five runs in 2 2/3 innings in his Double-A debut. After that start, he allowed just two runs in his final three outings (14 innings) with 11 strikeouts, five walks and eight hits. Gomez is Rule 5 eligible this winter, should that event commence during the lockout. He would need to be added to the 40-man roster.

• Right now Cleveland seems to have some interesting left-handed arms in the minors. LHP Caden Favors posted 128 innings this year, and finished with 140 strikeouts in 128 innings. Both those numbers led Cleveland’s minor league system for the season, with Schlesinger just behind him at 130 strikeouts. In Favors’ final start, he tied his second-longest outing of the year with six innings and also tied his second-most strikeouts in a start of the season with nine. He did allow four runs but had some bad luck on soft contact and did walk just one batter. Favors was Cleveland’s sixth-round pick in 2024 out of Wichita State. His fastball is about 94 mph, but he throws a cutter more often and his best pitch is a big curveball. There is also a chance that his future role is as a reliever, but he could be a good one with his big breaking ball and could help improve his fastball. He’ll likely start 2027 in Triple-A Columbus.

With 9⃣ strikeouts in 6⃣ innings, @cadenfavors2 has a #GuardsBall organization-leading 140 strikeouts this season @GuardsInsider pic.twitter.com/cHhKaZIrrE

— Akron RubberDucks (@AkronRubberDuck) September 11, 2026

• 2024 Competitive Balance Round A pick Braylon Doughty (Double-A) struck out nine in his final start of the season at Altoona, though he did allow five runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings. Doughty struggled in his final month of the season, allowing 18 runs in his final four outings. After his season was paused on July 31 until Aug. 13 with “arm fatigue” he allowed just four hits in seven innings in two outings. He did finish with 123 strikeouts in 109 2/3 innings for the season. He’ll turn 21 this December and will likely be back in Akron to start 2027.

Braylon Doughty matches his career high with 9⃣ strikeouts in 5.1 innings

He finishes the year with career highs of 123 K in 109.2 IP@MLBPipeline @GuardsInsider pic.twitter.com/2751zKcjbr

— Akron RubberDucks (@AkronRubberDuck) September 13, 2026