It’s time to see which Guardians’ prospects are making waves as the latest round of promotions sweeps the fanbase.

I’ve provided a couple updates on Guardians’ minor league stats this season, the last one on July 15th. In this one, I am going to offer some additional context on stats since May 11th (three months). This isn’t to say that April stats don’t matter, but I think it’s important to recognize how difficult the first month of the season can be for young players, especially those playing in the cold weather environs of Akron, Columbus and Eastlake. I won’t be including players who have been promoted (at any point) to the big leagues.

Triple-A Standouts:
Hitters:
Chase DeLauter, 23 years old, 130 wRC+, 15.4/14.8 K/BB% – Oh, Chase. Please get well soon.

Pitchers:
Franco Aleman, RHrP, 25 years old, 3.50 FIP, 14.73/5.26 K/BB/9 – Aleman is walking too many guys, but his main issue is the 15.8% Home Run-per-Fly Ball rate. This is PROBABLY mostly affected by pitching in a hitter’s park. I’d like to see Aleman get a look topside before the season ends.
Parker Messick, LHP, 24 years old, 3.73 FIP, 11.07/3.88 K/BB/9 – Messick looks ready for a turn as a major league fifth starter, and he may possibly get his first taste of the bigs in the bullpen in Septemer (provided Guardians’ starters stay healthy and he isn’t needed for the rotation).
Austin Peterson, RHP, 24 years old, 4.47 FIP, 8.70/3.44 K/BB/9 at Triple-A – Overall, those numbers don’t pop, but over the past month, Peterson has a 3.29 FIP and 8.89/2.54 K/BB/9, so he’s adjusting well to the Triple-A level. I think Peterson still has #3-starter potential.

Double-A Standouts:
Hitters:
Cooper Ingle, C, 23 years old, 149 wRC+, 17.5/15.8 K/BB% – Ingle certainly earned his Columbus promotion yesterday by being one the best hitters in his league while playing the toughest position.
Travis Bazzana, 2B, 22 years old, 141 wRC+, 23.7/12.9 K/BB% – Bazzana joins other top prospects in the 2025 MLB draft by advancing to Triple-A where can begin to knock on the door of the big leagues. How quickly he makes it will depend on how well he is able to handle the steady diet of breaking balls on the very outside edge of the zone that other teams feed him. Excited to get some Statcast data soon on Bazzana, and intrigued to see if the team will give him some play in the outfield at some point.

(Watch Angel Genao, SS, who is still getting his legs under him at Akron with a 97 wRC+. Hoping for a big last few weeks for him before the season is over)

Pitchers:
Yorman Gomez, RHP, 22 years old, 1.94 FIP, 10.71/3.26 K/BB/9 at Double-A – Careful readers of our site will know we were talking about Yorman Gomez before it was cool, but Gomez’s mid-90’s fastball and breaking ball mix has played very well at Akron so far. We’ll see if he can make it to Columbus before the season’s end.
Jake Miller, RHrP, 24 years old, 2.73 FIP, 8.15/1.99 K/BB/9 (just promoted to Columbus) – Miller is a real option as a reliever for the big league club in the not-too-distant future.
Dylan DeLucia, RHP, 24 years old, 2.85 FIP, 7.84/3.14 K/BB/9 – DeLucia is running a home run-to-fly ball rate drastically lower than his career norms, so while the overall numbers look solid, I am not sure how sustainable this is.

High-A Standouts:
Hitters:
Alfonsin Rosario, OF, 21 years old, 137 wRC+, 25.1/10.5 K/BB% – He strikes out a good bit, but as long as Rosario can continue to take walks and make a big impact when he DOES hit the ball, he is tracking to be a potential corner outfield option in the majors at some point. He’s now trying his hand at Double-A pitching.
Wuilfredo Antunez, OF, 23 years old, 132 wRC+, 23.2/9.2 K/BB% – Antunez is currently on the injured list (he’s a snake-bitten player, sadly), but had put up a good offensive season until then.
Jacob Cozart, C, 22 years old, 104 wRC+ (135 wRC+ since June 1st), 21.1/13.3 K/BB% – Cozart has really rebounded from a very difficult start at the plate. He’s a great defender so, if he can continue this offensive excellence now that he’s been promoted to Akron, he’s going to make the team look like a genius for picking him so high in the 2024 draft.
Ralphy Velazquez, 1B/OF, 20 years old, Since June 1st: 141 wRC+, 17.9/9.4 K/BB% – After a horrific start to the year at the plate, Ralphy has figured it out and earned his promotion, yesterday, to Akron. He’s also still very young for High-A, let alone Double-A. It will be interesting to see if he can hang defensively in left and right field; it looks promising on that end.

Pitchers:
Josh Hartle, LHP, 22 years old, 3.12 FIP, 8.58/3.18 K/BB/9 – Cannot believe they got Ortiz AND Hartle and Kennedy from the Pirates this winter. Luis Ortiz, you can kick rocks, though.
Michael Kennedy, RHP, 20 years old, 3.64 FIP, 9.20/3.68 K/BB/9 – Cannot believe they got Ortiz AND Hartle and Kennedy from the Pirates this winter. Luis Ortiz, you can kick rocks, though.
Caden Favors, LHP, 23 years old, 3.89 FIP, 9.62/4.55 K/BB/9 – He’s walking a few too many guys, but Favors looks at the very least that he can be an excellent lefty bullpen arm, if need be.
Steven Perez, LHrP, 2.38 FIP, 24 years old, 10.35/1.80 K/BB/9 – Just promoted to Akron, Perez is a fun lefty reliever who may make himself a big league option at some point.
Jack Jasiak, RHrP, 2.87 FIP, 24 years old, 10.06/2.18 K/BB/9 – Both Perez and Jasiak are a LITTLE old for the level, but there is still major league relief potential with both if they can continue to advance and perform well. Jasiak was promoted to Akron yesterday.

Low-A Standouts:
Hitters:
Juniker Caceres, OF, 17 years old, 204 wRC+, 23.1/5.1 K/BB% – If you weren’t aware from reading our Tommy Pecoraro’s preseason prospect rankings and our updates from ACL, Caceres is a very exciting prospect who has exploded into affiliate ball with a bang. Don’t trade him for a Rays’ pitcher, Antonetti.
Bennett Thompson, C, 22 years old, 119 wRC+, 13.6/12.6 K/BB% – Thompson just got the promotion to Lake County where we will see if the catcher can continue to display the effectiveness of his contact-oriented approach at the plate.

Pitchers:
Jogly Garcia, RHP, 21 years old, 1.39 FIP, 15.85/4.11 K/BB/9 – Garcia is striking out EVERYBODY. Interested to see how he progresses from here.
Logan McGuire, RHrP, 22 years old, 2.57 FIP, 10.76/1.59 K/BB/9 – Another eminently pitchable reliever from the Cleveland pitching factory, ho-hum.
Braylon Doughty, RHP, 19 years old, 2.83 FIP, 10.40/2.55 K/BB/9 – Doughty is so young for this level and performing so well. This is exciting.
Rafe Schlesigner, LHP, 22 years old, 3.15 FIP, 9.47/3.66 K/BB/9 – Schlesinger is really thriving in the Cleveland system and I think the promotion to Lake County yesterday made a lot of sense. Excited to see how he does there.
Cam Walty, RHP, 22 years old, 2.57 FIP, 10.76/1.59 K/BB/9 – Don’t forget about Walty who has flashed some brilliance with excellent control in limited time at Lynchburg.

With the news from Justin Lada of Locked On Guardians that some Guardians’ draftees will be debuting at Lynchburg soon, it’s a good time to take a look at the minor league season so far and appreciate that it’s been a good season for Guardians’ prospects so far. Hoping for a strong finish!