2023 Next Year in Cleveland Cleveland Guardians Rookie Prospect of the Year
Photo: Courtesy Akron RubberDucks
This ‘Rookie of the Year’ Award doesn’t go to the best prospect who had the best year at the MLB level. This is for prospects making their pro debuts in the system. Only domestic prospects were considered for this award due to having a hard time seeing international level players and taking those stats seriously over players who played in MiLB this year.
OF Chase DeLauter: 242 PA, 355/.417/.528, 22 2B, 5 HR, .428 wOBA, 159 wRC+
The concerning foot injury delayed DeLauter’s debut after being drafted in 2022 and into 2023 as he continued to have leg issues. He even had a high ankle sprain in season. But once he shook that off and ramped up to play regularly, all he did was hit. He hit at High-A until the end of the year when he got a quick promotion to Double-A to end the year. He had an update and down performance in the AFL but overall had some of the best offensive numbers in the first year for a draft pick in the system in quite some time.
LHP Parker Messick: 121.2 IP, 136 K/39 BB, 3.77 ERA/3.87 FIP, 26.2 K%/7.5 BB%, 1.22 WHIP
There was no reason for Parker Messick to start at Low-A in 2023 after coming from the ACC a year ago. But a backlog of arms and needing innings to pitch, and the Lynchburg staff needing to be filled out contributed to that. Messick pitched well enough there and moved up to High-A with similar results. Running his fastball up to 92 at times, Messick can dominate with command and a strong slider. He had plenty of double strikeout games, but also had his fair share of shakier starts. Still, he performed mostly as expected throughout the year and looks like he should be in line to fill a back-end rotation role with control, a deceptive fastball and a bat-missing slider.
(Honorable Mention)
OF Guy Lipscomb: 321 PA, .263/.386/.351, 12 2B, HR, 48/53 SB, 17.4 K%, 16.5 BB%, 118 wRC+, .364 wOBA
Some missed time with fractured wrist did slow Lipscomb down in his first year playing in the system, and he lacked any serious power (as most do in the Guardians organization, right?), but he got on base and stole bases at a high and successful rate. Lipscomb has the frame to add power and is very fast. There’s some concern how his K/BB rates will translate from facing less than idea competition in Low-A and a passive approach, but the OBP and steals here make him one of the better performers among the Guardians first year prospects in 2023.
2023 Cleveland Guardians Rookie Prospect of the Year
OF Chase DeLauter: 242 PA, 355/.417/.528, 22 2B, 5 HR, .428 wOBA, 159 wRC+
Considering how few members of the 2022 draft class for Cleveland played in 2023 and how few performed strongly to start their careers off, DeLauter was the easy and only choice here for how strongly he played once he was on the field the whole time. There were some questions about how well DeLauter would fare in pro ball, coming from a small school. Others wondered if his strange looking, truncated swing would cause issues. But DeLauter barely slumped since he was healthy from working back from his foot issues. Now the question will be if he can carry it to Double-A, where he had a brief taste in 2023, and did fairly well in the AFL as well.