Cleveland Guardians prospect recap 4/7/23
Tanner Bibee is off to a ripping start, the Clippers offense exploded, and a former big name prospect had a nice night in Akron
Columbus Clippers 4, Charlotte Knights 0 (Game 1)
Columbus Clippers 17, Charlotte Knights 0 (Game 2)
Akron RubberDucks 6, Erie Seawolves 4
Lake County Captains 2, Dayton Dragons 1
Fredericksburg Nationals 4, Lynchburg Hillcats 1
Highlights
RHP Tanner Bibee (SP, Columbus): 5IP, 4H, BB, 7K - Bibee casually struck out the first two batters he faced on eight pitches. He was perfect through three and only allowed a single through four. He gave up back to back singles in the fifth, but recovered to strike out the final two of that inning, before issuing a walk at the end of his outing. His average fastball was 95 and he was just a shade under 98. He got seven swings and misses with his fastball. If his April continues to look like this, he is going to be kicking down that door to the big leagues, as Tito likes to say. And it will be hard to ignore all the noise by then.
David Fry (1B-3B, Columbus): 4-6, 3B, 6 RBI - Starting at first in game one and moving to third later in that game, and staying at first in all of game two, Fry tripled and brought in six runs over the 14 innings played. He also drew a walk. Hard to produce any better of a day, but the Clippers did…
Bo Naylor (C-DH, Columbus): 3-5, 3 BB, 2 2B, 4 RBI - Bo continues his torrid start by collecting just a hit in game one, but two as the DH in game two. A great April doesn’t mean everything, or maybe not much at all in the grand scheme of things. But that’s going to make things interesting and definitely a good sign.
Brayan Rocchio (SS-2B, Columbus): 3-7, 2B, BB - Rocchio had just one hit in game one but had two hits, plus worked a walk in Columbus’ big game two win.
Richie Palacios (CF, Columbus): 3-6, 3 BB, RBI - Despite not getting a big league role to start the season, Palacios has been playing well for Columbus, getting off to a good start until he can find a big league role somewhere.
Petey Halpin (CF, Akron): 2-5, 2B, R, K - Halpin is leading off and hitting well through a few games so far. He seems poised for a big year.
Aaron Bracho (2B, Akron): 1-2, HR, RBI, 2BB - A little surprised that Bracho is still hanging around but it would be very interesting if he somehow finally shows some promise at Double-A after having no success at High-A the last two years.
LHP Ryan Webb (SP, Lake County): 4.2IP, 2H, 3BB, 4K - Webb didn’t have great control in his first outing, but he’s Lake County’s most talented arm this year (at least until hopefully Justin Campbell can join them if he recovers from an elbow injury). His college experience level, he should be better than a lot of hitters in this league.
RHP Tyler Thornton (RP, Lake County): IP, 2BB, 2K - Very interested to see what this Lake County bullpen can do, as it has a number of intriguing arms, with Thornton being up there among the better ones.
LHP Parker Messick (SP, Lynchburg): 4IP, 7H, BB, 5K - With Messick’s college experience, he should probably start in High-A, but the backlog of pitching keeps him in Low-A, where he will probably regularly post lines like this, and better once he settles in.
Notable performances
Daniel Schneemann (3B-2B, SS, Columbus): 3-5, 2 BB, HR, 3 RBI - Schneemann had a homer in game two while playing short.
LHP Konnor Pilkington (SP, Columbus): 4IP, H, 4BB, 3K - Not great command for Pilkington, but a better stat line than his start against Iowa last week. Although that Iowa lineup was much better than this Charlotte lineup. A LOT better.
RHP Kyle Marman (RP, Columubs): IP, 2H, 3K - Marman struck out the side to end game two. I just can’t quit finding this guy interesting throwing 93-95 with a high arm slot and big hook.
Angel Marintez (SS, Akron): 1-4, 2 RBI, BB - Also expecting a big year from Martinez now that he’s settling in at Double-A,
LHP Doug Nikhazy (RP, Akron): 1.2IP, 2R (0ER), 4BB, 3K - Nikhazy needed 56 pitches to navigate 1.2 innings of work. That at least means he’s stretched out. I wonder if he was supposed to work as a piggyback to Ross Carver, who started and walked four in three innings of work himself. But I’m watching to see what role Nikhazy has and how they work their rotation in Akron.
RHP Cade Smith (RP, Akron): IP, SV - 14 pitches, eight strikes. No strikeouts but a clean line from Smith.
Yordys Valdes (3B, Lake County): 1-3, 2B, RBI - Not much offense from Lake County Friday night but Valdes had a double and an RBI. I did like how he was swinging the bat in the playoffs to end 2022, so it will be interesting to see where he’s at offensively this year.
Jorge Burgos (RF, Lake County): 1-3, 2B, R - Burgos is one of the few Captains off to a good start offensively, with a grand slam Thursday and a double on Friday.
Nate Furman (2B, Lynchburg): 1-2, BB - Two times on base for Furman in three plate appearances is exactly what you would expect. Interesting he’s hitting at the bottom of the order with his speed and on-base skills.
Pres Cavenaugh (LF, Lynchburg): 1-2, BB - Four walks total drawn by Lynchburg in this one, all mostly from experienced college hitters from the ‘22 draft.
Guy Lipscomb (RF, Lynchburg): 1-2, BB - Same for Lipscomb, unfortunately he added an error.
LHP Shawn Rapp (RP, Lynchburg): 1.1IP, H, R (0 ER), BB, 3K - Interesting that Rapp fanned three of the four batters he retired. A relief arm in Lynchburg worth keeping an eye on this year.