Cleveland Guardians Prospect Report 5/14/25

Travis Bazzana leaves game with injury, more rehab action throughout the system

SCOREBOARD:

Omaha Storm Chasers 8, Columbus Clippers 3 - Statcast
Akron RubberDucks 7, Chesapeake Baysox 5 (F/7 - G1)
Akron RubberDucks 6, Chesapeake Baysox 1 (F/7 - G2)
Great Lakes Loons 3, Lake County Captains 1
Myrtle Beach Pelicans 3, Lynchburg Hillcats 2 (Suspended Game)
Lynchburg Hillcats 3, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 2 (F/8 - Scheduled Game)
ACL Royals 5, ACL Guardians 3

REHAB:

Lane Thomas (RF, Columbus): 0-for-3 - Thomas did not record a hit in each of his three plate appearances, but had a line drive out to left, a flyout to right where he was late on a middle cut sinker and a groundball out to the right side of the infield.

Chase DeLauter (RF, ACL Guardians): 1-for-2, R, HR, RBI, BB - DeLauter seems to be returning to form with a solo homerun in his fourth rehab game with the ACL team. He played seven full innings in right for the second straight start and drew a walk to reach base in two of his four plate appearances.

Nick Mitchell (DH, ACL Guardians): 1-for-4, R - Wednesday also marked the fourth rehab appearance of outfielder Nick Mitchell. He was the designated hitter after serving as the team’s center fielder for his first three starts and was 1-for-4 with an eighth inning single to right.

Tyler Thornton (RP, ACL Guardians): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BBs, 3 Ks - Thornton was ready to go for his rehab appearance in the bottom of the sixth of Wednesday’s game where he struck out all three batters he faced. He now has 12 strikeouts in just 4.1 innings pitched during this rehab stint to show he is ready to return to the upper echelons of the Cleveland system.

HIGHLIGHTS:

CJ Kayfus (1B-RF, Columbus): 2-for-3, BB, SB - Kayfus was able to reach base three times and showed his versatility by playing first base and right field once the rehabbing Thomas was removed from the game. He is batting .295 in the 12 games he has played in Triple-A thus far, most of which coming without the help of a hitter-friendly Huntington Park.

Dayan Frias (3B, Akron - G1): 3-for-3, R, HR, 2 RBIs, BB - Frias had four key at-bats for the RubberDucks in game one alone with a walk to help load the bases in the first, a solo homerun in the fourth, a single to load the bases in the fifth and an RBI single in the sixth to give the bullpen an insurance run. By the end of the day, Frias had reached base in eight consecutive games.

Jorge Burgos (1B, Akron - G1): 2-for-4, R, 4 RBIs, SB - Burgos combined with Frias for all five of the team’s hits in game one and the two drove in six of the team’s seven runs. His two-run single in the top of the sixth gave Akron the lead in the late stages of game one. Four RBIs for Burgos ties his season-high, but his day was not done there.

Jorge Burgos (1B, Akron - G2): 2-for-4, R, HR, 2 RBIs - Burgos made it four hits and six runs batted in after a homerun in game two that put Akron up 2-0 in the top of the first inning. After his day, Burgos took the lead in the Eastern League with 32 RBIs in total (12 in May).

Melkis Hernandez (SP, Lynchburg - Scheduled Game): ND, 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R (1 earned), 2 HBP, 5 K, 2 Pickoffs, 2 E - While he didn’t pick up the individual win thanks to allowing Myrtle Beach 2B Ty Southisene to score a tying run in the sixth thanks largely to a pair of pickoff errors that let him advance from first to third, making it six frames in a Single-A start, especially in the springtime, is an impressive feat in and of itself for Hernandez, who extended his K:BB ratio nearly 3.00 (35:13) in the 70-pitch process.

NOTABLE PERFORMANCES:

Brayan Rocchio (SS, Columbus): 1-for-2, 2 BBs, 2 SB, CS - In his return to the Clippers, Rocchio tried to cause as much havoc as possible by reaching base three times and he was 2-for-3 on steal attempts.

Johnathan Rodriguez (LF, Columbus): 2-for-4, RBI - Rodriguez was credited with a multi-hit game thanks to an infield single that plated a run in the eighth. He also had the hardest hit ball of the day for Columbus via a second inning single at 102.5 mph.

Jake Miller (RP, Akron - G1): S (2), 1.0 IP, H, 0 R, 0 BBs, 2 Ks - The 24-year-old right-hander peppered the strikezone (14 pitches, 12 strikes) for his second save of the season. He makes it eight straight appearances without allowing an earned run and lowers his ERA to 1.62 on the year.

Davis Sharpe (RP, Akron - G2): W (2-3), 3.0 IP, H, 0 R, BB, 4 Ks, PO - Sharpe was called upon for a long relief appearance after Rorik Maltrud left game two after just one inning of work and was efficient in his outing. He allowed just two baserunners and retired one of them himself with a pickoff move in shutout fashion.

Travis Bazzana (2B, Akron - G2): 1-for-1, R, 2B, 2 BBs, 2 SBs - The former number one overall pick reached base three times in just half a game after he was lifted for a pinch runner in the fourth. It wasn’t before a double and a pair of walks (tallied four walks across the doubleheader). He also stole his seventh and eighth bases of the year, but the main concern now has to be a potential injury.

Christian Knapczyk (2B, Lake County): 1-for-2, R HR, RBI, BB, HBP - Knapczyk reached base in three of his four plate appearances and showed his power with a homerun for his lone hit of the day - his fourth of the year. It is also his fourth game of the last five played where Knapczyk has had an extra-base hit. The Illinois native runs his organization-best hit streak to seven games.

Wuilfredo Antunez (RF, Lake County): 2-for-3, 2B, BB, SB - The lone man in the Captains’ lineup with multiple hits was Antunez and he reached base a third time via a walk. He combined with Knapczyk for six times reaching base out of the seven for the team.

Tommy Hawke (CF, Lynchburg - both games): combined 2-7. 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 4 SB, 1 CS - Hawke kicked off his four-steal Wednesday by swiping home in the sixth inning of the suspended game as part of a double steal that saw SS Welbyn Francisca take second for his tenth theft of the 2025 campaign.

Jose Pirela (RF, Lynchburg - both games): combined 2-8, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 2 K - Pirela hit the only Hillcat extra-base hit of either game with a second-inning double on Tuesday night and followed it on Wednesday evening with a line drive single in the eighth to drive in Francisca as the extra runner for the game-winning run.

Yaikel Mijares (3B, Lynchburg - both games): combined 1-3, 1 R, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K - Mijares put together an impressive combined statline between his two-walk suspended game and two-run single in the bottom of the second of Wednesday’s scheduled contest.

Jervis Alfaro (SP, Lynchburg - Suspended Game): ND, 4.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R (both earned), 2 BB, 2 K - Another solid start for Alfaro, who was deprived of a fourth straight start of five or more frames by the rain arriving with two out in the top of the fifth on Tuesday night.

Jesus Luna (RP, Lynchburg - Suspended Game): 1.1 IP, 1 H, 1 BB - Luna, who was on the mound when play restarted yesterday, remains unscored upon in 2.1 innings in the Guardians org.

Austin Aldeano (RP, Lynchburg - Suspended Game): 2 IP, perfect, 4 K - After a rough finish to April which saw him allow ten earned runs in 4.1 combined innings across three games, Aldeano has not allowed an earned run in five frames over his first three outings in the month of May.

Luis Flores (RP, Lynchburg - Scheduled Game): 2 IP, perfect, 4 K - Flores, who struck out the first four batters he faced, only needed to face one more batter (who flew out) thanks to C Logun Clark and 3B Jeffrey Mercedes catching Pelican extra runner Alexey Lumpuy trying to steal third.