Cleveland Guardians Prospect Report 6/13/25
CJ Kayfus takes future HOF deep
Scoreboard
Buffalo Bisons 6, Columbus Clippers 5 - Statcast
Akron RubberDucks 5, Hartford Yard Goats 0
Dayton Dragons 2, Lake County Captains 1
Lynchburg Hillcats 6, Carolina Mudcats 2
ACL Cubs 3, ACL Guardians 2 (F/8)
DSL Guardians Mendoza 12, DSL Dodgers Bautista 8
DSL Brewers Gold 4, DSL Guardians Goryl 1
Rehab
Erik Sabrowski (RP, Columbus): 1.2 IP, 1 BB, 3 K - The statline from Sabrowski’s longest outing of his season-opening rehab stint closely mirrored that of his lone Akron appearance. Might this presage an impending return to the Big Club?
Trevor Stephan (SP, ACL Guardians): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BBs, 3 Ks - The rehabbing Stephan looked much improved this time around with three batters faced and three strikeouts after he surrendered three hits and two runs in his first appearance. He threw 16 pitches, 10 of them for strikes after he was able to record two of his three K’s with a full count.
Highlights
C.J. Kayfus (LF, Columbus): 1-2, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 SF - The highlight of Kayfus’ multi-RBI evening was his 105.9 MPH solo shot to center field in the second that opened the Clippers’ scoring for the night. It traveled 425 feet - the longest batted ball in the International League last night and the second longest in Triple-A behind a 426-foot homer by James Outman of the Oklahoma City Comets (Dodgers). Not bad for a triple-A guy facing a rehabbing Max Scherzer.
Austin Peterson (SP, Columbus): ND, 5 IP, 7 H, 2 R (both earned), 1 HBP, 2 K - While Peterson wasn’t exactly missing bats in his Triple-A debut (seven hits and only five whiffs), he did a masterful job of keeping those runners from scoring (likely aided by getting Bison hitters to look at fourteen strikes, half of them on curveballs). He also showed good command, throwing only 29 balls in 85 pitches and issuing his only free pass in the form of a hit batter. Also, with this being his first game as a Clipper, we now have Statcast data on his pitches. Without further ado, we start with his four-seamer (90-93 with 12-15 inches of drop and 7-10 inches of break). He used it 29 times (34.1% of his pitches) with it accounting for 13 of the aforementioned 29 balls (44.8%) and 9 of his 19 balls in play, including five of the seven that didn’t result in outs and both that scored runs. His curve (77-80, faster ones dropped 40-44 in. while slower ones fell about 52-56 in., break anywhere from 9-14 in.), besides being a great source of called strikes, also netted two of his whiffs and four balls in play, all resulting in outs. No wonder he used it 22 times. His other commonly used pitch (21 times) was his cutter (85-90, 7-10 in. of rise and minimal break), which yielded a wide variety of results. An 80-81 MPH slider and 87-88 MPH changeup also made cameos and Statcast has him throwing exactly one sinker, which may have just been a cutter he lost control of (data looks exactly like his cutter except for the 16 inches of break). Yes, it’s an infinitesimal sample size in the grand scheme of a season, but it’s the first such data we have on him in a real game.
Guy Lipscomb (RF, Akron): 2-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 2 K, 1 SB - Lipscomb’s second two-hit game of the week was highlighted by a two-run ninth-inning homer that gave the RubberDucks a pair of insurance runs and Guy his 19th and 20th RBI of the season.
Rodney Boone (SP, Akron): W (4-3), 6 IP, 3 H, 3 K - Boone’s dominant Friday night start was his second straight outing of five or more innings with no earned runs allowed and the fourth in his last five. His K:BB ratio in that time is 19:6 with half of those walks coming in his three-run July 1 effort. Also, it was the third straight scoreless start of six or more frames by a RubberDuck starter (credit to GuardsInsider on X for that stat).
Josh Hartle (SP, Lake County): ND, 6 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 4 K - Unsurprisingly in a pitchers’ duel, the starter was the star of the night for the Captains. Hartle has now had back-to-back scoreless starts in his first two six-inning outings as a professional. The fact that this outing resulted in a no decision is proof that win-loss record is a lousy way to evaluate pitchers.
Garrett Howe (2B, Lynchburg): 3-4, 2 R, 1 RBI, 3 SB - After going ten games without a multi-hit performance, Howe now has two in as many games after leading the way for the Hillcat offense on Friday from the bottom of the order.
Ryan Cesarini (RF, Lynchburg): 3-4, 1 R, 1 RBI, 2 SB - Cesarini, who batted eighth last night, has been even hotter recently, with last night being his second straight three-hit game and third multi-hit effort in his last three.
Sean Matson (RP, Lynchburg): W (3-1), 5 IP, 1 H, 1 R (earned), 2 BB, 6 K - Matson unsurprisingly tied his career high in strikeouts as he reached the five-inning mark for the time as a pro in a dominant piggyback bulk outing.
Pablo Arosemena (1B, DSL Mendoza): 3-for-5, R, 2B, 3 RBIs, DP - The 19-year-old Arosemena recorded his first multi-hit game and first extra-base hit of the year in the midst of a three-RBI performance on Friday. Both of his singles resulted in runs scored, one in the fifth and one in the ninth that scored two insurance runs for the squad.
Algeni Mejia (RP, DSL Mendoza): W (1-0), 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, 6 Ks - The left-hander was absolutely dominant and kept the DSL Mendoza team in position for a comeback in the late innings of Friday’s game. He faced the minimum nine batters after a runner was caught stealing and struck out the final five hitters of the game.
Notable Performances
Brayan Rocchio (2B, Columbus): 2-3, 1 2B, 1 BB, 1 SB - Rocchio was the lone Clipper to reach twice on Friday night, doing so in his first multi-hit game of June.
Jhonkensy Noel (RF, Columbus): 2-4, 1 2B, 1 K - Noel had the Clip Show’s other two-hit effort - his second two-hit performance in as many days.
Will Wilson (3B, Columbus): 1-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 K - Wilson rounded out the trio of doubles (all hit by players who had seen action at the Corner of Carnegie and Ontario this season) with his fourth extra-base hit (double, triple, and two home runs) out of five total hits since being optioned.
Angel Genao (DH, Akron): 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 RBI - Genao had the RubberDucks’ other multi-hit effort (his second in the last three days), a performance that included his first Double-A extra-base hit - a sixth-inning RBI double.
Cooper Ingle (C, Akron): 1-5, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K - The Akron backstop got the scoring going for the Mallards of Main Street in the top of the fourth with a solo shot to right center.
Jake Miller (RP, Akron): 1 IP, 1 H - Lipscomb closed out the combined shutout with his seventh scoreless effort in a row (13 combined shutout innings with five hits allowed, 18 strikeouts, and zero walks).
Maick Collado (3B, Lake County): 2-3, 1 2B - Collado is slashing .320/.414/.480 in June after leading the way for the Captain offense with a pair of hits including his first double of the month.
Esteban Gonzalez (DH, Lake County): 2-4, 1 K - Gonzalez has also had an impressive month, reaching safely in all seven of his June contests including three multi-hit games in his last four - resulting in a .407/.414/.593 slash.
Tommy Hawke (CF, Lynchburg): 0-2, 1 R, 3 BB, 1 K, 3 SB - A rare hitless night for Hawke, mainly because he kept getting walked. He made the most of it, however, stealing second after two of them as well as after reaching on a sixth-inning fielder’s choice to bring his literally world-beating season total to 59.
Cam Walty (SP, Lynchburg): 2 IP, 2 H - Walty doubled his inning total from his return from the IL last Saturday, but the shutout results remained the same.
Gabriel Rodriguez (3B, ACL Guardians): 2-for-4, RBI - Rodriguez accounted for two of the team’s three hits and drove in the lone run of the game via a fifth inning RBI single up the middle. The 18-year-old has a hit in each of his last four games.
Marcos Belen (CF, DSL Mendoza): 2-for-5, R, 2B, 3 RBIs - Belen matched his teammate Arosemena with three runs batted in, two on his fifth inning single and one more in the eighth with a double. He now has eight RBIs in as many games played in his professional career.
Nomar Velasquez (RF, DSL Mendoza): 2-for-4, 3 R, BB, 2 SBs - Velasquez utilized his speed to help him score in all three times on base on Friday. He stole a base in the second, then forced a throwing error by the catcher to score and took an additional bag in the ninth to put himself in scoring position for Arosemena.
Jose Riera (2B, DSL Mendoza): 2-for-5, 2 R, HR, RBI, SB, DP - The 17-year-old has shown pop with two homeruns already this year and a 1.179 OPS in a small sample size.
Angel Abreu (SS, DSL Goryl): 3-for-5, SB - Three of his eight games played have seen Abreu record three hits but a combined 0-for-12 effort by the 2-3-4 in the lineup resulted in no runs.
Wuinder Torres (1B, DSL Goryl): 2-for-4, 2B - The lone extra-base hit for the DSL Goryl squad came off the bat of the 18-year-old Torres.
Amilcar Teran (RP, DSL Goryl): 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BBs, K - Teran retired the side in order in his inning out of the bullpen, the first time he has done that in 2025.