Cleveland Guardians Prospect Report 7/12/25
Messick starts Futures Game; Ingle stays red hot
SCOREBOARD
Columbus Clipper 3, Louisville Bats 2
Richmond Flying Squirrels 5, Akron RubberDucks 3
Lake County Captains 8, West Michigan WhiteCaps 5
Hickory Crawdads 4, Lynchburg Hillcats 0
ACL Guardians 7, ACL Reds 6 (F/8 - scheduled for 7)
DSL Guardians Gory; 6, DSL Guardians Mendoza 2
MLB FUTURES GAME
Parker Messick (SP, AL): IP, H, BB, K - Messick got in some trouble with 16 pitches in the inning and a walk, but he was able to finish the outing with a strikeout. Nice to see him get the start and he was 91-94 with the fastball.
CJ Kayfus (1B, AL): 0-2, K, BB - Kayfus grounded out, took a called third strike and drew a 3-2 walk. He got the start and didn’t stand out much. But he reportedly put on a nice show during BP with eight homers.
REHAB
Travis Bazzana (2B, ACL): 1-2, 2 R, 2 BB, 1 SB - While his offensive statline was unsurprisingly impressive, the main story on Saturday was Bazzana playing an entire eight-inning game in the field.
George Valera (starting RF, ACL): 2-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI - While Valera only played five frames in right in his return to official game action, the A-Guards’ fast start offensively (of which George was a huge part) allowed him to get a pretty full day in at the plate.
Kendeglys Virguez (RP, ACL): 1 IP, perfect, 1 K - Virguez's second go at a rehab stint started well. The perfect seventh was a good sign as he is pitching only one level below where he is likely to be activated when he finally gets healthy.
HIGHLIGHTS
Chase DeLauter (OUT OF THE LINEUP, Columbus): DeLauter was originally scheduled to DH this game but was a late scratch. We haven’t been told any reason as of now, so this is either a precursor to a call up next week (wont be today before the break, but possibly Friday) or there was some soreness or injury.
Austin Peterson (SP, Columbus): 6.2IP, 2H, ER, 3BB, 6K - Three walks are a bit of a surprise for Peterson, but he got into the seventh inning and only allowed two hits and a run, so he’s starting to settle in at Triple-A more. He had a nice three pitch mix distribution, adding in a cutter that was effective and got four whiffs on the slider. The cutter is a nice bridge pitch for him so he has something with fastball velo between his fastball and slider that should help reduce the issues he has with it.
Cooper Ingle (C, Akron): 2-3, 2 RBI, 2BB, 2 2B - Ingle continues to be red hot. Hard to believe in April he was off to such a slow start. In 120 plate appearances since June 1, Ingle is hitting .290/.408/.460 with four homers 19 walks (19 strikeouts) and five doubles. Only a .325 BABIP. At this point, we really need to see how much pop he can sustain against Triple-A and then the majors. Interestingly enough he still has another year before he’s Rule 5 eligible.
Josh Hartle (SP, Lake County): 5IP, 3H, 3BB, 8K - Three walks aren’t good and a bit of a surprise for Hartle but he is missing some more bats in recent starts and I think sometime in July or August, if there are innings for him, Akron might be possible.
Jose Devers (SS, Lake County): 2-5, HR, 2 RBI - Devers hit a three run homer in the first inning and has 12. At one point this year he led the Midwest League in doubles. So he’s really been a feast or famine hitter, which is shocking for a player his size.
Gabriel Rodriguez (SS, ACL): 3-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 E - Rodriguez (Gabriel Edition) had by far the best day by a non-rehab A-guard hitter, driving in a pair of runs, including the first tally of the bottom of the eighth, which re-equalized the contest following the extra runner scoring in the top of the frame.
Alejandro Blasco (LF, Mendoza): 1-2, 1 R, 1 2B, 2 BB, 1 SB - Blasco remains a consistent producer in his second DSL season, having reached base in all 16 games in which he has multiple plate appearances. Unsurprisingly, he had Mendoza’s best all-around performance at the plate on Saturday.
Alejandro Rivera (SP, Mendoza): ND, 4 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 3 K - Rivera just keeps dominating the DSL. Yesterday’s start was the fourth this season in which he has not allowed an earned run (out of six total - all of them exactly four frames in length). This was despite a career-high three walks.
Santiago Ustariz (starting DH, Goryl): 3-4, 1 2B, 1 3B, 3 RBI, 1 K - Ustariz almost singlehandedly willed Goryl to victory in Saturday’s “intrasquad” contest with easily the best performance of his professional career so far.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Yordys Valdes (3B, Columbus): 2-3, 2B, SB - Nice day for Valdes across the board as he continues a hot streak.
Petey Halpin (CF, Columbus): 3-4 - Just three singles but Halpin has been red hot recently.
Jake Miller (RP, Akron): 2.1IP, 4H, 3ER, BB, 2K - Miller has started to hit a bit of a rough patch recently after a long run of dominance. Not unexpected. Not sure what the issue is a I’ve been shoulder deep in draft stuff, so I can’t tell right now. But sometimes struggling after a long period of dominance is a good thing because it forces you to adjust and overcome, which most prospects need.
Jaison Chourio (CF, Lake County): 3-5, 2R, K - Only three singles but the way 2025 has gone for Chourio, we’ll take any positive results right now.
Jervis Alfaro (tandem-SP, Lynchburg): 5IP, 6H, 2ER, BB, 4K - Honestly, there were very few standout performances in Lynchburg on Saturday and this was the best I could find. Rough game. Solid performance here but normally not a line I’d include because its not noticeable.
Luis De La Cruz (1B, ACL): 1-4, 1 RBI - De La Cruz, the number nine hitter, finished the job in the eighth with a walk-off single that prevented his first hitless game of July (Thursday) becoming a hitless streak. Fun Fact: Thursday’s contest was his only game with a plate appearance since May 13 in which Luis did not record a hit, walk, run, or RBI.
Yatner Crisostomo (RP, ACL): W (3-1), 1 IP, 1 R (unearned) - While he did give up the aforementioned unearned run (extra runner) in the eighth, Crisostomo was otherwise impressive in extending his streak of not allowing an earned tally to 13 combined innings in eleven outings. While it is his stateside debut season, he seems like a guy who might benefit more from spending his late summer and early fall in Lynchburg rather than Bridge League.
Jose Riera (3B, Mendoza): 2-4, 1 BB, 1 K, 1 SB, 1 E - Riera stole his tenth base of the season on Saturday, becoming the second Guardian DSLer to reach double digits this season. He now trails Marcos Belen by two for the Mendoza lead (Heins Brito leads Goryl with seven thefts.).
Handrychson Colina (RP, Mendoza): 1 IP, 1 H - An impressive professional debut for Colina in yesterday’s fifth frame.
Freilyn Rodriguez (CF, Goryl): 0-1, 2 R, 3 BB - Rodriguez has become known for his hits coming in bunches (All but three of his 23 games this season have been either multi-hit or hitless), but yesterday, it was the walks that came all in one game.
Enderson Amaya (SP, Goryl): ND, 4.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R (earned), 1 BB, 1 WP, 3 K - Amaya failed to finish five full frames for the second time in his rookie season due to walking the bases loaded with two outs in the fifth (The wild pitch came on the final of the three walks.).