Cleveland Guardians Prospect Report 4/29/25
Travis Bazzana gets off the schnide and Christian Knapczyk is on a heater
SCOREBOARD
St. Paul Saints 4, Columbus Clippers 2 (F/7 - Game 1) - Statcast
St. Paul Saints at Columbus Clippers (PPD - Rain - Game 2)
Altoona Curve 10, Akron RubberDucks 2
Lake County Captains 13, Lansing Lugnuts 5
Lynchburg Hillcats 6, Charleston RiverDogs 5
HIGHLIGHTS
Christian Knapczyk (2B, Lake County): 2-4, 2 R, 1 2B, 1 3B, 3 RBI, 1 BB - Knapczyk followed up a stellar weekend at the Corner of SOM Center and Vine with this impressive evening in Lansing. Saturday’s doubleheader started a stretch during which Christian is 6-for-14 with three doubles (and an active three-game double streak), a triple, a home run, two walks, five runs scored, eight driven in (including a trio in each of his last two games), and multiple total bases in all four games. I’d say he’s on a hot streak.
Jonah Advincula (LF, Lake County): 2-4, 1 R, 1 3B, 3 RBI, 2 BB - Advincula seems to be out of the 0-for-5 mini-slump that marked most of last week’s homestand after following up an RBI double on Sunday with this multi-hit gem that brought his OPS to .960.
Jose Devers (DH, Lake County): 2-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K - Devers extended his team-leading hitting and on-base streaks to nine and 15 games, respectively, with his seventh multi-base game of the hit streak an tenth in his last 13 games.
Jacob Cozart (C, Lake County): 3-5, 2 R, 1 2B, 2 RBI - Cozart joined in on the fun last night, equaling his previous season-best April 6 performance at the Great Lakes Loons with a quartet of total bases and a pair of RBI.
Jeffrey Mercedes (DH, Lynchburg): 2-3, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 BB - Mercedes highlighted a big night for the Hillcat offense by driving in the back half of the Lynchburg runs on a pair of go-ahead extra-base hits - the latter of which opened his non-complex home run account with a two-run blast to right in the fifth that capped off the evening’s scoring.
Bennett Thompson (C, Lynchburg): 2-4, 3 R, 1 RBI - Thompson, who scored half of the Hillcat runs last night, continued an utterly dominant April (.377/.515/.509) with this multi-hit effort that extended his on-base streak to 15 games, now the longest active streak for a Hillcat after Tommy Hawke went 0-for-5 in his quest for a 16-game streak.
NOTABLE PERFORMANCES
Johnathan Rodriguez (LF, Columbus): 1-3, 1 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI - Rodriguez’s two-run homer in the bottom of the first (99.1 MPH, statcast didn’t get a distance) proved to be the offensive highlight of a truncated Dime-A-Dog Tuesday at the Corner of Neil and Nationwide.
Ryan Webb (SP, Columbus): ND, 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R (both earned), 1 HBP, 1 WP, 6 K, 2 HR allowed - Eight of Webb’s 17 whiffs (second best in all of Triple-A yesterday, behind Saints starter David Festa’s 18) came on his slider, but so did both of the solo shots that prevented him - and the team - from getting the victory.
Travis Bazzana (2B, Akron): 1-4, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 K - After a 3-for-21 homestand, Bazzana wasted no time in starting this week’s roadtrip on the right foot, leading off the game with a solo blast to right field.
Jorge Burgos (1B, Akron): 0-3, 1 BB - Despite going hitless, Burgos extended his team-leading on-base streak to nine games with a leadoff walk in the ninth.
Austin Peterson (SP, Akron): ND, 1 IP, 1 K - We’ve found the one thing that can stop Peterson - the rain.
Alfonsin Rosario (RF, Lake County): 2-5, 2 R - Rosario keeps rolling along, this time with an easily-overshadowed multi-hit, multi-run performance that actually lowered his OPS from .965 to .953 due to lack of extra-base hits.
Maick Collado (3B, Lake County): 3-5, 2 R, 1 E - Collado improved his slash line from .200/.310/.240 to .267/.353/.300 in one night with his best performance of the 2025 campaign so far.
Ralphy Velazquez (1B, Lake County): 1-6, 1 R, 2 K - Velazquez extended his run scoring and productive plate appearance streaks to four and five games, respectively.
Dylan DeLucia (SP, Lake County): ND, 4 IP, 1 H, 5 BB, 3 K - DeLucia made it back-to-back four-inning shutout outings despite his worst night of the season control-wise.
Luis Merejo (1B, Lynchburg): 1-4, 1 R, 1 3B, 1 RBI, 1 K - Merejo got the Hillcats scoring started on Tuesday with his first triple of the season and second in non-complex ball.
Xavier Martinez (RP, Lynchburg): 1 IP, 1 H, 1 K - Martinez picked up right where he left off with this scoreless frame in his return from the 7-day IL.