Cleveland Guardians Prospect Report 10/31/24

Scoreboard:

Arizona Fall League - Surprise Saguaros 12, Peoria Javelinas 5

Highlights:

Kody Huff (C): 1-5, 2B, 2K - The Guardians prospect who is having the most interesting AFL campaign is Kody Huff. Now, he had just one hit here, but it was a double 101 off the bat and he’s had strong exit velos all fall so far. He had a few other weak balls in play. I’d be curious to see what his 90th percentile exit velo has been this fall based on batted ball events available. Huff hasn’t posted power numbers during the fall (SLG% below .400) but the exit velos are worth paying attention to as I keep mentioning because he’s not been a prospect that has been thought of much with the bat but does have a strong defensive prowess. I’ll also acknowledge the lack of quality pitching in the AFL that might make posting better EVs easier, and Huff’s consistency there has been a bit middling. But he is doing some things I also didn’t expect which are at least making me pay more attention.

Zak Kent (SP): 4IP, H, ER, 2BB, 5K - This was by far the best pitching performance by most of the Guardians pitching contingent in the AFL. That’s not saying much. Kent is there to get reps missed in the year. A friend did pose a question to me the other day about if Kent will be considered for 40 man status ahead of the Rule 5 deadline because Cleveland didn't give up some portion of their international bonus pool to add Kent, which was for depth but also due to past interest/upside. I’ve yet to see Kent re-gain the velo that made him pop on some radars a few years ago, but he does still maintain the high spin slider and we didn’t really see him healthy in Cleveland. I have few doubts that Cleveland could create the 40 man space to add him if they wanted. I’m just skeptical how much Cleveland really valued what they gave up to add Kent to consider his 40 man status. Right now, there are three names, all pitchers, that are locks to be added to the 40 and right now they have no spots when adding injured players back to the 40. So I think Kent is probably fourth on the list of four and with three arms above him, it seems unlikely, but I wouldn’t completely rule him out either.

Dylan DeLucia (P): 3IP, 4H, 3ER, 3BB, K - The end of the 2024 regular season was a strong one for DeLucia and he was an obvious AFL candidate. His results out there have been underwhelming to say the least. Results don’t tell the whole story because of the environment there, but three walks here aren’t good and he generally hasn’t had any real positive results. Still, this is about getting reps to catch up for 1 1/2 years missed due to TJ. Results aren’t everything but you would like to see some more positive ones.

Andrew Misiaszek (P): IP, 2K - Misiaszek has had a fine AFL campaign as a reliever. This is about reps for him too and just building his stuff back up after a year missed due to TJ as well. Pitchers succeeding in this environment is always a solid sign, even with nothing guaranteed. He’s once again Rule 5 eligible as well and I would be slightly surprised if Cleveland protected him and I wouldn’t be stunned if someone snagged him in the R5 draft in December either.