Cleveland Guardians Prospect Report 4/10/25
Parker Messick dominates in second Triple-A start
Scoreboard
Triple-A: Columbus Clippers 2, Worcester Red Sox 1
Double-A: Altoona Curve 2, Akron RubberDucks 0
High-A: West Michigan Whitecaps 11, Lake County Captains 2 F/5
Highlights
Parker Messick (SP, Columbus): 5IP, 5H, 8K - Messick tossed 73 pitches over five innings, so he could have gone deeper if Cleveland wanted to push him into the sixth inning, but continue to watch his pitch count. Much more efficient from Messick, and he got 18 whiffs in this one, six on the fastball (90-94, t94) and eight on his changeup. More impressively, this lineup only had a 69% zone-contact% against his fastball, so at 90-92, 94, he dominated with it, along with his changeup. We’ve seen some Guardians pitching prospects struggle to adjust to Triple-A, using the MLB ball for the first time (Double-A and below use a different ball for some reason that I’ve never heard back about). But Messick has had no adjustment issues and continues to rise as a prospect.
Petey Halpin (Columbus, CF): 1-3, HR, BB, SB - Halpin is off to a solid start so far in Columbus and grabs himself his first homer and a steal in the same game. He had a good start in Akron previously too and Cleveland admitted they might have pushed him aggressively at Double-A, which is why he repeated the level. It’s nice to see him do some positive things at Triple-A in his first month. He did also have a fielding error, for what it’s worth.
Alfonsin Rosario (CF, Lake County): 1-1, HR, RBI, 2BB - Rosario notched his first home run as a Guardians prospect and worked some walks while playing in center. He has some tools that could be exciting and I’m excited to get my first in-person look at him tonight.
Luis Merejo (DH, Lynchburg): 2-3, HR, RBI, 2 BB - Power and more walks. We like to see that from the 18 year old Merejo, who has had a very slow start so far. This would be a nice step in the right direction for a guy that has real power, is young and has some decent contact/patience markers but does need some maturity and refinement (which is very reasonable for his age!).
Braylon Doughty (SP, Lynchburg): 4IP, 3H, ER, BB, 4K - 60 pitches in four innings for the 18 year old Doughty, but impressive again in his second start in the pros. He battled back after a tough first inning in his first pro start and fanned plenty of batters and he was much more of this one, throwing 43 of 60 pitches for strikes (71%!). The maturity and advanced nature of Doughty here is exciting so far and if things stay on track here, I think there’s a chance we see him in Lake County some time in 2025.
Notable Performances
Zak Kent (RP, Columbus): 2IP, 4K - A most impressive outing from Kent, who averaged 93-96 with his fastball and had seven whiffs total across his two innings. Kent spins the ball at a high rate and has now seen his velocity creep back up here. He previously had better velo in Texas where he was a well thought of prospect, then suffered some injuries. Last year he was often 90-92 and out of the pen with his fastball velo back up and his high spin off peed arsenal, he’s worth watching as an under the radar bullpen option with Nic Enright and Franco Aleman down.
Juan Brito (2B, Columbus): 1-3, BB, SB - Brito already has four steals this year, not known as much of a runner. He was on base two times in this one. It’s early but Gabriel Arias has kind of slowed down and Brito works counts and walks and is a switch hitter, so he'd fit into the Guardians lineup pretty well here soon..
CJ Kayfus (DH, Akron): 1-2, 2BB - No extra base hits in this one for Kayfus, but he did a good job working two walks and still finding a hit as well. He’s kept his strong start up and you want to see another hitter in this organization that keeps drawing walks when he’s not getting as many hits. That seems important to this organization right now.
Esteban Gonzalez (RF, Lake County): 2-2, SB - Nothing too impressive here. Two singles for Gonzalez who is a bit older and was OK at Lynchburg last year, then not as good at Lake County. He’s off to a decent start here and we’ll see what’s behind that and if that sticks this year. He can run and play some outfield well, so that’s a good base to start with.
Matt Wilkinson (SP, Lake County): 3IP, 4H, 3ER, 3BB, 5K - Probably the least efficient start of Tugboat’s career. Not off to as fast a start as he was a year ago despite his success. It’s also not lost on me that Gavin Williams (Big Rig) and Tugboat started on the same day, plus Parker Messick (no nickname for that one yet), but that’s all kind of fun in my mind.
Jeffrey Mercedes (3B, Lynchburg): 3-4, RBI - 20 year old Mercedes has four hits in two games in his first time outside of complex leagues (a year in the DSL and two in the ACL).