Cleveland Guardians Prospect Report 6/22/25
Noel has no problem with Triple-A pitching; Nikhazy strong again
Scoreboard
Columbus Clippers 8, Indianapolis Indians 6 - Statcast
Portland Sea Dogs 10, Akron RubberDucks 0
Lake County Captains 10, South Bend Cubs 5
Lynchburg Hillcats 2, Augusta GreenJackets 1
Highlights
Jhonkensy Noel (RF, Columbus): 2-for-4, 2 R, 2 HRs, 4 RBIs - Noel clubbed a pair of homeruns in the 8-6 victory with a three-run blast in the midst of a six-run bottom of the third and a solo shot in the seventh to provide what ended up being much-needed insurance. The hardest-hit ball of the game (110.7 mph) and the two farthest-hit balls (380 and 379 feet) belonged to Noel. He now has two multi-homerun games in just 12 contests in Columbus this season and has six multi-hit games after he batted just .146 with the big-league club (.313 with the Clippers).
Doug Nikhazy (SP, Columbus): W (4-4), 5.0 IP, 6 H, R, 2 BBs, 6 Ks, WP, BK - Nikhazy began the game by surrendering an 0-2 homerun to the Indianapolis leadoff man, however worked his way through five innings of shutout baseball from then on despite dancing around heavy traffic. The Indians put runners in scoring position in all five innings, but the southpaw contained the opponents to one run only. A big part of this was 12 swings and misses, including 5-of-11 whiffs on swings from the slider. Nikhazy has struck out at least six in three of his last four starts.
Wuilfredo Antunez (RF, Lake County): 3-for-5, 3 R, 3B, HR, 3 RBIs, SB - Two key late-game extra-base hits led the Captains to victory against South Bend. A solo homerun in the eighth brought Lake County back to even at 5-5 and a two-run triple in the ninth pushed the lead up to 9-5. On the year, Antunez has 26 extra-base hits and is currently riding a nine-game hit streak where the 23-year-old is 13-for-36 (.361) with nine RBIs.
Jose Devers (SS, Lake County): 3-for-5, 2 R, 2B, HR, 2 RBIs, 3 DPs - A three-hit day for Devers featured a pair of extra-base hits in his 20th double and seventh homerun of 2025. The 22-year-old has already matched his power production from 2024 despite a slight decrease in total batting average (.196 in 65 games). The longball brought Lake County to within one run in the fifth and he tacked on an RBI single in the top of the ninth.
Jervis Alfaro (SP, Lynchburg): W (4-2), 5.0 IP, 6 H, R, BB, 2 Ks, WP - This was one of the more efficient outings for Alfaro this season and the best in recent memory by far. He allowed one run but got himself out of some key situations with runners in scoring position. He was playing from in front the duration of his outing and was able to exit the game after five quality innings with the lead still intact - the true job of a starting pitcher.
Logan McGuire (RP, Lynchburg): H (2), 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BBs, 3 Ks, Timer Violation - The 22-year-old Georgia Tech product added to his impressive recent history with two more innings of shutout baseball on Sunday. McGuire retired all six batters he faced and turned three of them away on strikes. He has 18 strikeouts in 13.0 innings pitched in the month of June.
Notable Performances
Milan Tolentino (2B, Columbus): 1-for-3, 2 R, HR, RBI, BB, DP - A solo homerun by Tolentino kept the offense moving in the fourth, his 11th longball of the year. He had three homeruns in the series.
Christian Cairo (LF, Columbus): 1-for-1, R, RBI, BB, HBP - Cairo was able to successfully turn the lineup over with three times reaching base in as many plate appearances, highlighted by an RBI single to begin the scoring for the Clippers.
Michael Turconi (2B, Akron): 0-for-1, 2 BBs - Despite being no-hit, the RubberDucks received a pair of walks from the nine-hole hitter Turconi, two of the six recorded in the series finale.
Jacob Cozart (C, Lake County): 3-for-5, R, 2B, RBI - Cozart now has a modest five-game hit streak going with this a three-hit performance, just his second on the season.
Esteban Gonzalez (CF, Lake County): 2-for-5, R, HR, 2 RBIs - A two-run homerun for Gonzalez in the eighth put the Captains in front 7-5. Gonzalez is 16-for-47 (.340) in the month of June with hits in 10-of-13 games.
Jay Driver (RP, Lake County): W (3-1), 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, BB, K - Driver helped to settle the South Bend offense by retiring six of the seven batters he faced and he did not allow a hit. Opponents are hitting .192 over 7.1 innings in the month of June, the lowest mark all season.
Xavier Martinez (RP, Lynchburg): S (1), 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BBs, 0 Ks - Martinez successfully kept the ball on the infield to lock up his first save of the year with a 1-2-3 ninth. This will hopefully continue his upward trajectory after running into some trouble in the month of June thus far.
Welbyn Francisca (1-for-4, R, 2B, RBI - On a day where the Hillcats were 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position, Francisca’s first inning RBI double with a man on was key to a one-run victory for the club. It was an early extension of his 16-game on-base streak, the second-highest such spurt in the organization behind Chase DeLauter’s 22-game ride.
Nick Mitchell (RF-CF, Lynchburg): 1-for-4, RBI - Mitchell drove in the team’s second run in the top of the first with a groundout and added a single later in the game. He was moved from right field to center field in the fifth with Tommy Hawke exiting.
Luis Merejo (1B, Lynchburg): 1-for-3, 2B, HBP - Merejo reached base twice and had an extra-base hit, one of two in the contest for the Hillcats. He is batting a much-improved .254 in 17 games in June.