Guardians Minor League Recap: Is Blasco for Real?

Columbus Clippers 6, Scranton Railriders 3Clippers improve to 41-32

class="has-text-align-none">Don’t look now, but catching prospect Kody Huff has quietly been having a great season in Columbus as well. Huff was perfect at the plate on Saturday, going 1-for-1 with a home run and three walks, raising his season OPS to .929, which is second on the team only to Cooper ingle.

class="has-text-align-none">Speaking of Ingle, he walked and had an RBI from a sacrifice fly.

class="has-text-align-none">Other standouts for the day were Ralphy Velazquez, who went 2-for-4, and C.J. Kayfus, who went 1-fo-3 with a walk.

class="has-text-align-none">This game saw the activation of top pitching prospect Yorman Gomez and he was solid, striking out eight batters and walking zero in 3.2 innings. He allowed two runs on four hits.

class="has-text-align-none">Trenton Denholm followed with one run allowed in 3.2 additional innings and Franco Aleman finished off the game with 1.2 perfect innings and three strikeouts to earn his eight save.

Akron RubberDucks 1, Altoona Curve 3 (F/10)RubberDucks fall to 34-33

class="has-text-align-none">There wasn’t much to say about this one on the offense end. Juan Benjamin had the best game, going 1-for-3 with a double, a steal and a walk. Jose Devers also went 1-for-3 with a walk.

class="has-text-align-none">Starting pitcher Josh Hartle was excellent, allowing one run (zero earned) on just two hits in 6.1 innings pitched. He struck out four and walked three.

class="has-text-align-none">Jack Jasiak followed with 1.2 scoreless innings and four strikeouts and Jack Carey initially pitched a scoreless ninth inning, but then gave up two runs in the top of the 10th and Akron was unable to answer.

Hill City Howlers 10, Augusta GreenJackets 11Howlers fall to 31-37

class="has-text-align-none">There was plenty of offense for Hill City, just not enough pitching on Saturday. Luis De La Cruz paved the way, going an impressive 4-for-5 from the field with a home run and a double, just missing the cycle by a triple. He also stole a base.

class="has-text-align-none">Dauri Fernandez singled, walked twice and stole two bases while Anthony Martinez doubled and walked twice. Martinez has a .945 OPS at Hill City and should be playing at Lake County right now. I expect a promotion by the All-Star break.

class="has-text-align-none">Johnathan Martinez also had an excellent game, going 2-for-4 with a home run.

class="has-text-align-none">Starting pitcher Will McCausland was knocked around for five runs on seven hits with four strikeouts and a walk in 5.1 innings pitched. Keegan Zinn allowed another three runs in just 0.2 innings.

class="has-text-align-none">Unfortunately, after Hill City rallied for four runs to take a 10-8 lead in the top of the ninth inning Ettore Giulianelli failed to get more than one out before giving up three runs to allow Augusta to walk it off.

ACL Guardians 11, ACL Royals 4Guardians improve to 23-14

class="has-text-align-none">The ACL Guardians struck early and often in this one, jumping out to a 6-0 lead in the first two innings and then adding another five runs the rest of the way thanks to 11 hits and seven walks.

class="has-text-align-none">Once again, the Guardians were paced by Alejandro Blasco, who has been a freaking revelation this season at the ACL. The kid does nothing but tattoo the ball, hitting .500 with a ridiculous 1.887 OPS in the rookie league.

class="has-text-align-none">Blasco blasted two more home runs on Saturday, going 3-for-4 with six RBIs and a walk. In 12 games played thus far, he has seven home runs, five doubles and 11 walks. Yes, he’s averaging at least one extra base hit and one walk per game.

class="has-text-align-none">Pedro Dalmagro also had a great game, going 4-for-5 with a triple. Steven Cruz reached base three times by going 1-for-3 with two walks and three stolen bases while Rodny Rosario went 1-for-3 with a double and two walks.

class="has-text-align-none">Rehabbing pitcher Harrison Bodendorf allowed two runs on four hits in 2.0 innings. Erigaldi Perez stood out on the mound, allowing one run on five hits with two strikeouts and two walks in 4.1 innings.