An update on Guardians’ players still playing
After the hustle and bustle of the exciting Guardians’ season ending, we can now turn our attention to the Guardians’ prospects still playing in the Arizona Fall League.
Here’s the list:
RH RP Alaska Abney, 24 years old – The interestingly named reliever also has an interesting delivery. His minor league numbers haven’t been special, but there’s some potential of his someday making the big leagues as a middle relief righty. He had a 2.33 ERA and 7.91/3
LHH OF Chase DeLauter, 23 years old – DeLauter is, of course, the name to watch here. If he can stay healthy, he should 100% have an impact on the Guardians’ major league team in 2025. This is his second appearance in the AFL, following last year’s tour there. He put up a 118 wRC+ in Double-A Akron last year and then a 185 wRC+ in six games in Triple-A Columbus in 2024.
RH SP Dylan DeLucia, 24 years old – In eight starts at High-A Lake County, the 2022 sixth round pick DeLucia had a 2.52 ERA and a 9.84/2.27 K/BB/9. He sits 92-94 with his fastball but has touched 97, and has a good low-80’s slider.
RH RP Allan Hernández, 23 years old – In 37 games in High-A Lake County, Hernandez had a 2.83 ERA with a 9.63/5.66 K/BB/9. He has a 97 mph fastball and a 97 mph sinker, paired with an interesting cutter and slider. Control is obviously the big question mark, here.
RHH C Kody Huff, 23 years old – The primary acquisition in the Cal Quantrill trade, Huff put up a 107 wRC+ in Akron with a 22.4/11.3 K/BB/9. 33% caught stealing rate seems good, only two passed balls seems good, but 12 errors in Double-A isn’t ideal.
RH RP/SP Zak Kent, 26 years old – Kent was a midseason addition for the Guardians and he struggled to stay healthy, getting three starts and eleven relief appearances in Columbus. His 11.03 K/9 is great, but that 7.23 BB/9 is the cause of his 7.23 ERA. It’ll be interesting to see if the Guardians can make anything of the 6’3” right-hander.
LH RP Andrew Misiaszek, 27 years old – The 2019 32nd round pick struggled to stay healthy in 2024, putting up a 4.50 ERA and 10.5/5 K/BB/9 in 18 innings in Columbus. He’s getting some more innings in Arizona and showing whether or not there is hope that he can be some version of a mid-inning lefty in the bigs some day.
LHH INF Milán Tolentino, 22 years old – The 2020 4th round pick will be Rule 5 eligible this fall after putting up a 97 wRC+ in Akron last year. Tolentino had half his starts at shortstop and split the other half between second and third, where he is known to be a great defender. He put up a 115 wRC+ from June 1st onward, shaking off a slow start in April and May. He has some pulled-fly ball abilities and has potential to be a major league utility guy someday.
DeLauter, DeLucia, Hernandez and Tolentino are the most interesting of the group and it’s worth remembering that Kyle Manzardo and Erik Sabrowski both played in the AFL last fall and ended up making a significant impact on the Guardians’ playoff run.
You can follow these players as they compete for the Surprise Saguaros here.
You can catch up on their cumulative stats here.