Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network. Guardians Weekly is fromt
to you by Progressive helping Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance. Hi,
everyone, welcome to Guardians Weekly. Him Rosenhouse along with you this weekend as
we join you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland. Coming up in a little
bit on our show today, we will hear from Rego Beltran, the new
bullpen coach for the Guardians. Will also visit with Ahmed Rosario and David Fry,
who made his major league debut as a starter earlier this week, and
Cal Quantrell will join us as well as he talks about a really impressive outing
last Sunday. But first, a quick look back at the week in review,
as on Monday, a six to two loss to the Tigers opened up
that three game series with Detroit and put the Guardians in bounce back mode on
Tuesday, and you can't ask for much better on the mound than Shane Bieber
when you're in need of a win. The Guardians got the scoring started in
the very first inning as Stephen Quan and Ahmed Rosario reached bass. Then Jose
Ramirez came through driving in the game's first run. Now the two two swung
on lifted in the air right center field, medium deep catch made by greenless
center fielder coming home as Kuan throat of the plate not in time. He
slides in with a first run. So Jose Ramirez with a sack fly to
medium deep right center Green with a strong throw to the plate. But Quan
runs well and Jose Ramirez it's r behind number twenty tops on the ball club
and the Guardians have and early one nothing will lead Bieber on the mound for
the Guardians was rolling right along and he got a little help from his defense
to keep Detroit off the board. In the third inning, here's a two
two pitch swung on drill the right that's of acet bias is being waived home.
Here comes Will Brennan's throw to the plate on one bounce slide tag.
He is on at the plate on a diving tag by catcher Cam Gallagher and
a strong throw by Brennan, and the Tigers deciding whether or not to challenge
the call, are going to challenge it. At the review, the College
confirmed there was no blocking of the plate. Detroit loses their challenge. That
didn't seem to make any sense whatsoever to challenge blocking the plate. The catcher
was in front of the plate and dove toward the plate, so that trait
just wasted a challenge and the Guardians lead one to nothing in the middle of
the third man then Bieber went back to work trying to maintain that one run
lead. Bieber checking second. Now the one one offering swung at broke a
band roller to second, Hemans to second one. Rosario relay got him henning
ending double play turned by him and as Andresario and Bieber does it again two
one, nobody out works out of him and Shane Bieber pitching another beauty one
nothing Cleveland in the middle of the sixth. In the eighth, the Tigers
were threatening again, but more good defense from the Guardians kept the shutout in
order. The pitch swung on a line shot deep center on the run of
Straw, breeches up, makes a great catch, falling down, fires it
back end toward the endfield. A turkles and should have been tagging up with
nobody out, but he got caught going halfway to third, and then Straw
made a tremendous running catch, reaching up to snagged that's just not smart.
Bass running in a one run boggy Stephen one strike away from getting out of
this mess. He lets it fly and a swinging a chopper toward third,
it's a fair ball right over the bag, backhanded deep a third Runniresses throws
in time, and this Guardians bullpen keeps the lead one nothing Guardians in the
middle of the eighth, and in the bottom half of the eighth inning,
the Guardians were looking to add some insurance. Will Brennan singled stole second,
and then I'm ed Rosario got the job done. Two down, Brennan's at
third, one nothing, Cleveland, bottom of the eighth, full count on
a Rosario with Ramirez on deck, the payoff pitch swung on, pounded deep
right field. Beck goes feeling back back, reaches up, can make the
catch, hits the track, bangs up against the wall around second on his
way to third with another triple. A mean Rosario with a four hit game
and a league leading third triple, and he knocks in Will Brennan to make
it two to nothing and odd. And he'd burned Matt Fearling, who was
that very deep and right, and a mean Rosario with three hits to right
field to night, and again this is an entirely different offense when aman Rosario
gets locked in. Then in the night, Amnuel Class came on to try
and finish things up. Abier Baya's very capable of hit one out of here
righthander against righthander, the pitch swing on chopped by them out near second.
Jimeno's gloves throws the first poll game and the Guardians, for the second time
this week get a tunahing shut out win. Tonight they climb back above the
Tigers with this Tunahing victory, so a nice win therefore the Guardians. And
then on Wednesday, the Tigers came back behind Eduardo Rodriguez his strong pitching led
to a five nothing shutout win for Detroit. Thursday was an off day,
and then Friday night, a back and fourth game saw the Angels score two
runs in the ninth inning and they went on to the five to four victory.
So not the easiest of weeks for Cleveland, but if you go back
a little bit, they've received some really good pitching on this homestand including from
Cal Quantrill last Sunday, as Quantrill was absolutely superb in what turned out to
be another shutout win for the Guardians over the Twins. This time, Quantrille
was seven shutout innings, his second strong start in a row, and when
we caught up with him the next day, he talked about some of the
things that have put him in a good place. I think turn of the
month, weather's getting a little nicer. I think delivery is kind of coming
together, starting to settle in, getting more comfortable with our catchers. You
know, lots of different things, but just throwing the ball better for sure.
Is it hard to be patient through that process to let some of those
things take hold? Yeah, I mean, you want to come unto the
gates hot, but it's baseball. It's a tough sport. Sometimes it doesn't
go your way. So glad that we had a couple of good ones and
something to build off of and hopefully have a good rest of the month when
you only get a repertoire. I know, after the game, it sounded
like you were able to change things up a little bit and use some pitches
that maybe you hadn't used a whole lot before. Explain what was going on
yesterday and why it worked. You know, I think that we were in
better counts. Yesterday, I think we were able to get some outs early
in the game on secondary pitches, which allowed me to do some different things
as the game went on. But you know, we've been looking for opportunity
to throw the splitter more, through the curveball more. I think yesterday has
presented more of those opportunities. Cal Quantrill joining us. We had no hitter
into the seventh inning. When did you realize what was going on? And
does it impact you in any way late in the game when it's going that
well. I mean I probably knew in the sixth or fifth or but there's
a lot of outs to go, and I don't think it really changed as
much until you get to the ninth. So it was fun. I was
glad to take a stab at it. But most importantly we got to win
and you got two runs early to work with. What does that mean to
you when you go out there and you have to right away? It's huge.
We've been grinding. Our guys have been putting up good at bats.
I think we've faced a lot of good starters in a row, and sometimes
that first two times through the order has been tough. But you know,
I thought they really quality bats early in the game yesterday and give me a
little leeway. And it's always better pitching with the lead. And you mentioned
observing the hitters and what they're going through. How important is it that the
team stays together and pitchers are obviously aware of what hitters are doing, and
maybe vice versa two. It's team sport. I want a lot of games
last year where they scored eight for me. It's ebbs and flows of baseball.
Um, you know, obviously they're working hard, and I guess you
know as as a teammate for me, that's all I care about, working
hard, trying to get better. And you know, I think that they've
put up some quality of bats the last two series, and we're trying in
the right direction. And you're part of a starting rotation that's really been on
a nice role with some different faces in there. Still though that that kind
of team unity from a rotation standpoint, where you guys help each other and
work with some of the younger guys. Yeah, I mean, obviously willing
to offer anything that I think would be valuable, but at the same time,
you want to make sure that you're letting guys, especially rookie kind of
do what they're good at right. They got called up for a reason,
and try and observe first and speak second, and make sure you're letting them
kind of bring what they've you know, what's got them here, and get
after it. And then you know, if I see something over the course
of the first three four starts, then maybe chime in. But been really
impressed. I think both you know, mentally and physically they're prepared play at
this level and it's shown so far. Make you think back to when you
were a rookie at all and then what you broke in, what the atmosphere
was like then. Yeah, yeah, I was. I was on a
I was in a fairly heavy rookie staff when I broke in, but I'd
had some some veteran leadership in the bullpen and leaned on them for sure.
I mean there's a lot of things you just can't learn in the minor leagues,
so um, you know, hopefully able to provide a little bit of
help and you know, learn some things from the young guns too. And
a good weekend team wise, taking two out of three from Minnesota. Nice
to get back in the division a little bit and see what's out there in
terms of what you'll have to play later on. Yeah, I mean,
you gotta be everybody too accomplishable that we want to. But you know,
it's nice to kind of get a little barometer or a little read on where
we're at in the division two and two or three against the you know,
the team that's played the best so far in our division. Feels good.
So you know, I think happy to be back for what is it to
six games? Six division games? But then we're back at it after cal
Thanks for the time, appreciate it. Yep. That's cal Quadrille, Guardians
starting pitcher who has been throwing the ball extremely well. Stay tuned when we
come back. We'll hear from Guardians shortstop bomb At Rosario and also utility man
David Fry that's coming your way shortly. Is we continue with Guardians weekly on
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and Affiliates him Rosen Ounce back with you from Progressive Field in downtown Cleveland.
Welcome back into Guardians Weekly. Well, I'm at Rosario starting to heat things
up at the plate, and he usually does this time of year when the
weather begins to warm up. He had a four hit game earlier this week,
and as he has begun to swing the bat hot lately, we had
a chance to visit with him with some translation help from Augie Rivero, and
I'm ed talked about how he's been able to stay level headed through the tough
times while he's waiting to get going offensively say and don't say you're I mean,
as I always say, the game is really hard and always you know,
I have to be aware that this is I'm very gifted and and blessed
by God to be able to play this game. So this is the one
thing I get to do. I got to enjoy it, regardless of the
good or a bad results. So just got to be positive and keep playing
the same way every day. Easier now at this stage of your career with
some good experience under your belt as compared to maybe when you first broke into
the major leagues, to get through the difficult times and know that it's going
to turn around. See see, yeah, what I doubt. Now it
is a little bit easier and to put it in practice. But I felt,
you know, it was difficult, a little more difficult in the past
because of my previous team. You know, you had a little more extra
things from the outside you have to deal with that made a little more difficult
to keep stay present. So right now I felt like and so that practice
and being the fact that I play in this team, I'm able to just
keep it more more in practice and the daily basis more for hit games for
you than anybody else in the Major League since the start of the twenty twenty
one season. Anything to that. When you get into a game and you
have a couple under your belt and you just keep rolling it seems no,
I don't think much of the other thing has to say, you know,
on the day and post it on the day. I mean, I feel
like in theory, I felt like I never lose. I always learned and
try to make out of the best out of those situations. So for me,
um, you know, I keep playing, doing my thing and try
to put the bolding play and if it happens, it happens. But for
me, I'm always finding where how to win. I'm at nice going last
night. Thank you, thank you, thanks, thank you much. As
Guardian shortstop Bob met Rosario, another big night for him on Friday night with
the triple double and single part of the cycle in a three hit game for
him. David Fry is just up from the minor leagues. He made his
major league debut on the last road trip in New York with a pinch running
assignment, and he received his first starting assignment earlier this week, and and
that was in the series he's against the Tigers on Monday night. He got
in there with a start at first base, and we caught up with him
the next day and talk to him about that dream coming true playing in the
major leagues for the first time after some extensive time in the miners. It
was a blast. I mean something you work for your entire life and comes
the fruition and it was a whole lot of fun. I mean it would
have been a lot cooler if we won, but still just to be able
to experience that with my wife there, it was a whole lot of fun.
It's been interesting to see how you've kind of gotten on that radar now
with a good spring And did you feel some momentum coming off a good season
last year and then being in big league camp? Yeah, I mean last
year was a good one and heard some like positive things at the end of
the year and then getting to invite to big league spring training. Was just
hoping to make a good first impression in front of the big league staff and
was able to do that. And luckily now I'm here. You didn't make
the club out of spring training, but they kept you around till the very
end. What did that mean? And do you think that helped you in
any way, especially considering how things have gone here the last week? It
was really cool. It was awesome. He told me I was going to
stay for the whole thing and just to kind of continue to get reps with
these guys and just spend more time around him. I mean, so whenever
I do get called up and then it feels like I've been with these guys
a lot now and it doesn't feel a whole lot different. David. It's
funny you look at trade sometimes and you were involved in a trade that probably,
unless you're a real hardcore baseball fan, maybe a lot of people wouldn't
have noticed. But for you, what has that trade meant to you based
on where you were with Milwaukee and then what's happened here with Cleveland. Yeah,
it was one of those things. Whenever I got told in spring training
with the Brewers, I was catching a bullpen and they were like, hey,
you just got traded. The first time for me getting traded, so
just a whole lot of emotions, saying by it all my buddies, and
then not knowing what to expect over here, and then just the amount of
great people in this organization, both players and staff. I've loved every minute
of it, and then lucky enough to actually play in the big leages with
this team now. It's it's been one of the best things that could ever
happen to me. A big key for you has been versatility. We saw
you play first base last night. We're interviewing great you right now you're wearing
catcher's gear. When did that become a big part of your game. I
was an infielder in college and then kind of they were just like, hey,
you're super slow, so you're gonna get drafted as a catcher. So
then first couple of years of pro ball was just catching, and then since
twenty twenty one, it's been a little bit of everything. I played outfield,
third, first, catcher, so just the more positions the better.
It's super slow on a scouts radar? Is that? Is that anywhere in
their manual of how to rate players? Yeah? I think super slow is
one of the one of the main phrases they got. All right, Northwestern
State University, Louisiana. Can you please pronounce the name of the city that
it's in. Yeah, it's Nakadus, Nakadus Louisiana. You get so many
different ones. People were like Natutosius or natcha chash or I mean, there's
some terrible ones out there, but yeah, Nakadus Louisiana. I won't make
you spell it. How's that yeah, please don't. I wouldn't do it.
David. Congratulations, Thank appreciate it. Thanks. Is David Frye enjoying
life as a major leaguer for the first time in his professional career, and
he has certainly filled a void in that utility role for Cleveland. Stay with
us when we come back. We'll meet new bullpen coach Rico Beltran. That's
coming your way shortly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Jimmerson House back
with you on Guardians Weekly. We're down a progressive field in downtown Cleveland.
Lots of different places you can pick up the show each week, including on
the Guardians Radio Network and your affiliate stations. Also in podcast form wherever you
enjoy downloading your favorite podcasts, or you can check out the show at CLI
guardians dot com. All the archived editions are there as well. Guardians will
wrap up the homestand with a game on Saturday night against the Angels, a
six ten first pitch and then a morning start against the Angels to close out
the homestand eleven thirty five on Mother's Day Sunday in downtown Cleveland. Guardians and
Angels wrapping it up and then it's off to Chicago and New York again,
this time to play the Mets on the upcoming road swing for Cleveland. Well,
the bullpen for the most part, has done some really good work here
early in the season, and the new bullpen coach is Rerigo Beltramp. We
had a chance to catch up with him earlier this week. He's a long
time member of the organization as a pitching coach in the minor leagues, also
a coordinator, and when we visited with him, he filled us in on
some of the adjustments that he's had to make in his new role this year.
Well, it's definitely an adjustment period. When I played, I was
a starter, then I became a reliever when I got to the big league,
So I have an idea what the culture and what the expectations are.
But transitioning to being a full time bullpen coach, it's a little different than
what I'm used to. You know, you're looking at the game from like
four hundred feet away. Being the dugout, you're able to see deliver a
little bit easier, you get to reach swings a little bit easier. But
in the same respect, when you know the bullpen, you get to create
a little bit more tighter, niche relationship with the players. Because you're there
for nine eighties with them, you get to have conversations that happen or gallicly
even about delivery or pitch sequences or even personal stuff. So I really am
enjoying it. We have a great group of guys there that are really tight
knit, and it's been such a positive experience, and a lot of the
same pitchers are back from a year ago and seasons prior to that. How
often have you heard the name of former bullpen coach and now Royal's pitching coach,
Brian Sweeney as you go through your daily activity. You know what,
I get a really good however, a really good with Brian, and I
reached out to him a couple of times during spring training and as a matter
of fact, before the season started, we went out to dinner and had
a good conversation. But you know, Brian did have a really positive influence
area. I think he was here for five years. In the last couple
of years been in the bullpen, and you know, there's been a lot
of times where I'm doing things and their referenced Brian. Brian used to do
it this way. Brian used to do it that way, which is great.
So I'll just try to follow some of the stuff that Brian used to
do, just with my own little twist to Rigo Beltran joining us. He's
the guardians new bullpen coach, but has been in the organization for quite some
time. And when you look out there at what makes a bullpen, click
it and this one certainly has early on and some hiccups along the way,
but for the most part, a real strength of this team. What do
you see out there as a real plus for this group? I think the
biggest plus is that a lot of these guys have stuff. They have the
ability like arm strength, so they have weapons to get people out. They
have a great support system, and the support systems they have is each other.
A lot of them came up together, they've played the last couple of
years together, so they really have each other's back and they're always prepared.
You know, they're asking the right questions when they're out there. There's asking
questions of bout as far as how to attack guys, or how many pitches
does a starter have? Or where do you think I might be going up?
And the other thing that I really impressed with is how engaged they are
in the game. They know exactly what's going on. They activate themselves,
especially early in the season where it's been so cold. They do a good
job of prepping being ready to go, so when their name is called,
they're ready to step up on the mountain and get going. And years pastor's
been that grizzled veteran who's been around the block at a time or two.
Brian Shaw comes to mind. Immediately. It doesn't seem like there's that type
of a picture out there this year, but enough experience to maybe overcome that
or some lessons learn from guys in the past. You know, it's it's
interesting because you know, you could tell that Shaw left the fingerprint out there
in the bullpen. These guys talk about them all the time they can.
They talk about some of the experiences that they have with them and what they
learned. So I think they did a great job of embracing him and learning
from last year, and now these guys are starting to learn on their own.
They have each other. They do a great job of support each other.
Again, a lot of these guys have played with each other for years,
so there's a lot of that trust factor. They ask questions to me,
to ask questions to Carl, ask question tutor. So they have a
huge growth mindset and they did a great job of learning from Sea and they're
still growing, they're still maturing. A lot of teams are on the search
for a consistent closer. The Guardians have been fortunate to have a manual class
say in that spot the past couple of years. What does he do for
the rest of that bullpen you think because of the success that he has at
the end of games. Well, it's just it's like you said, it's
nice to have an established closer in the back end of the game that you
can trust. And what he does that he allows other guys to pitch in
situations that they're going to be into their strengths. So I feel that you
know that Tito does a great job of putting guys in situations where they're going
to succeed, knowing that they as a closer in the back end that's going
to do the job. Rego, great to have you a long thanks for
coming by, Thank you for having me. Then, as Rigo Beltran,
Guardians new bullpen coach, overseeing a bullpen that at times has been dominant at
times, has had some difficulties closing out games, but for the most part,
a strength up this ball club, and they'll need to be if they
hope to stay in contention here in twenty twenty three, stay tuned, we'll
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billions. Coverage for cats and dogs included to the purchase of collusion coverage and
subject to policy terms. Welcome back to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse back with
you from Progressive Fielding in downtown Cleveland. It's time for our weekly farm report
with a director of player development for the Guardians Robster folio, and this week
we're going to focus on Lake County just up the road, the high a
team for the Cleveland organization and Rob. Before we get into two individual players
we're talking earlier, this is a really young team for the level they are
at. And just explain what when we say young team, what does that
mean in terms of the type of player that's there and their age and experience
at this point in time. Yeah, young is spot on, you know,
We especially on the position player side, the things were a handful of
these guys got their first taste of full season baseball last year in Lynchburg.
We have a couple of college guys that were from the draft class from this
past year that are making their debut, so not a lot of full season
baseball experience. Our physician player group, like I said, is a lot
younger than average across that league, which creates a great opportunity for those guys
to get challenge was better on a better competition. So that's been really fun
and out of the gate, and we've got a couple of guys that are
off the good starts and a couple of guys that are off to a little
bit of a slower start, which which is expected when you're rolling out a
super young lineup. And when we look at individual players, a lot of
these names were going to talk about. Um, we saw them at various
points in time during Major League spring training filling out games at the end,
and they certainly held their own in that arena, so to speak. But
let's start with Juan Brito, who saw a fair amount of time in major
league spring training games. UM, when you look at Brito coming over from
another organization to Colorado Rockies last summer, what's been impressive to you, both
offensively and defensively. Yeah, there's a lot to like with with with one,
and we're really excited about just the type of kid and talent that we
got in that trade last year with Colorado. Um, this is a guy
that can play all over the place in the infield. He can play short,
he can play second, he can play third. He's really kind of
working on just positional versatility with how important that is. You know, we've
seen at the major league level a lot of young guys come up and the
more versatile they are, the more opportunities they have to get in the lineup.
And so defensively, just his ability to stand in multiple areas and do
so pretty pretty impressively. Is a feather in his cap. And then when
he brings to the table on offense might be his greatest skill set, which
is really impressive knowledge of the zone, doesn't chase a lot, takes his
walks, and then gap to gap line drive kind of hit it with some
developing power from both sides of the plates. So you know, this is
a piece and that we're lucky to have, and you know we're going to
be really excited to work with here over the next couple of years. And
you mentioned that ability to command the strike zone throughout his career, and it's
happening again this year more walks than strikeouts. How unusual is that, especially
for a young kid in the minor leagues. It's especially in lower levels where
you know pitchers struggle with command a little bit more so than they do at
some of the higher levels. So you know, you look at guys like
Stephen Kwan and have done that in the past. In the minor leagues,
there's not a huge list of players that you know, walk more than they
strike out and then, by the way, hit for a little bit of
extra based power. So it's an impressive skill set and just his ability to
put the bat on the ball but also not chase. And when he does
swing, he's tending to swing at pitches that are you know, where he's
looking to do damage. So it's an impressive skill set for such channel player.
Joe Lampi is an outfielder that we also saw during Major League spring training
games, a college drafted player, but someone who I know, Tito mention
it, this guy's an energy guy. And what do you sing from him
so far at this level? Yeah, that's spot on. He plays the
game really hard, whether it's at the plate, whether it's base running.
Kind of a guy that's just bringing effort, good way to all aspects of
the game, that just injects energy and the rest of the team. And
you know, I think he I think he was player of the Month in
April or something like that for the Midwest League and just got off to a
really hot start. Not too dissimilar from from Brito, with really good contact
skills. This guy hits a lot of line drives, so he's putting the
ball and play at productive angles and then he can play all over the place
in the outfield. You know, I think he's got a chance to really
play center field at a high level. Knows the game, pays attention to
the details. So for him to get challenged, you know, this is
like you said a guy in last year's draft class, he's getting his first
taste at pro ball right out of the gate and high a You know,
he got a tiny little taste in Lynchburg last year, but he was hurt
towards the end of the year, so kind of his first go at being
full healthy, and we challenge him and he's he's met that challenge so far.
In Lake County. Younger player, how about Jake Fox with some some
professional experience under his belt now going through some ups and downs here early in
this season. But what do you like about chink? Yeah, you know,
not not the greatest start of the year. He'd probably be the first
to tell you that. But this is a young player that's really talented that
we've asked to learn how to play the outfield. He can do a lot
of really impressive things in the batter's box. With again, another guy with
plus contact skills. He can hit the ball out of the ballpark. Still
a developing young player at just twenty years old, who has a lot of
upside, So I know he maybe from a numbers standpoint as everyone's checking out
the box, of course hasn't posted the same type of numbers out of the
gate as Brito and Lampey. But a guy that is just as talented that
we're really excited to the Seille bounces back. And you know, oftentimes challenges
early on for young players ends up being a good thing where it's a way
for them to learn how to respond to a little adversity. And these guys
come from levels where they've been the best player their whole life, and so
there's a lot of good that can come out of this, and we're expecting
Jake to bounce back. Just fun similar situation at all for for Milan Tool
and Tino, very similar, you know another guy. You look at both
those guys performance last year and I know they're just being in there with them
the last couple of days. They're a little frustrated with where they are today.
But you know, it's like I said, it's it's leaning into some
of the development, the long term development track that we have with these guys
and trying to take some positives out of what they're going through today. To
help them in the future. And you know, I think both those guys
are just too talented to struggle like they did in the first month. And
we expect Melan, you know, another exciting young infielder that can really play
shortstop, can bounce around in the infield, but just brings a well rounded
skill set, runs the base as hard, does a lot of the little
things that Tito and our Major League staff really talk and value. So you
know, we're excited for him to continue to get going. Here is as
the weather starts to warm up and we get a lot more games ahead of
us. All right, we'll stay on infield. And gosh, it seems
like every team we always talk about good defenders up the middle. Georgis Valdez
another one in that cut from that cloth of good defense and maybe doing some
things offensively too. Yeah. Absolutely, you know this is Ah. If
we were to do a defensive competition across our entire organization, I think Jordis
would put a who would make it close to the finals and any type of
defensive skill set or or competition he wanted to come up with. So you
know, this is this is a guy that last year spent pretty much the
whole year in Lynchburg and just got better and better offensively like he's been,
you know, an A plus defender for us, can really pick it at
shortstop and our hitting group. Credit to those guys and Jordis for just continuing
to get better, finding ways to up his game. Another switch hitter,
and he's doing he's like continuing to get better from both sides of the plate
with contact skills with putting the ball and play at good angles. So just
you know, another young player like you said, that can play anywhere in
the infield, that can really glove it and has continued to challenge himselfing it
better offensively, which has been really fun to watch. Rob Sorfolio joining us.
He's the director of player development for the Guardians. We're talking Lake County
captains at the High A level and switching to the mound. Ethan Hankins is
a name that's it's been on the radar since he was drafted. But he's
had some entry issues and he's just now getting back and he'll make another start
over the weekend. But where is he in terms of getting back to a
normal routine and seeing how good he can be and not just rehabbing yeah,
that's kind of exactly where we are. You know, it's been you know,
you look at it. It's almost a perfect storm in an unfortunate way
for Hank in the sense that twenty nineteen was really throwing the ball well as
a young high school draftee. The pandemic happens, we all lose the twenty
twenty seasons, so he doesn't really get a chance to pitch competitively outside of
Sight two. Gets hurt in spring training in twenty twenty one, ends up
missing the whole year and pretty much the whole year last year as part of
his TJ rehab progression, and so you know, we're just really excited and
what a credit to Ethan to be able to weather that storm make it all
the way back. It's been an incredibly long track for him to get back
out on the field, and you know, we're really proud of just the
physical and mental fortitude that he's shown. And now it's time to go have
fun and so he you know, he made his first start at an affiliate
in two plus years last weekend. You know, we have a little bit
of a pitch pitch count as he's coming back, so he's around forty pitches
last week. He'll be a little bit higher this week is as he makes
a start here today on Saturday. So just really excited and proud of the
effort he's put in to make it back and we're seeing his velocity trend back
up, We're seeing his secondary pitches really start to come back to form like
they were before injury. And you know, commands usually one of the last
turtles with Tommy John. But you know, we're excited just to see him
back in game action, get those reps with guys in different uniforms, with
the stadium behind them, and still a guy that we're really excited about in
our organization and just as you know, a pretty high ceiling with what he
can do when he's throwing the baseball and just in closing rabbit. I know,
from your perspective, the proximity of the Lake County Ball Club to Cleveland,
you can just shoot over there. Guys, you can leave, you
know for a lunchtime game at eleven thirty and still make it. But for
the players, I know a lot of them live in downtown Cleveland, and
why is that important and how can that benefit them even at this stage of
their careers. Yeah, you know, I think it's such a competitive advantage
for us, just in the sense that all of our teams are close,
they get to old relationships with teammates and different organizations, and then to your
point, the kind of get that first taste of what it's like to live
in Cleveland, Um see the city, and you know, they almost kind
of build a little bit of that first connection with the area and in the
which that they're all trying to get to the progressive field right down the street
with a lot of them live in downtown and um, yeah, you know,
I think it kind of just creates some of that that connection to the
city, and having them so close to us is certainly a competitive advantage when
you know, with them and Afron and Columbus all two hours or less,
they get a chance to kind of build the connection with our with the state
of Ohio and also their teammates that end up living really close to them,
regardless of levels. So that's something that we're really we're really fortunate to have
and um, you know, I hope it remains to be just a staple
of our organization with how you know, we waive guys throughout the minor leagues.
Oh Rob, good stuff is always. Thanks a lot for the time
and we'll catch up you again real soon. Thanks Rose, appreciate your time.
That's Rob Sortfolio, the director of player development for the Guardians, and
that's going to do it for our show this week. Thanks so much as
always to Brian Matsey for helping to put together our show. And we'll join
you next week from New York City, where the Guardians are taking on the
New York Mets on their next road swing. Until then, this is Jim
Rosenhouse reminding you that you've been listening to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians
Radio Network. Thanks for being a part of it so long. Everybody.
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