Welcome to Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Guardians Radio Network. Guardians Weekly is front
to you by Progressive helping Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance. Hi,
everyone, welcome to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse along with you from Tropicana Field
in Saint Petersburg where the Guardians are getting ready to take on the Raisin Game
two of the series on Saturday, and then another game on Sunday before an
opt day Monday in Cincinnati and two with the Reds to finish up the road
swing. Coming up a little bit later on in our show today, we
will hear from Rob Sortfolio with a farm report later on Ramone Loriano, one
of the newest Cleveland Guardians. Also Cole Calhoun, another Veterans signee on that
last homestand and rookie right hander Gavin Williams. They will all stop by and
join us here on Guardians Weekly. But first to look back at the weekend
review and a homestand that was completed with a four game series against the Toronto
Blue Jayson on Monday. It was a three to one loss to the Chays,
put a good battle to start the series and what a night for Guardians
young starting pitcher Gavin Williams on the mound. Toronto had three straight games against
Boston in which they had fourteen hits or more in all three games. They
have one tonight. Here's the wine, here's the three tune delivery, A
swap, bang in a mess. He strikes up Jensen. That is twelve
for Gavin Williams. What up performance stretch time at the corner of Carnagiean Ontario.
Scoreless in Northeast Ohio. And again we'll hear more from Williams and just
a little bit. The Toronto pitching was terrific in that game too, and
they scored three runs in the final two innings to pick up a three to
one win. In Game one of the series, Tuesday night, Game two.
More great pitching in this one, but this time the Guardians were able
to get on the board in the second inning thanks to the newest Guardian,
Ramon Loriano. In his first Cleveland at bat, Cakuchee hands at the belt,
checks first, another looked the pitch and it swung on granted over the
bag at third, fareball down the left field line into the corner. Gonzalez
hits third. He's being waved home. Loriano will stay at second with an
RBI double and it's one nothing Cleveland as Gonzalez score from first on a double
over the bag of third and down into the left field corner and Loriano's first
at bat as a Cleveland Guardian. How about that? That would be it
for the offense. Is Toronto starter? You say, Cocouchie shut down the
Guardians, but Tanner Biby dominated the Jay's lineup. Here's Paul Deyong, the
number nine hitter shortstop with a high fly ball on the left, but that's
not going anywhere. Camped under it is Stephen Quan and that'll finish the night
for Tanner Baby. Just like last night, Cleveland gets seven shutout innings from
one of their young phenops, a hundred pitches tonight for Tanner Biby, he
is something special, isn't he? One nothing? Cleveland Stretch time at the
corner of Carnegie and Ontario. Trevor Stephan got the job done in the eighth
and it was Emmanuel class A on in the ninth. You've got people standing
here Progressive Field. The problem is they're holding their breath. One ball,
one strike, not a lot of noise. The set and the one one
swung on lifted in the air to center. This should do it. Straw
to right center. He's under it. Bowl game and Emmanuel Class has back
to back thirty saved seasons. It wasn't easy in the night, but it
never is against a club like Toronto. And how about the Guardians getting their
twelfth shut out headed by the phenomenal rookie Tanner by me, then Trevor Stephen,
then Emmanuel Class. Cleveland a one nothing win over Toronto tonight, so
a nice win to square the series up at one win apiece. Logan Allen
kept the good pitching going on the mound in Wednesday's game against the Blue Jay's,
giving up just one run in five innings of work. But for a
second day in a row, one run was enough, this time for the
Blue Jays as Kevin Gossman shut down the Guardians bats in Toronto took Game three
of the series one nothing. On Thursday Day baseball in downtown Cleveland. Toronto
got the scoring started with a run in the top half of the second inning,
but in the bottom of the inning, the Guardians youngsters delivered, starting
with a memorable moment for rookie Jose Tana two down, one nothing, Blue
Jays for the number nine hitter. The kid Jose Tana, left handed batter
at short today and the pitch Tana with a line right pace shit up the
middle, his first major league hit, his first major league RBI in the
scores Loriano and we've got a one one game. How about that. Jose
Tina, another one of those highly thought of middle infield prospects, has spent
the year in double a Akron and he wrote Date two out line drive single
a center to score Lauriano and Cleveland, making alec manoah pay for the walks.
And then it was Brian Rokio putting the Guardians in front. The pitch
swung on line drive another base hit. This is to the right of center.
HiT's cut off by Lucas, but into scores Nailer on his way to
second pit first slide in a double as Rocchio beats the throw from Lucas to
the right of center and the Guardians take a two to one lead. And
both walks this ending have come around to score as Nailer scores. Tana goes
to third. Rookio with that RBI double to the right of center. It's
his third main cheligue double, his second main cheligue arbi. He was that
same pair in the fifth inning as Tina led off with a double, and
then Rocchio came through again. Manoah with the one two pitch swung on line
drive right field base hit maybe extras, yes, it rolls to the wall.
Tano will score. Rocchio's on his way to second. He's in with
his second RBI double on the day, and the Guardians now lead it three
to one. Wow. The first year players for Cleveland getting it done.
Jose Tana with his first major league start today, Brian Rocchio just up from
the minor leagues, and a combo to knock Manoah out of the game.
Here in the fifth inning is John Schneider's on his way to the mound.
Cole Calhoun drove in one more with a ground out to make it four one
Cleveland. But in the seventh Toronto scratched out two runs to make it a
one run ball game, four to three. So once again in the ninth
he was Amnuel Classe without any wiggle room trying to close it out. Cleveland
gives one strength away from being three and a half games out of first.
Incredible now the two two swinging on miss ball game, what a slider and
close wipes out de Young in the Blue Jays in the night, and Cleveland
games a split in this four game series against a ball club like Toronto,
you really can't pitch any better than Cleveland did, and the end result each
team wins two games. Today the Guardians with a four to three win over
the Blue Jays, so the Guardians split the series with the Blue Jays,
and then it was on to Saint Petersburg to open up the series with the
Rays on Friday night, a wild ball game, Guardians tied it with three
runs in the ninth, only to see it slip away when Wander Franco hit
a home run to walk it off in the bottom half of the ninth inning.
Tampa Bay nine, Cleveland eighth, the final score. Stay with us,
We'll be back with more after this on the Cleveland Clinic, Guardians Radio
Network, and Progressive. We love sports and sending your money, so we'd
bundled them together. The final horse now in the gate and they're off,
shutting off of a double turloo jump, leaving a difficult seven ten splint as
there's movement on the inside rail only nine ten s them. Now is the
head of the final could anisle their neck and neck pitch down to the last
frame. Here comes the actual job. They bundled their home on auto insurance
with Progressive of it when strike sendings, Gold, Progressive, casualteen insurance company
affiliates and other insurance discot not available in all stats or situations. Welcome back
to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse back with you from Tropicana Field in Saint Petersburg,
Florida, the Guardians and Rays meeting in a weekend series. Gavin Williams
will be on the mound on Saturday, and he was terrific in his last
doubting on Monday night at home against the Blue Jays, pitching seven scoreless innings
twelve strikeouts to establish a new career high. He allowed just one hit and
we caught up with him on Tuesday and he says some great advice from veteran
pitcher Cal Quantrille has really helped him over his last couple of starts. I
mean just talking with Cal, I mean me and him just been going over
things from like my past three or four outings. Really, I mean I
keep asking him what he sees and he keeps giving me feedbacks and just just
building off of that really, and how valuable is that. Obviously you have
great coaches here, but to talk to a veteran player who's been through that
before as well, how important is that? I mean, it's super important.
He's going through it his rookie year. I mean he's been in here
three or four years. I don't really know how long yet, but I
mean that feedback is definitely very helpful where there are certain periods of the game
last night where it was clicking in and he said, Ah, this is
what I need to be doing to get deeper into games. Uh yeah,
absolutely. I mean, just going back on it with Caw, I mean,
the biggest innings really are the fifth, fifth, and six innings really,
so you look back at a dozen strikeouts and obviously strike out they're fun
for anybody. Were you aware in terms of history and how often that has
or has not happened in Indian's history. Maybe after the game, No,
absolutely not. I didn't see it until somebody tagged me in it on Twitter.
I think it was again you look at great games that you've had.
We were talking before we went on about a college game that you had at
the highest level in the nc DOUBAA tournament against Vanderbilt. What do you remember
about that that day or night that turned out to be a big strikeout game
for you. I mean, I think it was just a pictures at all.
I mean, he hit Kumar on the other team. He had eleven
just going against each other. It was it was pretty fun. And you're
facing Vanderbilt, which has such a great reputation. But what did it mean
for your school, least Carolina to be on that spotlight and have you be
a part of that. I mean, that's where we always wanted to be.
We can play with well, yeah, we can play with anybody,
it doesn't matter who it is. But I mean we competed with everyone.
And when you talk about compete, you're getting deep in your season here,
and I know a common theme has been how all the three rookies in the
rotation hold up and how long will they pitch? How are you feeling right
now as you get deeper into it here in the month of August, I
mean, I feel good. I'm gonna pitch as long as they let me,
so hopefully that's till end the season. But whenever they tell me to
stop, that's what I'm gonna stop. It's been good stuff for sure.
Gavin, thanks for coming by. I appreciate it. Thank you. That's
Gavin Williams, who is back on the mound on Saturday down in Saint Pete
against the Rays. Well, the Guardians lineup has been bolstered somewhat by veteran
outfielder Cole Calhoun, who had been in the minor leagues all season long for
the first time in ten years. But he's back in the major leagues with
the Guardians, and the former Angel and Diamond back, among others, has
had a nice impact on the ball club in his first week with the team.
He's played some first base, he's played some outfield, and he was
in the outfield on Monday night made a tremendous diving catch in right field,
and we caught up with him the next day to ask him about that catching
and where it ranked for him in a long career as an outfielder. Yeah,
I mean, it's uh, it was definitely up there. It's it
was a long way to go. I had only had one ball hit to
me earlier in the game and took a stab at it and came down with
it. So if I could think back to a few, there's a few
that stick out, but that one, that one ranks up there pretty high.
I think kids who played a game, they always want to make those
kind of plays. But as you get deeper into too professional baseball, and
especially at the major league level, what are some of the things that you
consider when you're trying to make a play like that. Yeah, I mean,
to be honest, a lot of guys probably think about a lot of
things. And I don't know, I've never really possessed that trade. It
was just really go catch it. And you know, it was since I
was young. I used to love diving around and catching balls, and I
thought, that's that's been one of the my favorite parts of the game,
especially on the defensive side. And it's funny now I watched my son do
the same thing throwing balls and he's diving all over the place, and I
don't know, maybe it's just in eight, I guess, but now that's
the only thing going through my mind. Was get there as quick as I
can. If I've got a chance, I'm gonna go for it. And
you were back in your natural position here though you've had an opportunity to play
some first base for the first time in a long time. What are the
challenges that have been there that they maybe are not readily A parents who a
lot of folks who think that first baseball that's an easy spot. Anyone can
play over there. Yeah, I mean, I think being a guy like
like, I have played in the outfield pretty much my entire career, and
so I've had a little bit of experience at first base, but that was
a long time ago. And so I've always prided myself on defense, and
so anytime that something comes up, it's like, I want to go out
and succeed for the team, especially on the defensive side. You want to
do it on the offensive side too, but it's a game of failure on
the offensive side, not so much on the defensive side. So I think
I think over there, there's just some some instincts that that come with experience
that you know, I may not possess quite yet. I mean, it's
just going to take some some time over there and playing and getting comfortable.
And uh comes down to those those two balls on Sunday right there that you
know, I feel like I should have caught, And I think with a
little bit more experience. I may have gone about those balls a couple of
different ways, but you know, I'm just gonna keep working and keep on
getting better over there. And post game, you took some responsibility for that
front end center. Why do you think that's important, especially someone at your
stage of the game and where you are in this situation. Yeah, I
just I think that's important because this is a this is a tough game,
you know, and and I've been around for a little bit and and I'll
be able to deal with it. I think, Uh, some other guys
that you know, it affects them big time, you know, And so
I think me being able to take that is, uh, is just a
good way to go about it. I think, good game, you you
give it to everybody else. In bad game, you, you take it
all upon yourself. Cole Calhoun is joining us recently acquired by the Guardians,
and call you. You were back in the minor leagues for the first time
in a long time earlier this season. H what's kept you going and and
got you through that period before you got back here? Yeah, I uh,
it's been a while. It's been a while since I since I've been
down and then in Triple A, and uh, you know, I'm I'm
approaching ten years of MLB service time and I'm a little bit short, and
I wanted to get back and get an opportunity to get that. That's kind
of what kept me going. That was what motivated me too, to go
through this season and keep on grinding like I've been grinding, and so get
an opportunity to to get back up here and you know, and and help
a ball club that that is right in the thicket things. And so that's
that's exciting. I want to come up here and play well and do what
I can to help this team win, and you know, see where see
where this year takes us. It's been a wild ride so far, so
we'll see what happens. And you have a teammate Daniel Norris, who somewhat
similar spent a lot of time in the major leagues and ended up going back
to the minor leagues for a while this season. He said there were some
positives to it. Were there some positives there that maybe the way you look
at the game a little bit, Yeah, I think it puts some things
in perspective. It really does. I mean, I don't want to say,
you take anything for granted up here, but I was up here for
a long time, you know. And when you go back to Triple A
and the game is I mean, it is miles away from where it is
in the big leagues, being at the Triple A level and just atmospheres,
crowds, a competition level, I mean, you name it. And so
getting back up here and like the first day back in the stadium and like
looking up hit and VP throwing a ball around, it was just like it
puts things into perspective that this is this is awesome, this is cool,
This is such a fantastic place to be in, like truly truly living a
dream. So definitely brings that back to the four from Cole. Thanks laugh
for their perspectives. Appreciate it, no problem, Thank you. And some
great veteran perspectives from Cole Calhoun. And he has been a nice addition to
this ball club. Stay with us. We're back with more after this now.
The next delivery to Jansen swung on lifted in the air, fairly deep
right far show wants to tag catch is made by Loriano. He'll fire on
the flight a third and staying put's far show, Oh my smart play by
Dalton varshow he knows about the bazooka attention to the right shoulder of Ramone Loriano
and he fired it to third on the fly far show would have been a
dead pigeon. Welcome back to Guardians Weekly. Jim Rosenhouse back with you from
Tropicana Field in Saint Petersburg, Florida. Guardians and Rays meeting this weekend and
then the five game road swing continues in Cincinnati on Tuesday night. Ramon Loriano
is another outfielder that the Guardians have added to their roster with good major league
experience, who has claimed off waivers from the Oakland Athletics earlier in the week.
Flew in on the red Eye Monday night and made his Guardians debut on
Tuesday, and when we caught up with him, he talked about what a
wild week it had been for him coming to a new team. It's been
a you know, fresh air has been a blessing at the same time,
and I'm just really excited I'm here in the Indians and it's such a great
organization that people on see from the outside and you see it from from across
the field and during the times where these teams have played each other, Oakland
and Cleveland. What were your impressions of the organization then and how has it
gone so far? Very early in your Cleveland career. It's just how advanced
they are in everything. I feel like. Obviously, I got a friend
here at Ramirez and he used to tell me so many great things about it
all these years. So so yeah, I'm I'm excited now that I'm here.
And you were with a team that was having a difficult season both on
and off the field, with so many things going on about moving the franchise,
all of that. How difficult was it to be the best you could
be in that situation. It's a it's a hard question, you know,
because I don't like, I'm not an excuse person, because you know,
you need to control what you have to do on the field, you know,
and you're working and all that, and I did all that. It's
just it's just really hard with all everything is going on off the field with
the with then he actually it really impacts the players in the clubhouse on the
field, and uh, and yeah, I mean not adrenaline during the games.
He felt like extended games I remember, And but you know, I'm
just I'm just so happy I'm here. I really do feel like I got
called up. When you look at your game, I know you're throwing arm
is one of the best in baseball. For some players, that's a gift
from a young age. They just they have a great arm. How about
you? How did you develop that type of arm where you can make tremendous
throws without a thought? Is a guy given thing, without a doubt.
But I have worked on it, you know, I have worked on it.
You know, I got some mobility. I got some mobility in my
arms, so I can throw different angles and stuff, and I try to,
you know, be as accurate as I can and uh manly speed.
Uh you know, throw throw hard, but throw it with accuracy. So
yeah, I worked a lot on that. More fun to make a great
defensive play maybe throw someone out on the basis than it is even to do
something big at the plate. Uh yeah, I mean I would love to
do both, you know, And that's what I'm planning on. And yeah,
I'm just really excited. So the year you're having offensively looks like some
of the periphery now are really good. And how do you feel about where
you're at as you join a new ball club. Look, I feel great.
I think it's that it's that was I don't. I don't feel not
even close to. That's who I am. I know why and uh and
and this team knows why. That's why they got me. And uh so
I just for me. He's just staying healthy and not s lying to people's
knee or or get here by page by ninety a and play with that broke.
And I think he's just for me. He's just uh, just go
out there and play and you know, health and that's a good luck with
a fresh start. Thanks for coming back, Thank you, Thank you every
ship. That's Ramone Loriano, who's had some nice moments in his first week
with the ball club and certainly a nice addition with some veteran presence for this
team heading down the stretch. Stay with us. We'll go from veteran presence
to the youngest of the young minor leaguers and get a report from the farm
system from Robs or Folio when we return on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network.
Progressive knows we're all trying to save right now. Hey, at least
we're still enjoying baseball on a Saturday night, right, even if it is
T ball. Yeah, the tickets to the majors are just so expensive now,
and who knows, maybe we're seeing a pro in the making. Sure
in the twenty years. How is he safe? Boo to substinct the ump
is only fourteen. We don't really do that. Oh my bad. You're
doing a great job. Progressive offers you satings without sacrifice, So save big
win. You buddle home and auto for there's a casualty insurance company, affiliates
and other introvers. Guardians Weekly continuing from Saint Peter's Burg Tropicana Field, where
the Guardians are taking on the race this weekend, and we try and catch
up with robster Folio on a regular basis. He's the director of player development
for the Guardians, and he was with the Columbus Clippers this week in Toledo.
Pitching depth, obviously has been something that's been tested this season for Cleveland,
and one potential candidate if the need were to arise for yet another starter
at the major league level his heart throwing right hander Joey Cantillo, and Rob
talks about what he's seen from Cantillo recently with Columbus. Yeah, I think
you know, this is a guy that that has just thrown the ball really
well throughout the entire course of this season. He started with Akron and pretty
much dominated the Double A level from a strikeout standpoint week contact and just has
continued to grow. I mean, he was in the futures game for US.
You just kind of look at Joey. One of the things that's really
impressive about him is some of the things that people don't see away from the
seven o'clock window when he's actually out on the mound. But the way that
this guy goes about his business in between starts, how he approaches his bullpen,
always trying to get better. It speaks a ton of about him as
a character. And just you know why we're so excited about the potential ceiling
for this guy, and it's been fun to watch him get challenged here in
Triple A. You know, I think early on making that adaptation to advanced
hitters at the Triple A level, like you'll see guys that different than Double
I sometimes that have quite a bit of major league experience, and I think
some of that shows up and their approach and how they're able to kind of
combat some of the things that are pitchers, especially young pitchers, have had
success within the past, and it's been a great learning experience for Joey to
kind of get some of that in game feedback and then make his own adjustments
to continue to be more and more of a complete pitcher. So we're seeing
a lot of the same stuff. I mean, this guy has a four
pitch mix as fastball has been up to ninety eight miles prior this year,
which is which has been impressive. As Vilo was really a big focus for
us when he came over in the trade a couple of years ago with San
Diego, and now that we're seeing that consistently, it's a lot about his
secondary and attacking the strike zone and making sure that you know, he can
get the most out of the quality four pitch mix that he has by being
able to land all those in zone and attack hitters and stay ahead and account
to get deep into games and pitch efficiently. So it's been a it's been
a fun season and a lot of learning opportunities for Joey and he's taking advantage
of them. Not to lump these two together, but a couple of depth
pieces that we've seen already at the major league level this season, Hunter Gattis
and Peyton Battenfield. Battenfield battling injury and now coming back from that. But
what are you seeing from them as you look at their numbers? And certainly
it's been up and down at the Triple A level, But what are you
seeing at this point in time for both? Yeah, you know, so
with Battenfield you noted it of coming back from the injury, and that's always
difficult in season of been trying to you know, find your feet underneath you
again and getting back to competing at a high level, but also making sure
that that you're one hundred percent healthy. Is is a challenge for guys.
And you know, watching Peyton kind of got through his work yesterday and talking
with him a little bit, you know, that's where he's at again.
You know, I think with Gadis too, trying to find the things that
when these guys were at their best in the past, what we're we seeing
from them from a you know, arsenal standpoint and from the delivery standpoint,
and really trying to gear our efforts towards both of those things. And Gadis
went out and through the ball really well last night, and I know,
Owen dow and Cody McKell and the pitching group had had some things they wanted
him to work on when it came to pitch selection, and I thought he
did a great job of that last night. So really it's you know,
that focus of how do we get these guys back on track to hopefully continue
to get better and eventually be you know, quality major league options for us,
and trying to take advantage of every rep that they have at the Triple
A level to close that gap. And you know, watching the Hunter throwing
game yesterday, I thought he did a great job of that, And saying
with Peyton on an off day for him, but some of the day in
which he was really you know, kind of pushing himself in the bullpen in
between outings. So you know, both those guys are are aligned with the
things that are highest leverage for them and and now it just comes to putting
in the work and seeing how that shows up in game for us. And
one other picture I wanted to touch on, very familiar to Guardians fans,
is Zach Pleazach and it's been a tough year for Zach. He spent most
of it at the minor league level, I noticed earlier this week a good
performance for him. How's he coming along, what's he working on? Could
you know have had the pleasure of working with Zach you know, prior to
Danny hunting Cleveland, you know, knowing who he was in the minor leagues.
And I think just one of the cool things about him of you know,
watching him go about his work, is is he's really the same guy,
which which I think speaks a lot of critics just how motivated he is
to try and get back to help our major league team. And and of
course, like you know, some of the things that he was doing when
he was at his peak, is his same story with what we're trying to
do with with Peyton and Hunter. Of okay, how do we assess the
gap between then now with Flee and how do we kind of help him reorient
his best arsenal and delivery to get him back to being an option to help
our major league team win again. This is a kid that really works,
He really cares, he wants to get back to help our major league team,
and and so trying to every day move the needle closer to the best
version of him and really digging in on some of the delivery aspects that we
think can maybe continue to allow him to throw his best velocity when he's out
there on the mound. So it's been fun to for our group to work
with Zach and to his credit, you know, he has he has not
squawked at all at being in Triple A and and has come up and had
a great mindset with with how to get better and hopefully get back there to
help our big league team win. Rob Sorfolio joining us. We're talking Triple
A Columbus as Rob is with the ball club over in Toledo on this road
swing position player wise, So let's start behind the plate. Brian Lava Stedham
made the big league club coming out of spring training a year ago, but
we haven't heard a whole lot about him since he was sent back very early
last season. But you look at his numbers and it's starting to come together.
It looks like at the Triple A level, and what are you seeing
in him? It's encouraging, yes, So you know, this has been
a great year for Lava just I think one, you know, thinking about
some of the things that he had to go through early in the year,
was on the forty man roster, it gets DFA and at that opportunity to
other organizations have a chance to select him, and you know, that didn't
happen for him. And a lot of times you see players kind of go
into a shell with that and shut things down, and it really affects,
you know, their quality of work and really candidly the rest of their year.
And to see Lava kind of take the exact opposite approach of that,
I was actually there with Acker and when that happened, and the day,
you know, the days that he returned of going right to the staff and
essentially asking them like, how do we write the ship here? And so
I think it speaks to just a little bit of his mindset and then for
him to actually go out there use some of the that coaching to to write
the ship from a performance standpoint is pretty exciting. And I think both offensively
and defensively, we've seen him get back to some of the things we saw
in twenty twenty one where you know, this is a guy that can really
put the bat on the ball and has an opportunity to impact the baseball at
a position where you know, the offensive impact you know, usually isn't as
high for catchers and you know that that's just been really refreshing to see.
And I think a lot of credit goes to Lava with with just his approach
and his mentality to figure out what he needed to do to kind of put
himself back into the forty men conversation, and he's doing just that and continue
to have success in Triple A both offense and defense. Another player that we've
heard a lot about but it just seems to be having a tough time getting
a season rolling is outfielder George Faleria. And how's he doing here as we
get deeper into the season. Yeah, you know, I think we're still
watching George kind of get his feet underneath him. So, you know,
just a unlucky string of events, especially even going all the way back to
spring training, when you know, some of the fans got a chance to
see him for the first time, had the risk issue flare up, and
then as part of his rehab, had a little bit of a hamstring tweak
and you look up and he's missed almost half the year and now he's in
Triple A trying to you know, in some ways early on almost go through
his own spring training while the season's going on, and that's really difficult to
do. And you know, I think the one cool thing about Georges that
hasn't impacted the way that he's come to the ballpark every day this year,
and he's he's going out there with the mentality of trying to get back to
the guy that we've seen in the past that can really impact the baseball and
can fly around on the outfield and you know, has a cannon for an
arm and can impact the game on both sides of the ball. And that's
kind of where we're putting all of our eggs towards that basket on both the
defense and offensive sides right now. And you know, I'm hoping that we
see George, you know, similar to some of the other guys we've talked
about, use this as an opportunity to kind of write the ship and and
you know, hopefully have a chance, you know, towards the end of
the year to look up and be a candidate that our major league teams excited
about. Another young outfielder, Jonathan Rodriguez recently promoted to Triple A Columbus.
I know, he put up some numbers at Akron big time power and what's
he been able to do so far at the Triple A level. Yeah,
I mean, he nailed it right there. This is a guy that can
really impact the baseball and you know, one of the you look at his
overall performance line and it's, you know, pretty impressive. He's hitting close
to three hundred with a lot of with a lot of damage done. And
you dig into that further. And the first month of the year he really
struggled. So for him to kind of be at the position he's at right
now, I think speaks a lot towards how how well he's done in the
last couple of months. And we thought it was a time for him to
get challenged in Triple A, like similar to some of the things we talked
about with Cantilla of Okay, now you have a chance to face guys and
have some major league exposure, and how does your approach adjust to that of
some of the highest level of competition that we can simulate to prepare our guys
ahead of getting to the big leagues. And and and j was a great
job of jumping in. He's played left, he's played right. Another guy
that can really throw, and you know, he's a he's a name that
I hope we continue to see further growth from and you know, puts his
name on the radar to essentially help our major league team with with his skill
set of really being able to impact the baseball and decent damage. And one
more position player who is actually here with the with the Guardians at least for
a little bit, is Jose Tenna. And I know he wasn't at Triple
A very long, but what type of season has he been having and what
made him a candidate to come up here and fill a gap for a little
bit. Well, he's a he's a career three hundred hitter in Triple A.
Rosie after that one game, so we thought it was time. It
was obviously a unique situation with with Tanna and some of the injuries that happened
in the Major League created some movement. He's a guy that was on the
forty minute roster, so, you know, similar to Ja, I got
off to a little bit of a slow start. But credit to our Double
A hitting group, Mike Mergenthaler, Ian Forster, you know, Grant think,
our our whole hitting side, I think really dug into Jose early in
the year to try and get him back to when we've seen him at his
best are what are some of the things that we've seen and brought that to
them and and you know, those guys were able to work through it,
and I think that's why we saw him really rebound from a performance standpoint in
Double A. And yeah, well we'll see what happens. Obviously, he's
up in the major leagues now, and should he come back down to that
to the minor leagues, will be ready to continue to help him on both
the offensive and defensive side. But you know, I think one of the
exciting things about him is he's always gonna be able to go out there and
really defend. And you know, I think that's one of the things that
the major league staff likes about having him up there. There's always a lot
going on at the Triple A level, players coming and going, but Rap,
thanks a lot for the update on some of them, and safe travels
as you're out there taking in some Columbus Clippers baseball. I appreciate it.
Rosie, thanks for having me. It's rops Or Folio, the director of
player Development for the Guardians, and that's your weekly farm report, and that
will do it for this edition of Guardians Weekly. Thanks so much for tuning
in as always, and thanks to Brian Matzay for helping to put together our
show each and every week until next time when we join you from back home
in downtown Cleveland. This is Jim Rosenhouse reminding you that you've been listening to
Guardians Weekly on the Cleveland Clinic Guardians Radio Network. Guardians Weekly has been brought
to you by Progressive helping Guardians fans save hundreds on car insurance