Guardians Elite Prospect Making Strong Case for MLB Call Up
At some point, the Cleveland Guardians must recognize what Ralphy Velazquez is doing at Triple-A.
Video Transcript
The Cleveland Guardians trade acquisitions of both Joe Adele and Nathaniel Lowe have been respectable and successful in their own right, but this team is still looking for a little bit more length and a little bit more pop in the lineup.
And there's one prospect right now who's making an extremely compelling case for a big league promotion, and that is number one prospect Ralphie Velasquez.
So far in the month of August, he continues to tear the cover off the baseball, carrying a three seventy-five, four four four nine sixty-four slash line.
Yes, that slugging percentage is correct.
Ralphie Velasquez has hit ten home runs in his last twelve games, which leads all of minor league baseball, not just triple-A, not just in the Guardian system, all of minor league baseball.
And he's doing it at an impressive rate as well.
And these are not just home runs that just barely clear the fence.
He's absolutely crushing them.
And this is something the Guardians absolutely must consider, as right now, this team, like I said, they have made some moves to get to more offense, and they've been good, but the team still needs a little bit more.
Now, the big question at hand is, if the Guardians were to call up Velasquez, where exactly would he play?
There's two potential answers that pop out, being the outfield and first base.
One of them, I think, is a little bit more realistic than the other, other.
Yes, Velasquez has made some progress in the outfield, and since he was promoted to triple-A earlier this season, he's made seventeen starts in left field.
But I think it would make more sense that he would play a little more first base if he were to be called up, especially since just the other day, the Guardians placed Rhys Hoskins on the injured list and recalled David Fry.
So they are actually looking, potentially looking for another first baseman to add into the mix.
Nathaniel Lowe is gonna get a lot of those reps against right-handed pitchers, but I think there's room to squeeze Velasquez in there too, not against right-handers, but also some lefties too.
Velasquez has an OPS just above eight hundred against southpaws at the minor league level.
Yes, it's a different level, but he's still shown the ability to see the ball coming out of a left-handed pitcher, and that could very much help this Guardians team who struggled against lefties so far this season.
I do think it's gonna be really interesting to see what happens with Ralphie the rest of the season.
Chris Antonetti was asked over the weekend, really what's left on his to-do list to get that promotion, and he simply responded and answered the question by saying just how impressed the, the organization has been with his growth and development, but didn't really give an answer to the question that was asked.
But that possibly could leave the door open for a potential call-up later on this season.
I think it's gonna get really interesting as those r- rosters expand in September.
Has Velasquez done enough to prove the, to the Guardians organization he not only deserves a spot on the forty-man roster, but also on the twenty-eight-man roster at that point?
I think it's gonna be very interesting to see.
And again, if Ralphie continues to hit the ball the way he has been, at some point, the Guardians are going to need to recognize what he's doing and how that could help the big league team right now.
