Guardians Baseball Insider

Photo credit: Reese Thompson/Guardians Baseball Insider

The Clippers dropped 5 of six games to the Nashville Sounds this week, as the team’s starting pitching really struggled against the Milwaukee Brewers’ AAA team. Recent call-ups Logan T. Allen and Xzavion Curry, who have been incredibly successful at every other level of the minors so far, struggled in their respective stars this week. Tanner Tully and Peyton Battenfield also took losses for the Clippers. On the upside, former first-round picks Will Benson and Bo Naylor are demonstrating their pedigree at the plate. And former top prospect Nolan Jones was called up to the Guardians over the weekend, where he played right field and got his first hit and first home run against the Kansas City Royals. If he can provide the Guardians’ lineup with some pop, Clippers fans may not see him in Columbus again anytime soon.

Week in Review

7/4: L, 5-2 (L: Tanner Tully, 5-3)
7/6: L, 9-3 (L: Logan T. Allen, 0-1)
7/7: L, 6-2 (L: Xzavion Curry, 1-1)
7/8: L, 5-3 (L: Peyton Battenfield, 5-5)
7/9: L, 6-2 (L: Aaron Pinto, 2-2)
7/10: W, 5-3 (W: Nick Mikolajchak, 2-2, S: Justin Garza)

Player of the Week

OF Will Benson – 7-19, 2 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 8 BB, 6 SO

Benson put together another great week against the Nashville Sounds. He hit two home runs and two doubles, and he walked eight times to six strikeouts. Benson is now hitting .256/.422/484 with 14 HR, 14 SB and 38 RBI over 258 ABs. It is wonderful to see Benson finding success against AAA pitching. If he keeps it up, he could get a call-up sometime after the All-Star Break.

Who’s Hot

C Bo Naylor – 5-15, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 4 BB, 7 SO

Cleveland’s catcher of the future is making a case to make the future sooner than later. Naylor has caught a bit of fire since being promoted to AAA. This week he hit .333 with two home runs. While Bryan Lavastida is on the IL, Naylor is getting plenty of opportunities at and behind the plate. He seems to be making the most of it. For those of us who find the black hole at the bottom of Cleveland’s lineup made up of Austin Hedges/Luke Maile/Sandy Leon, Naylor’s development is a welcome sight.

RP Tim Herrin – 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, BB, 5 SO

Herrin had two fine performances out of the bullpen this week. On Wednesday, over 1.1 IP, he gave up a hit and walk, and struck out two. On Saturday, Herrin pitched one inning, gave up a hit and struck out three. He did not walk a batter in his second outing.

Who’s Not

SP Logan T. Allen – 4.0 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 5 BB, 5 SO

After he dominated the lower levels of the minor leagues, Allen has finally run into some adversity against AAA hitters. On Wednesday, Allen struggled against Sounds’ hitters when he gave up four hits and five ER over 4.0 IP. He struck out five, but also walked five and gave up two home runs. That makes two rough starts for Allen to start his AAA career. Hopefully he just needs a little time to settle in and will get back to his dominating form before long.

SP Xzavion Curry – 6.0 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO

The Clippers called up Allen and Curry at the same time, and both have struggled early against AAA pitching so far. Curry looked good in his first AAA start on July 1, when he struck out nine, walked one, and gave up two ER over 5.0 IP against the Iowa Cubs. Unfortunately, this week he ran into trouble against the Sounds. over 6.0 IP, he gave up four earned runs, two walks and two home runs. He did strike out five, so his swing and miss stuff has shown up over this first two starts, which is an encouraging sign.

Transactions

7/8 – Guardians recalled OF Nolan Jones from Clippers.

7/8 – Guardians optioned OF Richie Palacios to Clippers.

7/7 – Clippers sent C Bryan Lavastida on a rehab assignment to AA Akron RubberDucks.

7/6 – LHP Jaime Arias assigned to A+ Lake County Captains from Clippers.

7/5 – Guardians recalled RHP Nick Sandlin from Clippers.

7/5 – Guardians optioned LHP Alex Young to Clippers.

7/5 – Guardians optioned LHP Konnor Pilkington to Clippers.

7/4 – Guardians optioned SS Gabriel Arias to Clippers.

7/4 – Guardians recalled LHP Konnor Pilkington from Clippers.

Up Next

The Clippers begin a six-game homestand against Pittsburgh Pirates’ AAA affiliate the Indianapolis Indians on Tuesday, July 12.

7/12 – first pitch @ 7:05 p.m.

7/13 – first pitch @ 7:05 p.m.

7/14 – first pitch @ 12:05 p.m.

7/15 – first pitch @ 7:05 p.m.

7/16 – first pitch @ 7:05 p.m.

7/17 – first pitch @ 4:05 p.m.