Guardians Baseball Insider

Photo: Courtesy Akron RubberDucks

It was an up and down week for the RubberDucks who split their home series with Harrisburg. The wins on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday were each marked by clutch go-ahead eighth inning RBIs as the bullpen was able to hold Harrisburg in check to allow the offense to get there. The bullpen wasn’t so good in the three losses and the offense wasn’t able to put together enough rallies to overcome that. The week saw LHP Joey Cantillo return to the mound on Saturday to toss three scoreless after a month off for arm care and rest. RHP Gavin Williams had a short outing on Friday due to getting hit by a comebacker to the hip but he is expected to be fine. 

Day-by-Day

7/26/22: Akron 8, Harrisburg 7; W: Smith; L: Gonzalez; S: Broom
7/27/22: Harrisburg 7, Akron 2; W: Troop; L: Labaut; S: Brzkcy
7/28/22: Harrisburg 6, Akron 4; W: Fuentes; L: Ramirez; S: Brzkcy
7/29/22: Akron 2, Harrisburg 1; W: Smith; L: Reyes; S: Broom
7/30/22: Akron 4, Harrisburg 3; W: Ponticelli; L: Peguero
7/31/22: Harrisburg 10, Akron 5; W: Fuentes; L: Daniels

Player of the Week

RHP Tanner Bibee: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K

So far, it doesn’t look like Double-A is giving Tanner Bibee much of a learning curve. In his fourth start for Akron he was perfect through 4.1 showing great command with his fastball. He got through six scoreless throwing just 74 pitches, 54 for strikes.  

Who’s Hot

IF Brayan Rocchio: 5-20, 2 2B, RBI, 5 BB, 5 K

No one on the RubberDucks had an OPS over .800 on the week but Brayan Rocchio got on base 40% of the time against Harrisburg. Since his two-homer performance at Erie on June 30, he’s got a slash line of .379/454/.689 with seven homers in 23 games. 

RHP Cade Smith: 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K

Akron has desperately needed someone to step up in the bullpen lately and Smith did just that against Harrisburg. He tossed two scoreless innings and earned the win on both Tuesday and Friday and stopped the bleeding for one inning during Sunday’s loss. 

RHP Kyle Marman: 3.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K

Marman didn’t look like someone with a 6+ ERA last week. He was perfect and struck out five in 3.1 innings last week. 

Who’s Not

LHP Randy Labaut: 1.2 IP, 5 H, 8 ER, 5 BB, 1 K

Labaut didn’t get an out before loading up the bases and giving up a grand slam and walking another that would come around to score during Wednesday’s loss. He didn’t improve much on Sunday allowing three more to score in 1.2 innings. 

C Bryan Lavastida: 2-14, 2B, 2 RBI, 0 BB, 4 K

There hasn’t been much to separate Lavastida from the rest of the Akron catchers not named Bo Naylor to play for Akron in 2022. Despite having six games of MLB experience this year, his rehab stint in Double-A is going incredibly poorly. He’s got a .186 OBP in 11 games and on defense, he’s one for nine on caught stealing attempts. 

RHP Luis Oviedo: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 6 ER, 4 HR, 7 BB, 9 K (two starts)

Oviedo has not shown any sign of being a future MLB starter. He has never thrown more than four innings and he continues to walk a lot and run up high pitch counts. 

Rehab Update

OF Oscar Gonzalez: 2-15, 2B, RBI, 3 BB, 4 K

Gonzalez looked healthy playing right field and stayed in for all nine innings on Saturday and Sunday but didn’t get much going offensively in five games played. 

Transactions

7/26/22: LHP Jaime Arias assigned to Akron RubberDucks from Lake County Captains

7/26/22: Cleveland Guardians sent OF Oscar Gonzalez on rehab assignment to Akron Rubberducks

7/26/22: Akron RubberDucks activated LHP Jaime Arias

On ‘Duck

8/2/22: @ Altoona, 6:00 PM

8/3/22: @ Altoona, 6:00 PM

8/4/22: @ Altoona, 6:00 PM

8/5/22: @ Altoona, 6:00 PM

8/6/22: @ Altoona, 6:00 PM

8/7/22: @ Altoona, 6:00 PM