The Cleveland Guardians have always taken pride in their farm system.
Like all small-market teams, they know their best shot at contention will be to find and develop diamonds in the rough and shape them into All-Star-caliber players.
That’s particularly true with their pitchers.
Notably, that’s why the fans must be thrilled to read what MLB experts Jonathan Mayo, Jim Callis, and Sam Dykstra have to say about Guardians’ prospect Austin Peterson.
In a recent column, the talented RHP was deemed the ‘hottest pitching prospect’ in the organization:
“A deceptive 6-foot-6 right-hander, [Austin] Peterson creates good extension to help his low-90s fastball play up and he gets chases with all of his secondary pitches: low-80s slider, upper-70s curveball, mid-80s changeup. He has compiled a 1.40 ERA with a 20/5 K/BB ratio over 25 2/3 innings in his last five starts — and that actually made his overall stats slightly worse. The 2022 ninth-rounder from Connecticut tops the Double-A Eastern League with a 1.18 ERA and ranks second in K/BB ratio (5.29) and WHIP (0.79),” Mayo, Callis, & Dykstra posted.
Peterson is coming off quite an impressive performance in the Akron RubberDucks’ 10-0 win over the Altoona Curve.
He dominated by throwing 7.0 shutout innings.
He struck out four and didn’t give up a free pass while only giving up three hits.
So far, he’s posted a 1.18 ERA, and he seems more than ready to move up to Triple-A Columbus.
He looks more than ready to move on from the Double-A level and show what he has against higher-level competition.
The 25-year-old has posted a 3-2 record with 37 strikeouts and a 0.788 WHIP across 45.2 frames.
The Guardians’ starting rotation has finally looked more consistent after a shaky start to the season, but it’s not like anything should be set in stone right now.
If they give him an extended look and a chance to prove his worth at Columbus, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see him get the nod and make his MLB debut at some point in the campaign.
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