Welbyn Francisca misses cycle by a double in incredible pro debut, Chase DeLauter also debuts

ACL Guardians 3, ACL Reds 14

Box Score · Guardians fall to 0-1

The Arizona Complex League began its season last night and several young players made their 2023 debuts for Cleveland, including a pair of rehabbing top prospects.

Recent 2022 No. 1 draft pick Chase DeLauter made his pro debut in a rehab assignment. In three plate appearances, he went 0-2 with a walk and a strikeout. He should be heading out to Lake County soon once he’s fully healthy from offseason foot surgery.

Also debuting was top international prospect Jaison Chourio, who went 0-4 with three strikeouts. He is the younger brother of current MLB Pipeline No. 2 overall prospect Jackson Chourio.

There wasn’t much to speak off offensively, but Rafael Ramirez had a multi-hit day, going 2-4, although he was picked off. Fran Alduey went 1-3 with a double and a walk and Alberto Mendez also reached base twice with a single and a walk.

Starting pitcher Steve Hajjar, a 2021 second round pick who was one of the returns in the Will Benson trade, also made his 2023 debut in a rehab assignment. He gave up two runs on one hit with four walks and three strikeouts in 3.0 innings of work.

Steven Perez followed with a scoreless inning of relief, but that was the end of the good pitching as the remaining bullpen arms walked a whopping nine more batters, allowing the ACL Reds to score 14 runs overall despite only having nine hits.

DSL Guardians Blue 28, DSL Guardians Red 5

Box Score · DSL Guardians Blue move to 1-0 · DSL Guardians Red move to 0-1

The Dominican Summer League also had its opening day on Monday and it was a doozy with some Guardians on Guardians violence as the DSL Blue squad put a beatdown on the DSL Red team.

Top international signing Welbyn Francisca made his pro debut and it was a doozy. Leading off for the DSL Guardians Blue squad, Francisca went 5-7 with a home run, a triple, five runs scored and three runs batted in. Francisca signed for $1.3 million and something tells me he won’t be staying in the DSL for very long.

Several other players had massive games. Mason Bolivar went 4-6 with a double, Yaikel Mijares went 3-6 with a home run, a double and a walk, Juan Frances went 3-7 with a triple, Yankie Baptiste went 2-4 with three walks, Luis Merejo went 2-5 with a pair of hit by pitches and Pedro Hernandez went 1-3 with two walks and two hit by pitches.

For the DSL Guardians Red, Heribert Silva went 3-5 with a home run and two stolen bases, Jose Pirela went 2-3 with a home run, a double and two walks and Jonathan Martinez went 2-5 with a pair of stolen bases.

This was not a good day for pitching as all six DSL Guardians Red pitchers gave up at least three runs. Alexandro Castro was the lone DSL Guardians Blue pitcher to toss at least an inning and not give up a run.