Right-hander Joey Oakie was the Cleveland Guardians’ third-round pick in 2024 out of Ankeny Centennial High School in Iowa. An Iowa commit, he signed for an over-slot bonus of $2 million to go pro. He started this year in the Arizona Complex League, with a couple of rough outings when their season began in early May, but he’s improved significantly as the season has gone on, especially since an August promotion to Low-A Lynchburg. His outing on Wednesday night at Delmarva was his second straight with 11 strikeouts, giving him a composite line over two starts of 9 2/3 innings, 22 strikeouts, five walks and just one hit allowed.
I was at that start and Oakie topped out at 99, which a team source told me he’s been hitting for several starts now. He worked at 94-98 throughout his outing, going almost exclusively fastball/slider with just a pair of changeups. The fastball is a four-seamer with life through the zone, while the slider was 84-88 and flashed plus when he finished it out front. He’s confident in the breaking ball, throwing it in or out of the zone, backdooring it to lefties, going down and away or just away as a chase pitch to righties.
Oakie started out the game using close to a three-quarters arm slot, but in the fourth inning his arm started to drift downward and by the fifth, he was clearly lower, getting more on the side of the slider and losing a little command. There’s always some effort in throwing this hard, but he doesn’t show it much in the delivery, even with a long path for his arm from separation to release.
He has 45 (on the 20-80 traditional scouting scale) control or so, as he’s getting away with some stuff because hitters can’t hit either of his two pitches — quite literally, as he gave up his first hit to the second-to-last batter he faced in this outing. About the only bad thing I could say about Oakie is that one inning he forgot how many outs there were and tried to walk off the field after out No. 2. He’s electric and it’s a starter look already, assuming he builds up some stamina with age and experience.
Kiefer Lord on the comeback trail after Tommy John
In that same game on Wednesday, Low-A Delmarva started right-hander Kiefer Lord, the Baltimore Orioles third-round pick in 2023 out of Washington, who made one appearance after signing that year and then missed all of 2024 following Tommy John surgery. This was his third rehab outing in an official game and his longest to date at 61 pitches and 3 2/3 innings.
Lord’s stuff is intact, as he was 94-96 for his entire outing with a slider and a hard curveball along with a handful of changeups. The curveball is 79-82 and it’s at least a 55 when he lands it, with more angle to it than the slider, which backed up a bunch of times and got flat. He comes from a higher three-quarters slot and a traditional slider may not be the ideal weapon for that, but given how well he spins the ball, there should be another option available for a second breaking pitch.
He didn’t walk anyone in his outing, and he struck out six, but he had well below average command — like Oakie, he got away with a lot of pitches just by overpowering a young Lynchburg lineup. The lack of command is to be expected from a guy who’s barely back from surgery, and whose delivery has some effort to it anyway. I see this as good news, though: his velocity and breaking stuff are still there, and he’s already holding his stuff through 60 pitches.
Additional notes on Cleveland and Baltimore prospects
• There were a handful of recent draft picks in the two lineups on Wednesday, although a couple of the guys I most wanted to see — Caden Bodine for Baltimore and Dean Curley and Aaron Walton for Cleveland — weren’t playing. Nolan Schubart, the Guardians’ third-round pick this year, looked overmatched with two strikeouts, struggling to recognize pitches and waving feebly at a slider away from a right-hander in his last at-bat. Guardians’ 2025 fourth-rounder Luke Hill struck out three times, as he was late on fastballs and couldn’t adjust to breaking stuff, getting caught looking twice on sliders. He did play a credible third base, with one impressive play on a soft tapper in front of him that required him to move quickly and make a tough throw.
Juneiker Caceres, 18, was the most impressive player in Lynchburg’s lineup. (Tracy Proffitt / Four Seam Images via Associated Press)
• Lynchburg’s leadoff hitter and center fielder, Juneiker Caceres, just turned 18 three weeks ago, and he was the most impressive player in the lineup, seeing 23 pitches in four plate appearances, with one hit off a 95 mph fastball from Lord and one time hit by pitch. He was one of only two players to start the game who didn’t strike out at all, along with Delmarva’s Luis Almeyda. Caceres fell behind multiple times, but fouled off pitch after pitch in two of those at-bats to put himself in position to put something in play, going to left field in both his first and last at-bats after getting quickly to two strikes. It’s impressive feel for the barrel, which could turn into an above-average or better hit tool if he adds some strength. The Guardians signed the Venezuelan outfielder for the bargain price of $300,000 in January 2024.
• Delmarva’s lineup had the Orioles’ first and third picks from the 2025 MLB Draft, catcher Ike Irish and shortstop Wehiwa Aloy, both of whom went 0-for-4. Irish punched out on 97 up and had one well-hit ball, a groundout to shortstop, while Aloy struck out twice, chasing two sliders out of the zone. Aloy looked very good at shortstop, while Irish struggled to throw from behind the plate, which was the thing he was supposed to be best at defensively.
Notes on Phillies and Nationals prospects
• A few weeks ago, right before I went on vacation, I saw right-hander Eriq Swan pitch for High-A Wilmington, where he showed his usual combination of elite stuff and way, way below average command. Swan was acquired by the Washington Nationals from the Los Angeles Dodgers along with Sean Liñan (who made just one start for the Nationals before going on the IL with a quad injury) in the Alex Call trade. In that start, Swan was 94-97 early with five pitches — a slider, cutter, curveball, and changeup or split-change — with the slider as his best pitch when he landed it. The slider was a wipeout offering at 85-86 that should get a ton of chases from righties. He ended up allowing three walks and eight hits in four innings, giving up six runs to a weak Jersey Shore lineup.
• The best hitter for High-A Jersey Shore was Philadelphia Phillies’ prospect Aroon Escobar, their squat second baseman who has excellent bat control and really protects the plate with two strikes, although right now he doesn’t have the power to back it up. He’s hitting .252/.339/.352 in 43 games in High A as a 20-year-old, without a lot of projection to the body. He’s a below-average runner and is limited to second base, so he has to hit more like he did in Low A, with both harder contact and more of a pull orientation, to be a regular or better.
• I was surprised to see Brock Vradenburg in the Jersey Shore lineup, since he was the Marlins’ third-round pick in 2023. Miami released him earlier in August after he hit .172/.290/.279 as a High-A repeater at age 23. He’s been marginally better for Jersey Shore, not enough to make him a prospect again. He’s 6-foot-7 and limited to first base, getting drafted where he was because he scored well in analytical models with strong exit velocities and a low strikeout rate for Michigan State.
(Top photo of Oakie: Zach Boyden-Holmes / The Register / USA Today)