Guardians No. 1 prospect hitting on all cylinders -- and with a lot of power -- at Triple-A
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For much of 2026, Ralphy Velazquez has looked like a slugger on a steady path toward the Majors. Lately, though, that gait seems more like a sprint.
MLB’s No. 33 prospect homered twice and matched career highs with three hits and five RBIs as Triple-A Columbus outslugged Omaha, 15-7, on Wednesday night at Huntington Park.
Velazquez has gone deep seven times in nine games this month – one more than he hit in May and June combined. Cleveland’s top-ranked prospect has also driven in at least one run in six consecutive contests, tallying 12 over that span and 13 in August.
The Clippers slugged five of the six roundtrippers hit in the game, and fittingly, Velazquez got things started early on. The 21-year-old capped a five-run first inning with a three-run tater, a 107.5 mph no-doubter to right field.
Velazquez muscled up again in the fifth, launching a 422-foot moonshot that clanked off the top of the scoreboard in right-center for a two-run jack, equaling the pro-best five RBIs he tallied on May 8, 2025, for High-A Lake County. It was Velazquez’s 13th roundtripper for Columbus and 20th overall, the second consecutive season he’s reached that mark. The lefty-swinging slugger cleared the fences a career-best 22 times last season.
Velazquez had two chances for a third but instead settled for a three-hit game after singling in the sixth and walking in the eighth. It was the seventh multihomer performance for the California native, his second this year and first at Triple-A.
Velazquez’s big night was the latest in a scorching stretch in which the 6-foot-1, 240-pounder has found another gear. As the season enters its final month, Velazquez might have put himself into the conversation for a late-season callup by the Guardians. The 23rd overall pick in the 2023 Draft leads the Minors this month in homers (seven) and is second in RBIs (13).
Velazquez's sizzling August has propelled his OPS at Triple-A to .823 while hiking his overall slash line to .281/.368/.516 with 44 extra-base hits and 67 RBIs in 96 games across two Minor League levels.
Of course, that production is hardly a surprise considering the offensive profile Velazquez has displayed during his pro career. Drafted as a catcher before shifting to first base, his bat has always been the carrying tool, despite competing against older competition at virtually every stop he’s made.
Velazquez’s big breakthrough came in 2025 when he posted an .839 OPS, 22 homers and 85 RBIs in 122 games across two Minor League levels. He returned to Double-A Akron to begin 2026 but was promoted to Columbus in mid-May.
The adjustment to Triple-A was not immediate, but his underlying power never disappeared. Now the results are catching up.
With the baseball leaving his bat at elite speeds and home runs arriving in bunches, he is making it increasingly difficult for Cleveland to ignore him.