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SAN FRANCISCO -- Dylan DeLucia did not have a standard start to his professional career, but nearly three years after he was selected in the MLB Draft, the 24-year-old is doing his part to make up for lost time.
DeLucia was promoted to Double-A Akron for the first time on June 10. The right-hander was Cleveland’s sixth-round pick in the 2022 Draft, but he did not pitch with an affiliate that year and underwent Tommy John surgery in June ‘23. That delayed his pro debut until June 21, 2024.
All things considered, DeLucia's rise to Akron was quick, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise. He earned Most Outstanding Player honors at the 2022 College World Series with Ole Miss. He entered Wednesday with a career 2.95 ERA in 106 2/3 innings over 26 games (24 starts) between the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League, Single-A Lynchburg, High-A Lake County, and Akron.
“There’s been a lot of things to be excited about with Dylan,” said Will Huntington, the Guardians’ assistant director of player development. “... The pedigree in college and just some of the things he showed during his collegiate career, especially the competitor [he was], the constantly showing up in big moments and in big games and rising to the occasion. We saw it in the College World Series. That's something we've seen be true in our organization as well.”
We saw it last fall; DeLucia threw 4 2/3 scoreless innings vs. High-A Wisconsin in a decisive Game 3 of the 2024 Midwest League Championship Series, to help Lake County win the title. In his Akron debut last Wednesday, he threw six scoreless innings, allowed two hits and struck out five.
DeLucia made 19 appearances (17 starts) with Lake County the past two seasons, so the Guardians felt his promotion to Akron was an "appropriate challenge,” Huntington said.
"We've seen him be a guy who's not afraid to attack hitters, who limits walks, gets some strikeouts,” Huntington said. “So overall, [he’s a] pretty well-rounded, pretty exciting pitcher.”
DeLucia features a four-seam fastball, slider and changeup. His four-seamer has been around 93-95 mph and getting up to 96 mph. This year, some of the keys for DeLucia have included him continuing to show consistency with his delivery, his fastball velocity and secondary execution. And with this being his first full season, getting through the season healthy will obviously be big.
As for what DeLucia needs to do to keep advancing up the farm system? His stint with Akron is a good barometer for that.
“As guys get challenged against better and better hitters, they tend to find out more about themselves and who they are as a pitcher,” Huntington said. "Just getting challenged to that higher level, hopefully is a great learning opportunity and a good moment to kind of work with us to figure out what those next steps are.”
Here are some other recent developments in the farm system:
Triple-A Columbus: OF Jhonkensy Noel
Noel was optioned to the Clippers on June 8 to reset offensively after struggling in the Majors the first two months of the season. Through seven games with Columbus, he’s gone 10-for-29 (.345) with four doubles and two home runs.
High-A Lake County: LHP Josh Hartle
Hartle, Cleveland's No. 21 prospect, has thrown back-to-back six-inning scoreless starts for the Captains, in which he has allowed just five hits and two walks. The lefty (whom Cleveland acquired from the Pirates on Dec. 10 in the trade for Spencer Horwitz) has a 2.77 ERA in 55 1/3 innings over 12 starts this season.
Single-A Lynchburg: OF Tommy Hawke
Hawke, 22, entered Tuesday with 60 stolen bases, which ranked first in the Minor Leagues. What’s more, Hawke (the Guardians’ sixth-round pick in the 2023 MLB Draft) has only been thrown out five times.