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Welcome back to the second edition of Futures on the Corner. Today, we’re going to lead the focus with Double-A Akron and the top Guardians prospects that currently headline the squad, and the ups and downs among them all.
Before we get started, we had it confirmed that Robert Arias did, in fact, fracture his ankle on a slide gone awry last week. A brutal blow dealt to one of the faster risers in the Cleveland system. Wishing Robert all the best and a speedy recovery.
UP: LUKE HILL
Last week, Luke Hill was featured as a name to watch for a call-up, and just days later, Hill received said call. The Ole Miss product has done nothing but hit since the Guardians drafted him in the fourth round of last year’s draft. Hill slashed .274/.436/.597 in 164 plate appearances for Lake County, but his 10 home runs steal all the headlines here. Hill’s EVs are improved, and when coupling that with his quality approach and high-end quality swing decisions, a good ball player is beginning to grow here.
DOWN: KHAL STEPHEN
It has not been pretty overall for Stephen in 2026. His ERA – before Chesapeake roughed him up (we’ll get to that) – was a modest 2.74, but under the hood has not been what you’d want to see from the top pitching prospect for the system. Hard hit rates are through the roof, and because of early season struggles with batted balls on his fastball, he’s now stuck between nibbling and losing batters and nibbling and getting crushed.
That all said, I’m content with throwing this start out the window for Stephen. The Baysox have now seen Stephen four times in five weeks. They were uber aggressive early in counts, and they clearly had his fastball timed up. That being said, the same aforementioned struggles persisted the deeper into the start he got. The honest truth with Stephen is his sequencing is flat out poor. Despite good chase rates with his slider, Stephen often finds himself turning back to his fastball in 2-strike counts because of struggles to put hitters away as of late. An issue I’m noticing is that Stephen’s cutter and slider are often running together. The velo separation is still there, but often times, the shape is indistinguishable.
This has not been a step back for Stephen, per se, but the growth expected here has stagnated a bit.
UP: JAISON CHOURIO
Chourio has been quite impressive in Akron thus far, and he was recently featured in Baseball America’s hitter leaderboard by age, showcasing a 103.5 EV90 for the season. That’s certainly higher than I anticipated, and while I still have concerns over Chourio’s passivity (sub-60% zone swing rate), the impact he’s making on the ball, primarily from the left side, has been a massive improvement over last season’s injury-riddled at-bats. Chourio is a far superior hitter from the left side, and both of his home runs in his 3-for-5 effort on 6/2 against Bowie showcased he can go opposite field to find extra bases. A healthy Chourio is a very solid prospect, and even though he will project into a corner outfield spot longterm, continually taking steps forward with the bat will mitigate positional value lost.
COMPLEX LEAGUE LOOK-INS
REINER HERRERA | C | L/R | 20
Herrera has gotten off to quite the torrid start in Arizona, slashing .288/.471/.658 and 7 home runs over 104 plate appearances thus far. Herrera is older for the Complex as he turns 21 in October, and while that may lend some credence to skepticism as to how legit he may be (he spent all of 2025 on the Complex to boot), that shouldn’t discredit what he’s put together thus far. His overall swing rate is down from last season, going from upper 40% range down to the mid 30% range, and his contact rates are a hair up across the board. I usually would chalk up that range of a swing rate to passivity, but it’s always important to remember the 17/18/19/20 year-old arms he’s seeing aren’t exactly going to be strike throwers. At the very least, there’s real power to dream on here. Herrera also hit well in the Breakout Series in Spring Training, posting a few EVs over 105.
WILL HYNES | RHP | 18
The competitive balance selection that was netted in the Josh Naylor return, Hynes has showcased some early flashes of what could become a fun arm in this system. Thus far, he’s tossed 12.1 innings with a 20.7% K rate and 5.11 ERA.
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