Welcome back to the second edition of Futures on the Corner. Today, we\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n
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<\/a> system. Wishing Robert all the best and a speedy recovery.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n UP: LUKE HILL<\/p>\n 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\u2019s draft. Hill slashed .274\/.436\/.597 in 164 plate appearances for Lake County, but his 10 home runs steal all the headlines here. Hill\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n It has not been pretty overall for Stephen in 2026. His ERA \u2013 before Chesapeake roughed him up (we\u2019ll get to that) \u2013 was a modest 2.74, but under the hood has not been what you\u2019d 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\u2019s now stuck between nibbling and losing batters and nibbling and getting crushed.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n That all said, I\u2019m 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\u2019m noticing is that Stephen\u2019s cutter and slider are often running together. The velo separation is still there, but often times, the shape is indistinguishable.<\/p>\n This has not been a step back for Stephen, per se, but the growth expected here has stagnated a bit.<\/p>\n UP: JAISON CHOURIO<\/p>\n Chourio has been quite impressive in Akron thus far, and he was recently featured in Baseball America\u2019s hitter leaderboard by age<\/a>, showcasing a 103.5 EV90 for the season. That\u2019s certainly higher than I anticipated, and while I still have concerns over Chourio\u2019s passivity (sub-60% zone swing rate), the impact he\u2019s making on the ball, primarily from the left side, has been a massive improvement over last season\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n COMPLEX LEAGUE LOOK-INS<\/p>\n