CJ Kayfus Being Promoted to Cleveland

The first baseman/outfielder will join the team tomorrow

You never know what you might discover on Twitter as user Joey Cusamano broke the news that CJ Kayfus was being promoted to Cleveland at 4:45PM EDT yesterday:

Later on, other media entities and Johnny-come-lately blogs like ours finally got the news, and after the game Zack Meisel and Tim Stebbins reported it. Kayfus is coming.

What are the Guardians getting in Kayfus? He’s a 23 year-old left-handed hitter from the University of Miami (Florida). He has a 134 wRC+ in Columbus this season, with a 27.4/11.9 K/BB%, a .246 ISO, a 12.7% Swinging Strike Rate and a 30.6% out-of-zone swing rate. His average exit velocity is 89.2 mph and he has a 46.9% hard-hit rate. He has 18 triples over the past two season, so he has a little more speed than your typical first baseman. Because of that (and the paucity of first base opportunities on the big league team) the Guardians have given Kayfus 59 games in left field and right field over the past two seasons. Defensive evaluations are tough, but I’d say the arm is not a good fit in right but he’ll get to the ball most of the time and probably be slightly below average out there if called upon.

Originally, Kayfus was having a lot of trouble with breaking balls in Columbus but his wOBA against them now is .360, which is good. His wOBA against offspeed pitches is .320, and his wOBA vs. fastballs over 95 mph is .289. So, expect some bumps in the road, but there is enough there to dream on. For one thing, he’s not seeing a lot of 95 mph+ fastballs in Triple-A (only about a tenth of the pitches he has seen in Columbus fit the criteria), so the more he sees them, the more comfortable he should get.

There are definitely some chase and whiff concerns with Kayfus, but more whiff than chase. For example, Jhonkensy Noel chases WAY too much in the big leagues, but his chase rate is about 8% higher than Kayfus’s in Columbus. A big key for Kayfus will be earning the chance to swing at the pitches he can do damage on by laying off just enough of them to earn his walks. His overall contact rate is only about 5% higher than Jhonk’s is in Columbus, and I think it would be more comfortable to see him at 10% higher. So, expect growth and development to continue in Cleveland there to be some growing pains.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Kayfus’s debut will be seeing whom he replaces. Could the Guardians be considering designating Carlos Santana or Nolan Jones for assignment? Could they be demoting Johnathan Rodriguez (the “oops! all lefties!” option) or David Fry? We will know tomorrow, but, in the meantime, enjoy some CJ Kayfus highlights:

Very glad to see the Guardians being aggressive with prospects in this last third of the season. Welcome to Cleveland, CJ!