Braylon Doughty and Joey Oakie Are Promising Guardians Prospects

Patrick Gorski-Imagn Images Braylon Doughty and Joey Oakie profile as future members of the Cleveland Guardians pitching staff. The former boasts a 50 FV and ranks as the organization’s top prospect, while the latter is graded as a 40+ FV who ranks 16th. Each is 20-year-old right-hander who was drafted out of the prep ranks — Doughty 36th overall in 2024, Oakie in the third round that same summer. Their ceilings are high. As Eric Longenhagen and Brendan Gawlowski teamed up to write last winter, “Doughty was arguably the most polished high school pitcher in the 2024 draft,” and “Oakie signed for first-round money [as] a power pitcher with enviable traits.” Eric Binder knows them as well as anyone. A member of the Guardians’ front office for more than a decade, the now-assistant general manager plays a prominent role in one of baseball’s most well-regarded pitching programs. He has previously shared thoughts on the promising youngsters here at FanGraphs, doing so for a Sunday Notes column in September of last year. An update was in order when the AL Central champions visited Fenway Park during the final week of this year’s regular season. Binder was in attendance — ditto other members of the organization’s brain trust, as clinching the division title was imminent — so I took the opportunity to learn where the duo stood in terms of their development paths. To wit, how did their seasons unfold, and what are their primary focuses going forward? “Braylon had an incredible year,” Binder said of the Murrieta, California native. “Developmentally, he got up to where he finished the season in Double-A. It was awesome to see his performance translate to that level. One of the greatest things about Braylon is that he is able to throw multiple pitches for strikes, and he has an incredibly high strike floor.” “There is probably more power to the arsenal than maybe he gets credit for in terms of his peak velocities,” Binder continued. “He also has huge spin capacity across his arsenal, so he can create multiple shapes. He can put interesting demands on hitters in that regard, yet is still just kind of scratching the surface of where his arsenal can be. We’re very encouraged with the year he had, and are really excited about his future.” Doughty split this past season between High-A Lake County and Double-A Akron, logging a 4.10 ERA, a 3.22 FIP, and a 26.3% strikeout rate across 109 2/3 frames. Moreover, his walk rate was a stingy 5.3%. Oakie’s numbers weren’t nearly as good. Pitching at Low-A Hill City, and briefly with Lake County, the Arkeny, Iowa native had a 7.30 ERA and a 5.80 FIP over 49 1/3 frames. He also had an uncomfortably high 18.3% walk rate to go along with his 25% strikeout rate. But as Binder explained, Oakie’s potential far exceeds this past season’s performance.You Aren't a FanGraphs MemberIt looks like you aren't yet a FanGraphs Member (or aren't logged in). We aren't mad, just disappointed. We get it. You want to read this article. But before we let you get back to it, we'd like to point out a few of the good reasons why you should become a Member. 1. Ad Free viewing! We won't bug you with this ad, or any other. 2. Unlimited articles! Non-Members only get to read 10 free articles a month. Members never get cut off. 3. Dark mode and Classic mode! 4. Custom player page dashboards! Choose the player cards you want, in the order you want them. 5. One-click data exports! Export our projections and leaderboards for your personal projects. 6. Remove the photos on the home page! 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Membership includes:✓Ad-free browsing✓Unlimited FanGraphs & RotoGraphs articles✓Historical & platoon projections✓Leaderboard & player-page stat heatmaps✓One-click data exports✓Customizable player-page dashboards✓Dark & Classic site modes✓Weekly Members-only mailbag✓FanGraphs Walk-Off, your year in review✓Optional homepage photo removal✓Gift articles to non-Members✓Full postseason coverage “Joey showed the same power and unique release angles that make us really excited about his upside,” the pitching-focused assistant GM told me. “He has plus pitch quality across his arsenal. Controlling his delivery and establishing strike consistency are the highest-leverage items for him to build on. He just needs that performance consistency. When Joey is at his best, we see the power, the shapes, and the swing-and-miss ability. It’s all about him getting there each time he goes out to take the baseball.” What comes next for the talented-but-raw pitching prospects? “I’ll start with Braylon,” Binder replied. “For him, going into the offseason, we have a chance to reset our biggest goals. He is still a younger pitcher, so attacking the body, attacking the engine, building his physical capacity — that’s the number one thing. By doing that, he will be able to stabilize his best delivery, and we’ll see the best power output going into next year.” “With Joey, it’s a similar conversation,” Binder continued. “One of his strengths is that he has so much movement capacity in the delivery, so him being able to harness that into consistent profiles is the biggest thing. He’s been going back and forth with our pitching group on what is his best delivery. How can we harness that is one of the biggest goals for Joey over the offseason.” I’ll give our prospect team the last word here. Asked for a scouting update, Brendan told me earlier this week that Doughty hasn’t changed much since July, when he ranked 37th on The Board (Doughty has since inched up to 35th), writing of how he is “efficient and has elite potential breaking stuff thanks to his proclivity for spin.” Oakie’s update was more tempered. Brendan reported that while he was “throwing hard, touched 100, [with a] power slider,” he was also “wild and likely a relief prospect.”