Captains’ Parker Messick, C.J. Kayfus Named to MiLB Prospect Team of the Week

EASTLAKE, OH – On Monday, May 27, MLB Pipeline announced the MiLB Prospect Team of the Week for the week of May 20 through 26.

Not one, but two Lake County Captains were featured on the 11-player roster.

LHP Parker Messick, MLB Pipeline’s No. 21 Cleveland prospect, and 1B/OF C.J. Kayfus, MLB Pipeline’s No. 28 Cleveland prospect, both had an impressive series versus the West Michigan Whitecaps this past week.

In his lone start of the series, Messick tied his season-high of six innings pitched, allowing season-lows of just two hits and no runs (tied), walking one, and throwing a season-high 10 strikeouts in 82 pitches (54 strikes). This marked Lake County’s first double-digit strikeout performance since Messick’s 10 versus the Peoria Chiefs on August 18, 2023.

The 2022 second-round pick out of Florida State was one of just four Midwest League pitchers to post double-digit strikeouts in a single game.

Messick is currently tied for the Midwest League lead in starts (nine), while ranking second in both strikeouts (52) and innings pitched (45.2, tied).

In five games played during the series, Kayfus hit a remarkable .579 (11-for-19) with 11 hits, eight runs, two doubles, one home run, three RBI, three walks, three strikeouts, a .636 on-base percentage, a .947 slugging percentage, and a 1.583 OPS. His two-out, go-ahead solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning on Sunday, May 26 proved to be the difference in a 7-6 Captains victory.

From May 20 through 26, Kayfus ranked top-three in all of High-A in: batting average (second), hits (tied for second), total bases (18, tied for second), on-base percentage (third), and OPS (third).

The 2023 third-round pick out of Miami (FL) currently ranks top-10 in the Midwest League in: slugging percentage (.596, second), OPS (1.031, second), RBI (36, tied for third), batting average (.338, fourth), total bases (81, tied for fourth), extra-base hits (19, tied for fifth), on-base percentage (.435, sixth), home runs (seven, tied for sixth), and hits (46, tied for tenth).

After winning four of six games against the Whitecaps this past week, the Captains will begin a season-long 12-game road trip with a six-game series against the Cedar Rapids Kernels. First pitch for the series-opener is set for 7:35 p.m. ET on Tuesday night from Rise 2 Greatness Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The road trip will be broadcast on both the Bally Live app and MiLB.TV, with social media coverage courtesy of @LCCaptains on both X and Instagram.

The Lake County Captains are the High-A Affiliate of the Cleveland Guardians, and have been a Class A Affiliate of Cleveland since the team was founded in 2003. To find out more information about the Captains or purchase tickets, visit CaptainsBaseball.com, or call (440) 975-8085.