The kid of the Cleveland Guardians farm system, San Mateo native Petey Halpin belies relative youth

Cleveland Guardians prospect Petey Halpin really found a rhythm at the plate through the month of July.

As the left-handed hitting Halpin turned 20 in May, he fought through struggles with Cleveland High-A affiliate Lake County, slogging through the first three months of his first full season of professional baseball with a .219 batting average. But as the weather in Eastlake, Ohio warmed, so did Halpin’s swing.

Not only did Halpin hit .394 in July, he reached base in all 19 games he played. Entering play Sunday, the Guardians’ No. 15 minor league prospect, according to MLB.com, had upped his on-base percentage to .353 by reaching base in 27 straight games.

“Yeah, I definitely feel good right now,” Halpin said. “I hope to continue that through the end of the season. I got off to a slow start but like my mom tells me, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”

It’s fitting the San Mateo native got hot in July, a month that saw the San Mateo American Little League All-Stars reach the Northern California tournaments at both the 10- and 12-and-under summer seasons. Halpin was a San Mateo American standout for several years and was integral to the 12U team’s District 52 championship of 2015, ending the team’s 45-year drought between district banners.

“It was really an awesome experience winning the district championship,” Halpin said. “I think the most memorable thing I got from that was just the bond you make with your teammates and the time you’re truly having fun playing baseball. I think it’s important for everyone that you’ve got to cherish those moments.”

It was by and large the last baseball Halpin would play in San Mateo, though. And after three years at St. Francis-Mountain View, and a 2017 summer playing with the USA Baseball 15U National Team, Halpin embarked on a long, strange trip navigating the baseball landscape during the COVID era.

For his senior year in 2020, Halpin’s family relocated to Southern California. He transferred Mira Costa High School and found his way onto the field through the MLB Player Development Pipeline League, showcasing his top 100 prospect talent during a three-week stint in Florida. He’d go on to become Cleveland’s third-round draft pick, the No. 95 overall pick in the 2020 draft.

Yet, with the 2020 minor league season being shut down due to the pandemic, he wouldn’t see the field until 2021.

“It was pretty wild,” Halpin said. “I actually spent my first four or five months as a professional baseball player only doing Zoom meetings.”

The kid got quite a jumpstart 2021. After opening the season in extending spring training, Halpin earned a roster spot with Class-A Lynchburg of the Carolina League midway through the season. At age 19, he was the youngest of nine teenagers to play for the Hillcats. This season, having turned 20 in May, he is the youngest player to have rostered with the Lake County Captains.

“With that, being one of the youngest players, comes a lot of opportunity for growth and a lot of learning opportunities,” Lake County manager Greg DiCenzo said.

July 2021 was Halpin’s first full professional season, and he held his own, batting .243 through his first 24 games. Then, after a red-hot finish — batting .339 (40 for 118) through August and September — Halpin improved his season average to .294.

“Off the bat it was definitely a difference, but I’ve been playing baseball my whole life, so one year without playing a game isn’t going to make a big difference for me,” Halpin said. “But it was a great feeling getting back out there again — amazing.”

Now, just 13 months after making his on-field professional debut, Halpin has established himself as a four-tool threat. He patrols center field regularly, is a base-stealing threat — with 15 steals in 20 attempts this season — and has drawn raves for a hit tool with a knack for keeping his bat in the hitting zone for a long time.

But the power tool has yet to show up. Halpin has just three home runs to his credit, and one of those was an inside-the-park homer earlier this year. Yet his scouting evaluation at MLB.com projects him as a power threat, stating: “He hits the ball hard and could provide 15-20 homers annually once he learns to use his legs more in his swing and starts turning on and lifting more pitches.”

The power projection calls to mind another one of DiCenzo’s former players, Jacoby Ellsbury, who rostered with the Falmouth Commodores of the Cape Cod League when DiCenzo served on the coaching staff in the early 2000s. The left-handed hitting Ellsbury was famously an on-base/speed threat during his prospect days, totaling just 11 home runs in 1,097 career minor league at-bats. Ellsbury went on to impress as a power hitter with the Boston Red Sox, clubbing 32 home runs in the 2011 season.

DiCenzo said Halpin has the hitting potential to develop power in a similar way.

“Yeah, I would say so for sure,” DiCenzo said. “He’s got a really pretty swing. Jacoby was a little more compact at the time back in the day, but he learned how to hit for power. … So, I think that’s in the cards for Petey moving forward.”

Halpin’s inside-the-park home run was a fun one though. Coming on June 28 at Lake County’s home field Classic Park, it was the catalyst for his current hot streak, though the final 90 feet came as something of a fluke.

With two runners on, Halpin pulled the ball into the right-field corner, where it found its way into the bullpen, with the Lansing Lugnuts right fielder throwing his hands in the air to signal a dead ball when it rolled under the bullpen bench. Only, it was still a live ball as per the Classic Park ground rules, and Halpin used the home-field advantage and his spry running legs to take advantage, motoring all the way home for his second home run of the season.

The inside-the-parker was the only time he reached base in that June 28 game, the first of his 27-game on-base streak.

“It was cool,” Halpin said. “I didn’t really expect it. I don’t think you ever can, but it counts as a home run on the stat sheet, so I’ll take it.”

The hitting has been contagious among Lake County’s outfield corps. All three of the Captains’ outfielders tore the cover off the ball in July. Halpin hasn’t even been the hottest one. Since the promotion to Double-A of slugging corner outfielder Jhonkensy Noel on June 25, outfielder Johnathan Rodriguez has blown up, batting .378 with nine home runs in July, garnering Midwest League Player of the Month honors.