Milan Tolentino earns International League Player of the Week after huge power surge

Milan Tolentino’s bat turned the Iowa series into a showcase, and Minor League Baseball rewarded the surge by naming the Columbus infielder International League Player of the Week for April 14-19. He hit .500 in the stretch, going 10-for-20 with four home runs, 10 RBI, a double, a triple and a stolen base, production that pushed him to the top of the league’s weekly power numbers while also showing the extra-base balance that makes him more than a one-tool burst.

The timing mattered as much as the stat line. Columbus and Iowa split the six-game set 3-3, and Tolentino’s production helped keep the Clippers in a series that was played at a high run rate from start to finish. Columbus finished the weekend with a 12-8 win on April 19 at Huntington Park to secure the split, and the club’s 5-3 win on April 17 came in front of more than 6,000 fans. In a week like that, Tolentino was not just padding a box score; he was one of the reasons Columbus could trade punches and stay in games when the offense was rolling.

What made the recognition especially meaningful is that it fits a larger arc. Tolentino became the first 20-homer, 20-steal player in Columbus Clippers franchise history last season, a milestone that underscored how his game blends power, speed and enough contact to keep pitchers from attacking him one way. The current hot streak suggests the next step in his development may be learning how to stack damage more consistently inside a lineup. When he is driving the ball to all fields and adding value on the bases, Columbus gets a shortstop who changes innings, not just one who can end them.

That profile also carries weight for the parent club. Tolentino, 24, was drafted by Cleveland in the fourth round in 2020 and is in his first season fully above Double-A. He is listed at 5-foot-11 and 185 pounds, bats left-handed and throws right-handed, and his 2026 line entering April 21 sat at .309/.390/1.066 with six home runs, 14 RBI and four steals. With a father, Jose Tolentino, who reached the majors with Houston in 1991, his latest surge adds another layer to a player whose rise now looks less like a brief heater and more like the kind of step forward that can reshape Columbus and put him firmly on Cleveland’s radar.