Captain of the Week (8/12-8/17): Matt Wilkinson & Nick Mitchell
MWL Lake County Captains

Captain of the Week (8/12-8/17): Matt Wilkinson & Nick Mitchell

Published on August 18, 2025 under Midwest League (MWL)
Lake County Captains News Release


EASTLAKE, Ohio - After each series this season, the Lake County Captains will spotlight a Captain of the Week, presented by Official League, showcasing a player and their strong performance over the previous week.

For the week of Aug. 12-17, Lake County is recognizing both LHP Matt Wilkinson and OF Nick Mitchell as its 19th Captain of the Week for the 2025 season. This marks the first time that the Captains have had co-Captains of the Week since the award's inception during the 2024 campaign.

MATT WILKINSON, LHP

Wilkinson logged one of his best starts of the season in his lone outing this past week versus the Chiefs on Tuesday, Aug. 12. The southpaw threw seven strikeouts without issuing a walk in five scoreless innings of work, allowing five hits in 74 pitches (54 strikes). His performance helped the Captains pitch their seventh shutout of the year in an eventual 8-0 Lake County victory.

So far this season, Wilkinson is tied for the Midwest League lead with 22 games started, while ranking third in the league with 102 strikeouts, and 10th with 90.2 innings pitched.

The portsider was assigned to the Captains' 2025 Opening Day roster after a historic 2024 campaign. Across Lake County and Single-A Lynchburg, he led MiLB with an average of 13.20 strikeouts per nine innings and a 37.6% strikeout rate, while ranking second in strikeouts (174), ERA (1.90), opposing batting average (.169), and WHIP (0.91).

The Okotoks, Alberta, Canada native was named a 2024 Midwest League All-Star, while also earning All-MiLB Prospect Second Team and Baseball America Second Team Minor League All-Star Team honors. He also helped the Captains win their second Midwest League Championship in franchise history.

Wilkinson was promoted to Lake County from Lynchburg on May 21, 2024, leading MiLB with a 1.12 ERA and 71 strikeouts in eight starts for the Hillcats at the time of his promotion. On April 25, 2024, he threw 15 strikeouts in six scoreless, hitless innings for Lynchburg, becoming the fifth MiLB pitcher since 2005 to record at least 15 strikeouts without allowing a hit.

Wilkinson was selected by the Guardians in the 10th round of the 2023 MLB Draft out of Central Arizona College (JUCO).

In 2023, he was named the NJCAA Division I Pitcher of the Year, the ABCA/Rawlings NJCAA Division I Pitcher of the Year, the Arizona Community College Athletic Association Pitcher of the Year, and a NJCAA First Team All-American. That season, he went 10-2 with a 1.07 ERA, 136 strikeouts to just 19 walks, a 0.73 WHIP, and two complete games in 16 appearances (14 starts) for the Vaqueros. The previous year, he helped Central Arizona win the 2022 NJCAA Division I Baseball World Series.

Wilkinson sent shockwaves through the baseball world at a young age with one of the greatest starts in Little League World Series history. Back on Aug. 21, 2015, when he was 12 years old, Wilkinson threw 16 strikeouts in five scoreless innings of work for Team Canada against Team Mexico in a 1-0 defeat.

NICK MITCHELL, OF

Mitchell had a remarkable week at the plate for Lake County versus the Peoria Chiefs, leading qualified Midwest League hitters with a 1.348 OPS in 21 plate appearances. The 21-year-old also ranked top-five in triples (one, tied for second), on-base percentage (.524, fourth), slugging percentage (.824, fourth), and runs scored (six, tied for fourth). Additionally, he ranked top-10 in batting average (.412, tied for sixth), extra-base hits (four, tied for sixth), total bases (14, tied for seventh), home runs (one, tied for seventh), and doubles (two, tied for 10th).

Mitchell's most notable game of the week was back on Friday, Aug. 15, when he went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, two RBI, and a walk, and two stolen bases. He also hit his first home run as a Captain, which was a two-run shot in the bottom of the sixth inning that spearheaded four answered runs in a 6-5 Lake County victory. The outfielder also logged his first three-hit game as a Captain back on Tuesday, Aug. 12, going 3-for-4 with a double in an 8-0 Lake County win.

So far this season, since being promoted to the Captains from the Single-A Lynchburg Hillcats on July 18, Mitchell is batting .250 with 19 hits, 15 runs scored, two doubles, two triples, one home run, seven RBI, 13 walks to 14 strikeouts, three stolen bases, and a .731 OPS in 22 games for Lake County.

After beginning the season on the 7-day injured list and batting .417 in eight injury rehab games for the Arizona Complex League Guardians, the left-handed hitter batted .255 with 36 hits, three doubles, two triples, 20 RBI, 24 walks to 21 strikeouts, and 21 stolen bases in 39 games for Lynchburg this season.

Mitchell was acquired from the Toronto Blue Jays in an offseason trade on Dec. 10, 2024 along with INF Spencer Horwitz in exchange for 2B Andrés Giménez and RHP Nick Sandlin. Cleveland then traded Horwitz to the Pittsburgh Pirates later that night in exchange for current Captains LHPs Josh Hartle, MLB Pipeline's No. 25 Guardians prospect, and LHP Michael Kennedy, as well as current Guardians RHP Luis Ortiz.

Mitchell was originally selected by Toronto in Round 4C of the 2024 MLB Draft out of Indiana. He then made his professional debut for the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays (TOR) that year, batting .289 with 26 hits, two doubles, one triple, four home runs, and 13 RBI in 22 games.

The Carmel, Indiana native played his final collegiate season for the Indiana Hoosiers in 2024, batting .335 with 68 hits, 15 doubles, three triples, five home runs, 49 RBI, 40 strikeouts to 36 strikeouts, and a .970 OPS in 54 games, ranking tied for second in the Big Ten with 62 runs scored.

He played his first two collegiate seasons at Western Illinois, where he was a two-time All-Summit League selection (2023 First Team, 2022 Second Team). As a freshman in 2022, he led the Summit League with 30 stolen bases and ranked fifth in the conference with a .342 batting average.

Both Wilkinson and Mitchell will look to continue their recent success this week, as the Captains will continue their 12-game homestand with a six-game series against the Fort Wayne TinCaps. First pitch for Tuesday night's series opener is scheduled for 7 p.m. from Classic Auto Group Park in Eastlake. It will be Community Champions Night at the ballpark, where Lake County will honor coaches.

All six games of this week's series will be broadcast on the Bally Sports Live App and MiLB.com, with social media coverage courtesy of @LCCaptains on X and Instagram.

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