Atlanta Braves Minor League Updates

Here at Tomahawk Take, we are big fans of the Atlanta Braves, and that includes the Atlanta Braves that are playing in Atlanta as well as the Atlanta Braves minor league players throughout the system.  We are starting a new feature this week that we will continue throughout the season on Mondays and Thursdays, highlighting the Braves’ minor league affiliates and the players who have performed very well (or very poorly) since the last post.  TT writers will help you to keep track of the Braves’ system throughout the season.

Atlanta Braves Minor League Monday – Gwinnett (2-2)

Gwinnett started their season with a four-game opening series against the Durham Bulls of the Tampa Bay Rays organization.  They split the four-game set, winning Friday and Sunday while losing Thursday and Saturday.  The hitting standouts for the Braves were infielders Adonis Garcia (.417/.462/.500 in 12 at bats) and Pedro Ciriaco (.353/.353/.412 in 17 at bats).  Former stud prospects Joe Benson and Cedric Hunter both posted excellent on base averages through the series (.417 and .364 respectively), but the team as a whole did not hit for much power, compiling a total of 7 extra base hits total in the four games.  The most notable player struggling was Jose Peraza, who hit .133/.188/.133 in the series while batting second each game.  Pitching was solid throughout the series, most notably Matt Wisler, who threw 5 innings of shutout ball on Sunday with two walks and five strikeouts.  All four starters pitched well, though Manny Banuelos and Williams Perez did have some issues with control in their starts, allowing 4 and 3 walks each in 3 2/3 and 4 innings, respectively.  I could describe Michael Foltynewicz‘s start, but Kiley McDaniel did a tremendous job of doing so in the Fangraphs podcast released Sunday.

Atlanta Braves Minor League Monday – Mississippi (2-3)

Mississippi started their season with a 5-game set against the Tennessee Smokies of the Chicago Cubs’ system.  The Braves had taken two of those games and lost three.  The well-noted Cubs system sent some of their best prospects in Kyle Schwarber, Albert Almora, Dan Vogelbach, and more on their Tennessee squad, who put up 32 runs in the 5-game set.  The Braves scored plenty of their own runs as well, as evidenced by the performances of their top players.  Outfielder David Rohm hit .417/.588/.417 in 12 at bats, outfielder Kyeong Kang hit .250/.357/.583 in 12 at bats, infielder Daniel Castro hit .389/.421/.444 in 18 at bats, and catcher Chris O’Dowd hit .400/.625/.800 though only in 5 at bats.  Kang hit the team’s only home run of the series.  The Braves’ high-profile starters at AA, Jason Hursh and Tyrell Jenkins, didn’t fare well in their respective starts, though Jenkins’ ERA won’t reflect it due to two errors allowing 5 runs to score on his tally.  Victor Mateo did put up 6 strong innings in his start, and Ryan Weber posted 5 1/3 innings of very quality relief, allowing only one run and striking out five.  Ian Thomas also got off to another strong start with 4 strikeouts in 3 scoreless innings of relief in the series.  The worst of the pitching probably belonged to TT favorite Greg Ross, however, as he allowed 7 earned runs in 2 2/3 innings while giving up 6 hits and walking 6 batters.

Atlanta Braves Minor League Monday – Carolina (4-1)

The Carolina Mudcats are in their first season as the Braves’ high-A affiliate, and the season opened strong in a four-game series against the Salem Red Sox (obviously of the Boston Red Sox system), and opened a series on Monday against the Wilmington Blue Rocks of the Kansas City Royals system.  They took 3 of 4 from Salem over the weekend and took the first game of the set against Wilmington tonight.  The Mudcats scored 17 runs in their games, but they strung together some pretty impressive individual offensive showings to get there.  First baseman Jake Schrader hit .455/.455/.818 in 11 at bats, outfielder Connor Oliver hit .364/.417/.364 in 11 at bats, outfielder Sean Godfrey hit .333/.368/.500 in 18 at bats and clubbed one of the team’s three home runs this young season, and shortstop Johan Camargo hit .333/.385/.333 in 12 at bats while flashing some excellent defense.  Of course, winning four games while scoring 17 runs total requires good pitching, and the Mudcats certainly got that.  Their five starters combined for 27 2/3 innings, 7 earned runs, 4 walks, and 21 strikeouts.  Notably, righty Steve Janas threw six innings of one-hit, no-walk ball. The bullpen had a mix of solid and scary performances, but closer Tyler Jones did nail down two saves in his two appearances while striking out four.

Atlanta Braves Minor League Monday – Rome (1-4)

Rome opened their season with a four-game set against the Asheville Tourists of the Colorado Rockies organization and opened a series Monday with the Savannah Sand Gnats of the New York Mets organization.  Rome fared the worst of the Braves affiliates to open the season, but there were some bright spots individually.  The offensive performances were rather offensive, but Braxton Davidson did hit a home run already and Ozhaino Albies and Joseph Daris combined to steal 5 bases.  The pitching fared somewhat better on an individual performance basis.  Max Povse pitched a great rain-shortened game today, going 5 innings with one earned run and 7 strikeouts.  Alec Grosser pitched well in four innings in his first start of the season as well.  Sean Furney, Carlos Salazar, and Bradley Roney all threw very well in relief, combining for 11 1/3 innings with 2 earned runs and 16 strikeouts among them.  Rome did have some of the system’s biggest stinkers of the opening extended weekend, however, as the Braves catchers combined to go 2-27 (some of those at bats were as DH), and Rome only had one hitter who even hit .300, though notably, the Braves were seeing a lot of pitches, as evidenced by their 21 walks being second in the South Atlantic League while their 29 strikeouts was the least by a team. Notable offseason acquisition Ricardo Sanchez also struggled somewhat in his first start, throwing 4 innings and allowing 3 earned runs, though in his defense, he did just turn 18 on last Saturday, interestingly enough the day he made his one start thus far.  Perhaps he can pick up his performance when he doesn’t have so much cake and ice cream coursing through his veins.

That’s All!

So ends our first installment of the Minor League Monday roundup.  If you have any suggestions for us on what you’d like to see in this space on Mondays and Thursdays throughout the season, feel free to contact us – Twitter stalking is not only appreciated, but needed for our fragile, feeble egos!