Atlanta Braves: Minor League Monday May 11

Atlanta Braves Minor League Monday – Gwinnett (15-15)

Sugar Ray Marimon had an excellent start on Thursday as Gwinnett won 5-0 over Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Marimon threw six shutout innings, allowing 2 hits and 3 walks while striking out 5. Eury Perez had two hits, including a double and stole two bases. Braeden Schlehuber had a double as well while Jose Peraza and Adonis Garcia stole bases.

Gwinnett saved all their offense for the 9th inning Friday, but they lost on a walk-off hit 4-3. Manny Banuelos had a very good start, going 6 innings, allowing 1 run on 7 hits and a walk while striking out 6. Banuelos’ only mistake was a home run by Maikel Franco in the 6th inning. Aaron Kurcz ended up losing the game after blowing the save in the 9th inning, allowing 2 hits and 2 runs. Adonis Garcia and Cedric Hunter had 2 hits each for the G-Braves, with Hunter also picking up his 7th double of the year. Todd Cunningham also had a double in the game.

The G-Braves got their third very solid pitching effort in a row on Saturday as Greg Smith started for Gwinnett and went 6 innings, allowing one run on 4 hits and a walk while striking out 2. The Braves had 13 baserunners on the game, led by Eury Perez who had two hits and a walk, including his first home run of the season. Adonis Garcia had two hits, including a double.

Gwinnett finished the weekend strong with a 9-1 win over Lehigh Valley on Sunday. Matt Wisler got the win with 8 innings of one-run ball, allowing 5 hits and striking out two. His results finally matched his performance, as I mentioned in my review of his start on April 29th. This was the Wisler everyone in the Braves hopes comes to the big club as well. He only had two punch outs, but he did what a good sinker ball pitcher should, which was get guys to pound the ball into the ground and keep extra base runners off by not allowing any walks. The G-Braves offense was led by Adonis Garcia and Cedric Hunter, who each had three hits, with Garcia knocking out two doubles and Hunter having one as well. Jose Peraza had two hits and a double and Daniel Castro had two hits, his first hits since being promoted to Gwinnett on Thursday. Peraza also had his 12th steal of the season.

Atlanta Braves Minor League Monday – Mississippi (14-14)

Mississippi started their weekend off with a 4-0 win over Biloxi on Thursday. Tyrell Jenkins had a very solid start, going 6 scoreless innings, allowing six hits and two walks while striking out 5. I reviewed Jenkins’ start this weekend, so check it out and let me know what you think. The M-Braves didn’t score until after Jenkins left the game, so he didn’t pick up the win. The Braves had 11 hits on the game, including 4 from Chris O’Dowd and 2 from both Mallex Smith and Emerson Landoni. Landoni and O’Dowd had doubles on the day while Smith stole a base.

Mississippi took their Friday game against Biloxi 4-2. Jake Brigham threw 6 1/3 innings, allowing one run on 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 7. Ryan Kelly pitched a perfect 9th inning for his seventh save. Mississippi had 13 base runners, including 5 walks. Mallex Smith and Emerson Landoni had two hits apiece. Kevin Ahrens had a double, and Chris O’Dowd stole his second base of the season.

The M-Braves scored 3 in the 10th inning to win 5-2 over Biloxi on Saturday. Greg Ross threw 5 innings, allowing 1 run on 5 hits and a walk while striking out 4. While the M-Braves struck out 12 times on the game, they also had 12 base runners. Emerson Landoni was the only Brave who had multiple hits with 3 hits and a double. Chris O’Dowd had a double and Mallex Smith stole his 8th base.

Victor Mateo continued his return to form with an excellent start on Sunday, but the M-Braves couldn’t muster up any runs in a 2-0 loss to Biloxi. Mateo hurled 7 innings of 3 hit ball, allowing one run, while striking out 3. The Mississippi offense didn’t have any player collect multiple hits or even get on base multiple times in the game.

Atlanta Braves Minor League Monday – Carolina (18-12)

The Mudcats had a huge blowout win on Thursday against Lynchburg, winning 11-1. Tyler Brosius started for Carolina, throwing 6 scoreless innings, allowing 4 hits and a walk while striking out 4. Andy Otero came in for a 3 inning save to close out the game. Carolina had 16 hits and 5 walks in the game, including a 4-hit game from Eric Garcia, two 3-hit games from Sean Godfrey and Dustin Peterson, and 2-hit games from Carlos Franco and Connor Lien. Joey Meneses, Johan Camargo, and Lien had doubles while Franco knocked out his third home run of the year. Godfrey also stole a base for the Mudcats.

Carolina was on the losing end of a 1-0 pitcher’s duel on Friday against Salem. Yean Carlos Gil threw 7 innings, giving up one run on 5 hits and 1 walk while striking out 6. Among Carolina’s four hits was a double by Jose Briceno. Levi Hyams also stole his first base of the season.

Saturday saw a double-header for Carolina against Salem, and they split the double-header. The first game was a 6-1 victory for the Mudcats. Lucas Sims pitched a complete game, with 7 innings of one-run ball, allowing 7 hits and a walk, while striking out 6. This is the Sims we’ve been waiting for as Braves fans all season. I would have loved to do a write-up of this game, but Carolina is the one of the four full-season Braves squads that doesn’t have every game on milb.tv (most organizations have one of their full-season teams, if not two). The Mudcats offense was led by Jacob Schrader, who ended up a single short of the cycle on three hits. Dustin Peterson also had 3 hits, a walk, and an outfield assist to bring his season average over .300.  Sean Godfrey and Carlos Franco each had doubles as part of the Carolina offensive attack.

The second game of the double-header was a “relief game” thrown by three relievers that Carolina lost 4-2 to Salem. Andrew Waszak started the game, throwing 3 innings, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out one. The Mudcats only managed four hits and a walk on the day, with no one getting an extra base hit or having multiple hits. Connor Lien did have a hit and a walk, so he was on base twice.

Carolina finished off their excellent last week of games, winning 5-2 over Salem on Sunday. The Mudcats were led by a 4-run 7th inning. Andrew Thurman started the game for Carolina, and he had a very good start, going 6 1/3 innings, allowing 2 runs and 5 hits while striking out 4. Levi Hyams had two hits and a stolen base to lead the offense. Dustin Peterson had his first stolen base of the season and Joseph Odom had a double.

Atlanta Braves Minor League Monday – Rome (12-17)

Rome took the organization’s only loss on Thursday, dropping their game against Hagerstown 7-6. Sean Furney had a very solid start get away from him in the 6th inning after allowing only one run over the first five innings.  His final line was 5 1/3 innings, allowing 6 runs on 8 hits with 2 strikeouts. Kyle Kinman, who has been arguably Rome’s best pitcher this season out of the bullpen, struggled with his control in this game and allowed 4 walks in 1 2/3 innings. Rome’s offense had a solid night with 14 hits. Ozhaino Albies and Tanner Krietemeier both had 3 hits to lead the Braves, with Albies having a double, triple, and a stolen base. Bryan De La Rosa had 2 hits, including a double, while Omar Obregon had 2 hits, including a triple. Keith Curcio had a double as well.

Rome rebounded from their loss Thursday to blow out Hagerstown on Friday 13-0. Max Povse threw three perfect innings in his first start off of the DL. Caleb Beech got the win with 5 innings of scoreless relief, giving up 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 1. The offense had 17 baserunners, including 6 extra base hits. Five Braves had 2 hits – Ozhaino Albies, who also had a triple, Bryan De La Rosa, who had two doubles, Tanner Krietemeier, who had a double, Braxton Davidson, who clubbed his 3rd home run, and John Franco. Keith Curcio also had a triple. Ozhaino Albies stole his 11th base of the year as well.

The Braves had a nice offensive game on Saturday, but Rome pitching got knocked around to the tune of 16 hits allowed, and the Braves lost to Greensboro 8-5.  The Braves got their first look at Marlins farm hand Tyler Kolek, their first round pick in 2014. Brandon Barker started for the Braves, going 5 1/3 innings, allowing 6 runs on 8 hits and 3 walks while striking out 3. Three Rome players had two hits, including Omar Obregon, Tanner Krietemeier, including a double, and Joseph Daris, who also had a stolen base. Tanner Murphy had a triple and Keith Curcio had a stolen base in the loss. Ozhaino Albies had an interesting mix of a game, getting one hit and one walk, making a couple very nice defensive plays, including starting a double play, but also committing a throwing error.

Sunday‘s game was rough, with Greensboro taking the game 14-4. Daniel Cordero started the game, but he only went 2 2/3 innings, allowing 7 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks. Felix Marte relieved Cordero, but he didn’t fare much better, allowing 6 runs on 5 hits and 2 walks in 1 2/3 innings. Ozhaino Albies had 3 hits and Jordan Edgerton had 2 hits for Rome. Rome’s defense had a rough day, committing 3 errors, though they did have two double plays as well.

That’s All!

We’re finally seeing some guys like Wisler, Sims, and Jenkins come around with their performances.  One guy I plan to get eyes on soon is Victor Mateo as when he’s been healthy, he’s shown very good results, so I’d like to see what’s there.  A couple of years ago, I noticed the same thing with Williams Perez before he had a very good 2014 and got into the mix for the major league squad after being deemed “minor league roster filler”.  The Atlanta Braves minor league affiliates are seeing some very good pitching, but the thing that I am very interested in is the progression of the hitters.  Everyone knows Jose Peraza and Adonis Garcia, but Ozhaino Albies has gotten hot to the point where his numbers rival Peraza’s, and I think many would be surprised by that.  Dustin Peterson has really produced after an initial slump, and he really hits a ball hard when he gets a hold of one.  It will be interesting to keep an eye on the bats going forward.  At this point in the year, a .500 hitting week could take a guy like Rio Ruiz from .210ish to .300, which would completely change perception on Ruiz among Braves fans right now.