Atlanta Braves: Minor League Memorial Weekend Report

Atlanta Braves Minor League Weekend Report – Gwinnett (19-25)

Gwinnett got 2 runs in the top of the first and rode that early lead to a 6-1 win on Thursday over Columbus. Chien-Ming Wang had his best start of the season, going 7 2/3 innings, allowing 1 run (unearned) on 8 hits while striking out 2. He continued to show himself to be an excellent inning eater for the AAA team. Cody Martin threw 1 1/3 innings, only giving up one hit while striking out 3 to get the save. Jose Peraza led the offensive attack for Gwinnett with his first home run of the season among his two hits. Cedric Hunter collected 3 hits, including a double and a steal. Eury Perez had two hits and two stolen bases on the day. Sean Kazmar had 2 hits, including a double. Joe Benson also added a steal. While Peraza’s home run was nice to see, he also committed his 7th error of the season defensively.

Sugar Ray Marimon got blown up in the first inning, and Gwinnett couldn’t recover Friday as they fell 8-4 to Columbus. Marimon gave up 6 first inning runs, and his final line was 3 2/3 innings, 7 runs, 7 hits, 4 walks, and a strikeout. Jose Peraza hit his second home run in as many days. No Braves collected more than one hit, but Eury Perez had a hit and a walk, and he added his 22nd stolen base of the year.

The G-Braves bounced back from their loss with a 6-1 win Saturday over Columbus. Manny Banuelos had a rough day of control, though his line looked okay. His final line was 4 1/3 innings, allowing 1 run on 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 6. He threw 90 pitches in that time, and he looked off throughout the game, so certainly I have no issue with him being pulled early. Eury Perez was the offensive star with 2 hits, including a home run and a double. Cedric Hunter had 2 hits and a double. Sean Kazmar, Wil Nieves, and Daniel Castro each also had two hits. Adonis Garcia knocked out his 12th double of the year as well.

Gwinnett ran into a buzzsaw by the name of Jhoulys Chacin, who pitched a tremendous game for Columbus in a 4-0 Clipper victory Sunday. Cody Martin started the game for Gwinnett, but he only went 3 innings, allowing one run on 2 hits and striking out 4. Gwinnett only had 3 hits total on the day, and no Braves hitter was on base twice in the game.

Atlanta Braves Minor League Weekend Report – Mississippi (24-19)

Of the 15 runs scored in the Thursday contest between Mississippi and Jacksonville, 11 came from the 8th inning on as the M-Braves got the win with a 3-run 10th inning and holding on in the bottom of the 10th to get an 8-7 win. Jason Hursh did what a good sinker ball pitcher does, scattering 10 hits, including getting two key double play balls. His final line was 6 1/3 innings, allowing 2 runs on 10 hits and no walks while striking out 5. Mallex Smith epitomized the day for Mississippi, garnering 3 hits, including a double, stealing two bases, but also committing another error in the field. KD Kang had two hits, as did Corban Joseph. Matt Kennelly and Eric Garcia had doubles on the day for the Braves.

Mississippi got a very good start from Tyrell Jenkins in their Friday win over Jacksonville 3-2. Jenkins threw 7 clean innings, but in the 8th, he came back out allowed 2 runs without getting an out as he was visibly tired. His final line was 7 innings, 5 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, and 7 strikeouts. The M-Braves got a tremendous day from Mallex Smith who collected 3 hits, including a double and a steal. Matt Lipka had 2 steals on the day and Seth Loman even added a steal.

Saturday continued the excellent weekend for Mississippi with a 6-0 win over Jacksonville. Jorge Reyes got his 5th win of the season, going 5 scoreless innings, allowing 3 hits and striking out 4. Kevin Ahrens led the offensive attack with 2 doubles and 2 RBI. KD Kang scored three runs and collected 2 hits, 2 walks, and 2 RBI. Eric Garcia had 2 hits, including a double, and David Rohm also added a double. Mallex Smith was on base three times with 2 walks and a single, and he stole his 14th base of the season.

Two Jacksonville runs in the bottom of the first ended up being the only runs of the game as Mississippi dropped its only game of the weekend on Sunday 2-0. Greg Ross had a solid start, going 6 innings, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk while striking out 2. No Brave had multiple hits or an extra base hit, but Mallex Smith did have a hit, a walk, and stole his 15th base of the season.

Atlanta Braves Minor League Weekend Report – Carolina (19-21)

Carolina ended up on the wrong side of a blowout on Thursday, falling to Potomac 11-1. Yean Carlos Gil got the start for the Mudcats, but he only lasted 3 innings, giving up 10 runs on 10 hits and 3 walks while striking out 2 batters. With only one run scored, you could probably guess that there wasn’t a lot of offense, but Sean Godfrey did have a nice day, knocking 2 hits, including his 3rd home run of the season. Sal Giardina added a double for the other offensive production on the day.

Wilmington got the best of the Mudcats on Friday in a 3-1 Carolina loss. Sean Furney had a nice start, throwing 7 innings, allowing 3 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks while striking out 7. Caleb Dirks flashed some very good pitches in a perfect inning of relief, striking out 2. Johan Camargo had 3 hits and a double on the day, while Sean Godfrey had another multi-hit day as he neared a .300 batting average after collecting two hits. Keith Curcio added a double to cap the production from the offense. One concern from this game was Jose Briceno committing his 6th error on the season on a pickoff. Briceno was considered bat-first for sure, but his defense has been even worse than advertised and may require a demotion.

Carolina’s offense once again couldn’t give support to an excellent pitching performance, and the Mudcats fell on Saturday 1-0 to Wilmington. Independent league signee Seth Webster rebounded from a rough first start of the season with Rome and responded well to his promotion to Carolina with 7 innings of one-run ball, allowing 6 hits and striking out 4. Connor Lien collected two hits and a double on the day, while Levi Hyams and Johan Camargo also knocked out doubles.

Wilmington closed out a rough weekend for Carolina on Sunday, defeating them 10-2. While the game was lost already, the game looked much worse on the score sheet due to a 7-run bottom of the 8th inning that took a 3-2 game out of reach. Andrew Waszak started the game and went 5 innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits while striking out 3 hitters. Mauricio Cabrera got completely lit up, giving up 6 runs on 4 hits and 2 walks while only recording one out. Carlos Franco had two hits to lead the Carolina offense.

Atlanta Braves Minor League Weekend Report – Rome (19-24)

A pitcher’s duel nipped Rome on Thursday, as they fell 2-0 to Savannah. Alec Grosser had an interesting start, going 5 innings, allowing 2 runs on only 1 hit but 4 walks while striking out 3. Grosser has typically been a guy with good control, so this was an odd start for him from a box score point of view. The Braves only had two hits as a team, though they did draw 4 walks on the day, including 2 for Omar Obregon.

Friday brought a double-header against Savannah to make up from a 4/15 postponement. Sadly, they dropped both ends of the double-header.  In the first game, the Braves had defensive issues plague them in a 4-2 loss where the team only gave up one earned run on the day. Brandon Barker got the start, going 6 innings, giving up 4 runs on 5 hits and a walk while striking out 3. No Braves had multiple hits, but Joseph Daris did secure a triple, and Braxton Davidson was on base twice with a walk and a single.

The second half of the double-header was a bullpen game, but the team once again struggled with defense, losing 5-2. Chad Sobotka started the game and went 2 2/3 innings, allowing 3 runs (one earned) on 3 hits and 3 walks while striking out 3. Omar Obregon had 3 hits for the Braves and Wigberto Nevarez hit a home run to lead the offense in the night cap.

Rome’s bats were alive on Saturday as they defeated Savannah 9-5. Zach Quintana started a bullpen game and went 3 innings, allowing 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 2. Rome collected 10 hits, 6 walks, and 4 stolen bases on the day. Braxton Davidson hit his 4th home run of the season in the 7th inning, but the big offensive performer on the day was Joseph Daris with 2 hits and a walk, including a triple and steal, while driving in 4 runs. Matt Tellor and Omar Obregon each had two hits and Jordan Edgerton collected 2 walks and a steal. Ozhaino Albies stole two bases to bring his season total to 17.

The weekend closed out well for Rome with a 5-1 win over Savannah on Sunday. Caleb Beech had a tremendous start, throwing 7 innings, allowing one unearned run on 5 hits while striking out 5. Joseph Daris had another tremendous day, collecting 4 hits and a double. Erison Mendez had 3 hits and a walk, including a double and 3 RBI. Stephen Gaylor had two hits on the day, and Braxton Davidson had two hits and a walk. The Braves 6-9 hitters went 11/14 with two walks and two doubles, driving in 4 of the 5 team runs.

That’s All!

Due to some family things coming up, I was unable to get the Victor Mateo and Jason Hursh reviews completed last week. Instead, look for a feature reviewing three starts for each coming on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. I’ll have nearly 12 hours of game footage watched among the 6 combined starts by the time I get the write-up done, and I hope everyone enjoys them.  We’ll be moving to a more reader-friendly format next week for the weekend roundup as well.

Now that you’ve peaked behind the curtain, back to the minors. If you get a chance to watch Mississippi on milb.tv or in person, do it. This is a team getting great production from the rotation right now, a very solid bullpen, and, in my opinion, the best lineup from top to bottom of any Braves affiliate right now. The Mudcats are definitely missing their lead pitcher and hitter in Lucas Sims and Dustin Peterson, who have not returned from injuries sustained in the bus crash. Rome continues to have guys establish themselves, and Gwinnett has a number of guys who I think we all hope get a chance to show what they have at the major league level this year and in 2016, so the Braves know what they can do with the young guys like Albies, Mallex Smith, and others in the future when they’re ready.