Atlanta Braves Minor League Review: Gwinnett Braves
Feb 23, 2015; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves pitcher Jason Hursh fields a ground ball during spring training workouts at Champion Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Reinhold Matay-USA TODAY Sports
Relievers
The Braves signed Hunter Cervenka after the Cubs let him go, and he was pitching in indy ball. His overall season for both the Cubs and Braves showed a 4.03 ERA and 1.74 WHIP with a 27/55 BB/K ratio over 38 innings. Cervenka’s line in Gwinnett was tremendous, however, at 0.00 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, and 8/23 BB/K over 16 2/3 innings. Cervenka’s a very strong lefty and could be a very solid LOOGY as he is tremendous against LHP over the year with a .560 OPS and 7/23 BB/K against lefties on the season.
Carlos Fisher has the size to make you think he’d be a fireballing reliever at 6’4, 220. However, he simply does not have that sort of top end velocity, which is why at 32 years old, he spent the season in the Gwinnett bullpen. He tallied a 1.61 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and 28/58 BB/K over 56 innings of relief. Fisher is nothing more than an org bullpen arm, but a good season like this will keep him employed as a AAA reliever for another year if he wants to do such.
When I wrote about Jason Hursh at the beginning of the season, I quite literally caught his only 3 solid starts of the entire season for Mississippi. Hursh made the transition to the bullpen, and at Mississippi, he was quite solid out of the pen. He had a couple blow up games that really skewed his ERA for Gwinnett. Hursh’s season line was 5.18 ERA, 1.69 WHIP, and a 37/65 BB/K ratio over 97 1/3 innings spanning 34 appearances (15 starts). Hursh has a very heavy fastball and slider that gets a ton of ground balls. He compares similar to Derek Lowe in the bullpen if he could put the location together. He’ll be in Gwinnett to start 2016, but he could move up quickly.
The Braves acquired Mitchell Lambson from the Astros midseason, and he’s shown to be a very excellent lefty. His overall numbers were 2.35 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and a 20/52 BB/K ratio over 57 1/3 innings over 40 appearances. He’s got a solid fastball in the low 90s with movement. He could be a guy to keep an eye on as a future LOOGY.
The Braves signed Vin Mazzaro after he was released by the Marlins. He spent the rest of the year in Gwinnett, tallying a 2.36 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, and a 13/18 BB/K ratio on 26 2/3 innings. He’s at the point of being an org guy at this point. He still has enough guys around the league with memory of him being successful in the majors to settle for a minor league deal to start 2016, so he’ll likely be in another organization to start 2016.
David Peterson was an 8th round selection in 2012 for the Braves. After dwelling at high-A for two seasons, Peterson jumped up 3 levels in 2015, pitching for Carolina, Mississippi, and Gwinnett. While he put up solid numbers, he never got a call up. The overall numbers are 2.28 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and a 12/35 BB/K ratio over 51 1/3 innings. Peterson certainly has enough stuff to be a major league reliever. It will just require an opportunity to show it in the major leagues.
We’ll look at the system’s leaders on Thursday!