Atlanta Braves Minor League Weekend Wrap: April 11th
Atlanta Braves Minor League Weekend Wrap Up
The Atlanta Braves full-season minor league affiliates all opened up their seasons on Thursday. We covered the full rosters earlier last week. This will be our first minor league wrap up post of the year. For those new to TT, this is something we started last year, and we’ll post an update on Monday and Thursday on the minor league system.
The Monday post will contain the scores from Thursday through Sunday games along with statistical leaders (through Saturday’s games). The Thursday post will contain the scores of the games from Monday through Wednesday along with a peak at the weekend pitching match ups. Something new this year will be adding in video highlights from the MiLB YouTube page that are posted.
This first page in each post will highlight those players who have been promoted, demoted, signed, or released in the last week so you can know the player movement within the system. I also utilized the first page last season to highlight players of the week, and I intend to do that as well this season, and we’ll start that with our short week players of the week from the first week of play:
Hitter of the week – Ray-Patrick Didder may be one of the most unheralded players in the system to the common fan, but those following the minors closely have known about his incredible speed and defense. He blew out of the gate in opening weekend with Rome, hitting .462/.563/.846 with 3 2B, 1 3B, 5 runs, and 2 RBI. Honorable mention: Keith Curcio, Carolina
Pitcher of the week – Max Povse was a guy who shuffled a bit last season, and with the big influx of pitching in trades and the excellent 2015 draft class pitching performances, he had to feel the heat under his feet to perform well or likely face a move to the bullpen. Perform well he did this week, giving the Mudcats 6 scoreless innings Sunday, allowing only a single hit and a walk, while striking out 7 in a pitcher’s duel that Carolina pulled out in extra innings. Honorable mention: Chris Ellis, Mississippi
Next: Gwinnett Braves
AAA Gwinnett Braves (3-1)
Thursday
The Braves opened the season on the road against Norfolk, starting their “borrowed” pitcher, Jhoulys Chacin, who will be with the club until he starts this coming week with the big league club in the 5th spot in the rotation. He opened the season with a bang for the pitching staff, going 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing 5 hits and 2 walks while striking out 7 as the Braves defeated the Tides 2-0. Mallex Smith led off the game with a triple, and he ended up the only Braves hitter with multiple hits, also collecting a double on the day. Reid Brignac, Matt Tuiasosopo, and Chase d’Arnaud were each on base twice with a single and a walk. Blake Lalli and Ryan Lavarnway each had doubles.
Friday
Mike Foltynewicz toed the rubber for the Braves second game of the season, but he forgot to bring along his control with him. He was out of the game after throwing 4 innings and giving up 2 runs (1 earned) on 2 hits and 5 walks while striking out one. Four Braves relievers then combined to hold Norfolk scoreless as the team came back to tie the game and eventually win the game in 10 innings, 4-2. Ryan Weber had the real “star” performance out of the bullpen on the day, going 3 1/3 innings, allowing 3 hits and striking out 1. Tyler Moore provided the exclamation point on the game with a 2-run home run in the 10th inning, his second hit of the game. He was the only Braves hitter with multiple hits. Rio Ruiz had a single and two walks on the day. Matt Tuiasosopo and Ryan Lavarnway each had a double and a walk. Daniel Castro had a single and a walk.
Saturday
The Braves jumped out of the gate with a 7-run first inning, and they never looked back, winning 11-5 Saturday. Aaron Blair got the start, and he went 6 innings, allowing 3 runs on 5 hits and a walk while striking out 6. Blair was extremely sharp the first four innings, but as is common early in the season, he wore down a bit in the 5th and in the 6th, he made a mistake pitch that was crushed for a 2-run home run, skewing the numbers on a very good start. Mallex Smith had the biggest day at the plate with 4 hits, including a double, and scoring 3 runs and even stealing a base in what would prove to be his last game before being promoted to Atlanta. Every Gwinnett batter had a hit in the game. Blake Lalli had 3 hits and a walk. Brandon Snyder had two singles and a walk. Sean Kazmar and Matt Tuiasasopop each had 2 hits, with one of those hits being a home run. Tyler Moore also collected two hits, though he did collect them in a weird way, going 2-6 on the day with 4 strikeouts!
Sunday
The Braves’ undefeated streak ran out on Sunday in a most peculiar way. They didn’t get a great start from their starter, Tyrell Jenkins, but he left with a 4-2 lead after 3 innings in which he had thrown 76 pitches, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits and 5 walks, but also striking out 4. His stuff was moving with incredible bite, but it was as if Tyrell was simply not used to THIS much bite on his pitches, and he couldn’t keep them in the zone. However, when Jenkins left the game, the next three relievers combined to give up 7 runs over 4 innings, costing Gwinnett the win as they fell 9-4. Daniel Castro and Ryan Lavarnway each had two singles. Tyler Moore had a double and a walk. Rio Ruiz and Sean Kazmar each had a double.
Video Highlights
Next: Mississippi Braves
AA Mississippi Braves (1-3)
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Thursday
Lucas Sims got the ball for the opener at home against Pensacola, and he didn’t disappoint, going 5 innings and allowing 1 run on 1 hit, striking out 9, though he did walk 3. The issue is the Mississippi offense simply couldn’t put hits together in spite of putting on 11 base runners to Pensacola’s 9 on the day. No M-Brave got multiple hits on the day, though Jake Schrader, Carlos Fanco, and Matt Lipka each had a single and a walk. Dustin Peterson hit a double. Connor Lien and Johan Camargo each stole a base, though Lien ended up leaving the game due to injury and ended up on the disabled list.
Friday
Chris Ellis got the support that the team didn’t give to Sims on the previous day, albeit not much more, as Mississippi won 2-0. Ellis sparkled in his Braves debut, going 6 scoreless innings, allowing only 4 hits and striking out 8. Ozzie Albies had a big game offensively, going 3-4. Dustin Peterson had a double and a walk, and Matt Lipka had a triple as those three players represented the entire offensive output of Mississippi as the team collected only those 5 hits.
Saturday
When you have a game that gets to the point of goofy, you almost expect to have the extreme and rare decide the outcome. Such was the case on Saturday for Mississippi as they fell to Pensacola 5-4 in 13 innings. Sean Newcomb had a solid start and pitched well, going 5 innings, allowing 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5. Andrew Thurman came in to replace him, and though he gave up the tying run, he still provided a solid relief effort, going 3 innings and striking out 3. Bradley Roney came in and struck out the side in his inning of relief and Hunter Cervenka threw 2 scoreless innings before Jason Hursh blew up for the second time on the season in the 12th inning, giving up 2 runs. The Braves came back in the bottom of the 12th to tie the game again, and then the weird happened. Stephen Janas, who had 3 wild pitches in over 100 innings pitched in 2015, uncorked a wild pitch, bringing a runner into scoring position, and then Dustin Peterson, one of the most sure-handed defensive outfielders in the Braves’ system mishandles a routine ball and Pensacola scores the winning run. Mississippi threatened in the bottom of the 13th, but they couldn’t push the run across and lost the game.
The Braves had 21 base runners, so there were plenty of noteworthy offensive performances. Dustin Peterson had 3 singles and a walk. Matt Lipka had 3 hits, one of them a double. Ozzie Albies and Steve Rodriguez also had 3 hits apiece. Emerson Landoni and Johan Camargo each had two singles and a walk. Interestingly, Jordy Lara and Levi Hyams combined to go 2 for 11, but they collected 3 of the team’s 4 runs batted in.
Sunday
Rob Whalen took the mound for the M-Braves on Sunday, and his control wasn’t where he would like for sure, walking 3 and allowing 5 hits. Still, he was able to have the only damage on the scoreboard be a mistake to new Reds prospect Eric Jagielo, who hit the mistake out for a 2-run home run. Whalen’s final line was 4 innings, 5 hits, 2 runs, 3 walks, and 4 strikeouts. The Braves relievers also pitched fairly well as well, though they did give up two runs over 5 innings. The problem was that the offense simply couldn’t push across any runs, and the final was 4-2 Pensacola. Willians Astudillo had his first big game with the bat for Mississippi, collecting two hits, including a double, and knocking in both runs. Matt Lipka had two singles.
Video Highlights
Next: Carolina Mudcats
Carolina Mudcats (2-2)
Thursday
Enderson Franco was an interesting roster add and an even more interesting opening day starter, until you start to do the math that the Mudcats were opening on the road against arguably the most talented minor league roster in the minor leagues, Boston’s Salem affiliate. The results were rather predictable. Franco allowed 9 runs in 2 innings, and the Mudcats lost their opener 13-4. Sean Godfrey had a home run and a triple on the day. Dansby Swanson opened his Braves career with 2 hits, including a double. Keith Curcio added two hits. Joey Meneses had a single and a walk. Joseph Daris added a double. Omar Obregon stole a base. One very glaring issue was that the defense that many thought would be the calling card of the Mudcats ended up committing 4 errors, 3 of them by the outfielders!
Friday
Friday night saw the first starts for a couple members of the Braves’ vaunted 2015 draft class. Ryan Lawlor took the hill for the Mudcats, going 4 innings, allowing 1 run on 1 hit, walking 3 and striking out 4. Zachary Bird got the win in relief, part of a quartet of pitchers who were not part of the Braves system to open 2015, three of them being 2015 draft picks, and Bird being acquired midseason from the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Mudcats found their leadoff man in Keith Curcio, and he led the offense to a 5-2 win with 3 hits, including a triple. Joseph Daris reached base three times with two singles and a walk. Joey Meneses had two singles. Braxton Davidson roped a double.
Saturday
Postponed to Sunday
Sunday
In the first game of the Sunday double header, the best pitching performance of the week was simply part of a tremendous pitcher’s duel. Max Povse was tremendous in going 6 scoreless innings, allowing a single hit and walk while striking out 7. Evan Phillips and Raymar Navarro combined for 5 innings of scoreless relief before the Mudcat offense exploded for 5 runs in the 11th inning to win the opener 5-0. Keith Curcio had three hits, including a double, and a walk. Reed Harper collected two singles and a walk. Joseph Daris had two hits, including a double. Joey Meneses had two singles. Braxton Davidson and Stephen Gaylor each drew two walks on the day. Jordan Edgerton and Dansby Swanson each collected a double on their only hit of the game.
The night cap featured a member of the 2015 draft class, and Carolina left Ryan Clark to pitch the whole game in defeat 5-4. That meant he ended the day with a not-so-pretty line of 6 innings pitched and 5 runs allowed on 10 hits, striking out 4 while walking none. Dansby Swanson had two singles and a walk and stole his first base of the season. Braxton Davidson had two singles but curiously committed his second error of the season (he had six all of last year and was receiving rave reviews on his defense by the end of the season). Omar Obregon had a double and a walk. Ryan Gebhardt had a single and a walk. Joseph Odom legged out a triple, the second one of his entire career.
Video Highlights
None Available
Next: Rome Braves
Rome Braves (2-2)
Thursday
Rome has been considered one of the most talented teams in all of the minor leagues, and they opened the season showing all of that, dominating a pretty solid Augusta team 10-1. Mike Soroka got the start, going 4 innings, allowing 1 run on 4 hits and a walk, striking out 7. The bullpen took the ball from there and dominated, throwing 5 hitless innings, striking out 7 among three relievers. Austin Riley introduced himself to the world by going 3-5 with a double. Ray-Patrick Didder had two hits, including a triple, and a walk. Justin Ellison had two hits and a walk. Ronald Acuna and Jonathan Morales each had two singles.
Friday
Two old friends squared off Friday in Rome as Phil Bickford toed the rubber for the GreenJackets and Patrick Weigel hurled for the Braves. Bickford got the strikeouts, whiffing 10 Braves in 4 2/3 innings, but Weigel got the win, as the Braves beat Augusta 6-1. Weigel joined Ryan Lawlor as 2015 draft picks getting the ball on the second day of the season, the second 2015 pick in a row for Rome. His final line was 6 innings with 1 run allowed on a solo home run, allowing 4 hits and walking one, striking out 6. In fact, Weigel allowed the home run and a triple back to back in the first inning, and then he basically just shut off the access to the bases for the Augusta team.
Ray-Patrick Didder was the only Brave to reach base twice, walking twice. Luke Dykstra hit a solid double. Austin Riley followed up his positive debut with a rough second game, wearing the golden sombrero, going 0-4 with 4 strikeouts, and he even committed his first error of the season, though the error was not exactly a horrid play on his part, just a simply miscue.
Saturday
Max Fried made his much-anticipated Braves debut Saturday, and he made two real mistakes in the game. The first ended up in the outfield seats, courtesy of Lucius Fox, and the other ended up leading to another run as he had a poor pickoff throw that became an error. That’s all Augusta needed as they defeated the Braves 4-3. Fried’s final line was 5 innings, 3 runs allowed (2 earned) on 3 hits and a walk, striking out 4. Ray-Patrick Didder was the primary offensive force for the Braves, knocking out two doubles as part of his three hits. Austin Riley had a double and a walk. Wigberto Nevarez had a double.
Sunday
Ricardo Sanchez took the hill on Sunday and breezed through the first couple of innings, looking great, but then things went awry in the 4th inning. Sanchez gave up 3 runs in the 4th, all charged earned, though I could possibly debate some of that. His final line was 4 innings, 3 runs allowed on 4 hits and 3 walks, striking out 4. The Braves simply couldn’t produce offense, though, and the final was Augusta taking the Sunday matinee 9-2. Ronald Acuna knocked two hits, including one double. Jonathan Morales had two singles. Austin Riley and Ray-Patrick Didder each had a double.