Atlanta Braves Prospects Continue to Impress
By Fred Owens
Meanwhile back at Gwinnett
Lucas Sims made his second start after replacing Aaron Blair in the G-Braves rotation and it was a ‘hey don’t forget me’ statement. The 21-year-old Braves No. 12 prospect dominated the Mudhens through seven innings of five hit one run ball striking 11 hitters and walking just two.
As you can imagine Sims was beating the strike zone to death; 72 of his 101 pitches were strikes 14 of then adding air condition to the ballpark courtesy the Mudhens’ batters.
Sims is having a breakout year so far striking out 42 of the 112 batters faced (12k/9) and walking 16 – one intentional in 26 2/3 IP. Opponents are hitting .163/.295/.283/.577 off the right who’s posted a 2.03 ERA, 1.162 WHIP and thrown 63% of his 468 pitches for strike, 16% of them whiffs. Here’s Sim’s striking out his tenth hitter on the 16th before his call up to Gwinnett.
Also of note
Dansby Swanson – who along with Ruiz are the old men of this post at 22 – earned his promotion to Mississippi by being steadily damaging at the plate. Scouting reports indicated that Swanson knew the strike zone well and so far that’s proven true, he’s walks 15 times in 93 PA and struck out 13.
That’s right, a first year minor league player walking more than he strikes out and posting a .333/.541/.526/.967 line with 12 doubles and homer and stealing 7 bases in 8 attempts.
That’s A Wrap
It’s true that the Braves prospect list is filled with pitchers but we have some everyday players starting to make themselves known as well. We still don’t have the Mike Trout. Bryce Harper, Manny Machado kind of bat but we have a few guys who look like developing into useful on-base bats.
The young pitching is coming along as well. Max Fried is over a year away and Manny Banuelos may never be what the Braves hoped for when they acquired him but elsewhere things are looking up.
Touki had a rough couple of starts when he was asked to try different pitch selection but his last outing looked like the guy we thought we were getting. Sanchez is growing as well and Sims seems to have finally found his way.
I know many are impatient but I’d just remind you that the players in this post have an average age 20 years 136 days. I know this is an age of instant gratification but unlike football and basketball, going from college to the pros is a rarity.
The Braves need to give them time to learn and grow as men as well as ball players. That’s best done in the minors where winning is nice but gaining more skill is the desired outcome. In the meantime fans need to be patient, better days are ahead if we don’t break our prospects before they are full grown as players.