The Gwinnett Braves, the Atlanta Braves’ AAA affiliate, finished their season in the International League championship in 2016. Could they make a repeat trip in 2017?
The Atlanta Braves saw their AAA club in Gwinnett have a very good finish to their 2016 season as they found their way into the playoffs in spite of a 65-78 overall record by winning their division by a half-game.
They then used a mostly “quad-A” lineup to succeed in the playoffs over Columbus before losing to the minor league team with the best winning percentage in full-season ball in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in the championship series.
However, that team won with a roster primarily based off of guys who were what’s known as quad-A guys or fill-in guys for the major league guys, with very few prospects coming through Gwinnett, especially on the hitting side.
So what will Gwinnett look like in 2017?
Let’s start with the men carrying the timber:
Hitters
Catchers – David Freitas, Anthony Recker, Braeden Schlehuber
Infielders – Ozzie Albies, Johan Camargo, Balbino Fuenmayor, Reed Harper, Levi Hyams, Sean Kazmar, Kyle Kubitza, Blake Lalli, Emerson Landoni, Rio Ruiz, Matt Tuiasosopo
Outfielders – Lane Adams, Ronnier Mustelier, Dustin Peterson, Mel Rojas, Jr., Adam Walker
There are two I’m honestly hoping I’m wrong on here – Rojas and Ruiz. I’d love to see both starting the season in Atlanta, Rojas as the 4th outfielder and Ruiz as at least a platoon-mate at third base for Adonis Garcia.
The highlight name will certainly be Albies, but overall, the depth of the lineup here should be much stronger than in 2016. Peterson will likely open on the DL, but he should be here when he comes off the DL.
One of the group of veteran minor league infielders that can play middle infield (Harper, Hyams, Kazmar, Landoni) could end up moved lower in the system to fill back up roles in the middle infield in AA or high-A.
Next: Pitchers