Atlanta Braves Midweek Minor League Notes, Opening Day Edition
The Atlanta Braves see their minor league clubs open their 2017 seasons today, but there were also some unfortunate players this past week.
The Atlanta Braves have built up the top farm system in the game by most standards. One of the issues with that level of success is having to let very good players go.
Unfortunately, that happened at the end of spring for a large group of players, and we’ll cover them here quickly en masse with a quick note on a select few. Much of this information is pulled from the minor league transactions section at Baseball America, but also from the team transactions pages as well.
On the next page, we’ll take a look at the weekend starters for each level, so if you’d like to jump forward to that, you can click on “Next Page” and go directly to that information, but I think it’s a good reflection to see the level of guys who were let go, just to get an idea of how deep the system truly is.
RHP Andres Avila
OF Sander Boeldak – Curacaoan outfielder with all kinds of raw tools, but just didn’t impress enough in the GCL, in spite of a not-horrible .699 OPS.
RHP Blaine Boyer – Return attempt simply faded along with his fading stuff
RHP Dalton Carroll – 2016 21st round selection that put up solid numbers from Danville pen in 2016 (2.93 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 8.5 K/9).
RHP Ryan Clark – Hard luck starter for Carolina in 2016 with some of the worst run support in the league. 5th round pick in 2015.
LHP Parker Danciu – 39th round pick in 2016 (second to last round of the draft!) who had better ERA than FIP, but still showed well.
LHP John Danks – Could not crack Gwinnett’s rotation, saved team $100K to release him.
LHP Chris Diaz – very promising 5th round pick in 2014 out of Miami. Got injured and hasn’t pitched since 2014.
C Matt Foley – Best Twitter avatar in baseball
1B Balbino Fuenmayor – 80-grade name that would have been a fun pairing in AAA with Matt Tuiasosopo.
IF Ryan Gebhardt
RHP Connor Gilmore – Very good numbers as undrafted free agent in 2016 in Danville.
OF Sean Godfrey – 4th/5th outfielder type
OF Matt Hearn
RHP Grayson Jones
LHP Steve Kent – Australian lefty was teen prospect in the Braves system and returned in 2016, pitching very well against lefties.
LHP Michael Kirkman
LHP Adam Kolarek
1B Alex Lee – 22nd round selection from Samford was bash brother with Heath Quinn and put up solid power in Danville.
RHP Jordy Lara – Converted outfielder first got to mound in 2016, will find someone willing to give his upper-90s heat a chance.
LHP Jhon Martinez – Nothing amazing, but consistent performer since being signed as a “late” signee, solid lefty starter for Danville in 2016.
2B Darien McLemore – Son of former big leaguer Mark McLemore
Util Erison Mendez
RHP Ramon Morla
OF Ronnier Mustelier – Cuban import that attempted to follow Adonis Garcia‘s path from Yankees to Braves. Hit well last season, but just no room for him in AAA/Atlanta in 2017.
IF Robby Nesovic
3B Ryan O’Malley – Big guy with a big swing, but big holes in that swing flashed power and a good arm at third, but hit .188 for Danville.
LHP Michael O’Neal
RHP Evertz Orozco
LHP Cesilio Pimentel – Minor league rule 5 pick that didn’t make the cut.
RHP David Richardson
RHP Isaac Sanchez
RHP Cameron Stanton – Son of Mike Stanton, former Atlanta Braves reliever, had a very solid season for Danville after being 30th round pick in 2016. Should find work very quickly.
IF Colin Walsh
RHP Brandon T. White – One of the pair of guys with the same name drafted in 2016, “T” was released while “S” was promoted to Rome.
Next: Opening Weekend Rotations