Atlanta Braves Minor League May All-Stars

First, the organizational leaders for the month (min 50 PA, 10 IP):

BA – Ronald Acuna .382
OBP – Brett Cumberland .520
SLG – Brett Cumberland .757
OPS – Brett Cumberland 1.277
R – Travis Demeritte 20
H – Ronald Acuna 42
2B – Kurt Hoekstra, Ronald Acuna, and Mel Rojas, Jr. 8
3B – Keith Curcio, Ray-Patrick Didder, Justin Ellison, and Cristian Pache 3
HR – Carlos Franco 8
RBI – Brett Cumberland 29
SB – Ronald Acuna 15
BB – Brett Cumberland 16
K – Braxton Davidson 35
TB – Ronald Acuna 66
W – Mike Soroka 4
ERA – Chase Johnson-Mullins 0.63
G – Mauricio Cabrera, Caleb Dirks, and Jason Hursh 11
GS – Seven with 6
SV – Five with 3
IP – Mike Soroka 34
BB – Aaron Blair 15
K – Ryan Lawlor 38
WHIP – Chase Johnson-Mullins, Brandon White 0.84
K/BB – Jon Kennedy 13.00

Hitters

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Catcher

– After his selection with the comp B pick in the 2016 draft, Cumberland struggled with the bat. Many were actually surprised about his assignment to Rome simply due to his struggles at the plate last season.

After a slow start in April, Cumberland exploded in May, reaching base in over half of his plate appearances and driving in runners at a pace that received notice on a national level.

For the month, Cumberland hit .357/.520/.757/1.277 with 16 runs scored, 7 doubles, 7 home runs, 29 RBI, and even stole a base while posting a 16/22 BB/K ratio.

First Base – Getting his second note at the position so far, Carlos Castro may have missed some time on the month due to being hit by a pitched ball in the head, but his performance was impressive in spite of that time missed.

Castro the game before his injury had possibly the best game of the Braves minor league season thus far when he went 5-5 against Daytona with 3 home runs and 8 RBI.

On the month, he hit .354/.380/.688 with 10 runs, a double, 5 home runs, 16 RBI, and a 0/11 BB/K ratio.

Second Base – Travis Demeritte may end up at a different position for next month as the team has begun to work on Demeritte’s defensive flexibility, playing him at third base the first few games of June.

Demeritte’s defense at the Arizona Fall League at second base was considered among the most elite some scouts had ever seen at the position, which makes the move away from the position curious unless there is a future move up to Gwinnett coming in the near future for Demeritte, and his bat may be what would lead such a promotion.

While Demeritte had done a good job of limiting his strikeouts in April, they came roaring back in May, and that will be something to watch going forward.

Overall in May, Demeritte hit .266/.338/.495 with 20 runs scored, 5 doubles, a triple, 6 home runs, 16 RBI, and stole a base, with a 12/34 BB/K ratio.

Third Base – Finally fulfilling the promise he showed nearly a half-decade ago, Carlos Franco received a promotion to Gwinnett when Rio Ruiz took over in Atlanta. While Ruiz put together a solid month in his own right before his promotion (.304/.344/.518), Franco has been moved to first base and DH often this season to keep his powerful bat in the lineup.

Whether he’ll have the defensive chops to stick at third base as a major leaguer, Franco does have legit power that could work off the bench, and he’s showing the ability to make consistent contact and take a walk as well, even if there is plenty of swing and miss as well in his game.

On the month, Franco hit .291/.355/.545 with 17 runs scored, 4 doubles, 8 home runs, 25 RBI, and an 11/34 BB/K ratio.

Shortstop – Continuing to impress with his swing changes enough to shift between Gwinnett and Atlanta, Johan Camargo gets the nod again for May. His month stats were certainly worthy of the note, going .337/.365/.506 with 12 runs scored, 7 doubles, a triple, 2 home runs, 14 RBI, a stolen base, and a 4/13 BB/K ratio.

Outfield – If not for Cumberland, everyone would be talking about Acuna, and as mentioned in a recent article with Call To The Pen, Acuna has received plenty of notice nationally for his big season, possibly moving into the top 10 prospects in all of baseball.

On the month, Acuna moved up to AA Mississippi and simply improved upon hitting the upper minors, unheard of for a young man who won’t be 20 until December. He hit .382/.435/.600 with 18 runs scored, 8 doubles, 2 triples, 4 home runs, 22 RBI, 15 stolen bases, and a 12/30 BB/K ratio.

Outfield – Known for his fairly streaky performance, Keith Curcio is very steady on the defensive side of the ball and profiles tremendously well as a 4th/5th outfielder long term. Right now, he’s been a big key behind the surge in the Mississippi offense as he’s hit .284/.342/.451 on the month, scoring 16 runs, with 5 doubles, 3 triples, 2 home runs, 9 RBI, 3 stolen bases, and a 9/25 BB/K ratio on the month.

Outfield – While he didn’t even make his season debut until May 14th, Justin Ellison hit with such excitement that it’s hard not to include him. While Ellison has a habit of having impressive power and speed, he’s still very raw at the plate and can just as easily go 3-4 with a pair of extra bases and a stolen base as he can go 0-4 with 3 K.

In May, he went .267/.323/.533 with 10 runs scored, a double, 3 triples, 3 home runs, 9 RBI, and 3 stolen bases, with a 5/13 BB/K ratio.

Starter – Getting his second nod in as many months, Tyler Pike has really been a revelation for the Atlanta Braves this season. The PTBNL in the Alex Jackson trade, Pike has had plenty of value in his own right, working with well-regarded Florida pitching coach Dennis Lewalyn. In May, Pike made 5 starts, throwing 30 innings, with a 1.80 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and a 13/29 BB/K ratio.

Starter – With many eyes on the first three high school arms taken in the 2016 draft, one of the high school arms taken later in the draft has been out-shining them all this season. Bryse Wilson put together a tremendous May, making 5 starts, throwing 24 2/3 innings, going 1.46 ERA and 1.18 WHIP, posting a 5/24 BB/K ratio.

Starter – While others have turned their eyes to teammate Lucas Sims as the next starter to come up for the major league club, Sean Newcomb has simply shown himself to be a dominating starter from the left side. He does struggle with walks at times, but interestingly, it seems once he is through the first inning, he’s blowing away teams. In May, he made 5 starts, throwing 25 1/3 innings, posting a 2.84 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, and a 15/32 BB/K ratio.

Starter – Having just missed this list in April, Kolby Allard put up an even better month in May to make the list, making 5 start, throwing 27 innings, with a 2.00 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and a 10/29 BB/K ratio.

Starter – The last spot was difficult to determine because, while April had an incredible amount of elite performers, May had more middling performances, and that allowed the consistent work of a guy like Ricardo Sanchez to stick out. Sanchez has slipped through the cracks the last two seasons on talented staffs in Rome and Florida, but he has done well again in Florida with minimal notice. In May, Sanchez made 5 starts, throwing 27 innings, allowing a 3.33 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, and 8/29 BB/K ratio.

Reliever – It is rare that such a strong case for pitcher of the month is made by a reliever. Last season, as good as he was, A.J. Minter only won one such award. Chase Johnson-Mullins just completed a month worthy of such notice, though to spoil your reading in just a bit, he isn’t the choice. The big lefty is intimidating on the mound and a great, fun-loving guy off of it, posting a brilliant May: 7 games, 14 1/3 innings, 2 saves, 0.63 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, and a 5/14 BB/K ratio.

Reliever – Showing incredible flexibility off the mound, Wes Parsons has been extremely valuable for the organization this year, working between Mississippi and Gwinnett, between the bullpen and the rotation. In May, he threw 7 games, starting 3 of them, pitching 21 innings, saving a game, and posting a 2.57 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, and a 5/18 BB/K ratio.

Reliever – Re-acquired last summer after being traded away in a trade to acquire the funds to sign Cristian Pache and Derian Cruz, Caleb Dirks has been lights-out in his time with Gwinnett this season, but especially in May when he made 11 appearances, throwing 16 2/3 innings, saving one game, and posting a 1.62 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, and a 4/25 BB/K ratio.

Reliever – Last season, Jacob Webb posted numbers that resembled a video game, recording 39 outs in total, and having 31 of those outs being by strikeout. He did post a 4.85 ERA, but it certainly turned heads to post dominance numbers like that. In May, Webb was back to his dominant ways after some initial struggles out of the gate with Florida. Webb appeared in 6 games, throwing 14 2/3 innings, posting a 1.84 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and a 8/20 BB/K ratio.

Next: Braves Minor League Database

Now we come to my pitcher and hitter of the month…

Hitter of the month for May: While I’m eager to see him get more work behind the plate to see what sort of future he may have there, it’s hard to deny the month that Brett Cumberland had. I looked back at 2016, and the month that Ronald Acuna just posted would have subjectively been enough to win any single month’s award last season, but he’s going to fall behind Cumberland this month.

While Cumberland has the arm to handle an outfield corner, the team drafted him for his advanced bat behind the plate, and he’s in Rome in part due to the solid coaching he’ll get behind the plate there, so while the bat could advance, I’d imagine the next level it’d be would be to high-A, and that would only be if Alex Jackson left as the team wouldn’t want to have pitchers throwing to two catchers working on the craft.

Pitcher of the month for May: I cannot express how much I have been impressed by Tyler Pike this season. I wish we all could see more of him on minor league baseball’s streaming program, but I strongly encourage you to take the time to watch Pike on any video you can find of him this year on YouTube or Twitter. He has made some minor adjustments in his delivery that have made a world of difference for a guy who was on the fast track to AA in his second full season out of high school, akin to where Kolby Allard and Mike Soroka are in their development. He struggled, took some steps backward, and the Braves are working with him to recover that high level of talent that he had that could let him be a very important piece of the back of the rotation or the bullpen in the future.

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First, the organizational leaders for the month (min 50 PA, 10 IP):

Hitters

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