Atlanta Braves minor league season review: Part 2, the mid-minors

FLORIDA FIRE FROGS

• TYPE:  High-A, Florida State League
• HISTORY:  1st year for Braves in this league, having moved from the Carolina League (Carolina Mudcats, previously Lynchburg Hillcats).  Likely won’t be too long here, either: expecting a move to North Port once the 4-year player development deal expires after 2020.
• STADIUM:  Osceola County Stadium, between Kissimmee and St. Cloud, FL.  Seats 5,300.  Large park (405 to CF) typical of older FSL venues that had been used for Spring Training.
• TEAMS:  12 teams across 2 divisions
• DIVISION:  North (NYY/TOR/DET/PHI/ATL/CIN)
• FINISH (1ST Half):  25-41, last place, 12 GB Tampa (Yankees)
• FINISH (2ND Half):  23-40, 5th place, 22 GB Tampa (Yankees)
  • Overall:  48-81, worst in league, being passed up the last weekend by Daytona.
• LEAGUE STANDOUTS:
  • Hitting:  Alay Lago, first in league in avg. (.303, also 8th in OPS).  Carlos Castro, 7th (.283).  Alex Jackson, tie 6th in homers (14); Austin Riley 15th (12).  Ray-Patrick Didder 6th in steals (25), Anfernee Seymour has 17.
  • Special mention:  Ronald Acuna started here and this was his worst stop… in 28 games, he had 14 steals (caught just 3 times), hit .287, had 5 triples and 3 homers with an .814 OPS.
  • Pitching:  No Fire Frog qualified for league honors (only 13 pitchers did).

TEAM STATS – Pitching

• Worst in team ERA (4.20).  2.81 was best.
• Homers allowed:  tie for 2nd best at 57 (56 was #1, 95 was worst).
• 3rd worst in walks allowed (456).  Range was 328 to 464.
• 5th Best in strikeouts (1095 in 1094 innings).  Best 1215; worst was 942.
• Worst team WHIP at 1.41.  Best was the Tampa Yankees at 1.15.

TEAM STATS – Hitting

• Homers:  in the middle with 72 (56 to 104 across the league).
• Doubles:  2nd lowest with 189.  Range went from 162 to 239.
• Triples:  tie for 7th overall with 30 (22 to 40).  As noted, Acuna had 5 of those in a month.
• Walks accepted:  worst in league with 318.  489 was highest.
• Strikeouts:  5th in league with 1107 (919 to 1236).
• Steals:  3rd lowest (yeah, Acuna left early).  82.  72 was fewest; 160 the most.
• OPS:  7th at .682; lowest was .633; highest .720.

Best team overall:  the Tampa Yankees by a mile (seems to be a theme for them this season in the minors) at 85-50 and winning both halves of their division.  They were 10 games better than anybody else.  The Fire Frogs?  Started decently, but the pitching didn’t hold and there wasn’t enough offense either.

ROSTER

Most players coming through the Braves system will spend a year at Rome.  This season has seen a bit of a departure from that practice for certain prospects, but it’s still more the rule than the exception.

Manager:  Paul Runge.  Also of note:  Dennis Lewallyn was moved here this season as pitching coach (had been with Mississippi).  My suspicion is that he was there specifically for Touki, but in truth, the organization kept promoting the better pitchers away from him.

Notables:

• Luiz Gohara started here.  After 36 innings and a 1.98 ERA, he moved up.
• Touki Toussaint.  Got the award for outstanding pitcher… walk rate was down despite a 5.04 ERA.  Struggled more at AA level once moved up.
• Tyler Pike: 70 innings of 2.20 ERA.  Bumped to AA.
• Oriel Caicedo:  started in Rome (3.20). Got 60 more innings here and held his own (3.58).
• Corbin Clouse:  2.31 as a reliever (35 innings).  Too many walks, though (21).
• Kyle Wright:  this was his last stop after being drafted… just 11 innings (3.18).
• A.J. Minter: pitched at five levels this season.  Only 5 innings here, with 9K/zero walks.  Somebody got lucky and went yard on him.
• Devan Watts. 34K and 7BB in 26.2 innings with a 2.03 ERA.  Promoted to Mississippi and just about repeated those numbers (though walks came up a bit… 13 in 32 innings vs. 31K).

• Speedy CF Anfernee Seymour hit .280 for 82 games and stole 25 bases, but was caught 20 times.  He accounted for 5 triples and struck out 111 times in 450 PAs.  Was heading to the Arizona Fall League, but late word today that he’s now been scratched:

While we don’t have the reason for the change, such things can jeopardize your future with the organization.  We’ll have to wait and see if there are any additional consequences.

Ray-Patrick Didder burst onto the scene at Rome, but struggled at this level:  .230, though with a .331 OBP and 5 homers.  However, 123 strikeouts.

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Braxton Davidson. At the beginning of the year, I was thinking this season might a make-or-break time for the former 1st-rounder.  The answer has mostly been ‘break’.  He hit .213 with 7 homers, but only 13 doubles.  Is he too patient at the plate?  155 K and 66BB makes 221 plate appearances (out of 428 +/-) in which he didn’t put the ball in play.  Still just 21 years old.

Alay Lago.  Hard to say what might become of him – he’s a Cuba escapee, but also 26 already.  One thing we know:  he can hit. .303/.342/.413/.756.

Austin Riley.  Two parts to his season:  .252 here with 12 jacks and .718 OPS. After his promotion to AA, though, things clicked:  .315/.389/.511/.900 and another 8 homers for 48 games.  Maybe he’s just a slow starter?

Next: Well there's your problems...

That’s a wrap for the A-ball levels.  Hopefully will get the upper levels written up within the next week.