ATLANTA, GA. - MAY 28: Max Fried #54 of the Atlanta Braves throws a first inning pitch during game one of a doubleheader against the New York Mets at SunTrust Field on May 28, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. MLB players across the league are wearing special uniforms to commemorate Memorial Day. (Photo by Scott Cunningham/Getty Images)
MIAMI, FL – MAY 10: Luiz Gohara #53 of the Atlanta Braves delivers a pitch in the ninth inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park on May 10, 2018 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
The Arizona Fall League rosters were announced Wednesday evening and have had a few changes already, but the Atlanta Braves that have been announced are interesting, to say the least.
Last fall, the Atlanta Braves sent a class of players to the Arizona Fall League that stole headlines for two months from Austin Riley hitting long balls to Max Fried flashing impressive performances on the mound, to the dominant MVP of the entire AFL, Ronald Acuna.
What was most notable of the list of players the Braves will be sending to Arizona was the lack of arms listed. There are two very feasible reasons for this – unfinished minor league seasons, and heavy usage over the 2018 season.
There were three arms that I thought would have a chance to see time in Arizona. The first was Joey Wentz. Wentz has pitched very well when on the mound this season, but he has missed some time, leaving his season tally at 64 1/3 innings. Over that time, he’s posted a 2.10 ERA and 1.09 WHIP, with a 24/50 BB/K ratio.
Very typically, the Arizona Fall League is utilized by teams to give extra time to players who were hurt during the regular season, give players a chance to work on a new position or new role, or to simply get a chance to showcase against some of the best prospects in the game. The first and third reasonings would fit well with Wentz.
The second arm that would seem to be a solid choice for the AFL was actually eliminated from consideration this past week when the Mississippi Braves placed lefty Luiz Gohara onto the disabled list. Gohara first caught the Atlanta Braves attention at the Arizona Fall League in 2016, when his dynamic fastball/slider combination was the talk of the league that season.
However, one of the rules of the roster for the AFL is that any player “must be activated from the DL 45 days before the conclusion of their respective season.” With Gohara currently on the DL and just a few days left in the Mississippi regular season, Gohara won’t be able to make up his missed 2018 innings in Arizona.
Finally, while I’d love to see Walter Borkovich get more work and get a chance to work against the top young hitters in the game, he’s pitched a ton of innings considering how he tallied them this year, pitching 33 games and 79 2/3 innings, even if only 5 of them were starts. Due to that, I think the other solid arm to give a shot in Arizona would be Keith Weisenberg, who has made 11 appearances, starting 10 games, and tossing 54 2/3 innings.
He’s really shown well with Rome as a starter with an ability to work as a mid-rotation type of arm, much more than what many thought was there when he was selected in the 14th round in 2017 out of Stanford. Getting some exposure to the top prospects in the game could really be a good measuring stick for the Atlanta Braves to see what they have in Weisenberg.
With each team sending six players to the AFL, we’ve seen four announced, so certainly Wentz and Weisenberg could be still named, but at this point the one certainty is that at least one arm will be part of those final two named.
Let’s take a look at the four who were named so far:
Two former highly-regarded prospects headed opposite directions
In 2014, the Atlanta Braves drafted a country-strong North Carolina high schooler with their first pick in the draft, 32nd overall. His early selection immediately indicated he “deserved” prospect attention, and from that point, we’ve all watched Braxton Davidson do essentially the same thing.
His draft season, Braxton hit .224/.387/.299. You could essentially copy/paste that season the next three seasons as Davidson, with his hulking size that would indicate power, totaled 27 home runs over three seasons in A-ball.
This year, Braxton tapped into more home run power, knocking out 19 home runs, but he came nowhere near a .200 batting average, hitting .170/.283/.363 with the lowest walk rate of his minor league career (12.3%) and the highest strikeout rate (43.6%) of his career.
After three seasons at high-A, it’s hard to imagine there’s a lot more to Braxton, but the Atlanta Braves apparently are hoping to either showcase him or get him to discover something while in Arizona.
On the 2016 Rome Braves squad, the pitching got most of the headlines, though Acuna and Riley were also part of the lineup. The guy who was the consistent presence at the top of that lineup all season that year as well as in the outfield was Ray-Patrick Didder, scoring 95 runs and leading Rome in on-base.
Originally signed as a shortstop out of Aruba, Didder was so raw early on that the team chose to move him to the outfield, where he was an absolute natural, flashing a plus arm and plus defense almost immediately. After struggling with the bat in 2017, the Atlanta Braves had him begin working back into the infield this season.
The bat took some time to get going this year, but as he’s grown more comfortable on the dirt (and the glove has been getting absolutely rave reviews at shortstop), Didder’s bat picked back up as he moved up to AA, using his plus speed to earn plenty of infield hits and affect the game once he was on the bases as well.
While he may not have the type of profile to be a frontline starter, or maybe not even that of a fringe starter in the big leagues, Didder’s plus speed, plus arm, and plus glove up the middle in the outfield and infield would give him plenty of bench value, even in a shorter modern bench. Here’s hoping he continues his solid end to the 2018 campaign in Arizona!
Two very dynamic young outfielders
One of two premier signees in the July 2nd class of 2015-2016, Cristian Pache came into the Atlanta Braves system with high expectations, and he’s made all of them seem terribly under-selling his ability!
Pache is going to receive plenty of support as a top 15 prospect this offseason, having made it to the upper minors while still a teenager (and he’ll be a teen for the entirety of the AFL as well, turning 20 two days after the AFL Championship game). Pache has produced the thing that many said he lacked coming into this season, power, with 38 extra base hits on the season, including 9 home runs.
More than anything he’s done with the bat, Pache’s defensive work has become absolutely legendary. He’s not just got the ability to track down balls all over the outfield, but he’s got the arm to gun down runners from all angles of the outfield. He could end up bringing back the second consecutive AFL MVP for the Atlanta Braves.
Since he’s come to the Atlanta Braves system, Isranel Wilson has shown to be one of the most dynamic, talented players in the entire farm system. He’s also shown plenty of raw-ness to that ability, and he’s struggled in maturing those skills.
Wilson has been solid, albeit not spectacular in 2018, but he has made strides in preventing strikeouts, and the Braves will likely want to have him work toward more consistent quality contact, which would come from better pitch selection.
If he could get that, Wilson could be the next Braves prospect to rocket up lists in 2019.
dark. Next. WSJ says the game should do what?!
Once again, the Atlanta Braves will have at least some intrigue in the Arizona Fall League to go along with the elite prospect in Pache. Who do you think takes the final two spots? Comment below!!
