Atlanta Braves Week 7 Farm Report: Home runs and No-hitters

(19-23) Mississippi Braves (AA)

WEEK 7 RECORD: 2-5

Players of the Week

(1B) Ryan Casteel

7 games, .307 BA, 2B, RBI

The M-Braves offense wasn’t as impressive as it has been in previous weeks, but Casteel provided plenty of contact in Week 7.

He didn’t hit any homers this past week, but he has hit safely in 9-straight games, stretching into Week 6. Through 23 games so far in 2019, Casteel has been making some of the best contact of his career.

He’s currently running a .282 batting average with 3 home runs and 6 doubles, while also sporting a .385 on-base percentage.

(SP) Tucker Davidson

2 starts, 1 win, 14 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 10 K

Davidson automatically got the advantage in Week 7, receiving two starts last week. But, he still needed to pitch well in those two starts, and that he did.

His outing on Monday was his longest of his career (8 innings) and it was an excellent five-hit start by the lefty from Texas. On Saturday, it was more of the same, a four-hitter with six punch outs.

With Ian Anderson not completely in his groove yet, Davidson has taken the lead-role thus far for Mississippi. The 6’2″ 23-year-old now has a 1.65 ERA in 43.2 innings worth of starts and has only allowed one home run this season.

The Week at a Glance

(5/13) Monday: Lost 5-0 vs. Montgomery Biscuits – FULL RECAP

• (P) T. Davidson: 6 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, BB, 6 K
• (LF) D. Waters: 1-4, 2 K
• (2B) A. Salazar: 1-4, 2B

Before Monday’s game, two Mississippi pitchers got promoted: starting pitcher, Patrick Weigel (#21 prospect) and relief pitcher Huascar Ynoa (#18 prospect).

As you may know Weigel is still being worked in slowly as he’s still recovering from Tommy John surgery last season, though he’s been effective this season.  Here’s both pitchers’ stats in Mississippi for 2019:

• (SP) P. Weigel:15.2 IP, 9.19 K/9, 5.17 BB/9, 1.72 ERA
• (RP) H. Ynoa: 13.2 IP, 9.88 K/9, 3.29 BB/9, 5.27 ERA

The M-Braves game on Monday featured a strong start by Tucker Davidson (#20 prospect), but his start was squandered due to minimal offense from the Braves bats. The Biscuits starter, Riley O-Brien, punched out ten Mississippi batters over six innings, only surrendering one hit.

Christian Pache (#1 prospect) was hitless on Thursday, going down on strikes once; and Ryan Casteel finished with a 1-for-3 night, walking once and striking out.

No one else contributed on offense (other than Waters and Salazar above) and the M-Braves were 0-for-5 with RISP and left 7 runners on base.

(5/14) Tuesday: Lost 3-1 vs. Montgomery Biscuits – FULL RECAP

• (P) I. Anderson: 3 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 6 BB, 5 K
• (LF) D. Waters: 1-3, 2B, R, BB
• (RF) R. Neslony: 3-4, 2B, RBI

The Braves #4 prospect, starting pitcher Ian Anderson, took the bump on Tuesday for the M-Braves. Anderson struggled to find control in this one, walking a season-high six batters. Luckily, reliever Claudio Custido held things rather still when he appeared in the 4th inning, pitching four no-hit innings and striking out three.

The M-Braves bats couldn’t take advantage of Custido’s stingy relief work, though, only crossing the plate once on offense. First baseman Andy Wilkins got two hits and struck out once, while Christian Pache finished 0-for-4 with two strikeouts.

Catcher Jonathan Morales and third baseman Daniel Lockhart added one hit apiece. Drew Waters hit his league-leading 15th double and 20th XBH in the game.

(5/15) Wednesday: Won 4-3 (F/10) vs. Montgomery Biscuits – FULL RECAP

• (P) K. Muller: 6.2 IP, 5 H, ER, 2 BB, 6 K
• (1B) R. Casteel: 1-4, RBI, BB
• (LF) D. Waters: 2-5, R

With the M-Braves and Montgomery going into extra innings tied at one apiece, Mississippi quickly scored three runs in the 10th and was looking to walk away with the win, 4-1; however, the Biscuits chipped away and ended up only losing by one when it was all said and done.

Starter Kyle Muller (#13 prospect) pitched a gem on Wednesday, providing Mississippi with another quality start, his third-straight.

The M-Braves failed to hit an XBH, but with Drew Waters‘ (#6 prospect) two hits (above) and Tyler Neslony‘s multi-hit finish — they got just enough offensively to squeak by victorious.

With the M-Braves’ game being the final Braves minor league game to finish on Wednesday, the Atlanta Braves organization swept the competition, winning all six games (Florida played a doubleheader).

(5/16) Thursday: Lost 6-4 vs. Birmingham Barons– FULL RECAP

• (P) J. Walker: 6 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 8 K
• (CF) C. Pache: 3-5, RBI, R, K
• (1B) A. Wilkins: 1-5, HR, RBI, 2 K

The Barons Trey Michalczewski walked off it off on Mississippi’s Jordan Harrison with a 3-run home run in the bottom of the ninth, giving Birmingham a win in the series opener between the two teams.

With Patrick Weigel being promoted to Gwinnett, reliever Jeremy Walker was tasked with the start on Thursday and he did not disappoint.

In Walker’s first start of 2019, the 23-year-old worked through 83 pitches (59 strikes), providing the M-Braves with a quality start.

Drew Waters was hitless with 3 strikeouts, but scored a run. Third baseman Luis Valenzuela picked up two hits, one being a triple, and plated one run.

(5/17) Friday: Lost 4-2 vs. Birmingham Barons – FULL RECAP

• (P) J. Wentz: 6 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K
• (LF) D. Waters: 1-4, SB, RBI
• (RF) C. Pace: 1-4, 2B, 2 K

It was a better start than the line presents for starter Joey Wentz (#11prospect), even though the line depicts a quality start (which is good!); but if not for a 6th inning two-run homer, Wentz would have finished with just 3 hits given up and no runs.

He faced 24 batters and eight of them grounded out and five struck out (91 pitches / 63 strikes).

On offense, Ryan Casteel and Luis Valenzuela both finished 1-for-4, with Valenzuela scoring a run and striking out once. Ray-Patrick Didder went 1-for-2 with a double, a run, a walk and a strikeout.

Also, Wentz picked off a runner at first base in the 4th inning, and Drew Waters shot down a runner from left field trying to go third-to-home in the 8th.

(5/18) Saturday: Won 4-1 vs. Birmingham Barons – FULL RECAP

• (P) T. Davidson: 8 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K
• (2B) A. Salazar: 1-4, 2 RBI, K
• (DH) R. Casteel: 2-3, 2B, R, BB

A few roster moves before Saturday night’s game: (click the link to see full details):

Outfielders Conner Lien and Tyler Neslony were placed on the 7-day IL and outfielder Shean Michel was transferred from Danville to Mississippi. Also, infielder Riley Unroe was promoted from High-A Florida to the M-Braves.

Also, both of our Tomahawk Take site editors were present for Saturday’s game in Birmingham. Both Jake and Alan got firsthand looks at the talent in Mississippi.

https://twitter.com/TomahawkTakeFS/status/1129894319303929856?s=19

It was a career night for the Braves 20th ranked prospect, Tucker Davidson, as he pitched his longest outing (8 IP) of his career and earned his first Double-A victory (also longest outing by any M-Braves hurler this season).

On offense, the just-promoted Unroe picked up a hit in his four tries, also scoring a run and striking out twice. Both Drew Waters and Christian Pache went hitless, combining to go 0-for-9 with a walk and 3 strikeouts.

First baseman Andy Wilkins finished with a double and a run, and third baseman Luis Valenzuala went 3-for-4 with a run, also hitting a double.

(5/19) Sunday: Lost 2-1 vs. Birmingham Barons – FULL RECAP

• (P) I. Anderson: 5.2 IP, 7 H, ER, 0 BB, 5 K
• (RF) C. Pache: 1-4, 2B, K
• (CF/LF) D. Waters: 1-3, R, BB, K

A well earned promotion was in order before Sunday’s game:

"RHP Jasseel De La Cruz  has been promoted to Mississippi from High-A Florida, RHP Bradley Roney  has been activated from the Mississippi Injured List and transferred to High-A Florida and LHP Justin Kelly  has been transferred from Mississippi to the Rookie-Danville roster."

De La Cruz’s new rotation-mate, Ian Anderson, got the start on Sunday and he looked sharp, falling just an out of a quality start.

Anderson is currently 4th in the International League in strikeouts this season, with 52.

Unfortunately, the M-Braves lost from a ninth-inning sac-fly as the Barons walked it off on Sunday, losing by way of walk-off for the second time in the last four games.

Drew Waters and Christian Pache were back at it again, with Pache hitting his 11th double of 2019. The Braves top-prospect is up to a .280 average and .798 OPS, while Waters has been a bit better of late with a .316 average and .837 OPS.

Andy Wilkins and Ryan Casteel both added base-hits as well. Wilkins is still keeping a sub-.200 average (.189), but Casteel is batting a healthy .282 through seven weeks of play.