Atlanta Braves Week 12 Farm Report: A fresh class of players

(35-38) Mississippi Braves (AA)

Week 12 Record: 2-2

Southern Division Standings

1st Half Results

Southern Division Standings 

(2nd Half) 

*As of Monday, June 24

Week at a Glance

June 17 – June 23

* All-Star game

Week 12 Notes

Drew Waters goes deep in All-Star game: The M-Braves best player this season not only hits ’em when they count, but also when they don’t.

In Tuesday night’s North Division vs. South Division Double-A All-Star game, Waters got the start in left field and finished 1-for-3 with a home run and two strikeouts, batting third for the South Division All-Stars.

The home run hit by Waters on Tuesday was fitting, as it came a day after he won two awards for his outstanding play last week.

Other M-Braves All-Stars… Waters wasn’t the only M-Braves player to represent the Atlanta Braves organization on Tuesday, though. Christian Pache got the start in right field and batted lead-off for the South; starting pitcher Tucker Davidson made an appearance; reliever Jeremy Walker got in the game; and reliever Jason Hursh made an appearance as well.

Pache didn’t have much luck, finishing 0-for-4, though, he didn’t strike out. Davidson got in the game early, appearing in the 2nd inning. However, he had the worst outing of all the South Division pitchers, only getting two outs as he surrendered five hits and five runs with a walk. It took Davidson 24 pitches to get those two outs. Yikes.

Walker had a decent showing. He came in to pitch in the 6th, allowing one hit and striking out none, as well as walking none. Walker faced three batters and threw just six pitches.

Hursh pitched the 9th, throwing 14 of his 18 pitches for strikes and striking out two of the five batters he faced. He allowed two hits.

The North ended up winning, 7-3, led by centerfielder Luis Robert, who went 2-for-3 with a triple and a double. Robert, the White Sox No.1 prospect (No.26 in MLB), also knocked in two runs and scored two runs in the game. His two extra-base hits both came off of Mississippi’s Davidson.

Christian Pache knocks in five runs on Thursday night, walks twice: The M-Braves jumped all over the Biloxi Shuckers on Thursday night and Pache got on base five times, including two walks! After the Shuckers finished a three-run 3rd inning, the M-Braves scored two runs in the 4th and four in the 5th. Mississippi ended up tallying 15 hits overall.

But let’s get to the important part: Christian Pache drew two walks. For a player that has routinely ran extremely low walk-rates (4.6 BB% last season, 3.9 BB% in 2017), a two-walk performance deserves notice.

Pache stood strong and drew a bases-loaded walk in the 4th inning to put the M-Braves within one. Then in the 5th, he belted a two-run single to left-center to put Mississippi up 6-4.

Pache wasn’t done. In the M-Braves half of the 8th, the top prospect slugged a two-run double, padding Mississippi’s lead to six runs and giving him his five RBI night.

It was yet another outstanding performance from Pache, who seems to be going back-and-forth with Drew Waters to see who can out hit one another each night.

Jasseel De La Cruz tosses a two-hitter on Friday: It’s been a busy year for the Atlanta Braves No. 24 prospect, Cruz. Between tossing a no-hitter in Florida and moving up two minor league levels, one thing has still remained the same — his pitching has been strong.

Making his fifth start of the season for the M-Braves, Cruz pitched a gem on Friday night against Biloxi. Mississippi didn’t give him much run support, but Cruz struck out nine over seven innings-pitched:

7 IP, 2 H, ER, 5 BB, 9 K

Facing only six batters over the minimum, Cruz completed his 101-pitch outing without his best stuff (only 64 strikes), but still found a way to limit the Shuckers to just two measly hits.

His nine punch outs were a season-high for him while with Mississippi, though his five free passes were also. The Braves would wind up losing 4-2, despite outhitting Biloxi 10-4.

For the season, Cruz is carrying a 3.16 ERA and a 1-2 record with Mississippi. In 31.1 innings-pitched with the team, he has 27 strikeouts and 17 walks.

In all, across three levels on the Atlanta Braves organization — Rome, Florida and Mississippi — Cruz has made 13 starts and one relief appearance, while sporting a 2.56 ERA.

It looks as if the Braves have yet another talented pitcher down on the Farm, as Cruz is moving fast through the organization.

Sights and sounds from the North vs. South All-Star Game: The coverage by the Mississippi Braves media team was remarkable during the All-Star festivities. Here are a view clips and images from the event that started Tuesday.

Here’s Kyler Muller launching some balls before the Derby:

Players of the Week

(1B) Ryan Casteel

4 games, 6-for-17 (.352 BA), 2 HR, 2 doubles, 6 RBI

This week’s Batter of the Week could’ve easily gone to Drew Waters or Christian Pache. You know, the usuals. But, we need to show some love for Casteel, and that’s not to mean that he didn’t deserve it in Week 12.

Casteel provided more power than both Waters and Pache — though Waters did hit a home run in the All-Star game — with two homers this past week, all coming in one game on Sunday night:

2-for-3, 2 HR, 4 RBI

Here’s one of ’em…

Casteel gets a bit lost in the shuffle, but overall this season, his numbers are great. In 54 games thus far with the M-Braves, Casteel has 10 home runs and is batting .293 while playing mainly first base and batting clean-up.

The Chattanooga, TN native is having quite an impressive 2019 season, despite not playing any baseball in 2018. Casteel, 28-years-old, was a 17th round pick (No. 530 overall) in the 2010 MLB Draft, selected by the Colorado Rockies. He spent his first eight seasons with the Rockies’ organization before playing a season with the Seattle Mariners Double-A team, only to be shipped back to the Rockies again.

In 2017, Casteel was, again, moved to the Mariners’ Double-A team, before coming to the Atlanta Braves organization this season.

(SP) Joey Wentz

1 start, 1-0, 5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 6 K

(SP) Jasseel De La Cruz

1 start, 7 IP, 2 H, ER, 5 BB, 9 K

Ok so here you have two poor extremes: Wentz with his four earned runs and Cruz with his five walks. But both of these starts were positive outings for both pitchers.

We’ve covered Cruz, so lets’s look at Wentz.

The 2019 season has been unkind to Wentz thus far. The Braves No. 10 prospect really hasn’t built off of the 2.28 ERA he posted last season in 16 starts with the Fire Frogs.

Going into his start this past Thursday, Wentz had given up seven runs over his last two starts combined (eight innings) with just five strikeouts and six walks. Now, like noted above, he still surrendered four runs in his start on Thursday, but this is a guy who has already given up 41 runs (67 innings-pitched) this season, not to mention 12 homers.

So Wentz’s most recent start was at least somewhat in the right direction, as he also struck out six and only walked two.

The 21-year-old lefty will carry a 5.51 ERA into his next start, running a rather mediocre 7.52 K/9 and 4.16 BB/9.

Transactions/Injuries

(—) Injured before the 2019 season began