Atlanta Braves minors: End of season recap of the 2019 Florida Fire Frogs
An end-of-season recap covering all seven Atlanta Braves minor league teams from the 2019 season: Florida Fire Frogs.
In this series, we’re covering each of the seven Atlanta Braves minor league levels, evaluating each club and its top performers.
If you’re interested in jumping to previous recaps:
Today we move on to the Florida Fire Frogs, the Atlanta Braves’ High-A club, which wrapped up their 2019 season on Thursday, August 29 — the Florida State League was canceled prematurely, due to hurricane Dorian.
The team
The 2019 Florida Fire Frogs finished the season in last place in the 6-team FSL North division, thanks to a 25-41 first-half record and a 29-41 second-half mark (54-82 overall record).
The run environment in the FSL took a hit in 2019, losing production in runs per game and total home runs:
Overall League
- 2018: 4.21 R/G, 954 HR
- 2019: 3.84 R/G, 896 HR
Consistent with the league-wide trend, the 2019 Fire Frogs also saw a drop in runs per game and total home runs, finishing with 3.32 R/G (2nd lowest in the League) and 59 home runs (3rd fewest); though the yearly drop was minute, only losing 0.1 R/G and 10 total homers from last season to 2019.
As you would expect from a team that has trouble scoring runs, Florida’s 2019 team-batting average ranked last in the 12-team league (.230 BA). The 2019 Fire Frogs also finished with the 2nd-most strikeouts (1,162) and worst OPS (.619) amongst their counterparts.
It’s rather shocking just how poor the offensive numbers were league-wide in the FSL, in 2019. The league slashed just .242/.313/.353.
Unlike the group of Atlanta Braves’ rookie teams, who could at least hold their own in the stolen base category — the Fire Frogs could not.
Florida was one of the least aggressive and least successful teams on the basepaths, stealing only 51 bases all season (2nd-fewest).
It wasn’t all doom and gloom, though, Florida did end the 2019 season as an around-average team when it came to taking its walks. The Fire Frogs finished with 375 walks — good for 8th-most in the FSL (small victories!).
The pitching side of things wasn’t too great either, but nor was it awful.
Florida ranked in the bottom third in ERA (3.72) and strikeouts (1,079), but the Fire Frogs gave up the second-lowest home runs as a pitching staff, surrendering 54 home runs.
The difficulties of scoring runs in the FSL, in 2019, were extremely apparent when looking at the leaderboard for team ERA. Not one single team finished the season with an ERA above 3.98, with the best ERA belonging to the Charlotte Stone Crabs (2.77).
One thing Florida’s pitchers were very good at in 2019 was pitching complete games. The Fire Frogs finished with 11 such instances where it’s starters went the distance, five more than the second-ranked team. Florida also had 6 shutouts by its pitchers, also the most in the league (only three other teams had one).
So it wasn’t all bad for Florida. The fact that it was so hard to score in the FSL, coupled with the Fire Frogs’ inability to hit homers, resulted in the offense putting a lot of pressure on it’s pitching.
The top performers
As I mentioned earlier, offense wasn’t very prevalent in the FSL, and in turn, no Florida hitter finished with an OPS at or above the 700 mark, except for infielder Riley Unroe (.851) and outfielder Trey Harris (.831) — two players that each played just 38 and 34 games, respectively, before being moved up to Mississippi.
Unroe, a 24-year-old and former 2nd round pick by the Tampa Bay Rays, ended up making it all the way to Gwinnett in 2019. In Florida, Unroe hit .304 with 13 XBHs before being moved to Mississippi, where he played 77 games and hit .285 with 5 home runs and 12 doubles.
He slowed down once in Gwinnett, hitting just .171 with two XBHs in 13 games for the Stripers; but overall, Unroe had a great 2019 season.
He finishing with 128 games and a solid .281/.361/.403 slash-line. The Arizona native also hit 9 home runs and 22 doubles, plus he went 14-for-19 on stolen base attempts.
Harris has already been covered in this series, but his time in Florida was very consistent with his time everywhere else in 2019. In Florida, Harris hit .303 with 4 home runs and 5 doubles, all in just 34 games before being promoted to Mississippi.
First baseman Drew Lugbauer was the power-bat in Florida’s lineup in 2019, slugging 16 home runs and 26 doubles. His 2019 was very similar to last season, where he finished with 12 homers and 22 doubles in Rome, however, the 23-year-old’s batting average dipped even more (.232 BA in 2018, down to .194 in ’19).
Infielder Riley Delgado led the team with 144 hits, resulting in a .282/.324/.323 slash-line and 15 doubles in 131 games. Catcher William Contreras also had a solid year, finishing sixth on the team in hits (50) and batting average (.263).
No Florida hitter crushed it in 2019, but there were several strong seasons.
I wrote about his breakout year during the season, and Florida was where it all started happening for starting pitcher Philip Pfeifer.
The former Vanderbilt star led the Fire Frogs in strikeouts, finishing with 110 punchouts in 92 innings-pitched (14 starts / 2 relief appearances) before being moved up to Mississippi.
Pfeifer was a man on a mission, running K/BB rates of 10.8 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 while in Florida. On top of that, the lefty mastered the High-A level with a cool 3.23 ERA. Surprisingly, his run-prevention got even better once he moved up.
In Mississippi, Pfeifer was good for a 2.38 ERA in 11 games (4 starts / 7 relief appearances), though his walk-rate suffered (4.2 BB/9). He even made it to Gwinnett, appearing in 3 games before the season ended.
Overall, it was a remarkable season for Pfeifer, and probably one of the best turnaround-seasons for an Atlanta Braves’ minor league pitcher in 2019. In 133.1 total innings-pitched, Pfeifer finished with a 2.97 ERA and 159 strikeouts across three levels of the minors.
Hayden Deal was another critical arm for Florida in 2019. Deal finished second on the team in strikeouts (99), making 22 starts for the Fire Frogs. In 119.1 innings of work, the 24-year-old compiled a 3.24 ERA and a stingy walk-rate of 2.4 BB/9.
Soon-to-be AZL participants, relievers Brandon White and Daysbel Hernandez, finished Nos. 1 and 2 in ERA on the team, respectively. The former accrued 33 relief appearances while the latter totaled 35.
White had an excellent bounce-back season, surrendering just one home run in 51.1 innings of relief. Hernandez was just as stingy, allowing only two homers in 52.2 innings. Look for these two to be in Mississippi in 2020.
The verdict
Even knowing how favorable the FSL’s environment is for pitchers, it’s hard not to feel extremely optimistic about several of Florida’s arms.
There’s only a couple of Fire Frogs’ pitchers that contributed last season that are ranked prospects (Hernandez and Freddy Tarnok), though Hernandez likely will be in Mississippi at some point in 2020.
However, I wouldn’t be surprised if a few others earn a ranking at the beginning of next season. Like the case for all other lower-minor league levels, if a player is good he isn’t going to stay there very long anyways.
The excitement regarding Pfeifer’s performance this season is for real, as well as White’s and Hernandez’s.
Those three should garner more attention during the 2020 season, as all three will face the challenges of the high-minors next year, giving us a bit more perspective regarding their true talent.
Hold-overs like Brooks Wilson and Troy Bacon should rise and become leaders for the Fire Frogs next season. If Wilson and Bacon can match their 2019 numbers, they could find themselves in Mississippi as well.
It will also be interesting to see what comes of Tarnok (#13 on FanGraphs THE BOARD). Tarnok is a former 3rd round pick (2017), but he hasn’t really impressed since moving up from the GCL. Although, 2020 will be just his age-21 season.
25-year-old reliever Sean McLaughlin is another compelling potential prospect.
After failing in his quick 2018 tryout in Mississippi (7.50 ERA in 11 games), McLaughlin pitched to a 2.96 ERA with 49 strikeouts and 20 walks in 35 relief appearances for the Fire Frogs in 2019. He should get another shot at Double-A baseball in 2020.
Unfortunately, I’m afraid Florida will feature another mediocre offense next season, though. I just don’t see too much help next year, at least enough to substantially improve the team.
Basically every player listed in the previous slide has either made it to Mississippi, or will be there early next season.
Two players I didn’t mention was a couple of Atlanta Braves 2018 draft picks, outfielder Greyson Jenista and third baseman CJ Alexander.
Jenista, the former Wichita State star and 2nd round pick, struggled in Florida (.673 OPS), but was moved up to Mississippi anyways, in 2019.
Jenista couldn’t really get it together in Double-A (.662 OPS), slashing just .243/.324/.338 with 5 home runs in 74 games with the M-Braves.
Alexander dealt with an injury in 2019, limiting his time in Florida (19 games), but he was also rather aggressively promoted.
Double-A ball didn’t go so well for him either, as he struggled to the tune of a .103 batting average in 24 games. Altogether, Alexander finished 2019 with a .425 OPS, though 43 games is hard to take too seriously.
I think the Atlanta Braves really just wanted to go ahead and see what they had with Jenista and Alexander. But will they start in Mississippi next season?
Contreras is another prospect that will require a decision. The 21-year-old catcher and No. 6 prospect on the team (via THE BOARD), somewhat held his own after his promotion to Mississippi in 2019. However, his overall .669 OPS doesn’t exactly scream future Atlanta Braves catcher.
But Contreras is still rather young, and being that he is a catcher, it would be unrealistic to expect an. 800 OPS from him. Plus, his plate discipline wasn’t too bad in 2019 (22.0 K% / 7.6 BB%).
There’s probably a few that I’m missing, but either way, there are several tough decisions to be made before the start of 2020.
With the Fire Frogs basically the last rung on the ladder before Atlanta Braves’ prospects reach the highest levels of competition in minor league baseball —awaiting in Double and Triple-A — I’m glad I don’t have to make those critical decisions.
Next. 5 most important home runs. dark
But let’s hear what you think. Of the 2019 Florida Fire Frogs players, and potential ones in 2020, who do you project to become elite prospects or even big league players? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
Also, be sure to check back soon as we’ll cover the 2019 Mississippi Braves.