From fabulous suburban Atlanta it’s the second annual…
Outfield Fly Rule Atlanta Braves Minor League Awards!
The rebuild is really, really over.
A veritable horde of young talent is helping propel the Atlanta Braves make a post-season run. They’re in the line-up. They’re on the bench. They’re in the rotation. They’re in the bullpen. They’re putting miles on their car going from Gwinnett to SunTrust Park and back again, sometimes without getting into a game (we see you Wes Parsons).
Up and down and all around the roster this year was talent brought in to make the Braves a perennial contender once again, and the first returns have been outstanding. Twelve Braves made their major league debuts in 2018, and since the start of 2017 Atlanta has ushered in 20 new major leaguers.
Down on the farm, mediocre win/loss records mask a still-loaded system. It won’t be ranked number one by anyone as multiple publications did after the 2017 season – a team doesn’t graduate the top prospect in the game and stay at the top – but it will get plenty of top 5 consideration.
So with a talented major league team, a loaded minor league system, more payroll room than the team has had in two decades, and a smart front office, life is good. Let’s hand out some awards.
These go out to players who spent the majority of the season in the minor leagues. These aren’t necessarily “prospects”, but most of them are. A player is honored for the team that he made the most plate appearances or recording them most innings pitched, but the award panelists considered their entire seasons for players that played at multiple levels.
Our panelists this year are: Matt Chrietzberg, Andy Harris, Chris Jervis, and Dylan Short. For each category the panelists could list up to five players, with more points awarded to players higher on the lists.
Gulf Coast League Braves
Position Player of the Year
After moving to the outfield and putting on some muscle, Fernandez had a break-out season in his fourth year with the organization, leading the GCL Braves in extra base hits, home runs, and slugging percentage while playing a credible centerfield.
Runner-Up: 1B Ray Hernández
Also Receiving Votes: C Logan Brown, C Victor De Hoyos, OF Trey Harris, 2B Braulio Vasquez
Official Atlanta Braves Selection: Jeremy Fernandez
Starting Pitcher of the Year
LHP Miguel Jerez
After winning the GCL Relief Pitcher of the Year award last season, the 20-year-old Jerez was moved to the rotation and continued to excel. Jerez lead the Braves in innings pitched, ERA, and strikeouts; he struck out 50 batters and only walked 8.
Runner-Up: LHP Lisandro Santos
Also Receiving Votes: RHP Luis De Jesus, RHP Filyer Sanchez, RHP Albinson Volquez
Official Atlanta Braves Selection: Miguel Jerez
Relief Pitcher of the Year
RHP Alex Camacho
A 6′-7″ 37th-rounder out of Vanguard University, Camacho had a 3.82 ERA over three levels, including pitching three scoreless outings for the Florida Fire Frogs. Struck out a batter per inning.
Runner-Up: RHP Javier Ciriaco
Also Receiving Votes: RHP Alex Aquino, RHP Tristan Beck, RHP Cameron Kurz, RHP Yoeli Lopez, LHP Gabriel Rodriguez, RHP Jackson Lourie, RHP Miguel Pena
Danville Braves
Position Player of the Year
3B CJ Alexander
A unanimous selection by the panel, Alexander was a 20th-round draft pick who made pit stops at three different levels in 10 weeks of play, hitting .352/.429/.495 on the way to finishing the season with advanced-A Florida.
Runner-Up: OF Justin Dean
Also Receiving Votes: 2B Greg Cullen, IF Brett Langhorne, IF Michael Mateja, OF Andrew Moritz, SS Nicholas Shumpert , OF Justin Smith
Official Atlanta Braves Selection: Greg Cullen
Starting Pitcher of the Year
LHP Dilmer Mejia
Another unanimous selection, Mejia lead the D-Braves with a 2.87 ERA in 69 innings while also pitching for Rome and Florida. Named Appalachian League Pitcher of the Year.
Runner-Up: RHP Matt Rowland
Also Receiving Votes: RHP Matt Hartman, LHP Tanner Lawson, RHP Jose Montilla
Official Atlanta Braves Selection: Dilmer Mejia
Relief Pitcher of the Year
RHP Brooks Wilson
A 7th-round senior sign, Wilson lead the D-Braves bullpen in ERA before being promoted to Rome and giving up 1 earned run in 7 appearances.
Runner-Up: LHP Tanner Allison
Also Receiving Votes: RHP Zach Daniels, LHP Jake Higginbotham, RHP Mason McReaken, RHP Zach Seipel, RHP Ryan Shetter, RHP Connor Simmons, RHP Mitch Stallings
Rome Braves
Position Player of the Year
OF Drew Waters
A South Atlantic League All-Star starter at age 19, Waters displayed the power/speed/hit/glove mix that lead the Braves to draft him in the 2nd round of the 2017 draft. Waters lead the R-Braves in OPS, runs, doubles, and stolen bases despite being promoted to Florida for the month of August and was the third unanimous selection by the panel.
Runner-Up: C William Contreras
Also Receiving Votes: SS Riley Delgado, 3B Jean Carlos Encarnacion, SS AJ Graffanino, OF Greyson Jenista, OF Jefrey Ramos
Official Atlanta Braves Selection: Drew Waters
Starting Pitcher of the Year
RHP Bruce Zimmermann
Zimmermann lead the Rome rotation in ERA and most other pitching categories before being first promoted to AA Mississippi. Had a 5.5 strikeout to walk ratio for Rome, then pitched to a 3.14 ERA for Mississippi prior to going to Baltimore in the Kevin Gausman trade.
Runner-Up: RHP Huascar Ynoa
Also Receiving Votes: RHP Jasseel De La Cruz, RHP Odalvi Javier, RHP Alan Rangel, RHP Freddy Tarnok, RHP Keith Weisenberg
Relief Pitcher of the Year
RHP Walter Borkovich
Borkovich pitched to a 2.08 in 28 relief appearances for Rome before being promoted to Florida. Moved to the rotation, Borkovich pitched 17 scoreless innings over 3 starts before returning to Rome for 3 starts, pitching to a 1.29 down the stretch.
Runner-Up: LHP Hayden Deal
Also Receiving Votes: LHP John Curtis, RHP Cutter Dyals, LHP Kelvin Rodriguez, RHP Brandon White
Official Atlanta Braves Selection: Hayden Deal
Florida Fire Frogs
Position Player of the Year
This season the 19-year-old Pache cemented himself as the most exciting position player prospect in the Braves farm system by adding a power component to his speed and glove game. Pache led the Fire Frogs in runs, extra base hits, and slugging percentage despite playing the whole month of August in Mississippi. Pache was a unanimous selection by the panel.
Runner-Up: C Brett Cumberland
Also Receiving Votes: 1B Braxton Davidson, SS Ray-Patrick Didder, OF Jared James, IF Alejandro Salazar
Official Atlanta Braves Selection: Cristian Pache
Starting Pitcher of the Year
RHP Ian Anderson
Another unanimous selection for the Fire Frogs, Anderson took a big turn in taking his well-regarded “stuff” and bringing it regularly into games. Anderson lead Florida starters in strikeouts, punching out opposing hitters at a 30% rate while also holding them to a .196 batting average against. Anderson Anderson was promoted to Mississippi in August and concluded the season with 12.2 innings of shutout ball over two starts.
Runner-Up: LHP Joey Wentz
Also Receiving Votes: RHP Tucker Davidson, LHP Kyle Muller, RHP Jeremy Walker
Official Atlanta Braves Selection: Ian Anderson
Relief Pitcher of the Year
LHP Thomas Burrows
The former University of Alabama closer used his vicious slider to keep striking out batters at three different levels. Burrows was striking out batters at over a 10 per 9 inning clip with the Fire Frogs, then was promoted to Mississippi and got even better, bumping the strikeouts to over 12 per 9 and lowering his walk rate by 6%.
Runner-Up: LHP Jon Kennedy
Also Receiving Votes: RHP Troy Bacon, LHP Justin Kelly, RHP Connor Johnstone, RHP Sean McLaughlin, RHP Devan Watts
Mississippi Braves
Position Player of the Year
After struggling for most of the first half after a move from the infield to the outfield, Demeritte caught fire in the second half, helping the M-Braves make a ferocious run that nearly got the team to the playoffs. Demeritte bettered his 2017 run, home run, walk rate, and wRC+ despite getting fewer plate appearances.
Runner-Up: IF Luis Valenzuela
Also Receiving Votes: IF Daniel Lockhart, 1B Tyler Marlette, C Carlos Martinez, C Jonathan Morales, OF Tyler Neslony
Official Atlanta Braves Selection: Travis Demeritte
Starting Pitcher of the Year
RHP Touki Toussaint
After years of tantalizing observers with potentially overpowering fastball, change-up, and especially a Mjolnir of a curveball, Toussaint put all the ingredients together into consistent performance. Toussaint pitched to a career-best 2.93 ERA with Mississippi. Then got even better with a promotion to Gwinnett, only allowing 8 earned runs in 8 starts. Overall Toussaint ended the season with a 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, easily the best of his minor league career and catapulting him into the major leagues. Toussaint was unanimously selected for the award.
Runner-Up: RHP Bryse Wilson
Also Receiving Votes: RHP Enderson Franco, LHP Michael Mader, LHP Ricardo Sanchez, RHP Kyle Wright
Official Atlanta Braves Selection: Touki Toussaint
Relief Pitcher of the Year
RHP Chad Sobotka
After 4 years of dealing injuries and inconsistent performance in the minor leagues, Sobotka put it all together and showed that he could be a viable major league reliever. Starting the season in Florida, Sobotka used improved swing-and-miss stuff to move up three levels and now looks to be another high-powered arm at the end of the Atlanta bullpen.
Runner-Up: LHP Corbin Clouse
Also Receiving Votes: RHP Elian Leyva, LHP Adam McCreery, RHP Kevin Vasquez
Gwinnett Stripers
Position Player of the Year
3B Austin Riley
Austin Riley began the season like he ended 2017: making Southern League pitchers look really bad. After a month of hitting .333/.394/.677 with 6 homers for Mississippi, Riley took the jump to Gwinnett. Despite joining the team late and later missing a full month after straining his right knee, Riley hit .282/.346/.464 for Gwinnett with 12 homers and above average defense at the hot corner.
Runner-Up: OF Michael Reed
Also Receiving Votes: OF Xavier Avery, 1B Carlos Franco, SS Luis Marte, OF Dustin Peterson, IF Rio Ruiz, OF Danny Santana
Official Atlanta Braves Selection: Austin Riley
Starting Pitcher of the Year
LHP Kolby Allard
Allard was a mainstay in the Stripers rotation at the age of 20, leading the team in innings and strikeouts. Allard saw reductions from 2017 in both walk rate and home run rate.
Runner-Up: RHP Wes Parsons
Also Receiving Votes: LHP Max Fried, LHP Luiz Gohara, RHP Lucas Sims, RHP Mike Soroka, RHP Matt Wisler
Official Atlanta Braves Selection: Kolby Allard
Relief Pitcher of the Year
RHP Josh Ravin
How can a pitcher win an award like this? How about simply not allowing any runs. Ever. The only thing that stopped Josh Ravin in Gwinnett was a scary liner up the middle that hospitalized him in mid-June and effectively ended his season.
Runner-Up: RHP Evan Phillips
Also Receiving Votes: RHP Jason Hursh, RHP Miguel Socolovich, RHP Jacob Webb, RHP Chase Whitley
Overall Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year:
RHP Chad Sobotka
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. A .gif is worth a thousand and one words.
Chad Sobotka struck out the side and cut the @Braves' magic number to four with this NASTY slider. 😳 pic.twitter.com/4MGwyewuTF
— FOX Sports South (@FOXSportsSouth) September 21, 2018
Runner-Up: LHP Corbin Clouse
Also Receiving Votes: RHP Walter Borkovich, LHP Thomas Burrows, LHP Hayden Deal, RHP Elian Leyva, RHP Evan Phillips, RHP Josh Ravin, RHP Jacob Webb
Overall Minor League Starting Pitcher of the Year:
RHP Touki Toussaint
We can't get enough of Touki Toussaint's Curveball. Here it victimizes Marcell Ozuna at 77 mph.
For all of last night's nastiest pitches: https://t.co/aUkb8T6OT5 pic.twitter.com/7tH84n2ikn
— Pitcher List (@PitcherList) September 20, 2018
Runner-Up: RHP Ian Anderson
Also Receiving Votes: LHP Kolby Allard, LHP Kyle Muller, RHP Bryse Wilson, RHP Kyle Wright, LHP Bruce Zimmermann
Overall Minor League Position Player of the Year:
3B Austin Riley
Austin Riley, the @Braves' No. 4 prospect, delivered for @GoStripers yesterday, notching 3 hits, including this 3-run homer. More on the 💪 performance from @MLB's No. 43 prospect: https://t.co/axFO73m7Mg pic.twitter.com/yLJs1fVygQ
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 31, 2018
Runner-Up: OF Michael Reed
Also Receiving Votes: 3B CJ Alexander, C William Contreras, OF Greyson Jenista, OF Cristian Pache, OF Drew Waters
That’s it! Thanks to all the Braves minor leaguers for another entertaining season for crazy fans with blogs to get invested in, and thanks to OFR readers for being engaging and supportive this season. Thanks to my colleagues and fellow panelists Matt Chrietzberg, Chris Jervis, and Dylan Short. Be sure to check out Dylan’s Braves podcast The Platinum Sombrero.
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