Welcome to the Braves Farm Report, where we will take a look at the Braves farm system and look at trends and players that seem interesting, and give first hand accounts of what we’re seeing down on the farm.
As a companion to the Farm Report, check out our podcast, the OFR Farm Report, co-hosted by Andy Harris and Matt Chrietzberg, and out every Monday on Android, iTunes, TuneIn, and Stitcher.
Four Fire Frogs Favored For FSL Festivities
The advanced-A Florida State League published their All-Star rosters this week, and four members of the Braves affiliate Florida Fire Frogs were honored.
Catcher William Contreras isn’t a stranger to the Sunday Farm Report or to prospect lists anywhere, and the top Braves prospect on the Frogs is hitting .284/.350/.372 on the season good for third in the FSL with a 115 wRC+ among qualified catchers. Contreras only has one home run on the season, but the combination of hitting prowess and strong defensive skills, including a 36% caught stealing percentage, likely made him an easy selection.
Left-hander Hayden Deal has been the de facto ace of the staff this year, pitching to a 1.50 ERA in a team-high 54 innings, second in the FSL among qualified pitchers. Deal only has 47 strikeouts on the year, but is effective thanks to not allowing hitters to barrel the ball against him, so far only allowing a 15.5% line drive rate and an opposing slash line of .198/.244/.269.
Right-hander Brandon White has been stingy coming out of the Fire Frogs bullpen this year, so far only allowing 2 earned runs over 21.2 innings and 13 appearances, good for an 0.83 ERA. Like Deal, White is doing a nice job limiting hard contact, but White is also getting his fair share of strikeouts, tallying 23 punches so far this season.
Last but not least, infielder Riley Unroe was named to the team after hitting .304/.401/.449 for the Frogs with 13 extra base hits, prompting a promotion up to class-AA Mississippi last week that will cause him not to attend the All-Star game. Unroe’s .851 OPS is fourth in the FSL among qualified hitters.
Congratulations to the four Fire Frog All-Stars.
Life On the Farm
ROME:
Rome went 4-2 on the week to bring their record to 25-24, jumping past Augusta and Lexington in the standings and are now only 1 game behind first place Charleston in their division.
The top of the order trio of Justin Dean, Greg Cullen, and Trey Harris continued to lead the charge, the three combining for 6 home runs this week and 14 total extra base hits. Unfortunately Dean will have to cool his jets for at least 7 days as he went on the injured list on Saturday after he came out early on Friday with what looks like a hand injury after sliding into second base on a steal attempt.
Dean was replaced on the active roster and in the lead-off spot by Andrew Moritz, fresh off his own IL stint. Outfielder Henry Quintero came up from extended spring training when Moritz went down and has provided a lift, hitting .400/.423/.440 in six games. Catcher Logan Brown also keeps hitting, this week going .304/.407/.304 with 2 walks and 2 HBP.
Starting pitching overall was a little shaky as Jose Olague gave up 7 earned runs over two starts. Right-hander Gabriel Noguera was hit hard by Columbia last Sunday (6 ER in 5 IP), but rebounded with a good 5-inning start against Augusta on Friday, limiting the GreenJackets to two unearned runs in a victory. The team did get Quality Starts from the reliable Alan Rangel and Odalvi Javier, and spot-starter Matt Hartman gave the team 5 innings of 2-hit, 1-ER ball on Tuesday.
In the bullpen, right-hander William Woods recovered from a rough first outing last week to record 3 scoreless innings over two outings. Victor Vodnik pitched 3 innings in his one bullpen appearance, allowing a run and striking out two.
FLORIDA
The Frogs started the week strong with their 5th win in 7 games, but had a miserable time the rest of the week, getting swept in three games to Tampa followed by losing three to Dunedin; they play the fourth game of that series this afternoon looking to avoid a second series sweep. The losing streak dropped the team to 19-30 on the season, essentially killing any shot after making some noise last week that the team would be able to make up ground in the first half.
Right-hander Nolan Kingham took it on the chin this week, giving up 12 earned runs in 9.1 innings over 2 starts; since his complete-game 3-hit performance on May 1, Kingham has a 7.91 ERA in four starts and opponents are hitting .341/.391/.561 against him. Left-hander Phil Pfeifer has his troubles in his start this week, allowing 5 earned and allowing 11 Tampa baserunners in only 5 innings. Staff ace Hayden Deal however had two good starts, pitching at least 6 innings in both and allowing 3 earned runs total; the left-hander has yet to allow more than 2 earned runs in any of his starts the season.
The bullpen was boosted by the return of Bradley Roney after missing 2018, and he threw 4 scoreless innings in 2 outings. Once Roney shows his health to be sound, look for him to move quickly up to Mississippi. Right-handers Daysbel Hernandez and Brandon White continued to be the most reliable Fire Frogs relievers and Lukas Young rebounded from a bad start to high-A last week by firing 4 scoreless innings this week, striking out 5.
Florida’s offense was relatively punchless, only getting 11 extra base hits for the entire week, all doubles. After showing signs of starting a good offensive run last week outfielder Greyson Jenista had a tough go this week, striking out an uncharacteristic 13 times and only mustering 3 hits. First baseman Hagen Owenby joined the squad mid-week and was the top offensive performer, hitting .429/.467/.571 in four games with 2 doubles. Catcher William Contreras went 7-for-20 on the week, though his power drought continued as he didn’t have any extra base hits.
MISSISSIPPI:
The Mississippi Braves come off a 2-4 week where they lost their last three, although they outscored their opponents 24-20. Offensively, outfielder Cristian Pache led the way as he was the only M-Brave to register more than six hits on the week. He went 10-for-25 with three doubles and a triple on his way to a .400/.423/.600 week. One area of improvement for Pache on the week was striking out just four times in 26 plate appearances. Fellow outfielder Drew Waters didn’t fare as well with a 5-for-25 week with two triples and nine strikeouts and just one base on balls (.200/.231/.280). Moving Ray-Patrick Didder around the field seems to be paying some dividends as he was 3-for-9 on the week with three walks, although he fanned in five of his six outs. 2B Alejandro Salazar continued to struggle with a 2-for-20 week and is now batting just .229/.269/.289 on the season. Catcher Jonathan Morales produced similar results with a 1-for-12 week and a .209/.288/.255 line for the season.
The starting pitchers for Mississippi had a very good week, giving up just eight earned runs over 34.2 innings in six games (2.08 ERA), with four of those runs coming in Jasseel De La Cruz’s first AA start. De La Cruz lasted five innings in that start while allowing six hits and three walks. Ian Anderson had two more good starts this week although the bullpen ended up losing both games, giving up only two earned runs over 12.1 innings while striking out fourteen and walking just two. Joey Wentz had another brilliant outing in pitching seven shutout innings on Wednesday and has now given up two or fewer earned runs in four of his last five starts, earning his first OFR Pitcher of the Week of the season. Kyle Muller continued his brilliant run with a Monday start in which he gave up just one run in 5.2 innings while striking out eight. For the month of May, Muller has a 1.03 ERA and a 0.987 WHIP over four starts and seems to have overcome the wildness that plagued him in April.
The bullpen had a couple of bright spots this week: Jeremy Walker pitched two scoreless innings of relief on Thursday and now seems ticketed for the bullpen. He continues to amaze with just two walks issued over 40.2 innings this season. Right-hander Claudio Custodio, who was discussed at length on last week’s The OFR Farm Report Podcast, continued to impress by giving up just one run in two outings covering six innings while striking out nine and walking only one.
GWINNETT:
The Gwinnett Stripers outscored their opponents 36-28 this week, but only managed a 2-4 record. No Striper had more than seven hits for the week, but a number of hitters produced exactly that number of hits. Outfielder Travis Demeritte continued his strong campaign with six of his seven hits on the week being for extra bases en route to a .259/.310/.667 week. Catcher Alex Jackson continued to do Alex Jackson things with three home runs and ten strikeouts in a .269/.296/.654 week. All-around ballplayer Sean Kazmar had a solid week in going 7-for 17 with a double, two home runs and five RBI while infielder Jack Lopez tried to top that with a 7-for-13, two doubles, two home runs and five RBI week to earn OFR Player of the Week honors. Outfielder Adam Duvall had a down week in going just 4-for-19 with no home runs, but he struck out just three times and continues to sport a sub-18% strikeout rate in over 200 plate appearances.
The starting pitching had a number of issues this week as only two starters produced starts of more than four innings. Bryse Wilson had a great start on Tuesday where he gave up just two runs on three hits in seven innings while striking out six and walking no one. Kolby Allard produced another solid start the next day in giving up just one run over six innings of work. Kyle Wright was roughed up in a Sunday start in giving up four runs on six hits in just 3.2 innings of work. One interesting change that took place this week was Huascar Ynoa and Patrick Weigel swapping roles in their tandem piggyback start, Ynoa started the Thursday game and went four innings and gave up one earned run while Weigel followed up with 3.1 innings of good work with a home run in his fourth inning of work accounting for the only blemish on his outing. In the bullpen, AJ Minter began his road back to Atlanta with two scoreless outings with the second consisting of five strikeouts over two perfect innings. Chad Sobotka also had two scoreless appearances covering 2.1 innings with four strikeouts and one walk. Grant Dayton had two perfect outings covering three innings with five strikeouts. Wes Parsons also did some great work with a scoreless inning on Wednesday and a relief appearance on Saturday in which he pitched four shutout innings. Thomas Burrows, however, had a very bad week. He pitched a scoreless inning on Tuesday but was roughed up for three runs in an inning of work on Friday night, prompting a move down to Mississippi on Saturday.
POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:
PITCHER of the WEEK:
Transaction Round-Up
5/19/2019: RHP Jasseel De La Cruz promoted to AA Mississippi from A+ Florida
5/19/2019: RHP Bradley Roney activated from 7-day injured list for AA Mississippi, assigned to A+ Florida
5/19/2019: LHP Justin Kelly assigned to extended spring training from AA Mississippi
There was good news on a couple fronts here. De La Cruz’s staying with the Fire Frogs turned out to be very short, pitching to a 1.93 ERA in four starts including a complete game no-hitter before moving on to Mississippi.
The other good news was the return of Brad Roney to the mound after missing the entire 2018 season with injury.
Not so good news for Justin Kelly, who gets another mention shortly.
5/22/2019: 3B Jordan Rodgers placed on 7-day injured list for A+ Florida
5/22/2019: C/1B Hagen Owenby promoted to A+ Florida from extended spring training
Rodgers starts a second stint on the injured list this season, but it provides an opportunity for Owenby, a bat-first catcher and first baseman. This looks to be bad news for Ruesber Estrada, the back-up catcher who has gotten most of the designated hitter opportunities early on this season, but has only hit .139/.224/.168 in over 100 plate appearances.
5/22/2019: LHP Justin Kelly released
Kelly was the player the Braves acquired from the Los Angeles Angels for reliever Jim Johnson. Kelly had thrown for both Florida and Mississippi in 2018 and this season, but just allowed too many baserunners too often and gets squeezed by the organizational pitching crunch.
5/25/2019: RHP Chad Sobotka activated from 10-day injured list for MLB Atlanta; optioned to AAA Gwinnett
Sobotka made one rehab appearance on Thursday, but was officially optioned on Saturday.
5/25/2019: OF Justin Dean placed on 7-day injured list for A Rome
5/25/2019: OF Andrew Moritz activated from 7-day injured list for A Rome
Losing Dean is a blow to the Rome offense, though it’s cushioned by the return of Mortiz, who was on a good offensive run prior to his injury.
5/25/2019: 3B Darling Florentino activated from the 7-day injured list for A Rome
5/25/2019: 1B/3B Brendan Venter assigned to extended spring training from A Rome
This move was a little bit of a surprise as Florentino has looked largely overmatched in his first look at A-ball pitching, but former Auburn stand-out Venter has also struggled. For the time being, it looks like Derian Cruz has earned the most playing time at third base.
5/25/2019: RHP Andres Santiago promoted to AAA Gwinnett from AA Mississippi
5/25/2019: LHP Thomas Burrows assigned to AA Mississippi from AAA Gwinnett
It figured that Santiago wouldn’t stay long with Mississippi given his good performance with Gwinnett as a swingman, but the demotion of Burrows is disappointment. After moving through three levels in 2018, Burrows appeared poised to make a major league debut in 2019 when he was assigned to AAA. That said, Burrows only logged 19 innings at AA last season, so a return there could be seen as a correction to an overaggressive Opening Day assignment.
5/25/2019: OF Connor Lien activated from 7-day injured list for AA Mississippi
5/25/2019: 1B Andy Wilkins placed on 7-day injured list placed on 7-day injured list
Wilkens hadn’t appeared in five games for Mississippi but had avoided the injured list, so a short stint seems likely. Lien was injured in an outfield collision with Cristian Pache last week, but he only stayed on the IL for the minimum time allowed.
Mailbag Q&A
Q: Weigel. Call up later this year? And do the Braves see him as a starter or bullpen piece? – F. Gato
A: He’s in AAA and on the 40-man roster, so it seems inevitable that barring some sort of setback that he will see time in the big leagues this year, even if it’s just a short-term promotion to fill out bullpen innings. Long-term, I think the Braves are simply keeping their options open. Bullpen use is almost certainly how he would get time this year, but they also want to keep him stretched out and showing he could be a credible starter if for no other reason than to keep eyes on him from other organizations for possible trades.
This does not mean I think he’ll be traded, but it’s just facts that guys like Weigel are going to be discussed, and the Braves want to be able to showcase his potential upside. Another complicating factor for him in the big leagues is the unlikeliness that the team will want him pitching in back-to-back games. They waited a full season and a half before allowing A.J. Minter to pitch back-to-back in the minors after his TJS rehab concluded.
Q: When will the Marshal get the call up to the ATL? – J. Johannes
A: I have no idea when Marshal Connor Johnstone out of Wake Forest will get the call, but the Braves are no longer using him in the gunslinger role from last year, keeping him firmly at AA Mississippi under the tutelage of pitching coach Dennis Lewallyn, which is certainly a positive development for Johnstone’s development. Johnstone has a solid four-pitch repertoire, but still needs work commanding his secondaries and trying to develop at least one of them into a go-to swing-and-miss pitch.
Personally, I think his stuff works best out of a rotation but it seems unlikely that Johnstone will get an opportunity with the Braves loaded minor league pitching depth. That’s not to say Johnstone couldn’t make it as a reliever; before a rough outing last night, Johnstone had only allowed only 4 earned runs in his previous 12 outings, covering 24.2 innings.
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