Sunday Braves Farm Report, 4/22/2018

(OFR writers Matt Chrietzberg and Dylan Short also contributed to this article)

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. This week we take a look at a well-traveled right-hander Andres Santiago and get caught up on the affiliates. Then Dylan Short takes a look at the swing of Mississippi outfielder Tyler Neslony in our Prospect Spotlight. Then we wrap up with a look at the most interesting minor league transactions this week.

 

Where In The World Is Andres Santiago?

Here’s the write-up I did for right-hander Andres Santiago for the 2018 Atlanta Baseball Preview:

Santiago was a minor league free agent out of the independent leagues. Before that, he was a 16th-round pick by the Dodgers in 2007 out of Puerto Rico, getting as high as AAA in 2015 before he became a minor league free agent and didn’t get any offers. Santiago got an expenses-paid tour of the South last year, being named in 8 transactions over the course of the year, ping-ponging between the four full-season minor league levels, his longest stretch in one place being a 6/23-7/20 stretch with the Florida Fire Frogs. And it wasn’t just different levels; he also had different roles, going from reliever to starter to reliever and back again, filling in whatever pitching gap the team he found himself with needed filling. He was given the opportunity to close for Caribes de Anzoategui of the Venezuelan Winter League this offseason and responded with 6 saves and a 1.27 ERA, so maybe that’s something he’ll do somewhere with the Braves in 2018 as the team re-upped their gun-for-hire for another season.

Santiago has been up to his old tricks, having been assigned to Gwinnett to start the season, moved down to Mississippi for an emergency spot start when Max Fried was promoted, then this week moved back up to Gwinnett to back-fill Matt Wisler in the rotation.

If three assignments in just a little over two weeks weren’t enough, there’s evidence that his initial assignment to Gwinnett was in fact a very last-minute decision. On Wednesday, April 4, the day before minor league Opening Day, the Florida Fire Frogs made available their players after a team workout for pictures and autographs. Wait a minute, what is that…

@ProspectsBraves pic.twitter.com/MlEhslc5P7

— Lisa Ritchey (@LisaRitchey2) April 5, 2018

Wow, those guys look thrilled to be there! But who is that guy just off to the side while Ian Anderson and Chad Sobotka mug for the camera? The placard there looks like a doodled Andres Santiago. So to get the complete timeline of Andres Santiago’s season so far…

April 4 – work out with the Florida Fire Frogs, sit for the team meet-and-greet in Kissimmee, Florida
April 5 – announced as part of the Gwinnett Stripers opening day roster, flew to Norfolk, Virginia
April 9 – first appearance of the season, pitching a scoreless 2 innings in relief against Durham in North Carolina
April 11 – assigned to the Mississippi Braves
April 13 – pressed into a starting assignment for Max Fried, who had been promoted to Gwinnett; Santiago pitched 3 innings, allowing 1 run in Biloxi, Mississippi
April 16 – back in the bullpen, Santiago pitched 5 innings of scoreless relief in Pearl, Mississippi
April 20 – assigned to Gwinnett and pressed into a starting assignment for Matt Wisler, who had been promoted to Atlanta; Santiago pitched 5 scoreless innings in Pawtucket, Rhode Island

If things continue on schedule, Santiago will next pitch in Rochester, New York for the Stripers, though if it will be as a starter or a reliever is anyone’s guess… or if he’ll still be with the Stripers.

Life on the Farm

ROME: Rome went 3-3 on the week, with relief pitching struggling after being a team strength the first two weeks of the season. Kyle Muller got to start two times this week and was very good, allowing only 3 runs (1 earned) and 6 hits in 11.1 innings while striking out 8. Last night’s start for Muller also was his longest to date; after being held to 65 or fewer pitches his first three starts, Muller was allowed to stretch to 88, a good sign for his health and the trust he’s earning with every start.

Riley Delgado has been the primary shortstop for Rome this season. The 23-year-old, 9th-round senior sign out of Middle Tennessee State was expected to shore up the Rome infield defense as an older player in low-A. He’s done that, but this week Delgado has gone off at the plate, going .438/.438/.625 in four games this week, including his first professional home run. He has five multi-hit games on the season now, already one more than his entire time playing at Danville and Rome last season.

FLORIDA: The Fire Frogs had only won 2 games coming into the week but increased that by 200%, going 4-2 on the week behind some timely hitting and really strong bullpen work from the likes of Jon Kennedy, who pitched 5.1 scoreless relief innings in two games. Starter Jeremy Walker, who had stumbled out of the gate, rebounded with 4.2 hard-fought but scoreless innings on Tuesday. The offense was paced this week by outfielder Jared James, who hit .500/.562/.864 with a home run and 5 RBI on the week.

Left-hander Joey Wentz has been exceptionally good all season, capped off this week by a 5 innings of 3-hit scoreless ball on Thursday. Wentz especially made the Fire Frog Faithful happy by pitching 5 scoreless during a promotion at Osceola County Stadium where beer was free until the opposing team scored.

MISSISSIPPI:  Mississippi had an up-and-down week, going 4-4 versus Biloxi, Pensacola, and Mobile.  The starting pitching was a problem this week as Ricardo Sanchez lasted only two innings (7 H, 5 ER) in his start, Kyle Wright only went one inning (4 H, 4 ER) and the rehabbing Luiz Gohara allowed five hits and three walks in 3.1 innings in his start.  Touki Toussaint did better in his start, going 4.2 IP.  He did allow four runs on two home runs but struck out seven while only walking one.  The pitching star for the week was Wes Parsons, who had two abbreviated starts but went a total of eight innings, allowing only three hits, no runs, striking out eight and walking two.  Also of note, the aforementioned Andres Santiago relived Kyle Wright in his brief start, pitched five shutout innings and even drove in a run. Wright did finish off the week on a high note, pitching 5 scoreless innings against Mobile.

For the offense, Austin Riley was the undisputed star for the week.  He went 13-27 with a .481/.517/.889 slash line and five doubles, two triples (in the same game!) and a home run.  On the flip side, Alex Jackson had a terrible time at the plate.  He went 1-16 with seven strikeouts and three walks for a .063/.211/.063 line for the week.

GWINNETT: Gwinnett went 3-2, sweeping Scranton at home to start the week, but then dropping 2 games at Pawtucket to end it. The Striper offense had been anemic the first two weeks of the season, but is showing signs of coming around, scoring almost 5 runs per game this week, paced by third baseman Rio Ruiz, who hit .350/.421/.450. Top prospect Ronald Acuna, Jr. also got on the home run board, launching a rocket on Tuesday.

Right-hander Jason Hursh will likely be known to Braves fans mostly as the guy the Braves took in the first round of the 2013 draft one pick ahead of Aaron Judge, but he’s had a very strong start to this season split between Mississippi and Gwinnett. In 9 innings of relief to date, Hursh has yet to allow a run and only 6 baserunners total, while striking out 12. If he keeps this up, he likely will start to get included on the seemingly daily relief pitcher transaction churn.

POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:

PITCHER of the WEEK:

 

Prospect Spotlight: Tyler Neslony

Ninth-round senior signs tend not to be major prospects, but former Texas A&M star Tyler Neslony is pushing himself into consideration. He’s gotten off to a strong start this season with the Mississippi Braves, hitting .298/.359/.351 so far as one of the few left-handed bats in the M-Braves line-up. Neslony was ranked #41 during the Fifty Prospects in Fifty Days series and also in the Atlanta Braves Composite List.

I asked colleague Dylan Short to take a look at Neslony’s swing. Here’s the video of Neslony that Dylan was evaluating, every pitch seen in the game on April 17, 2018 against the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, followed by Dylan’s comments.

I actually really like the swing, very fluid, no extraneous moving parts, good fluid break, nice swing speed. Biggest problem in that footage is his stride. He’d be better served either going with a high foot lift or none at all. That little lift does nothing but make timing inconsistent, which you can easily see in the 1st at-bat. Low foot lift makes you have to be way more precise. High lift will give him a fair bit more power, no lift would allow him to adjust instantaneously, but he should probably focus on being a 20 home run guy, even if it means hitting .250.

Transaction Round-Up

4/12/2018: RHP Aaron Blair placed on Gwinnett 7-day Disabled List (shoulder surgery)

While we weren’t given an exact reason for the surgery or a time frame for recovery, this is obviously a serious blow to an already somewhat precarious career. Best of luck to Aaron on his rehab and recovery.

In the meantime, Max Fried was promoted to Gwinnett to take Blair’s spot in the Gwinnett rotation.

 

4/17/2018: RHP Chase Whitley activated from the Disabled List, optioned to AAA Gwinnett

Whitley came into major league camp as a slight favorite to win a spot in the Atlanta bullpen. After a staph infection shut Whitley down in late February, that wasn’t in the cards. That said, Whitley will likely see time in Atlanta at some point this season, and with the near constant bullpen churn at possibly several points.

 

4/18/2018: LHP Tyler Pike Activated from Mississippi Temporarily Inactive List 
4/18/2018: LHP Ricardo Sanchez Placed on Mississippi 7-day Disabled List

Pike was a starter last season, but his first outing this year was as a relief pitcher, going 1 scoreless inning to date. Enderson Franco has stepped into the rotation for now to replace Sanchez, the talented left-handed prospect who has had a slew of injuries bother him through his minor-league career.

 

4/19/2018: RHP Devan Watts transferred from Florida to Mississippi

One of the better pure relief prospects in the organization, Watts was placed on the Florida Fire Frogs roster to start the season to the surprise of many given his strong performance in 2017. Likely he simply drew the short straw as a deep group of pitchers made finding spots for everyone difficult. Watts pitched two innings of scoreless relief for Mississippi on April 19.

 

4/18/2018: 3B Jose Bautista signed to a minor league contract
4/21/2018: 3B Jose Bautista assigned to Florida

Long-time Toronto Blue Jays veteran Jose Bautista signed a minor league contract with Atlanta. This is a no-risk look at a veteran who has averaged 28 home runs over the last three seasons and is regarded as a strong roll-model for young teammates. After a couple of days in extended spring training, Bautista joined the Florida Fire Frogs on Saturday night. No time table has been announced for Bautista, but I suspect he will be with Gwinnett before too long.

The 37-year-old Bautista needs to demonstrate that his offensive game, already showing signs of rapid deterioration, is still strong enough for major league pitching and that he can provide adequate enough defense at third base, a position for which he logged 38 innings for Toronto last season.

Bautista would seem to represent a stronger chance of making the team than the similar signing of former Phillies star first baseman Ryan Howard to a minor league deal last year.

 

4/21/2018: RHP Troy Bacon assigned to Florida

Bacon was the Braves 4th-round draft selection in 2018, a 21-year-old from Santa Fe Junior College who reportedly has 99 mph heat and a host of secondary offering. After being held to only 18 innings pitched last season in the Gulf Coast League, the Braves must have been impressed with Bacon to give him a Florida assignment. Otherwise, this is one of many relief pitcher transactions, designed to keep their relief corp fresh.