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.
Congratulations to Gwinnett Striper pitchers Kolby Allard and Evan Phillips and first baseman Carlos Franco, who were named to the International League All-Star team this week.
Programming note: next week’s Sunday Farm Report will come out on Monday. To make it up to you, it will feature a first-hand look at the Danville Braves.
Life on the Farm
DSL: It was tough-sledding this week for the DSL Braves as they suffered through a 5-game losing streak, going 1-5 overall. The offense went ice cold in the Dominican heat, with only 18-year-old first baseman Kimberling Encarnacion (.368/.455/.421) and 19-year-old catcher Enmanuel Guitian (.313/.476/.375) really productive at the plate. On the mound, what had been a strong starting pitching corps turned in good but abbreviated outings this week, exposing the bullpen. Relievers Edwin Jimenez, Raulin Celedonio, and Nonato Valdez each suffered nightmare outings this week.
GCL: Like their bigger Fire Frog cousins down the road in Kissimmee, the GCL Braves got rained out Friday and Saturday, which interrupted a three-game losing streak. They did manage to start the game on Saturday before the bottom dropped out in the 8th-inning with the score tied, allowing left-hander Miguel Jerez to get two starts in this week. Jerez continues to impress in his transition from relieving last season to starting, allowing 2 earned runs in 9 innings between the two outings, striking out 9. William Woods rebounded after a tough pro debut last week to record two scoreless appearances, with the 23rd-round JUCO righty striking out 4 in 3 innings and only allowing one hit.
At the plate, 20th-rounder third baseman CJ Alexander continues his assault on the GCL, hitting .421/.522/.684 this week and recording at least one hit in all nine games he’s played to date and forcing his way up to Danville despite a glut of third basemen already there. Formerly light-hitting young teenage infielder Jeremy Fernandez is now apparently a slugging 20-year-old outfielder Jeremy Fernandez, and he went off this week smacking two homers and and carrying a modest five-game hitting streak to go .389/.421/.833.
DANVILLE: The Men of the Dan held their own this week, going 3-3. One of the wins was a 2-0 shutout at Burlington on Tuesday, where righty Jose Montilla and 26th-rounder Zach Guth combined to only allow 7 baserunners on the evening. Danville also got a strong start from rehabbing lefty Ricardo Sanchez, who went 6 innings and gave up one run, allowing 6 baserunners.
Sanchez threw almost exclusively fastballs and located well the first time through the order. Sat 91-93 with some 94s. #Braves
— Nick Pierce (@npierce84) June 29, 2018
This was a good week for the recently drafted college relievers in Danville, as Guth, Zach Daniels, Jake Higginbotham, Tanner Lawson, Zach Seipel, and Brooks Wilson combined for 13.2 innings without allowing a run.
On the offensive side, catcher Ricardo Rodriguez had likely the best week of his pro career as he hit .556/.667/1.000 with a homer and getting the lion’s share of the playing time in the crowded Danville catching arrangement. After a tough first professional week, 15th-round second baseman Greg Cullen rebounded with a .333/.455/.444 week.
ROME: The Romans managed to get in a full week’s worth of games, going 3-4 against Greenville, Charleston, and Kannapolis. The Braves had to overcome some uncharacteristically shaky starting pitching this week, as only Huascar Ynoa, emergency starter Hayden Deal, and the since-promoted Bruce Zimmermann produced quality starts. The typically reliable Odalvi Javier was hit hard in two starts, and Jasseel De La Cruz turned in his worst start of the season, allowing 5 earned runs in 4 innings. In the bullpen, recent free agent acquisition Tyler Watson, who impressed with a 5-strikeout, two inning outing for his first Rome impression, was roughed up to the tune of 5 earned runs in 5 innings over two appearances. On the positive side, relievers Brandon White, Freddy Tarnok, and Kelvin Rodriguez continued to put in good work, and they were joined on Saturday by left-hander John Curtis, who was promoted from Danville and provided 3 innings of shut-out relief. White picked up a save on Friday, combining with Deal and right-hander Cutter Dyals on a 7-hit, 1-0 shutout of Charleston.
The offense has cooled off quite a bit since the blistering two-week stretch before the team clinched the first-half championship and a playoff berth, though the team is still digging the long ball as outfielders Drew Waters, Isranel Wilson, and Jefrey Ramos (twice) all homered this week. Also homering was first baseman Austin Bush, who was the top offensive producer this week, hitting .571/.625/.810 for the week. After a slow start after his promotion to Rome in mid-May, Bush hit .289/.343/.522 for the month of June with 5 home runs. Shortstop Riley Delgado continues to do nothing but produce as well, hitting .467/.500/.533 on the week.
FLORIDA: The Fire Frogs had a five game losing streak interrupted by rain on Friday and Saturday this week. In the four games that did get played, starting pitching was good enough to get the job done each game, with three quality starts from Ian Anderson, Kyle Muller, and Joey Wentz respectively and Tucker Davidson just missing one by an inning. Unfortunately the bullpen finished the week with a collective 5.14 ERA and the offense only scored 7 runs in the 4 games.
There was a huge ray of sunshine among the clouds however. Joey Wentz seemingly returned to form this week with an outstanding 6 inning shut-out outing where he took a no-hitter into the 6th and did not walk a batter. This is a very encouraging sign for a beleaguered lefty.
On the offensive side, infielder Jordan Rodgers and outfielder Gary Schwartz were the stand-outs this week as they collected 6 and 5 hits respectively, including 3 doubles for Rodgers. Shortstop Ray-Patrick Didder also continued his good work at the plate of late, getting on base 6 times, finishing the month of June with a respectable .250/.379/.347 batting line. First baseman Braxton Davidson only had three hits this week, but one of them was his 12th home run of the season, extending his career high and breaking a three-way tie with Gwinnett’s Carlos Franco and Danny Santana for tops among Braves minor leaguers. Catcher Brett Cumberland however is in a full-blown slump, going .205/.289/.411 for the month of June and only 4 hits in his last 30 at-bats.
MISSISSIPPI: Results-wise, the M-Braves had a poor week, only going 1-5. However, there were four great pitching performances on the week with two from Touki Toussaint. On Sunday, Touki allowed no earned runs over five innings and went 2-3 with a double and an RBI in a 17-1 rout of Jacksonville. Touki’s next start on Saturday in Pensacola was a dominant one as he went seven shutout innings, allowing only two hits and three walks while striking out eleven and recording a game score of 83. On Tuesday, Kyle Wright had a rare great home start as he struck out a career-high thirteen in 5.2 innings, although he gave up four runs (three earned). Bruce Zimmermann had his first AA start on Friday night after being promoted two levels from Rome and immediately showed why as he struck out ten and only allowed one run in 6.1 innings of work while giving up only three walks and four hits.
The M-Braves started strong offensively on Sunday with 17 runs, but only scored a total of 15 in the other five games on the week. Shortstop Luis Marte had a big week by going 9-23 with six doubles and two home runs while driving in six to produce a .391/.417/.913 line for the week while playing great defense. Catcher Alex Jackson continued his positive momentum by going 6-20 with two doubles and driving in two (.300/.333/400).
GWINNETT: The Stripers had a down week, going 1-7, but only lost the seven games by a total of twelve runs. The offense was led by Rio Ruiz, who went 14-34 with eight RBI, leading to a .412/.444/.559 line for the week. Outfielder Michael Reed continued to defy the BABIP gods by going 10-30 with four doubles and two home runs (.333/.412/.667). Outfielder Preston Tucker struggled in his first games for Gwinnett after being optioned from Atlanta, going 2-24 with two doubles and two RBI (.083/.154/.167).
There were a few good pitching performances for the week: Max Fried allowed only two runs in six innings while striking out eight before being called up to Atlanta for his next start, Kolby Allard went 5.2 innings on Tuesday, giving up three runs while striking out eight and Luiz Gohara allowed just two runs in five innings of work on Saturday, earning the only Gwinnett win of the week. Reliever Evan Phillips was optioned back to Gwinnett after spending a day with the big league club early in the week but still appeared in three games for the Stripers, tossing 3.2 perfect innings while striking out eight and earning a save.
POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:
PITCHER of the WEEK:
Prospect Spotlight
Here’s just a little bit of fun. With Mississippi’s Kyle Wright, Bruce Zimmermann, and Touki Toussaint enjoying high-strikeout outings this week, here’s a supercut off most of their strikeouts. Enjoy.
Transaction Round-Up
6/24/2018: IF Phil Gosselin designated for assignment
6/26/2018: IF Phil Gosselin outrighted to Gwinnett
The veteran infielder found himself dumped from the Braves 40-man roster this week as Atlanta needed room to purchase the contract of reliever Evan Phillips. Gosselin has helped stabilize the Stripers infield after the release of Christian Colon and the overall poor play of Sean Kazmar Jr. Gosselin could have declared free agency, but chose to accept assignment.
6/24/2018: RHP Evan Phillips contract purchased by Atlanta, promoted to Atlanta
6/25/2018: RHP Evan Phillips optioned to Gwinnett
6/27/2018: RHP Wes Parsons contract purchased by Atlanta, promoted to Atlanta
6/28/2018: RHP Wes Parsons optioned to Gwinnett
Not once, but twice this week a Gwinnett pitcher was added to the 40-man roster, brought to Atlanta, and then optioned back after that game without that pitcher having made his major league debut. Phillips and Parsons will have to cool their heals just a bit longer, but being on the 40-man roster now means that they’ll certainly have other opportunities soon.
6/28/2018: LHP Bruce Zimmermann promoted to Mississippi from Rome
Zimmermann clearly needed a bigger challenge than what the Sally was providing, but the Florida rotation is pretty much locked in with Anderson, Wentz, Muller, Davidson, and Walker at this time. The Braves elected to do something not many were anticipating, giving out the double promotion.
6/30/2018: Signed draft picks RHP Tristan Beck (4th round), SS A.J. Graffanino (8th round), RHP Ryan Shetter (9th round), RHP Nolan Kingham (12th round), and RHP Ty Harpenau (16th round)
Only seven draft picks remain unsigned, with four not expected to sign. That leaves 1st rounder Carter Stewart, 14th rounder Victor Vodnik, and 34th rounder Zack Hess. Hess is unlikely to sign, but the Braves will sign Stewart this week before the Friday deadline.
Mailbag Q&A
Thanks to members of the Outfield Fly Rule Facebook group and fans on the Twitters for questions!
Q: How are this year’s draftees fairing? – D. Davis
A: It’s only been about a week and a half since the short-season affiliates started, but here’s how some of the draftees are doing.
- Second-rounder outfielder Greyson Jenista is hitting a solid .250/.348/.500 with three home runs for Danville, with 4 multi-hit games. Assuming he continues to hit comfortably, it wouldn’t surprise me if he got a taste of Rome before the end of the season.
- I expected Jenista’s fellow outfielders, 6th-rounder Andrew Moritz and 17th-rounder Justin Dean, to be good table-setters and so far that’s born out. Moritz owns a .357 OBP while Dean is sitting at .364.
- Twentieth-rounder third baseman CJ Alexander has been the biggest offensive contributor for the GCL Braves, hitting .433/.528/.667 with a homer in 9 games.
- Eleventh-rounder lefty Jake Higginbotham out of Clemson has looked sharp in relief for Danville, pitching a scoreless 5 innings over two outings and notching his first professional save on Friday.
- The highest drafted pitcher to throw so far, righty Trey Riley is off to a slow start for the D-Braves. Riley has allowed 3 earned runs in only 2.1 innings over two outings.
Q: Why bring up guys like Wes Parsons and Evan Phillips if they aren’t going to pitch? Why so many moves? – C. Jervis and many others
The 15-inning game against Baltimore last Saturday, combined with Arodys Vizcaino‘s somewhat surprise unavailability followed by his placement on the disabled list had a long carryover effect on bullpen management this week. After that extra-inning game emptied the bullpen, the Braves got abbreviated back-to-back-to-back outings from Julio Teheran, Brandon McCarthy, and Anibal Sanchez and the bullpen was obviously overtaxed. This forced the Braves to scramble to get fresh arms up, and that’s where Phillips and Parsons came in. Unfortunately for them, they both had to watch as the Braves starting pitchers came through with longer outings in games where the score was tight and manager Brian Snitker likely didn’t want to rest the fate of the game on the shoulders of a pitcher making his major league debut.
As to why so many moves, this was likely always going to be a feature of the Braves bullpen this year. There are essentially six core relievers, with the other two spots pretty much always a revolving door from Atlanta to Gwinnett and back again. Now that Phillips and Parsons are on the 40-man roster and can be optioned freely back to Gwinnett after subsequent call-ups, look for them to get more opportunities. It should also be noted that committing those 40-man roster spots to Phillips and Parsons makes is less likely that we’ll see other Gwinnett shuttle passengers like Miguel Socolovich and Josh Ravin.
Q: Which minor leaguers are the biggest surprises thus far? When will we see the Gohara of old? Of the top-rated guys, who will be trade-bait and who won’t? – B. O’Dell
I suspected Bruce Zimmermann would be successful in Rome this year, but did not think at the beginning of the year that he would show to be so dominant. After his first start in Mississippi, it’s starting to look like the Braves really have gotten the rare senior sign draft pick with real prospect potential. Another surprise has been the play of minor league free-agent signee Michael Reed, who has shown no sign of slowing down even after a promotion to AAA and has to be pushing the club for consideration the next time Atlanta requires the service of another outfielder.
The two biggest negative surprises have been the struggles of Joey Wentz and Alex Jackson, though both have shown that they’re starting to move past those struggles.
It’s funny to think of 21-year-old Luis Gohara “of old”. It can’t be denied that it’s been a disappointing season Luiz Gohara. His off-field family tragedies (the death of his father and medical issues involving his mother) are no doubt contributors to this, but his two injuries in spring training also makes it feel like Gohara never really has gotten going. I think the Braves have made the right move to send him back to AAA, get him on a regular rotation schedule, and basically re-set his season. All the same promise is still there with Gohara, and I suspect we’ll start seeing more of the results we all got used to from 2017 soon.
As for who is “trade-bait”, I don’t think anyone in particular is. Major league front offices are plugged into scouting and metrics like never before, and it’s hard to “fool” another team into accepting a less-than-adequate trade return anymore. Based on comments by Alex Anthopoulos, I don’t necessarily think the Braves are interested in trades that only improve the team around the margins in the short term at the expense of their prospect depth. I think the Braves will make a move or two, but not for the expiring contract players that have been bandied about so much on social media such as Cole Hamels or Mike Moustakas.
Q: I’ve found it difficult to get info on Christian Zamora, the 16-year-old Cuban Brave in the Gulf Coast League. Got anything other than the stats I pulled off the interwebz? – S. Roper
Probably not. The most intriguing thing about Zamora is his size, already pushing through 6′-4″ despite him turning 17 this coming Wednesday.
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