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 I take a look at middle infield system depth nine months since the league announced sanctions against the Braves plus the affiliate round-up and some fairly significant promotions to Gwinnett, plus the return to the organization of a fan favorite.
Middle Infield Depth and International Sanctions
One thing I get asked about fairly often is how badly the MLB sanctions on the Braves minor league system hurt the team. Thirteen minor leaguers from the 2016 and 2017 international signing class were declared free agents, with only one, outfielder Brandol Mezquita, re-signing with the Braves. The area of the system that was particularly hurt by the sanctions was middle infield depth. Infielders Yunior Severino, Livan Soto, Kevin Maitan, Yenci Pena, and Ji-Hwan Bae have experienced varying degrees of success since moving on from Atlanta, but collectively they left a fairly large hole in the organizational depth chart. As of right now, this is my top 10 rated middle infielders in the Braves system:
| 1. | Riley Delgado (27) | SS | 23 | A+ Florida | Draft – 2017 – 9th Round |
| 2. | AJ Graffanino | SS | 21 | A Rome | Draft – 2018 – 8th Round |
| 3. | Derian Cruz | 2B | 19 | A Rome | Intl Amateur Free Agent – 2015 |
| 4. | Alejandro Salazar | 2B/3B/SS | 21 | AA Mississippi | Intl Amateur Free Agent – 2013 |
| 5. | Ray-Patrick Didder | SS/OF | 23 | AA Mississippi | Intl Amateur Free Agent – 2012 |
| 6. | Greg Cullen | 2B | 21 | Rk Danville | Draft – 2018 – 15th Round |
| 7. | Carlos Paraguate | SS | 17 | Rk DSL | Intl Amateur Free Agent – 2017 |
| 8. | Eliezel Stevens | 2B | 17 | Rk DSL | Intl Amateur Free Agent – 2017 |
| 9. | Braulio Vasquez | 2B/3B | 19 | Rk GCL | Intl Amateur Free Agent – 2016 |
| 10. | Luis Marte | SS | 24 | AAA Gwinnett | MiLB Free Agent – 2018 |
Not included on the list is Travis Demeritte, who has played almost exclusively in the outfield this season but is an above average defender at second base and could easily move back there again. I currently would rate him third on this list, between Graffanino and Cruz. While Cruz still represents significant potential upside, only Delgado placed in the OFR Midseason Top 30 Braves prospects list, and even then squeaking in at number 27.
If those five infielders were still in the system, the top 10 would look like this:
| 1. | Yunior Severino | 2B | 18 | Rk Danville | Intl Amateur Free Agent – 2016 |
| 2. | Kevin Maitan | SS | 18 | Rk Danville | Intl Amateur Free Agent – 2016 |
| 3. | Ji-Hwan Bae | SS | 18 | Rk GCL | Intl Amateur Free Agent – 2016 |
| 4. | Riley Delgado | SS | 23 | A+ Florida | Draft – 2017 – 9th Round |
| 5. | AJ Graffanino | SS | 20 | A Rome | Draft – 2018 – 8th Round |
| 6. | Derian Cruz | 2B | 19 | A Rome | Intl Amateur Free Agent – 2015 |
| 7. | Alejandro Salazar | 2B/3B/SS | 21 | AA Mississippi | Intl Amateur Free Agent – 2013 |
| 8. | Ray-Patrick Didder | SS/OF | 23 | AA Mississippi | Intl Amateur Free Agent – 2012 |
| 9. | Greg Cullen | 2B | 21 | Rk Danville | Draft – 2018 – 15th Round |
| 10. | Livan Soto | SS | 18 | Rk Danville | Intl Amateur Free Agent – 2016 |
Severino has emerged as one of the top hitters in the Appalachian League for the Elizabethton Twins. While Maitan has been struggling with conditioning and plate discipline in the Angels system and most evaluators are coming down hard off the lofty projections assigned to him at the time of his signing with the Braves he still remains an intriguing talent. Bae is similarly as intriguing, but has had his star tarnished by domestic abuse allegations in his native Korea. After that, the list returns to reality (and you can mentally place Demeritte on the list of you wish) until finally Soto makes an appearance at number 10.
The sanctions no doubt had a significant impact on the middle infield depth. However, none of that talent will likely be in the major leagues until 2021 at the earliest. Even if they were still in the Braves system, Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson, and Johan Camargo will all presumably play in Atlanta through 2023. The main question until that time is what to do in case of long-term injury to one of those three infielders, and that question wouldn’t be answered by the likes of Severino, Maitain, or Bae anyway. The main loss for Atlanta isn’t necessarily the loss of the players themselves, but the high-upside potential trade chips the team could use for more immediate concerns as the big league team’s window of contention opens wider. The Braves have work to do to replenish this area of the farm system, but they have time to do it.
Life on the Farm
DSL: The Way Down South Braves concluded a 2-4 week on Saturday, with hitting continuing to be an issue for the team; collectively they are batting only .207/.328/.279. There have been of course some strong individual efforts, and in July few have been swinging a hotter bat than shortstop Carlos Paraguate, who hit .316/.381/.316 with three stolen bases on the week.
The pitching doesn’t get a pass either and they have allowed an average of 6 runs per game so far on the season. While sloppy fielding and questionable field conditions always are known variables when discussing DSL play, the teams collective 4.24 ERA and 1.575 WHIP tell a story of a pitching corps that just can’t compete right now. That said, 19-year-old right-hander Jose Olague continues to be somewhat of a stand-out. In four starts in the month of July to date, Olague has yet to allow an earned run in 20 innings pitched.
GCL: The GCL squad is suffering through many of the same issues their DSL counterparts. After a 1-3 week, the Braves find themselves hitting a meager .219/.300/.327 as a team and only outfielder Jeremy Fernandez can be said to be having any sort of a breakout year. Fernandez went 4-for-10 this week with a home run and a double and is at or near the top of the leaderboard for the team in nearly all offensive categories. Michael Mateja has also hit well since an early-season transfer from Danville.
The pitching as been suspect so far as well, with a collective 4.42 ERA. While walks and strikeouts are about what you’d expect for the level, the team is getting hit hard, allowing an average of 9.3 hits per game. The best individual pitcher has been lefty Miguel Jerez and this week he had a 4.1 inning star, allowing an earned run and striking out 3. Former Duke starting pitcher Mitch Stallings has his fourth appearance of the year this week, putting in a 3 innings start and allowing his first earned run of his career as the team closely controls his innings after a long collegiate season.
DANVILLE: Danville started the week just a game and a half out of first place after beating the division-leading Bluefield Blue Jays last Saturday. Since then they’ve gone 0-6, falling to .500 and 5.5 out. While third baseman CJ Alexander continues to swing a hot bat (.385/.375/.769 with two triples this week), most of the rest of the team got cold. Outfielder Justin Smith has been a disappointment so far, only hitting .172/.273/.379 since his assignment to Danville despite his two home runs.
The pitching corps had their share of issues this week as well. Right-hander Dilmer Mejia turned in two somewhat shaky starts, while the typically reliable Jose Montilla allowed three runs in five innings. Right-handers Matt Rowland and Nolan Kingham turned in scoreless starts, though Kingham’s only lasted 3 innings due to pitch count restrictions. The bullpen also had a shaky week, with only Brooks Wilson, Ryan Shetter, and Zach Seipel putting up clean appearances.
ROME: The R-Braves finally shook off their post-playoff clinching stupor and kicked some tail this week, going 5-1 that included two doubleheader sweeps. Rain played havoc with the pitching rotation, but Rome got a strong 5 inning emergency start from left-hander John Curtis (5 innings, no hits or runs) while Huascar Ynoa, Hayden Deal, Keith Weisenburg, and Alan Rangel each punched the clock with starts of at least five innings and no more than 1 earned run. The bullpen has been Rome’s most consistently good unit all season and this week didn’t disappoint as the squad only gave up 1 earned run in 13.2 innings.
After scuffling at the plate in the early part of July, outfielder Drew Waters exploded this week to the tune of a .391/.391/.609 batting line with a home run and two stolen bases. Shortstop AJ Graffanino has so far provided a lot of the same offense as the promoted Riley Delgado, and this week hit .333/.364/.524 with his first professional home run. Outfielder Jefrey Ramos has been on a power surge of his own and hit another homer this week, keeping him one ahead of catcher William Contreras, who also launched one this week, for the team lead. Third baseman Jean Carlos Encarnacion has only been hitting .196/.224/.446 this month but did show some signs of coming out of slump with two multi-hit games including a home run in each of them.
FLORIDA: The Fire Frogs just concluded a six-game road trip the Gulf side of the state, going 2-5 on the week against Clearwater and Dunedin. Right-hander Jeremy Walker had a strong week, throwing a good start on Monday, and a great one on Saturday, 7 innings and only allowing five hits and no walks with an unearned run. The most disquieting news of the week was Joey Wentz throwing an abbreviated 2-inning start on Thursday with an apparent injury. There’s been no word on the nature of the injury.
#Braves LHP Joey Wentz finished after two innings. Left with an undisclosed injury. Velo was 88-91, down from when other scouts saw him earlier this season.
— Steve Givarz (@SteveGivarz) July 19, 2018
Right-hander Ian Anderson did not make an appearance this week but this is apparently just an effort to manage his innings. The former first round pick is already one inning away of matching his professional high of 83 innings set last season.
The bullpen was a little less reliable than usual, though left-hander Thomas Burrows blessed the team with four scoreless innings over two outings before getting promoted to Mississippi.
MISSISSIPPI: Due to an off-day and a rainout, the M-Braves only played five games this week, going 3-2. A couple of middle-infield newcomers led the way in hitting, with second baseman Alejandro Salazar going 13-for-21 with five RBI (.619/.636/.714) and shortstop Ray-Patrick Didder going 8-for-19 with four RBI (.421/.450/.526). On the downside, first baseman Tyler Marlette was just 3-for-20 and OF Travis Demeritte was only 5-for-20, but had two doubles, two home runs and six RBI (.250/.286/.650).
There were two great starts this week with Kyle Wright going seven innings in Friday night’s win at Montgomery, allowing only one run and two hits over seven innings of work, and Bryse Wilson, who pitched seven innings of shutout ball and struck out nine on Thursday night, although he got a no-decision. Chad Sobotka earned two saves with two scoreless one-inning outings before he was promoted to Gwinnett on Saturday and Corbin Clouse also had two scoreless outings, striking out five in two innings of work. Bruce Zimmermann had a rough outing on Sunday as he allowed four hits and four walks in 2.2 innings and 78 pitches, although he minimized the damage by giving up only one run.
GWINNETT: The Stripers had a successful week, going 6-1 with most of the slate taking place at home. There were a number of hitting stars this week: Michael Reed was 8-for-17 with two doubles and a home run before he was called up to Atlanta, SS Luis Marte was 14-for-29 with eight RBI (.483/.500/.552), Rio Ruiz was 11-for-30 with two triples, two home runs and nine RBI (.367/.424/.700), 3B Austin Riley was 10-for-27 with three doubles and five RBI (.370/.452/.481) and OF Dustin Peterson was 12-for-32 with four doubles, a home run and three RBI (.375/.375./.594). C Alex Jackson continued his adjustment period to AAA, going 2-for-11, but with a double, a triple and four RBI (.182/.400/.455).
Gwinnett only allowed more than four runs in a game once this week due to some solid pitching performances. Wes Parsons had two wins this week in one start and another at the back-end of a piggyback appearance with Lucas Sims. Parsons allowed just three runs in eleven innings this week, striking out nine. Touki Toussaint worked around some trouble but had a decent start, going 5.2 innings while allowing three runs in scattering six hits and two walks. Max Fried pitched 4.2 hitless innings in his first start since coming off of the disabled list, Matt Wisler allowed just two runs over seven innings in his only outing and Kolby Allard allowed just one run over seven innings to tally a victory in his only start of the week. In the bullpen, Jacob Webb earned a win and two saves in three scoreless appearances, striking out six in three innings while allowing just one hit and one walk. Luiz Gohara had the roughest start of the week in his first outing since being optioned from Atlanta, allowing four runs and seven hits over 4.1 innings.
POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:
PITCHER of the WEEK:
Transaction Round-Up
7/15/2018: C Alex Jackson promoted to Gwinnett from Mississippi
7/15/2018: C Rob Brantly released from Gwinnett
This promotion caused more than a few raised eyebrows this week as Jackson had not performed well at all other than in short spurts this season with Mississippi. Perhaps the Braves felt like a change of scenery or coaching staffs would help Jackson. It’s been suggested that Jackson had difficulty catching Kyle Wright and his vicious slider; there’s some validity to that, but Jackson and Touki Toussaint seemed to work well together in Mississippi, so perhaps that was a factor as well. In any case, Jackson has some work to do in order to rebuild value.
Brantly was signed as a minor league free agent this past off season, but the former Marlins prospect was having a disappointing .218/.254/.293 season at the plate. This move leaves Gwinnett with Jackson, Jonathan Morales, and Chris Stewart as catchers on the roster, while Mississippi is currently running with Carlos Martinez, Sal Giardina, and Tyler Marlette, who has almost exclusive played first base.
7/16/2018: RHP Fernando Salas signed to a minor league contract; assigned to Gwinnett
Salas has spent parts of nine seasons in the major leagues and appeared in 41 games with the Arizona Diamondbacks this season before being designated for assignment to make room on their 40-man roster for the return of former Braves Randall Delgado from their 60-day DL. Salas owns a 3.90 major league ERA. Salas has a low-90s fastball with complementary change-up and curveball. Don’t be surprised to see Salas at some point ride the Gwinnett bullpen shuttle down to SunTrust Park.
7/16/2018: OF Lane Adams signed to a minor league contract; assigned to Gwinnett
7/16/2018: OF Xavier Avery placed on the 7-day DL (Gwinnett)
No word on Avery’s injury, but it opened up a spot for fan favorite Lane Adams, who opened the season with Atlanta before being designated for assignment on April 13 to clear room for a Matt Wisler spot start. Adams chose free agency rather than accept minor league assignment, but found no major league jobs open to him despite solid numbers with Atlanta last season. Adams ended signing a AAA contract with the Iowa Cubs, but only hit .136/.265/.185 for them in 32 games before being released on June 30. Hopefully coming back to the comforting confines of CoolRay Field will respark Adams.
Avery was one of Gwinnett’s top performers in 2017, but injury kept him off the roster for several weeks to start the season. Avery scuffled once he returned, but this new injury comes at a bad time as he was hitting .400/.455/.525 in the month of July.
7/19/2018: OF Michael Reed promoted to Atlanta from Gwinnett
7/19/2018: UT Danny Santana designated for assignment
Reed had been on a bit of a yo-yo this month. After been called up for one day (and not playing) in early July, Reed returns for one game with the Stripers and promptly got injured. He was on the DL for 10 days, but picked up right where he left off, hitting .381/.440/.619 in five games before getting the call again this week.
Santana parlayed a strong first half with Gwinnett to a spot back on the Atlanta bench, but Santana only managed 5 hits in 32 bats and Reed now has his opportunity.
7/19/2018: RHP Jorge Bautista assigned to the DSL Braves
The first member of the Braves 2018/19 international signing class gets an affiliate assignment. .
7/20/2018: LHP Thomas Burrows promoted to Mississippi from Florida
7/20/2018: RHP Sean McLaughlin transferred from Florida to Mississippi
Fifteen earned runs in 18 innings for John’s Creek’s Sean McLaughlin cut his promotion to Mississippi short. In his place, Burrows gets his second promotion of the season. The former Alabama closer had a 4.24 ERA in 29 appearances for Florida, but has a 2.05 ERA since June 1 with 28 strikeouts in 22 innings.
7/21/2018: RHP Chad Sobotka promoted to Gwinnett from Mississippi
7/21/2018: LHP Rex Brothers assigned to Mississippi from Gwinnett
Brothers was once touted as a potential closer when he came up through the Rockies organization, but that seems like a million years ago now. Amazingly he started the season on Atlanta’s Opening Day roster, but was quickly designated for assignment and outrighted off the 40-man roster. With Gwinnett he’s pitched to a 7.24 ERA while walking 33 batters in 27.1 innings pitched.
On the upside, while Sobotka had only with Mississippi since mid-May he’s pitched to a 1.93 ERA for the team while striking out 33 in 27 innings. Sobotka has only allowed a .154/.261/.210 batting line against him for the season. Sobotka has had an injury-riddled up-and-down career with the Braves since he was drafted in 2014, but there seems to be no doubt that he’s turned a corner and should be looked at as someone who could possibly help the big league club, and perhaps soon.
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