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.
Prospect Spotlight: Greyson Jenista
A standout performer from Wichita State, Jenista was taken in the 2nd round of the 2018 draft by the Braves.
Position: OF
Bats: L
Age: 21.6
Height: 6′-4″
Weight: 210 lbs
Performance: .289/.346/.428 | 4 HR | 4 SB | 15.3 K% | 8.6 BB% | 115 wRC+
Grades (Current/Future)
Hit: 45/50
Power: 30/60
Speed: 50/40
Fielding: 40/50
Arm: 50/50
Jenista first caught the Braves eyes after hitting .310/.391/.401 and winning MVP honors in the wooden-bat Cape Cod League in 2017. Though his slugging dropped in his junior season at Wichita State and his draft stock similarly dropped, the Braves felt like Jenista was simply pressing to impress scouts, many of whom attended to watch teammate and #3 overall selection Alec Bohm.
Jenista was the first player signed by the Braves from the draft and he was on Danville’s Opening Day roster. He was only with the D-Braves for 10 games (hitting .250/.348/.500 with 3 homers) before getting promoted to Rome. Jenista had similar success in Rome, hitting .333/.386/.453 before getting his second promotion in less than two months, this time to advanced-A Florida.
Offense: I asked collegue Dylan Short to take a look at some Jenista footage from his time in Rome, and this was his evaluation of Jenista’s swing:
Old-school type of swing. Raises and lowers his front elbow to the plane of the ball, creating a line drive-centric approach. Pronounced forward lean in his stance reminiscent of 2018 Nick Markakis. Excellent pitch recognition, not afraid to take a close pitch. Needs to adjust his swing path for more loft if he wants to maximize his value. He is a .280-type hitter currently, probably .265 when he makes adjusts to his swing in order to generate lift.
Jenista’s approach is one generally favored by the Braves, to be aggressive on pitches in the strike zone, stay back, and drive them where they are delivered.
Jenista is currently showing a pronounced split, only hitting .229/.269/.354 against left-handed pitchers. Jenista seems to be having trouble picking up breaking pitches from left-handers and will occasionally get off-stride trying to reach for pitches moving away from him.
Defense: Jenista played some first base and centerfield in college, but with the Braves he looks like he will call right field home. Jenista looks comfortable at the position and moves very well, especially for a player his size. Jenista demonstrates above average arm strength and is smart with the baseball.
Baserunning: Jenista moves well around the bases and appears to be a smart baserunner, taking extra bases when openings arise and picking his spot for occassional stolen base opportunities. As Jenista gets older, it’s likely that he will slow, but good baserunning instincts are always valuable.
This will be an interesting offseason for Jenista. Presumably he will go the instructional leagues for his first real extended time with Braves development, and the player that emerges from that process should have a more well-rounded offensive game, with more power and a better chance against left-handed pitchers.
Life on the Farm
DSL: Soggy weather ended up postponing or cancelling 4 games over the course of last week, but between the raindrops the Braves went 3-1 despite only getting 10 runs total from the offense. The team got standout performances from Eudi Asencio (two starts, 8 IP, 2 ER, 7 SO) and Rainiery Rodriguez (1 start, 5 IP, 0 ER 3 SO) and a bullpen that only allowed 1 earned run in 16 innings pitched.
GCL: The GCL Braves took it on the chin in the win/loss column this week, going 1-5 on the week that included a 17-2 loss to the Pirates. LHP Miguel Jerez entered this week with a sparkling 1.75 ERA, but was thrashed in two starts, giving up 13 earned runs in 6.1 innings to ballooon his ERA to 3.76. The other starting pitchers also stumbled to varying degrees with the exception being two scoreless innings pitched over two re-hab outings by Patrick Weigel.
The offense was paced by outfielder Jeremy Fernandez, who continued an impressive run this season with a .318/.318/.500 week and slugging his 8th home run of the season.
DANVILLE: The D-Braves had a very disappointing 1-6 week that tumbled the team from 3 games behind first place Princeton to 8 games out and torpedoing any thoughts of postseason play. Starting pitching was not sharp on the whole, though Tanner Lawson and Trey Riley contributed three short scoreless outings. Reliever Connor Simmons did his best to hold games together however, appearing in three games and throwing 4.1 innings and only allowing 2 baserunners and striking out 6. Simmons now has 5 consecutive scoreless outings after a tough start to the season.
Like the pitching, the offense was largely ineffective this week. Utilityman Nicholas Shumpert has taken the opportunity provided by expanded playing time thanks to promotions and injuries and provided a .400 OBP this week including his 2nd home run of the season while filling in at shortstop and centerfield.
ROME: Rome stumbled though the first part of a 7-game road trip to the northern outposts of the South Atlantic League and going 1-5 on the week. Pitching was a mixed bag as the team got strong starts from Jasseel De La Cruz and Alan Rangel, but Odalvi Javier, Keith Weisenberg, and Freddy Tarnok endured nightmare outings. They weren’t helped by the team defense which tallied 9 errors this week leading to 7 unearned runs.
On the offensive side, shortstop AJ Graffanino continued his strong run with a .360/.385/.520 batting line with 4 doubles, while newcomer Trey Harris is starting to find his stride at the plate, hitting .300/.400/.450 for the week with 3 doubles.
FLORIDA: The Fire Frogs went 2-5 on the week, only getting an average of 2 runs from the offense a game and wasting good starts from Connor Johnstone and emergency starter Filyer Sanchez, who drove over from the GCL complex to throw 5 innings and allow only 1 earned run.
The offense was lead by infielders Marcus Mooney (.462/.533/.538) and Riley Delgado (.385/.467/.423) but the big hitters were all squelched. Catcher William Contreras came into the week as one of the hottest hitters in the Florida State League, but could only manage 3 hits. Outfielder Greyson Jenista had a rough first full week with the Frogs and is only hitting .167/.219/.233 with two extra base hits.
MISSISSIPPI: The M-Braves returned home to face Chattanooga this week after being rained out in their final game at Jacksonville. Mississippi did manage to take four out of five from the Lookouts to move them to within 3 1/2 games of Pensacola in the Southern League South Division at 29-24. The standout pitching performance of the week was Kyle Muller‘s seven-inning shutout on Saturday where he struck out five while giving up five hits and walking none. Ricardo Sanchez had a nice bounce-back start on Wednesday after being knocked out of his previous start with a hand injury. Sanchez went 6.1 innings, giving up just two unearned runs on seven hits while striking out eight and walking no one.
The offense couldn’t get much going this week. Although they scored ten runs in the second doubleheader game on Saturday, the M-Braves totaled just eight runs in their other four games of the week. Outfielder Cristian Pache continued to pace the offense with a .333/.400/.389 week. Travis Demeritte had a second consecutive big week in going 7-for-17 with a double, home run and four RBI (.412/.444/.647).
GWINNETT: The Stripers finished off their New York road trip before returning home to go 5-2 versus Louisville and Buffalo on the week. Touki Toussaint finished off the week with an outing that will most likely be sandwiched between Atlanta starts. Touki continued to toy with AAA hitters, giving up just one run in six innings while striking out nine. The good news for Gwinnett was that this was only the third-best start for the Stripers this week. Kyle Wright pitched seven shutout innings in a Monday win, striking out eight while just allowing one hit and one walk. That start was dwarfed by Bryse Wilson‘s Wednesday performance, which was arguably one of the best performances anywhere in baseball this season. Wilson pitched eight shutout innings, allowing just one hit and no walks while striking out 13, a Gwinnett record. This effort garnered Wilson a game score of 99.
The offense only managed 25 runs across their seven games on the week, making offense standouts tough to come by. Outfielders Lane Adams (5-for-13) and Michael Reed (6-for-15) had good weeks while sharing time in a crowded outfield with Danny Santana, Dustin Peterson and Rio Ruiz. Ruiz also had a solid week, going 7-for-22 with two doubles and two RBI. Catcher Alex Jackson continued his usual pattern of not getting many hits but making them count by going just 3-for-12, but with two doubles and two RBI. 3B Austin Riley had a tough week in going 4-for-26 (.154) with three of those hits coming in one game. In addition, Riley had ten strikeouts versus taking just one walk.
POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:
PITCHER of the WEEK:
Transaction Round-Up
8/13/2018: RHP Chase Whitley activated from the 7-day DL (Gwinnett)
8/18/2018: RHP Chase Whitley outrighted to Gwinnett
Whitley had a solid season with the Tampa Bay Rays out of the bullpen last season and was was a favorite to be a bullpen cog this season for the Braves, but a litany of injuries stretching back to spring training have limited the former Yankees prospect to 1 appearance for Atlanta and 13 appearances in the minor leagues including rehab outings. Even though he’s back with Gwinnett he’s apparently completely out of the Braves plans, even when the rosters expand in 13 days. This move opens up a 40-man roster spot for either another call-up or a potential trade acquisition.
8/13/2018: RHP Touki Toussaint selected by the Atlanta Braves; promoted to Atlanta from Gwinnett
8/14/2018: RHP Touki Toussaint returned to Gwinnett from Atlanta
The most significant transaction this week was the addition of Toussaint to the 40-man roster and his major league debut in a start against Miami on Tuesday. Toussaint was the 26th-man for a doubleheader so he technically wasn’t optioned back. Toussaint overcame some wildness to hold Miami to only 1 run on 2 hits in 6 innings pitched.
8/13/2018: RHP Madinson Colon released from the DSL Braves
8/17/2018: OF Antonio Sucre activated from restricted list (DSL Braves)
Colon was reinstated just last week from the restricted list after serving a year-long suspension for PED use and did not get into a game in the five days he was an official part of the squad.
Sucre was one of the 13 international players that MLB emancipated from the Braves as sanctions for rules violations. He joins fellow outfielder Brandol Mezquit as the only two of the 13 that ended up re-signing with the Braves.
8/14/2018: RHP Patrick Weigel sent to GCL Braves on rehab assignment
The #14 OFR prospect got his first game action since June 2017 this week, working in Kissimmee on his way back from TJS. The results have been strong so far, and Jason Woodell of Prospects1500 was at his outing on Saturday to give us a look.
Patrick Weigel looks good today. Here is the CB. Working all 4 pitches in a 1-2-3 first inning, striking out the side
FB 95
CB 77 below
SL 84
CH – didn't get velo but he got swing and miss with it#Braves #Chopon #Rehab pic.twitter.com/uGMcxQ2Ons— Jason Woodell (@JasonAtTheGame) August 18, 2018
8/16/2018: 1B Carlos Franco placed on the 7-day DL (Gwinnett)
Franco leads the Stripers in home runs and RBIs. Rio Ruiz has filled in at first base in Franco’s absence.
8/17/2018: OF Jared James released by Florida
James was a 34th-round pick in 2016 who played all season in AA Mississippi in 2017 and followed that up with a posting to the Arizona Fall League. The prospect crunch saw James assigned back to advanced-A Florida to start the 2018 season. James didn’t hit as well as expected, and isn’t a particularly good defensive outfielder. Without a stand-out tool, James played his way out of the organization despite a solid .277/.350/.409 minor league batting line.
Mailbag Q&A
Thanks to members of the Outfield Fly Rule Facebook group and fans on the Twitters for questions!
Q: What in the world are we going to do with all these guys in the upper levels of the minors killing it while we also have a pretty stacked rotation in the bigs? A 9-man rotation? – B. Rosenfelder
A: Contending teams have to go at least 8-deep in starting pitchers. Injury attrition and unforseen performance issues will force even the best teams to seek out other starting pitching options. This season has been a good example. Projected starters Brandon McCarthy and Luiz Gohara missed significant time with injuries and Foltynewicz and Teheran have both had short stints on the DL. The “first man up” was Mike Soroka, and he fell with injury in June, likely for the rest of the season. Max Fried went down with first a blister and then a line drive off his foot. Anibal Sanchez missed time with a hammy. If the Braves didn’t have the kind of starting pitcher depth they have, they wouldn’t be sniffing anything like first place in the division. And even so, the team felt compelled to go out onto the market and add Kevin Gausman.
Right now you can pencil in Sean Newcomb, Foltynewicz, Gausman, and Teheran into next year’s starting rotation. That leaves one spot for Fried, Soroka, Gohara, Touki Toussaint, Kyle Wright, Bryse Wilson, and Kolby Allard. Ian Anderson and Kyle Muller are now in AA, and Joey Wentz has only been slowed by injury. That said you can count on at least one spring training injury, some performance attrition somewhere, and likely at least a trade or two to thin out this seeming surplus.
Finally, it’s ok for pitchers who are ready to pitch in the majors to pitch in the minors. It’s not as much fun for them of course, but more seasoning never hurts especially with pitchers still in their early 20s.
Q: What are the Braves going to do with Arodys Vizciano when he comes off the DL? – M. Barham
Assuming he’s healthy, I would expect Vizcaino to get into high-leverage pitching situations, something he’s done well this season and throughout his second tenure with Atlanta. This season he is holding hitters to a .211/.318/.333 batting line against him in high-leverage situations. He would give manager Brian Snitker yet another late inning option, which is a good thing especially with AJ Minter already having surpassed his career high in innings pitched. Don’t forget too that rosters expand on September 1, which is about when I expect Vizcaino to return.
Q: What are the more likely scenarios with our catcher situation going in to the offseason? – D. Homan
The most likely is that the Braves sign or trade for a front-line catcher and a back-up. The back-up could be one of the two current catchers on the roster, Kurt Suzuki or Tyler Flowers.
Q: Which position has the least depth in the minors? Also, what is the ranking of those being trained as future utility players? – B. Grant
The position of least depth currently is middle infield. The top prospects there are headed by Florida’s Riley Delgado and Rome’s AJ Graffanino, and neither currently project as everyday major league starting infielders, though both are having very good seasons and are capable of changing those evaltuations.
Two other infielders, Mississippi’s Ray-Patrick Didder and Alejandro Salazar, would ranked behind them and both have utility upside (I wrote about both in last week’s Farm Report). Along with them, Travis Demeritte has been playing outfield all season for Mississippi in an effort to improve his utility despite being an average third baseman and above average second baseman. In Gwinnett, Rio Ruiz has been playing in both corner outfield spots and first base to improve his utility and prepare for a major league bench job.
Q: What’s your honest opinion of Austin Riley. Do you think he breaks camp with the big club next year? Or is he farther away then we’d assume with the evolution of Johan Camargo? – C. Bearden
You can find my honest opinion of Riley in my Mid-Season 2018 rankings, where I have Riley listed as the #3 prospect in the system, but in short I am very optimistic about him long-term. The rise of Johan Camargo as a legitimate major league third baseman doesn’t really impact this evaluation. If Riley hits, he’ll find a spot on a major league roster. If the Braves elect to keep Camargo at third, Riley would be athletic enough to man either outfield corner. It’s not inconcievable that Riley hits well enough down the stretch and into next spring that he forces his way into the Atlanta line-up at some point, but my feeling now is that the Braves won’t tie up a 40-man roster spot on Riley to bring him up this September, but he could factor into the Braves off-season plans in a big way.
Much like starting pitching, depth is never, ever a problem.
Q: How far away is William Contreras from catching in Atlanta? Strong Arm? Good Bat? – M. Mangan
Catchers are notoriously difficult to project an ETA for due to the additional responsibilities and difficulty of the position, but I have Contreras pencilled in with an ETA of late 2020. I think he gets another spring training invitation and a high-A assignment to start the season. If things go well early on, he could get a quick bump to Mississippi, or he could follow Brett Cumberland‘s path of staying in Florida until mid-season. He could end the season with Mississippi and position himself for a AAA assignment at some point in 2020.
You can check out the Mid-Season 2018 rankings for Contreras, who comes in at #13. Nothing has caused me to question what I wrote there, and if anything I may be selling him short. As far as his arm goes, check this out.
William Contreras shutting down the run game. Not today, Derek Hill. He doesn't care about your 80 grade speed.#ChopON #Braves #BravesSocial pic.twitter.com/IXnDnqQizQ
— Jason Woodell (@JasonAtTheGame) August 18, 2018
Q: Did the 135-pitch almost no-no affect Newcomb? – B. Johnson
I don’t think so. The team gave him extra rest after that start, and he responded with a 6-inning, 1-run performance in his next start. It is possible that the overall season grind is getting to him, and his last couple of starts his location hasn’t been particularly sharp. However, the quality of his stuff hasn’t really diminished, and even in his last start the Rockies weren’t exactly barrelling the ball against him, just performing some good situation hitting.
Q: With the recent ascension of most of our big time prospects to AAA/MLB, who are the major players to watch for AA and below? Ian Anderson and Cristian Pache are the only two I can think of off top of the head. – D. McCleave
I hate to say this again, but check out the Mid-Season 2018 prospect rankings! Lots of good prospects at the AA level and below are listed, including catcher William Contreras, outfielders Drew Waters, Greyson Jenista, and Izzy Wilson, and pitchers like Kyle Muller, Joey Wentz, and Freddy Tarnok. Also make sure you come back each Sunday to check out this very Farm Report. Note which names keep getting mentioned in the Life On The Farm section. This is a good way to perhaps get an early warning on low-minors breakout talents.
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