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. The Dominican Summer League season has come to a close, and this week we look at the standouts on the team, Mississippi and Gwinnett get hot down the stretch, plus another 20-year-old prospect made his major league debut.
{Editor note: OFR Contributor Matt Chrietzberg also contributed to this post. – CJ}
Player Review: The DSL Braves
The Dominican Summer League is essentially a camp for young baseball professionals. For the players it’s a chance to learn not only the fundamentals of baseball, but also to take classes and engage in for many the first serious structured baseball play. For teams, it’s a chance to develop raw but hopefully talented young players who in many cases have been scouted and recruited mostly on the basis of tryouts and workouts.
For the Braves, this DSL season marks the first class of young Latin American players signed under the weight of restrictions brought about by Atlanta choosing to go over their international bonus pool limit in the 2016/17 signing period. Note: these restrictions are the normal penalties for going over the bonus pool limits. The more onerous penalties brought on by MLB sanctions in November don’t kick in until the 2019/20 period. With the Braves limited to maximum $300,000 signing bonuses, the players tend to run more raw than the prior several periods that saw the likes of Ozzie Albies, Ronald Acuña, Juan Yepez, Cristian Pache, Derian Cruz, and Kevin Maitan skip or have abbreviated stays in the DSL.
Here’s the players that stood out this season.
Infield
Two 17-year-olds, second baseman Eliezel Stevens and shortstop Carlos Paraguate, were the standout players in the infield. Stevens was signed late in the 2017/18 signing period, but emerged from a crowded infield to lead the team in extra base hits and also contribute 11 stolen bases. Paraquate was an early signee back in July 2017 and was regarded as a solid catch for the Braves. He’s lived up to that early billing by being the most consistent offensive player in the line-up most of the season, hitting .350/.391/.413 in July before fading down the stretch. Paraquate also has the makings of a quality middle infielder and should be able to stick at shortstop.
Outfield
Asmin Bautista was perhaps the biggest recruit in the 2017/18 signing class for Atlanta and he showed solid power and a strong outfield arm. He doesn’t turn 18 until October and could probably still grow another inch or two of height. Brandol Mezquita was one of the 13 Braves prospects made free agents as part of MLB sanctions, but re-signed with Atlanta in May. He just turned 17 last month but finished second on the team behind Stevens in OPS and played a solid centerfield.
Catcher
The catching corps were anchored by two 19-year-old DSL veterans, Enmanuel Guitian and Sergio Ordonez, with Guitian demonstrating solid plate discipline. The better prospect however may be 17-year-old Kevin Pena, who only appeared in 16 games but showed off more advanced receiving skills and a good arm.
Pitching
Evaluating anything off statlines is a dicey proposition, but the most extreme version of that is trying to statline scout DSL pitching. The Braves got solid starting pitching all season from Eudi Asencio, Jose Olague, Estarlin Rodriguez, and Oscar Nunez (until Nunez’s season ended with injury). Of that group however, Olague demonstrated superior control and solid strikeout numbers, putting up a 5:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Two other pitchers that showed out were Javier Ciriaco and lefty Lisandro Santos and both received mid-season bumps up to the GCL.
TOP 5 2018 DSL BRAVES PROSPECTS:
1. Carlos Paraguate, SS
2. Jose Olague, RHP
3. Asmin Bautista, OF
4. Eliezel Stevens, 2B
5. Eudi Asencio, RHP
Life on the Farm
DSL: The Braves completed their schedule on Saturday extending a five-game losing streak to drop their record to 22-47 on the season, tied for the third worst mark in the Dominican Summer League. The primary culprit for the poor record was the offense, as the team only collectively hit .195/.310/.257 and had the second-worst OPS in the league. The pitching was below average if more respectable, the team finishing with a 3.98 ERA and allowing 5.89 runs per 9 innings. The difference between those two numbers reflect the number of unearned runs the team allowed, and the team finished with the second-lowest fielding percentage in the DSL.
The final week of the season did see somewhat of a break-out for third baseman Yerangel Medina, who went 6-for-17 with two doubles. Right-hander Jose Olague closed out the season with two strong starts, combining to pitch 10 innings and allow 2 runs (1 earned) and strike out 7.
GCL: The GCL Braves likewise had a tough end to their schedule, going 2-5 this week to drop their final record to 22-32, the third-worst mark in the league. The pitching was the primary culprit this season, with the team posting a 4.73 ERA that was third-worst in the GCL, and a 5.60 runs/9 mark that reflected a 13th-ranked fielding percentage. The offensive production was roughly league-average with the team posting a .242/.317/.364 batting line. The squad did hit 37 home runs, tied for second in the league. Come back to Outfield Fly Rule later this week for a more extensive breakdown the the GCL Braves.
Third baseman Darling Florentino finished out the season with his third home run of the season, joined by first baseman Ray Hernandez, catcher Logan Brown, and outfielder Charles Reyes in the long-ball column. Hernandez went 4-for-9 this week but did not play in the team’s final three games.
On the pitching side, right-hander Javier Ciriaco finished off an impressive third season in the organization with 9 strikeouts in six innings, including his second start. Starters Luis De Jesus and Albinson Volquez each also pitched 6 shutout innings in their final starts for the GCL, and the rehabbing Patrick Weigel pitched his fourth scoreless inning on Saturday.
DANVILLE: The D-Braves continued their August swoon, going 2-4 this week and dropping to 32-32 on the season, now 9 games behind first place Princeton and eliminated from the possibility of postseason play.
Starting pitching, a relative strength for the squad earlier in the season, has faded down the stretch with Matt Rowland, Tanner Lawson, and Jose Montilla struggling this week. Only newly-named Appalachian League Pitcher of the Year Dilmer Mejia was able to post a Quality Start for Danville, going six innings against Princeton on Friday. Relievers Jack Higginbotham, Bradey Welsh, Tanner Allison, Mason McReaken, Zach Guth, and Zach Seipel provided a combined 11.1 scoreless innings.
Michael Mateja got some substantial playing time this week in left field and third base and responded by going 8-for-17. Nicholas Shumpert has also responded well with increased playing time and went 11-for-31 with three doubles and two triples. Other offensive stand-outs this week including outfielder Henry Quintero (10-for-25), second baseman Greg Cullen (7-for-24, 1 HR), outfielder Justin Smith (5-for-16, HR), and first baseman Nicholas Vizcaino (7-for-20, 4 doubles).
ROME: The R-Braves salvaged a tough northern road trip with two wins at Delmarva this week before returning to start an 8-game homestand, going 3-2 on the week with one rain cancellation. Rome finishes out the regular season schedule with a three-game set in Asheville before the playoffs start on Wednesday, September 5 at the Southern Division 2nd-half champion.
The offense was lead this week by the trio of Hagen Owenby, who has stopped the revolving door at first base for now and who went 8-for-20 this week with a homer; catcher Drew Lugbauer, who went 6-for-18 with three doubles; and outfielder Trey Harris who went 7-for-20 with three doubles and also made this beauty of a play Saturday night.
The fireworks before the fireworks tonight. Trey Harris with a leaping catch in right field that is sure to be #SCTop10 worthy.
😉😉@espn @SportsCenter pic.twitter.com/rxcLL3vlsy
— Rome Emperors (@GoEmperors) August 26, 2018
The Braves continue to get strong performance from starter Alan Rangel, who after a tough June has put together a stretch of 9 starts where he’s posted a 1.94 ERA and a .213/.288/.271 batting line against him. This week he threw 7 shutout innings in Delmarva. Rome also got quality starts from Keith Weisenberg and Walter Borkovich, who returned to Rome after 17 shut-out innings in three starts for the Florida Fire Frogs. Borkovich replaces right-hander Jasseel De La Cruz in the rotation, who went on the DL for the second time this season.
FLORIDA: This week saw the Frogs reel off wins at Lakeland and then at home against Jupiter, but end the week on a four-game losing streak despite very strong outings this week from starters Tucker Davidson and Jeremy Walker. Davidson threw in two starts and 13.1 shutout innings, allowing only 7 hits and 1 walk while striking out 13. Walker threw is his own 7 shutout innings, and as with last season in Rome both pitchers are doing their best work down the stretch. Florida also got a quality start from Albinson Volquez Saturday night in his first appearance out of the rookie leagues. Unfortunately, a lot of the good work put in the rotation was undone by untimely bullpen meltdowns and inconsistent offense.
The one player that last sentence doesn’t apply is third baseman CJ Alexander, who continues to put him remarkable numbers in his third stop up the organizational ladder since being drafted. This week he hit .478/.538/.696 on the week and socked his first high-A home run. This week left Alexander hitting .377/.406/.525 in 15 games with Florida and .373/.441/.525 over three minor league levels. Outfielder Drew Waters saw a 9-game hitting streak come to an end Saturday, but hit .292/.370/.500 overall this week.
The Fire Frogs are 20-38 in the second-half standings and 49-75 overall. They will finish off the season with an 8-games-in-7-day road trip starting Monday.
MISSISSIPPI: The M-Braves continued their improvement in the second half of the season, going 4-2 for the week during a rain-slogged series in Mobile before returning home to begin their final homestand of the season versus first-place Biloxi. Mississippi is now 33-26 in the second half, just a half-game behind Biloxi in the South Division with three games left in the series before embarking on a season-ending road trip to last-place Jacksonville.
A couple of starting pitching prospects turned in fine performances this week: Ricardo Sanchez gave up just one earned run over 5.2 innings while striking out six and walking no one in a Wednesday victory while Kyle Muller earned his fourth win against no losses in a Saturday night win where he gave up just one run over six innings before wearing down in the heat and humidity. The pitching performance of the week, however, belonged to LHP Michael Mader, who threw seven shutout innings in Friday night’s win. Mader gave up six hits and four walks but mitigated any damage. LH reliever Thomas Burrows had a couple of good outings with 3.1 shutout innings and a save on the week while striking out four.
CF Cristian Pache continued his good offensive work in AA, going 7-for-23 on the week with a double, home run and two RBI. LF Travis Demeritte was just 4-for-18 for the week, but three of the hits were doubles including a bases-loaded job on Saturday, accounting for all of the offense in a 3-1 win. Utility infielder Luiz Valezuela kept up a hot August, going 7-for-16 with two doubles.
GWINNETT: The Stripers played well this week despite having to play three doubleheaders on the week, going 5-3. That brought them up to .500 on the season at 65-65, which puts them in third place in the International League South Division, seven games back of Durham. The dominant pitching performance of the week belonged to, not surprisingly, Touki Toussaint. Toussaint continued to treat AAA hitting in the same manner that the Harlem Globetrotters toy with the Washington Generals on an ongoing basis. Touki pitched seven shutout innings, allowing just four baserunners while striking out eight for an 82 game score in a Thursday win. Kyle Wright had another good performance on Sunday by pitching seven innings while allowing just two runs on five hits. Luiz Gohara had a nice performance in a doubleheader-game win on Wednesday, giving up two runs in 5.2 innings. The Saturday doubleheader provided a couple of surprises: in game one, which was being treated as a bullpen game, Kyle Wright pitched a shutout sixth inning. Is this to manage his innings or to prep him for relief work at the MLB level in the near-term? Time will tell. Peter Moylan and Brandon McCarthy each threw shutout innings in game two during rehab assignments to prepare them to join the Atlanta bullpen in time for September roster expansion.
Hitting stars were everywhere for Gwinnett this week as the offense generated forty runs over eight games. 3B Austin Riley rediscovered his power stroke in leading the way by going 7-for-24 with two doubles, four home runs and seven RBI en route to a .292/.320/.708 week. OF Michael Reed played sparingly due to being in Atlanta for part of the week, but did what he does best, getting base hits and striking out. Reed was 6-for-13 on the week with four strikeouts. Rio Ruiz was only 5-for-20 during the week but had two home runs and a team-leading nine RBI on a .250/.348/.600 week with only one strikeout in 23 plate appearances. Utilityman Phil Gosselin also made a significant contribution, going 6-for-14 with three doubles and six RBI.
All was not sunshine and flowers with the offense, though, as three Stripers endured tough weeks. SS Luis Marte was just 2-for-26 with eight strikeouts, C Alex Jackson was 1-for-13 with seven strikeouts and OF Lane Adams was 0-for-14 with ten strikeouts on the week.
Gwinnett continues to play at Charlotte through Monday before heading home to finish out the season with series against Norfolk and Charlotte.
POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:
PITCHER of the WEEK:
Transaction Round-Up
8/20/2018: RHP Bryse Wilson selected by the Atlanta Braves; promoted to Atlanta from Gwinnett
8/21/2018: RHP Bryse Wilson transferred to Gwinnett from Atlanta
It was just a spot start but in a season where the Braves have debuted many of their best young pitchers, Wilson’s was arguably the most impressive. Wilson pitched 5 shut-out innings against the Pirates, giving up 3 hits and 3 walks while striking out 5.
8/20/2018: IF Ryan Flaherty designated for assignment
8/21/2018: OF Michael Reed promoted to Atlanta from Gwinnett
8/22/2018: IF Ryan Flaherty outrighted to Gwinnett
After a hot start to the season, Flaherty had been floundering at the plate in a pinch-hitting role, going 0-for-18 before his designation. Flaherty chose not declare free agency, as would have been his right, and instead reported to AAA Gwinnett. There appears to be a good chance that he could bring his veteran presence back to Atlanta after the rosters expand on September 1.
8/22/2018: C Chris Stewart selected by the Atlanta Braves; promoted from to Atlanta from Gwinnett
8/22/2018: C Sal Giardina promoted to Gwinnett from Mississippi
While Kurt Suzuki avoided having to go on the DL after getting plunked in the arm in Pittsburgh, but probably couldn’t be counted on to catch for the next couple days. So back up comes Chris Stewart, the veteran catcher who signed late in spring training and has been toiling quietly in Gwinnett all season long.
Sal Giardina gets a trip back to AAA. It capped an eventful week for the Mustachioed One as he also came in to pitch in a game against Chattanooga last Thursday and DJ’d in the clubhouse during a rainout.
When you get a rainout in August….. you turn the clubhouse into Tomorrowland! #mississippiland #djmustachio @milbgrinders @HARDWELL pic.twitter.com/ddqJxTdgdg
— Sal Giardina † (@sGIARDINA21) August 22, 2018
8/22/2018: OF Michael Reed optioned to Gwinnett
8/23/2018: OF Xavier Avery transferred to Mississippi to Gwinnett
The Suzuki/Stewart situations forced the Braves to send Reed back down to make room for Stewart in Atlanta. With Flaherty on Gwinnett’s roster, that created a roster crunch and Avery was the victim. Avery has been a Gwinnett stalwart the last two seasons.
8/22/2018: RHP Jasseel De La Cruz placed on 7-day DL (Rome)
8/22/2018: RHP Walker Borkovich transferred to Rome from Florida
8/22/2018: LHP Filyer Sanchez promoted to Florida from GCL Braves
It’s not often that you see a pitcher promoted in order to stretch him out as a starter, but that seems to be what happened with Borkovich, Rome’s most consistent relief pitcher for much of the season. He was promoted to Florida to get stretched as a starter and produced this line: 3 starts, 17 innings pitched, 12 hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, 12 strikeouts.
Sanchez got his second emergency start for the Fire Frogs, who play right down the road from the Disney complex where the GCL Braves play. That has to be very convenient for Braves evaluators and medical personnel.
8/22/2018: Shairon Bennett signed as an international amateur free agent to a futures contract
Bennett becomes the 11th player signed by the Braves in the 2018/19 signing period.
8/25/2018: RHP Albinson Volquez promoted to Florida from the GCL Braves
8/25/2018: LHP Filyer Sanchez transferred to Danville from Florida
The end of the short seasons leagues and the Fire Frogs far from postseason consideration looks like a prime opportunity to bring up a couple of the older GCL players like Volquez and Sanchez to see what they can do against better hitters and pitching in front of better defenses. Volquez acquitted himself well in Saturday’s start and was relieved in the game by recent GCL teammates Victor Cavalieri and Alex Camacho.
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