Team Review 2018: Mississippi Braves

The 2018 Mississippi Braves continued their vital developmental role in the Atlanta Braves organization by featuring a new manager in Jackson, Mississippi native and former St. Louis Cardinals coach Chris Maloney, the return of esteemed pitching coach Dennis Lewallyn from the Florida Fire Frogs, and the addition of hitting coach Carlos Mendez from the Fire Frogs. From a competitive standpoint, the Mississippi Braves achieved middling results on the field with a 67-71 record. However, from a player development standpoint, the season should be considered a rousing success.

Starting Pitching

Three of the five starting pitchers on the Mississippi Braves opening day roster are now pitching in Atlanta (Kyle Wright, Touki Toussaint, Max Fried) while a fourth (Wes Parsons) got a cup of coffee with the big club. Max Fried, a victim of a numbers game to start the season, was promoted to Gwinnett after just one start once a fifth starter was needed in Atlanta. However, he was replaced shortly afterwards by Bryse Wilson, who had dominated the Florida State League in his brief tenure there.

As a team, they ranked well in the Southern League for many categories including ERA (2^nd out of ten teams), home runs (1^st, courtesy of the home run graveyard that is Trustmark Park) and strikeouts (4^th). However, the M-Braves staff ranked poorly in other categories like walks (9^th), wild pitches (10^th) and WHIP (9^th).

Touki Toussaint, the Atlanta Braves Minor League Pitcher of the Year, led the way with a 2.93 ERA in 86 innings over 16 starts, 11.2 strikeouts per nine innings and reduced his walks per nine to 3.8 under the tutelage of Lewallyn. Kyle Wright, who tied for the team lead in starts with 20, overcame some early-season troubles in his first full season of pro ball to compile a 3.70 ERA in 109.1 innings with 8.6 strikeouts per nine innings while allowing just six home runs. Bryse Wilson made quick adjustments in his 15-start stint in Mississippi, allowing just 12 earned runs in his final nine starts while striking out 60 and walking just 12 before moving on to Gwinnett. Wes Parsons had a miniscule 1.23 ERA in seven starts before being promoted to Gwinnett in mid-May. Enderson Franco did a great job as a minor-league veteran anchor for the staff, spending the season with the club outside of one spot start for Gwinnett. Franco parlayed 20 starts and eight relief appearances over 127.2 innings into a 3.95 ERA with a 9.2 K/9 rate while walking only three per nine innings.

The starting staff endured a major upheaval within a few days in late July with the promotions of Wilson and Wright and the trade of Bruce Zimmermann to Baltimore in the Kevin Gausman deal. However, the team received elite reinforcements from Florida in Kyle Muller and Ian Anderson. Muller went 4-1 in five starts with a 3.10 ERA while Anderson was 2-1 in four starts with a 2.33 ERA as they helped to keep the M-Braves in the second-half playoff race into the last week of the season.

Relief Pitching

Mississippi saw a number of fine relievers pass through AA this season: from the left side, Thomas Burrows (1.42 ERA, 0.842 WHIP, six saves in 15 appearances), Corbin Clouse (1.84 ERA in 38 appearances) and Adam McCreery (3.83 ERA and 61 strikeouts in 47 innings) all made significant contributions. Elian Leyva (2.69 ERA in 60.1 IP), Chad Sobotka (1.93 ERA, 1.036 WHIP and six saves in 22 games), Jacob Webb (3.18 ERA and seven saves in 21 games) and Jason Hursh (2.81 ERA and seven saves in 14 games) led the way for the right-handers.

Catcher

Alex Jackson was utilized as the M-Braves primary catcher in 2018 and he got off to a quick start, going 7-for-18 in his first five games (along with a home run on April 8^th) of the season before his offense went completely off the rails. Jackson would not hit another home run until May 30^th and tallied only a total of five before his promotion to Gwinnett in mid-July. He finished his Mississippi tenure with a .200/.282/.329 line, a 31% strikeout rate and a 73 wRC+. As bad as his offense was, there was improvement on the defensive side of the ball as he caught 31% of potential basestealers, contributing to Mississippi catchers having a 38% caught stealing rate, leading the Southern League and allowing just 88 stolen bases, third in the league.

Once Jackson departed, Carlos Martinez took on the bulk of the catching duties until Jonathan Morales came down from Gwinnett in early August to split the duties. Neither provided much pop with the bat, but they did a great job keeping opposing baserunners honest as Martinez had a 43% CS rate while Morales topped that at 46%.

Infield

The Mississippi infield at the beginning of the season consisted of top prospect Austin Riley at third base, surrounded by minor-league veterans Michael Snyder at first base, Alay Lago at second and Cleuluis Rondon at shortstop. This setup didn’t last long as Snyder was put on the DL in mid-April and never seen again, Rondon was released in late May and Lago was cut loose in mid-July.

Tyler Marlette took over the majority of the first base duties for the rest of the season and finished second on the team in home runs (12) and RBI (52) while being named a Southern League All-Star.

Alejandro Salazar was promoted from Florida in early July and soon took over second base duties with some time mixed in at third base. He committed only four errors in 43 starts at second base while handling the bat fairly well with a .301/.330/.355 line.

Once Rondon was released, shortstop passed through several hands for the rest of the season with success from Luis Valenzuela (.282 average, 32 starts at SS, 27 at 2B, 17 at 3B), Luis Marte (.313/.353/.412 with only three errors in 40 games before being promoted to Gwinnett) and Ray-Patrick Didder. Didder took over the position in the middle of July after being promoted from Florida, where he had an undistinguished .209 batting average, .309 OBP and 17 errors. However, he excelled upon his promotion, hitting .275 with a .373 OBP and showing good skill at the position. This progress, combined with stealing 27 bases in 32 attempts, helped earn him an assignment to the Arizona Fall League.

Austin Riley took up where he left off in 2017 at third base, hitting .333/.394/.677 with six home runs and 20 RBI in only 27 games, earning a quick promotion to Gwinnett after just a month at Mississippi. Third base turned into a committee for the rest of the season with Daniel Lockhart, Luis Valenzuela and Alejandro Salazar all logging time there in a nondescript manner.

Outfield

The Mississippi outfield at the onset of the season was second-year M-Brave Travis Demeritte in left field, minor-league veteran Michael Reed in center field and the returning Tyler Neslony in right field.

Demeritte, who spent 2017 playing second and third base, played in the outfield for the first time in his career and spent the entire season there. He looked better as the season wore on and only committed three errors all season while recording four assists. Offensively, he outperformed his 2017 numbers (17 home runs, 63 RBI, .732 OPS) in being named Mississippi Braves Player of the Year by the big-league club.

Michael Reed, who had brief MLB stints with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2015 and 2016, was signed as a minor-league free agent and it paid off in a big way. In 44 games, he put up a .314/.446/.493 line with a 170 wRC+ before being promoted to Gwinnett by Memorial Day and eventually working his way to Atlanta later in the season. Center field became somewhat of a revolving door until Cristian Pache was promoted from Florida for the final month of the season. He started off quickly with seven multi-hit games in his first 13 with Mississippi, but tired out by the end of the campaign in going 1-for-22 with nine strikeouts in his last eight games of the season. Pache will get a bit of a break before reporting to instructional league and his Arizona Fall League assignment.

Tyler Neslony held down right field for the M-Braves all season long and led the team in outfield assists with seven, in addition to being named to the Southern League All-Star team as a reserve.

With elite talents like Cristian Pache, Ian Anderson, Kyle Muller presumably returning to Mississippi to start 2019 and possible additions like Joey Wentz, Greyson Jenista, William Contreras, Drew Waters and others over the course of 2019, the Mississippi Braves will once again be at the forefront of talent development in the Atlanta Braves organization.