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.
For up-to-date draft signing coverage, check in with last week’s Sunday Farm Report, which has been kept updated with the latest news.
Minor League Park Factors: How Do They Affect the Atlanta Braves Farm Teams?
Last week, Matt Eddy of Baseball America published a piece entitled Minor League Park Factors Midseason Update (subscription highly recommended). Eddy ranked all 120 full-season minor league teams based on how many runs were scored at a particular park during the first half of the season and assigned each team a percentile ranking their offensive environment, the lowest being very pitcher-friendly and the highest being extremely hitter-friendly.
So how did the Atlanta Braves farm teams fare?
The Gwinnett Stripers of the International League use the Triple-A baseball, which is the same as the MLB baseball that is inflating power numbers at a record rate. Because of this, the Stripers’ Coolray Field ranks in the 80% percentile, which is the highest of the Braves full-season farm teams but only ranks eighth of fourteen teams in the IL due to the aggressive offensive environment. As an example, Kolby Allard (3.75 ERA) and Bryse Wilson (3.79 ERA) rank third and fourth in the IL in ERA, respectively.
The Mississippi Braves of the Southern League, however, have Trustmark Park as the fourth most pitcher-friendly park of the 120 minor league teams listed. Trustmark Park is in the 3% percentile and, surprisingly, isn’t even the most hitter-unfriendly park in their division. That honor belongs to the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp, whose park ranks as the most pitcher-friendly park in ALL of minor-league baseball. These park factors make what M-Braves outfielders Drew Waters and Cristian Pache are accomplishing on offense this season even more amazing.
The Florida Fire Frogs’ Osceola County Stadium isn’t much more hitter-friendly than Mississippi as their ballpark ranks in the 19% percentile. Even in the offense-deficient Florida State League, that ranks eighth highest out of twelve teams. That is why when one sees the likes of Austin Riley, William Contreras and Greyson Jenista getting promoted over the last few seasons with what seem to be middling offensive numbers, there is more to their promotions than just those numbers.
Finally, the Rome Braves’ home of State Mutual Stadium comes in as the most offense-neutral park among the Braves’ farm teams. Although it ranks fifth of the fourteen South Atlantic League teams, State Mutual ranks in the 51% percentile.
These park factors show that the pitching and hitting numbers among Braves prospects shouldn’t necessarily be taken at face value due to their various environments. Except, well, when in Rome.
Anderson and Walker Combine For No-Hitter
What makes Ian Anderson one of the most exciting pitchers in the Braves farm system is that on any given night, if all the pitches are working, he can have no-hit stuff. Last season he pitched 7.2 no-hit innings for the Fire Frogs on August 1, 2018 before Brandon White lost the no-hitter and the game in extra innings. Anderson had better luck with his tag-team partner Friday night as he combined with right-hander Jeremy Walker for the third no-hitter in Mississippi Braves history, taking out the Jackson Generals by a score of 2-0.
Anderson was absolutely dominant, striking out a career-high 14 batters in 7 innings while only allowing 2 walks and a hit-batsman. One other batter reached on a fielding error. Anderson was pulled after his pitch count crept over to 100 mark, but Walker did not allow a baserunner in his two innings of work, getting four groundouts sandwiched between two strikeouts.
This is the second no-hitter this season for Braves minor leaguers following on the heals of Jasseel De La Cruz‘s complete-game no-no for Florida in May. One common factor between those two games is that they were both caught by prospect William Contreras.
For Mississippi, it was the first no-hitter since Julio Teheran and Ty’Relle Harris combined for one on August 2, 2010.
In the Ian Anderson/Jeremy Walker combined no-hitter for Mississippi on Friday, the 27 outs came from…
16 strikeouts
9 groundouts
1 infield fly ball
1 fly out caught by Cristian Pache in foul territoryZERO balls hit to the outfield in fair territory. That’s domination.
— Matt Chrietzberg (@BravesMattC) June 29, 2019
Life On the Farm
DSL BRAVES:
The Braves went 3-3 on the week, getting strong starting pitching from Osiris Sierra (5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 8 K) and Reibyn Corona (5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 4 K) and four scoreless innings of relief from lefty Lisandro Santos in a piggyback role.
Outfielder Deivi Estrada was the outstanding offensive performer, going 8-for-20 on the week with 3 walks, a double, and a stolen base.
GCL BRAVES:
The Gulf Coast League cranked up their schedule this week and the Braves got off to a rough start, going 1-4, including a 9-17 loss on opening day. Offense will likely be an up-and-down affair all season as the position player average age on the team is 18.7 years old, young even for this level. 18-year-old second baseman Eliezel Stevens, coming up after a solid rookie DSL campaign in 2018, only got 4 hits this week but made them count, notching a home run and two doubles. Third-round 2019 pick Michael Harris showed out the best among the young draftees, going 5-for-14 with 2 walks. Outfielder Brandol Mezquita went 5-for-13 with three walks.
Right-handed reliever Carlos De La Cruz appeared in two games and did not allow a run in 3 innings, continuing a strong season that started in the DSL earlier in the month. A slew of pitchers made their pro debuts, with Chad Bryant, Justin Yeager, Ricky DeVito, and Kasey Kalich starting their careers without allowing a run.
DANVILLE:
The D-Braves went 3-3 this week, with first baseman Bryce Ball following up his Appalachian League Player of the Week honors with three more home runs to bring his season (and pro career) total up to 5 in only 9 games. Otherwise offense was a little harder to come by this week, though infielders Beau Philip and Cody Birdsong both notched their first professional home runs.
The standout pitching performance this week came from 2018 30th-rounder Mitch Stallings, who tossed 6 innings of 2-hit, scoreless baseball, striking out a career high 11 batters. Reliever Alex Aquino struck out 3 in 3 scoreless innings over two outings, while right-hander Cameron Kurz pitched two scoreless in his only outing to earn a save.
ROME:
Rome went 5-2 on the week to take a piece of the SAL South Division lead. The surge was keyed by an offense that scored 30 runs over the 7 games, lead by outfielder Justin Dean who now has a 7-game hitting streak and went 9-for-26 on the week including a game lead-off homer on Saturday night. Shortstop Braden Shewmake has been on fire as well, now with an 8-game hitting streak, including his first pro home run on Tuesday, and between Dean and Shewmake the two top-of-order batters scored 18 of Rome’s 30 runs this week.
Clean-up hitter and first baseman Griffin Benson also seems to be hitting his stride after an up-and-down first half of the season, going .412/.476/.647 this week with a home run.
Right-hander Odalvi Javier provided the top starting pitching performance for the team this week, going 7 innings and giving up 3 runs (2 earned) in a loss to Charleston. Right-hander Victor Vodnik was solid in his second start of the season, going 4 innings and surrendering 2-runs in a win over Charleston, stretching out to 71 pitches in the process but also apparently developing a blister issue that ended up landing him on the 7-day injured list. Righty William Woods pitched 4 hitless innings over 2 appearances.
FLORIDA:
The Fire Frogs went 2-4 this week, ending a 5-game losing streak on Thursday against Palm Beach. That win was keyed by a strong 6 inning starting pitching performance from righty Matt Hartman who gave up 2 runs (0 earned), allowing relievers Daysbel Hernandez and Kurt Hoekstra to sew it up with 3 combined scorless. On Saturday, the Frogs got a herculean starting performance from Brooks Wilson, who tossed 7 innings of one-hit ball. Righthander Nolan Kingham had two tough outings this week, though he gutted through 8 innings on Friday night to keep the Frogs in the game before they lost in extra innings. Lefthander Hayden Deal surrendered more than 3 earned runs in a start for the first time on Wednesday, and over his last three starts he has a 6.94 ERA in 11.2 innings as he approaches his career high in innings pitched.
On a positive note, right-hander Tristan Beck is making his way back from a groin injury that has kept him on the injured list since late April, throwing 4 scoreless innings for the GCL Braves in a rehab start.
The inconsistent starting pitching sabotaged several strong offensive performances. Trey Harris hit .353/.500/.412 this week with a double, while fellow outfielder Jefrey Ramos hit .391/.423/.391. Catcher Logan Brown, like Harris, has not slowed at all after promotion and after going 7-for-22 this week is now sporting a .300/.355/.377 batting line on the season.
MISSISSIPPI:
The Mississippi Braves went 5-2 in a week where they scored just 26 runs but only gave up 17 because of standout starting pitching. The best effort of the week of course went to Ian Anderson, who combined with Jeremy Walker for a no-hitter on Friday night. Tucker Davidson (6 IP), Joey Wentz (6 IP) and even spot starter Connor Johnstone (5.1 IP) tossed scoreless starts while Kyle Muller gave up just one run in five innings on Sunday although he followed that up with a 6.1 inning, six-run effort on Saturday. For the relievers, Jeremy Walker threw three scoreless innings over two outings on his way to earning two saves. Claudio Custodio also had two scoreless outings while Connor Johnstone also had a two-inning scoreless relief appearance to go along with his impressive spot start. Thomas Burrows gave up one run over four innings while striking out five.
As the M-Braves averaged fewer than four runs per game on the week, there wasn’t a lot to talk about on the offensive side of the ball. Infielder Riley Unroe actually led the team in hits this week with twelve in a .462/.500/.538 week. Outfielder Cristian Pache still did fairly well with an 8-for-29 week with six of the hits being for extra bases (.276/.300/.552). Drew Waters, however, had one of his worst weeks of the season with a 3-for-18 week with just one double and seven strikeouts. Catcher William Contreras (.214/.353/.214) and outfielder Greyson Jenista (.182/.400/.364) continue to adjust to the more advanced pitching of the Southern League.
GWINNETT:
The Gwinnett Stripers come off a 5-2 week where they scored 50 runs while giving up just 29. The offense was led by outfielder Adam Duvall, who had five home runs and an eye-popping 15 RBI on his way to a .385/.500/1.000 hitting line and earning OFR Position Player of the Week honors. He also struck out just four times in 32 plate appearances. Fellow outfielder Travis Demeritte wasn’t too far behind with a .444/.565/.722 before leaving Friday night’s game after being hit on his left hand by a pitch. Two more outfielders, Ryan Lamarre (six-game hitting streak, .458/.542/.625) and Rafael Ortega (eight-game hitting streak, .333/.438/.630), also turned in impressive efforts on the week. Catcher Alex Jackson had perhaps the most Alex Jackson week ever in going 3-for-14 with all his hits being home runs to go along with six strikeouts.
Three Gwinnett starting pitchers turned in impressive efforts on the week, led by Kyle Wright’s best start of the season on Friday night. He went 7.2 innings, giving up just one run on a walk and three hits while striking out eight. The recently optioned Mike Foltynewicz followed that up on Saturday with a 7.2 inning, five-hit one-run outing where he struck out eight and walked just one. Kolby Allard turned in a fourth consecutive quality start on Sunday, allowing just one run in six innings and now has an ERA of 2.00 and a WHIP of 1.074 in those four starts. Patrick Weigel continued to build up his endurance with a five-inning, three-run start on Monday where he threw 75 pitches.
For the relievers, Jose Rafael De Paula had three scoreless and hitless outings. Wes Parsons only had one appearance, but he went 3.1 scoreless innings in relief of Huascar Ynoa on Wednesday. Shane Carle, however, had two poor outings where he gave up four runs and allowed eight baserunners in just 2.1 innings. Dan Winkler was only scored upon in one of his three outings, but he allowed seven baserunners in just 3.1 innings.
Congratulations go out to Gwinnett reliever Ben Rowan and and Demeritte for being selected for the International League All-Star team.
POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:
PITCHER of the WEEK:
Transaction Round-Up
6/24/2019: C Denzel Bryson assigned to GCL Braves
6/26/2019: RHP James Acuna, 29th-round draft pick, signed and assigned to GCL Braves
6/26/2019: RHP Kasey Kalich assigned to GCL Braves
6/24/2019: LHP Gabriel Rodriguez placed on 60-day IL for GCL Braves
6/24/2019: OF Wilton De La Cruz and IF Luis Ovando released from GCL Braves
Lots of roster shuffling in the GCL early last week. Bryson was signed to a futures contract back in November out of Aruba. Bryson was the star player of the Netherlands’ European Under-18 championship team last season.
Kalich had been floating in transnational limbo awaiting assignment, and alighted here briefly before moving on to Rome later in the week.
Acuna is coming off an injury that limited him his junior year at Azusa Pacific to three appearances. They didn’t place him on the injured list, which implied that they believe he should be able to throw in games.
Reports were strong on Rodriguez, a 31st-round pick in 2018, but a trip to the 60-day IL isn’t a good sign. The Braves moved Rodriguez from the infield to the mound after drafting him and he was touching 100 mph last year in games.
Finally the Braves said goodbye to De La Cruz and Ovando. De La Cruz never appeared in a game after signing with Atlanta in the 2017/18 international signing period as a 16-year-old out of the Dominican Republic. Assigned to the DSL last season, De La Cruz spent the entire season on the 60-day disabled list. Ovando on the other other hand has spent the last three seasons with the organization in the DSL and GCL, his best season his first, hitting .270/.335/.360 split between the two leagues.
6/28/2019: RHP Kasey Kalich promoted to A Rome from GCL Braves
6/28/2019: RHP Victor Vodnik placed on 7-day injuried list for A Rome
Kalich finally gets to Rome, but it comes at the expense of Vodnik, who was just getting acclimated to the Rome rotation before a blister issues forced him to the IL.
Leave a Reply