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.
Be sure to check out the OFR Farm Report Podcast, coming out this Tuesday!
Four Top Prospects Promoted to Gwinnett
Last Monday the Braves took a big step toward getting their next wave of top prospects closer to the major leagues, promoting AA Mississippi stand-outs Cristian Pache, Drew Waters, Ian Anderson, and Tucker Davidson to AAA Gwinnett.
Pache, Waters, and Anderson were listed 1-2-3 on the OFR Mid-Season Top 30 Prospect List last month, with Davidson coming in at #12 and leading the Southern League in ERA at the time of his promotion. The move puts all four players in the position of possibly helping the big league Braves down the stretch this season, though the move should probably looked at more in the context of 2020. Both Anderson and Davidson should challenge for Atlanta rotation spots in 2020 behind young starters Mike Soroka and Max Fried. After those two, Dallas Keuchel will be a free agent, the Braves will have to decide to exercise a $12 million option for Julio Teheran, and Mike Foltynewicz‘s future will likely be largely determined on his performance through the rest of this season. The Braves will also likely look at the free agent and trade markets this off-season to bolster pitching depth, but Anderson and Davidson will join Bryse Wilson, Touki Toussaint, and Kyle Wright has high-upside internal options.
Pache and Waters likewise have the opportunity to play themselves firmly into the Braves 2020 outfield plans. While Ronald Acuña Jr. has become one of the best players in the National League, the other two outfield spots could be ripe for turnover. The play of Ender Inciarte and Nick Markakis has been inconsistent in 2019, and while Inciarte is under contract for 2020, Markakis will have a $6 million club option. Other options for the outfield include Adam Duvall, who will remain under team control and going to arbitration again after spending the bulk of the season at AAA, and converted third baseman Austin Riley. The fate of the later is complicated by the pending free agency of incumbent third baseman Josh Donaldson.
While it seems unlikely to happen to start 2020, at this point the likelihood of a young, dynamic outfield alignment that consists of Pache in centefield flanked by Acuña and Waters is becoming more and more of a possible reality.
Life On the Farm
DSL BRAVES:
So far August has been fun for the Braves and this week they won four of six games to bring their overall record to over .500. Third baseman Jose Dillone (.313/.450/.313) helped lead a balanced offensive attack this week that featured 5 line-up regulars OBP over .360. Switch-hitting Geraldo Quintero managed to hit .400/.478/.600 with two triples and a stolen base while also getting starts at second, shortstop, and centerfield.
Right-hander Rainiery Rodriguez was solid in 2 starts of 4 innings apiece, giving up one run total and striking out 9. This included being a part of a 2-0, 7-hit shutout of the A’s on Saturday. 17-year-old Ramon Linares was a part of that game as well, and the lefty pitched 3 scoreless innings this week over two outings.
GCL BRAVES:
The GCL Braves went 2-3 on another damp week that saw two games postponed and made up with doubleheaders. The highlight of the week was first baseman Mahki Backstrom‘s first professional home run, and he went 3-for-7 overall with 3 walks and a double to go along with the dinger. His first base partner Mason Berne was also hot this week, going 4-for-9.
Another highlight was 17-year-old 16th-rounder Joey Estes pitching three hitless and scoreless innings in a start on Monday. Fellow recent high school grad Jared Johnson pitched 2.1 scoreless himself.
DANVILLE:
Welp. Whatever slim hope that the D-Braves would be able to climb back into the Appalachian League playoff picture disappeared this week with the squad mired in a 5-game losing streak that dropped the team’s record to an unsightly 19-32. The losing streak contained within it a three-game shutout streak from Wednesday through Friday.
It’s not that the team team hasn’t gotten good offensive performances, but it’s almost all been in the form of singles. The team failed to hit a home run on the week, a strange turn for what should be a slugging group. In fact, the team only got 5 extra base hits all week, with Bryce Ball‘s two doubles leading the way.
Starting pitching has been largely inconsistent all season, and the team took a blow when righty Ricky DeVito was promoted mid-week to Rome. Right-hander Alec Barger had the strongest start of the week, allowing 2 earned in 5 innings. Right-hander Tyler Owens struggled in his one start this week, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits before leaving after getting 8 outs. Left-hander Lisandro Santos made his 2019 stateside debut with two starts last week, allowing 5 runs (2 earned) in a combined 8.2 innings.
ROME:
The R-Braves went 4-2 this week to keep their playoff hopes alive, including winning two of three against first-place Augusta with a fourth game of the series concluding today. In a doubleheader on Saturday, Augusta took advantage of a Braulio Vazquez error to run righty Ricky DeVito out of his Rome debut in the 4th inning. In the 5th, Augusta took advantage of a wild Trey Riley (4 walks, 1 HBP) to hang 7 runs on Rome and managed to hang on to win 10-7. Rome won the second game of the doubleheader in extra innings after right-hander Ryan Shetter and Augusta’s Seth Corry matched zeroes for 5 innings apiece. The winning run came after Vazquez attempted to sacrifice Ricardo Rodriguez, who started the inning on second base because of minor league extra inning rules, to third. The throw to first was wild, allowing Rodriguez to score on a walk-off sac bunt.
Left-hander Dilmer Mejia was the top starter of the week for Rome, holding West Virginia to 3 hits and striking out 6 in 6 scoreless innings. Right-hander William Woods has made a good transition to the rotation, and Thursday he posted up his best start of the season, going 5 scoreless innings to beat Augusta. Woods now has a 2.25 ERA in three starts covering 12 innings. 2019 4th-rounder Kasey Kalich continued his mastery of the South Atlantic League, throwing four scoreless innings over two appearances and dropping his SAL ERA to 0.63.
Second baseman Greg Cullen was named the SAL Player of the Month for July and he kept rolling this week, going .450/.577/.450 on the week out of the second spot. His costly error on Saturday aside, Braulio Vasquez also had a good week, hitting .333/.556/.583. Vazquez was forced into outfield duty on Saturday with an injury to Drew Campbell leaving the team short-handed.
FLORIDA:
The Fire Frogs dodged the raindrops to get in their full schedule this week, going 3-3, including a series win against Daytona. The starting rotation continued to remain hot even with the promotion of Nolan Kingham to AA Mississippi. Right-hander Brooks Wilson was stretched to 8 innings and over 100 pitches for the first time this season, allowing only 1 run and 6 hits. In 7 starts this season for Florida, he has only allowed more than 2 earned runs once. Hayden Deal and Matt Hartman contributed Quality Starts. Righty Odalvi Javier made his high-A debut and pitched well even though his final line score reflected 4 earned runs in 6 innings; after a second inning 2-run home run, Javier retired 11 of 13 batters before Lakeland scraped two more runs against him in the 6th.
First baseman Drew Lugbauer emerged from a three-week offensive hibernation to hit .393/.433/.786 with 3 home runs to take OFR Player of the Week honors. Catcher Logan Brown hit .318 with 2 doubles this week including a 3-for-4 performance against Daytona last Monday.
MISSISSIPPI:
The Mississippi Braves suffered blows to both the roster and their playoff chances this week as consensus MLB top 100 prospects Ian Anderson, Drew Waters and Cristian Pache were all promoted to Gwinnett on Monday along with Southern League ERA leader Tucker Davidson. They also didn’t do well on the field as they lost four out of seven games to fall 6.5 games back of Biloxi in the Southern League South division with 22 games remaining.
With the loss of Pache and Waters, the M-Braves struggled on offense in scoring just eighteen runs over seven games with three or fewer in six of them. Outfielder Trey Harris led the way with a .333/.360/.458 week while Ray-Patrick Didder, although he didn’t get many hits, got on base plenty via walk and HBP to manage a .158/.385/.158 week with four stolen bases although he had nine strikeouts. Outfielder Greyson Jenista continued his good run as of late with a .294/.400/.471 week while catcher William Contreras was 6-for-13 with two doubles. 3B CJ Alexander continued to struggle in going just 2-for-19 with nine strikeouts although his two hits were home runs that came in the same game in Jacksonville, which is the toughest pitcher’s park in MiLB. 1B Ryan Casteel also homered twice in the same game.
Philip Pfeifer (7 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 10 K) and Nolan Kingham (11 IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 6 K) each had their first two AA starts this week while Connor Johnstone did well in a spot start (5 IP, 2 ER). Jasseel De La Cruz didn’t fare as well in his lone start by giving up three runs over just 2.1 innings. Relievers Claudio Custodio, Kurt Hoekstra, Bradley Roney were not scored upon during the week and Thomas Burrows had a two-inning scoreless outing where he struck out five after being moved down from Gwinnett.
GWINNETT:
The Gwinnett Stripers didn’t enjoy great results on the field with a 2-3 record this week but they received serious reinforcements for the stretch run in the promotions of Cristian Pache, Drew Waters, Ian Anderson and Tucker Davidson from Mississippi as well as adding free-agent veteran slugger Lucas Duda to the roster. The Stripers still maintain a 2.5 game lead over Durham in the International League South division and a four-game lead over Charlotte for the wild-card spot with 22 games remaining.
Starting pitching took over the spotlight this week as Anderson made his debut with a 3 IP, 6 H, 5 R/ER, 4 BB, 5 K effort on Tuesday night in what will clearly be an adjustment period with the AAA baseball. Lefty Tucker Davidson had better luck during his debut outing in giving up just one unearned run over five innings while scattering four baserunners. Bryse Wilson had a dominant seven-inning shutout effort on Thursday and is the OFR Pitcher of the Week for the second week in a row. Wilson now has a 0.33 ERA and 0.889 WHIP over his last four starts. Kyle Wright wasn’t far behind with a six-inning, one-run start on Wednesday and now has six straight quality starts where he has a 2.08 ERA and a 0.974 WHIP during that stretch. Touki Toussaint continued to struggle with a Thursday start in which he gave up seven runs over 4.1 innings.
The relief corps didn’t fare much better this week with Wes Parsons (5 IP, 4 ER) and Corbin Clouse (2 IP, 3 ER) being scored upon in multiple outings while Chad Sobotka and Jacob Webb were each scored upon in their only appearances during the week. AJ Minter fared better with 1.1 scoreless innings over two outings with three strikeouts, no walks and a save. Patrick Weigel also did well with a scoreless two-inning stint on Monday while Huascar Ynoa pitched 3.2 scoreless innings in relief of Toussaint on Thursday.
Outfielders Drew Waters and Cristian Pache made their AAA debuts this week and paid immediate dividends as Waters was 8-for-23 with two doubles and a home run while Pache was 5-for-18 to go along with four walks. Duda completed his first week as a Striper by going 4-for-13 with a double and three walks while Pedro Florimon was 5-for-13 with a double, triple, three home runs and six RBI. Catcher Alex Jackson had a rough week in going just 2-for-13 with nine strikeouts.
POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:
PITCHER of the WEEK:
Transaction Round-Up
8/4/2019: RHP Jonathan Aro promoted to AA Mississippi from A+ Florida
8/4/2019: RHP Brandon White assigned to A+ Florida from AA Mississippi
When last we left our thrilling Transaction Round-Up, reliever Brandon White was getting his first AA promotion. That lasted about 24 hours, long enough for White to throw two scoreless for the M-Braves.
8/4/2019: LHP Kyle Muller placed on the 7-day injured list for AA Mississippi
Muller’s strained his right calf on the second throw of the game last Saturday. It came at a bad time for him; there was probably a better than average shot of him being promoted to AAA Gwinnett this week.
8/4/2019: RHP Jacob Webb activated from the 10-day injured list for MLB Atlanta; optioned to AAA Gwinnett
8/4/2019: RHP Ben Rowen assigned to AA Mississippi from AAA Gwinnett
Webb was coming off a three-week stint on the IL for a “right elbow impingement”. Webb has been fantastic in the Atlanta bullpen, but he’ll have to show he’s all-the-way back with Gwinnett.
Rowen likewise has done a very good job in the Gwinnett bullpen this season, but the ripple effect of trading for three major league relievers has pushed him down to AA for the time being.
8/5/2019: RHP Mike Foltynewicz promoted to MLB Atlanta from AAA Gwinnett
8/5/2019: RHP Ian Anderson, LHP Tucker Davidson, and OFs Cristian Pache and Drew Waters promoted to AAA Gwinnett from AA Mississippi
8/5/2019: LHP Thomas Burrows, OF Connor Lien, C Jonathan Morales, and IF Riley Unroe assigned to AA Mississippi from AAA Gwinnett
The much-anticipated promotion of the top 3 prospects in the Braves system (as well as the well-regarded Davidson) was the big news of week. All four now have a month to make an impression for possibly being added to the 40-man roster and a September call-up — which could translate to a spot on the Atlanta postseason roster.
8/5/2019: 1B Lucas Duda signs with the Atlanta Braves; assigned to AAA Gwinnett
Duda will be another contender for a September roster spot. The veteran had a poor season with Kansas City, but was a spark for the Braves down the stretch and in the postseason last year.
8/5/2019: RHP Nolan Kingham promoted to AA Mississippi from A+ Florida
8/5/2019: RHP Odalvi Javier promoted to A+ Florida from A Rome
8/5/2019: RHP Ricky DeVito promoted to A Rome from Rk Danville
More ripples from the trades and promotions. Kingham has been fairly inconsistanct as a Fire Frog, but the highs were particularly high, including a minor league leading 3 complete-game shutouts. He’s off to a strong start with his new team.
Javier finally gets the call to high-A after throwing 247 innings for Rome over the last two seasons. DeVito was recently made the OFR #30 prospect, and his made his A-ball debut on Saturday.
8/6/2019: OF Jose Bermudez placed on the 7-day injured list for A Rome
8/6/2019: 1B/C Hagen Owenby activated from the 7-day injured list for A Rome
The injury comes at a bad time for Bermudez, who was having the best stretch of his pro career, hitting .316/.362/.439 since the beginning of July. On the other hand, Rome could use the power infusion that the return of Owenby could potentially give them.
8/8/2019: RHP Jeremy Walker recalled to MLB Atlanta from AAA Gwinnett
8/9/2019: RHP Jose Rafael De Paula activated from the 7-day injured list for AAA Gwinnett
8/9/2019: RHP Jeremy Walker option to AAA Gwinnett
8/9/2019: RHP Patrick Weigel recalled to MLB Atlanta from AAA Gwinnett
Instead of calling up another bat (for now), the Braves replaced the injured Austin Riley with an extra arm. Walker did his job well, pitching three innings in relief of a struggling Dallas Keuchel, and was then switched out for Patrick Weigel’s fresh arm, though he is still waiting his turn to pitch his first major league inning.
The roster opening allowed Gwinnett to activate De Paula, who has been a strong performer but has been sidelined by injuries all season.
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