Tuesday Atlanta Braves Farm Report, 9/3/2019

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. Typically out every Sunday during the minor league season, we decided to hold this one until today so we could report on the last minor league regular season games. This will be the last report for the year, but check in with us throughout the offseason for analysis, including our Top 50 Prospects List, coming in November.

Be sure to check out the OFR Farm Report Podcast, new episode available now!

Braves Hoarding Lefties

The Braves have made a number of moves throughout the season and particularly at the trade deadline to shore up the bullpen, adding names such as Anthony Swarzak, Shane Greene, Chris Martin and Mark Melancon. One concerning factor is that although this has stabilized the bullpen, nearly all of the moves have been from the right-handed side. On the left-handed side of the board, the only arms currently in the Atlanta bullpen are Sean Newcomb and Jerry Blevins. Although Newcomb started off strong when he was moved to the pen, he has become increasingly shaky as demonstrated by an 8.03 ERA and five home runs allowed in 12.1 innings since July 28^th. Blevins would make a nice LOOGY specialist with his .167/.268/.250 line against lefties, but he has been little-used this season and usually not in that role with only 26.2 innings pitched since April 28^th and just 5.2 innings during the month of August.

Coming into the season, Corbin Clouse and Thomas Burrows were considered options that could help in Atlanta this season, but Clouse has been injured for much of the year and Burrows was moved down to Mississippi at the trade deadline due to ineffectiveness and an overcrowded Gwinnett bullpen. Because of this, the Braves have been quietly gathering left-handed relief options at Gwinnett.

• A.J. Minter has had a couple of chances in Atlanta this season but has been at Gwinnett since the trade deadline. He was walking 7.6 batters per 9 IP in Atlanta but is now down to 1.2 per nine at Gwinnett. The question is, can he be trusted in a high-leverage situation?
• Grant Dayton has a 2.16 ERA in ten Atlanta appearances but is currently on the 60-day injured list due to a broken toe suffered during a game of catch with Chad Sobotka. He does have a 3.04 ERA and 2.34 xFIP in 22 games with Gwinnett this season with a 13.8 K/9 and just a 1.4 BB/9.
• Tyler Matzek, a 2009 first-round draft pick, was recently signed as a free agent and has nasty stuff when he can control it. In five AAA outings, he has a 9.00 ERA in 10 IP with five walks and 13 strikeouts.
• Philip Pfeifer found a new lease on life as a starting pitcher at High-A Florida and continued that success at AA Mississippi. However, he was moved to the bullpen when he was promoted to Gwinnett in late August. In 7.1 AAA innings, he has a 2.45 ERA with 13 strikeouts against just three walks.
• Caleb Thielbar was acquired from the Detroit Tigers for cash considerations on August 30^th. Since he has not pitched in MLB this season and was not on an MLB contract, he is potentially eligible for the Braves postseason roster. In 78.1 MiLB innings this season, he has a 3.22 ERA with a 10.8 K/9 and a 1.8 BB/9.

The Braves have several weeks to sort through these options but the Gwinnett season could be over as soon as Friday (9/6), so they will mainly have to trust their scouting and evaluations to determine who, if any, among these options could play a key role on the postseason roster.

Seven Braves Heading to Arizona Fall League

The Braves this season will be feeding the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League along with the Mets, Phillies, Giants, and Blue Jays. Play begins earlier this year, starting on Wednesday, September 18 with the championship game scheduled for Saturday October 26.

This year’s Braves contingent includes Mississippi outfielders Greyson Jenista and Trey Harris, though Jenista is expected to play first base for the Scorpions in order to get him feature-level at-bats. Rome outfielder Justin Dean and Florida outfielder Garrison Schwartz will fill out the position player delegation.

On the pitching side, Atlanta will send four relievers. Fire Frogs teammates Brandon White and Daysbel Hernandez and Mississippi righties Brad Roney and Connor Johnstone will try to fill in the innings gaps for Scottsdale.

Lewallyn Retires

Forty-eight years after being selected in the 3rd round of the 1971 draft by the Atlanta Braves, Mississippi Braves pitching coach Dennis Lewallyn is retiring from professional baseball. Lewallyn didn’t end up signing with Atlanta out of high school, choosing instead to go to junior college and re-enter the draft the following year. It was a good decision, as Lewallyn would end up getting drafted in the first round by Dodgers in the January supplemental draft in 1972.

Nevertheless, Lewallyn would end up leaving his mark on the Braves organization in any case, albeit decades later.

Lewallyn would pitch in the majors in parts of eight seasons with Los Angeles, Texas, and Cleveland. Lewallyn would serve as a minor league pitching coordinator for the Dodgers for most of the 80’s, but got his first pitching coach assignment in the Diamondbacks organization in 1996. It was there that Lewallyn first started getting accolades following his assistance in turning right-hander Brad Penny into a top-5 prospect.

Lewallyn bolstered his reputation with a strong 4-year stint as the pitching coach with the Tennessee Smokies from 2007-2010, followed by a two year period of being the Cubs minor league pitching coordinator. Wanting to return to the dugout, Lewallyn joined the Braves organization, and has served as the pitching coach for Mississippi for the last six years, absent a one-year stint in 2017 as pitching coach for the Florida Fire Frogs.

In his six years in the Braves organization, Lewallyn had the reputation for diagnosing the missing ingredient to get prospects to the next level of performance. Sometimes it’s a new pitch, like Touki Toussaint‘s split-finger change-up. Sometimes it’s getting a pitcher to think about a pitch differently, like getting Alex Wood to rely on his plus curveball as a strikeout option more often. Sometimes it’s just a mindset, like getting Mike Soroka to pitch more aggressively.

While the results of the Braves rebuild effort won’t be completely seen for years to come, if successful a lot of the success should be given to the team’s revamped minor league development system, and at the tip of that spear has been Coach Llewallyn. Here’s to a happy retirement.

GCL BRAVES:

The GCL Braves got two games in last week before the threat of Hurricane Dorian cancelled the rest of the Gulf Coast League schedule. The Braves split the two games against the Pirates, putting their final record at 18-31. The team was remarkably young this year, even by rookie league standards, and it was not uncommon to see a Braves line-up composed completely of teenage players.

Three of those teenagers in particular finished strong. First baseman Mahki Backstrom went 4-for-7 with 2 doubles, while outfielder Brandol Mezquita went 5-for-11 with 4 walks while right-hander Estarlin Rodriguez pitched 4.1 hitless relief innings to earn the last win of the season.

Here are the top performers for the season:

1. OF Michael Harris – .349/.403/.514, 1 HR, 6 SB, 161 wRC+
2. SS Vaughn Grissom – .287/.361/.400, 3 HR, 3 SB, 120 wRC+
3. OF Brandol Mezquita – .246/.350/.280, 1 HR, 6 SB, 93 wRC+

1. RHP Zach Seipel – 3.45 ERA/3.35 FIP, 31.1 IP, 33 SO
2. RHP Carlos De La Cruz – 3.65 ERA/3.79 FIP, 24.2 IP, 10 SO
3. LHP Davis Schwab – 3.68 ERA/3.78 FIP, 22 IP, 20 SO

DANVILLE:

Danville concluded their schedule going 3-1 in the final week, and 7-4 in the final two weeks. Left-hander Lisandro Santos concluded a strong 5-game look in the Danville rotation, throwing 5 innings of 2-hit ball, giving up 1 run and striking out 7. Since being promoted from the DSL, Santos pitched to a 1.14 ERA in 23.2 innings over 5 starts, striking out 26. Another lefty, Filyer Sanchez, finished up a successful campaign with 3.1 scorless innings in relief. Converted infielder Alex Aquino pitched 2 scoreless innings and finished the season with a 3.60 ERA in 20 IP for Danville, striking out 22 and allowing only a .152/.260/.242 batting line against.

Third baseman Cody Birdsong, 32nd-round pick in 2019, concluded his first pro season on a high now, going 5-for-12 with a home run; after a tough start to the season, Birdsong hit .310/.363/.440 in August with 2 homers. Also finishing strong was first baseman Mason Berne, going 7-for-17 with a home run of his own. Berne has hit .341/.400/.455 in 13 games since being promoted up to Danville in mid-August.

Here are the top performers for the season:

1. OF Michael Harris – .349/.403/.514, 1 HR, 6 SB, 161 wRC+
2. SS Vaughn Grissom – .287/.361/.400, 3 HR, 3 SB, 120 wRC+
3. OF Brandol Mezquita – .246/.350/.280, 1 HR, 6 SB, 93 wRC+

1. RHP Mitch Stallings – 2.25 ERA/1.90 FIP, 56.0 IP, 69 SO
2. LHP Filyer Sanchez – 3.09 ERA/4.56 FIP, 43.2 IP, 27 SO
3. RHP Zach Daniels – 4.93 ERA/3.92 FIP, 34.2 IP, 38 SO

ROME:

Rome finished the season going 4-5, not nearly good enough to win their division against Augusta, who won their final six games to make the playoffs running away. Rome finished the second half with a with a 35-35 record and an overall mark of 65-74. Rome was eliminated from playoff play on Friday.

Starting pitching was strong down the stretch, including two starts by Dilmer Mejia, pitching 11 innings and allowing only 4 runs and nabbing OFR Pitcher of the Week honors.. Mejia finished out the season with a 2.66 ERA, good enough for second in the South Atlantic League among qualified pitchers. Right-hander Mitch Stallings pitched 8 scoreless innings in his final start of the season. In three starts down the stretch with Rome after being promoted from Danville, Stallings has made an impression, allowing only three earned runs in those starts. Right-handers Ricky DeVito and William Woods also closed out the season strong.

Another Danville call-up, Bryce Ball, stayed hot as well. Ball launched 3 home runs in his final 8 games, giving him 4 in the 20 games he played with Rome, finishing with a .337/.367/.547 batting line in that stretch. Catcher Shea Langeliers also continued his hot streak, going on a 14-for-31 run to close out his first pro season. Third baseman Brendan Venter has also made the most of expanded playing time in August, hitting .329/.446/.541 with 2 homers since August 1st. Outfielder Connor Blair only got two hits in limited action since being promoted from Danville, but he made the count, hitting a double and a homer.

Second baseman Greg Cullen and outfield Justin Dean were also named as SAL post-season All-Stars.

Here are the top performers for the season.

1. OF Justin Dean – .284/.386/.431, 9 HR, 47 SB, 141 wRC+
2. 2B Greg Cullen – .270/.393/.401, 9 HR, 2 SB, 138 wRC+
3. 1B Griffin Benson – .208/.318/.392, 13 HR, 1 SB, 110 wRC+

1. LHP Dilmer Mejia – 2.66 ERA/3.43 FIP, 118.1 IP, 96 SO
2. RHP Odalvi Javier – 3.78 ERA/4.63 FIP, 121.1 IP, 101 SO
3. RHP Jose Olague – 4.02 ERA/4.02 FIP, 132.0 IP, 68 SO

FLORIDA:

The Fire Frogs went 3-2 in the last week of the season before Hurricane Dorian cancelled the last series of the year at Palm Beach, and all of the rest of the Florida State League as well. That brought Florida’s record to 54-82, and amazingly that .397 winning percentage is the best in the franchise’s three-year history playing in Kissimmee. Now the owners of the club will continue to look for a new venue for the club in 2020 after Osceola County bought them out of their stadium lease.

Shortstop Riley Delgado finished the season well, going 6-for-19 with 3 RBI and 3 runs scored, and being named as the team’s lone representative on the Florida State League’s Postseason All-Star team. Right-hander Odalvi Javier finished off his first crack at advanced-A with 6 shutout innings, lowering his ERA to 3.28 in 24.2 innings.

Here are the top performers for the season:

1. IF Kevin Josephina – .258/.310/.349, 0 HR, 4 SB, 97 wRC+
2. IF Riley Delgado – .282/.324/.323, 0 HR, 1 SB, 95 wRC+
3. OF Jefrey Ramos – .241/.291/.352, 9 HR, 1 SB, 92 wRC+

1. LHP Philip Pfefier – 3.23 ERA/2.72 FIP, 92 IP, 110 SO
2. LHP Hayden Deal – 3.24 ERA/3.24 FIP, 119.1 IP, 99 SO
3. RHP Nolan Kingham – 4.43 ERA/3.26 FIP, 113.2 IP, 84 SO

MISSISSIPPI:

The M-Braves wrapped up their season with two straight wins after losing six of their previous seven to finish up with a 64-75 record. Starting pitching was in short supply as the rotation was reduced to Nolan Kingham, a pitch-limited Jasseel De La Cruz and organizational arm/gunslinger-types Jonathan Aro, Connor Johnstone and Claudio Custodio. Kingham had two solid starts highlighted by a MiLB-leading fourth complete game on Sunday where he gave up just two runs on four hits. In addition, he walked in all four of his plate appearances. Jasseel De La Cruz had another solid, but short, start in giving up just one run on two hits in five innings of work. Brad Roney highlighted the relief corps with two runs allowed in four innings of work but struck out eight in doing so.

Outfielder Connor Lien finished up strong with a .370/.469/.815 week in which he had three doubles, three home runs and even two outfield assists, snagging OFR Player of the Week honors. Infielder Riley Unroe also showed out with a .355/.412/.613 week in which he had four extra-base hits. Outfielder Lane Adams, however, ended his season on a sour note with a 2-for-20 week and a .077/.182/.083 line during his Mississippi tenure.

Finally, outfielder Drew Waters was named the Southern League Most Valuable Player. At age 20, he’s the youngest SL MVP since 2005. He was also named to the Postseason All-Star team along with outfielder Cristian Pache and left-hander Tucker Davidson. All three were promoted to AAA Gwinnett in early August.

Here are the top performers for the season:

1. OF Drew Waters – .319/.366/.481, 5 HR, 13 SB, 144 wRC+
2. OF Cristian Pache – .278/.340/.474, 11 HR, 8 SB, 134 wRC+
3. 1B Ryan Casteel – .263/.334/.477, 21 HR, 0 SB, 133 wRC+

1. LHP Tucker Davidson – 2.03 ERA/3.01 FIP, 110.2 IP, 122 SO
2. RHP Ian Anderson – 2.68 ERA/2.91 FIP, 111.0 IP, 147 SO
3. LHP Kyle Muller – 3.14 ERA/3.14 FIP, 111.2 IP, 120 SO

GWINNETT:

The Gwinnett Stripers had plenty to celebrate last week as they clinched a playoff berth on Friday night and got to double their fun on Saturday as they claimed the International League South division title. They begin their playoff march on Wednesday, September 4^th, with a best three-out-of-five series against the Columbus Clippers. Gwinnett finished up 5-4 for this period while both scoring and giving up 53 runs.

Gwinnett continued to receive solid starting pitching from their top two guys, Kyle Wright and Bryse Wilson. Wright won both of his starts on the week and gave up just two runs in twelve innings while Wilson won his lone start in giving up just two runs over seven innings while striking out nine. Wilson finished the season leading the International League in ERA (3.42) and WHIP (1.21), tied for second in wins (10) and seventh in strikeouts (118). None of the starting pitchers for any of the other six starts for the week even cleared the five-inning threshold with Touki Toussaint having the worst of it, giving up 18 baserunners and ten runs over a total of six innings of work in two starts. Among the relievers, Darren O’Day made his first two appearances for Gwinnett and tossed scoreless innings in each of them. Philip Pfeifer made his first three AAA appearances of the season and gave up just two runs over 7.1 innings while striking out 13. Caleb Thielbar made his Gwinnett debut by tossing two scoreless frames on Saturday while fellow lefty Tyler Matzek wasn’t as fortunate in getting hammered in two of his three outings for the week. Sean Kazmar even got in the act twice during the week during blowouts and managed two scoreless innings of work.

With all the runs the Stripers scored, a number of position players rang up big numbers on offense including Johan Camargo (.520/.571/.760), Cristian Pache (.367/.424/.633), Alex Jackson (.313/.353/.938) and Adam Duvall (.364/.548/.909). Austin Riley made his AAA rehab debut with a .267/.313/.367 line and three doubles although he did not hit any home runs in 32 plate appearances. OF Drew Waters finished his season on a flat note with a .194/.256/.306 line with 15 strikeouts in 39 plate appearances.

Duvall was named to the International League Postseason All-Star team, while manager Damon Berryhill won the league’s Manager of the Year award, the first Braves AAA manager so honored since Grady Little in 1995 for the Richmond Braves.

Here are the top performers for the season:

1. OF Travis Demeritte – .286/.387/.558, 20 HR, 4 SB, 144 wRC+
2. OF Adam Duvall – .266/.364/.602, 32 HR, 1 SB, 134 wRC+
3. OF Rafael Ortega – .285/.373/.524, 21 HR, 14 SB, 133 wRC+

1. RHP Bryse Wilson – 3.42 ERA/3.42 FIP, 121.0 IP, 118 SO
2. RHP Kyle Wright – 4.17 ERA/4.32 FIP, 112.1 IP, 116 SO
3. LHP Kolby Allard – 4.17 ERA/4.65 FIP, 110.0 IP, 98 SO

POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:

PITCHER of the WEEK:

Transaction Round-Up

8/25/2019: LHP Phil Pfeifer promoted to AAA Gwinnett from AA Mississippi
8/25/2019: RHP Jose Rafael De Paula assigned to AA Mississippi from AAA Gwinnett

In a little bit of a surprise, the Braves promoted Pfeifer to Gwinnett to work out of the bullpen after he reinvented himself as a starting pitcher over the last five months. With left-handed reliever depth in fairly short supply, the Braves seem to be trying to figure out what their options are.

8/26/2019: C Alex Jackson assigned to AAA Gwinnett
8/26/2019: 1B Lucas Duda released from AAA Gwinnett

Rather than reassign catcher Jonathan Morales back to AA Mississippi for the week to make room for Jackson, the Braves elected instead to cut Duda, a force off the bench down the stretch for the team last year but seemingly a shell of himself with first the Royals then with the Stripers.

8/26/2019: SS Dansby Swanson activated from the 10-day injured list for MLB Atlanta
8/26/2019: OF Adam Duvall optioned to AAA Gwinnett from MLB Atlanta
8/26/2019: RHP Ben Rowen assigned to Rk Danville from AAA Gwinnett

Atlanta doesn’t have many players with options right now, so Duvall was sent back to Gwinnett until the rosters expand, where on Tuesday he became the first player in Gwinnett history to hit 30 home runs in a season.

8/28/2019: SS AJ Graffanino sent on rehab assignment to the GCL Braves

It has been a lost year for Graffanino, the Braves 8th-round pick in 2018. Graffanino was injured on Opening Day, and it looked like he was going to return to action about three weeks later when he was felled by a GI tract problem. Finally ready for a rehab assignment, the GCL was cancelled by weather associated with Hurricane Dorian.

8/31/2019: LHP Caleb Thielbar traded by the Detroit Tigers to the Atlanta Braves; assigned to AAA Gwinnett

As discussed in the feature above, Thielbar bolsters the Braves left-handed bullpen options.

9/1/2019: IF Johan Camargo, RHP Chad Sobotka, RHP Jeremy Walker recalled to MLB Atlanta from AAA Gwinnett
9/1/2019: RHP Ben Rowen promoted to AAA Gwinnett from Rk Danville

Along with activating Brian McCann from the IL, the Braves bolstered their bench and bullpen depth when rosters expanded. Expect more players to get recalled as the month progresses as needed or when the Gwinnett playoff run ends.

Mailbag Q&A

Thanks to fans on the Outfield Fly Rule Facebook group and Twitter for great questions all year!

Q: Darren O’Day has been great in very limited opportunities on his rehab assignment. I believe he’s playoff roster eligible being on the 60-day IL. If so, is he the secret weapon who will lock down the late innings for Atlanta through the playoffs, helping us win a World Series? Or will he never see the light O’Day for the ATL (but we’ll manage to win the the World Series anyway, of course)? Or somewhere in between? – M. Smith

A: Darren’s o’day may come sometime, but at this point I don’t see him as a postseason option barring injury to someone else. The Braves have a slew of right-handed relief options, including possibly Mike Foltynewicz when presumably the Braves go to a three- or four-man rotation for the playoffs.

Q: Chances of us ever seeing Braxton Davidson at the major league level? – T. Childers

A: It’s been a tough road for Davidson, who continued to have complications after suffering a foot injury while rounding the bases after hitting a championship-clinching walk-off home run for Peoria in last year’s Arizona Fall League. He had to have a second surgery on the foot in July that ended any chance of his return to the field this year. Davidson will be 23 years old next season, and he will be a minor league free agent after the 2020 season unless he’s placed on a 40-man roster before then. Even when healthy he was a bat-first slugger who was confined to first, left, or right, and shaky defensively in the last two positions.

That all said, Davidson did some nice work late in the 2018 season and in the AFL. The chances are really, really slim but they aren’t zero.

Q: Biggest risers next season, excluding Victor Vodnik? – A. Cohen

A: I don’t know why you’d ever exclude Vodnik, but hey, it’s your question. But here’s some guys that I think have the opportunity to turn heads next year, and for fun I chose someone at each level.

1. Tucker Davidson. While I’ve long liked Davidson, I felt like some of the Baseball America-lead hype on him after his 2017 season in Rome was a little overblown, but he took his game to another level in 2019 and has a shot at making the majors before the end of the year. While I think he returns to the Gwinnett rotation to start next year, I expect him to spend significant time in Atlanta as well.

2. Greyson Jenista. It’s been a tough year for Jenista, the Braves’ 2018 2nd-rounder, working through a swing change in the offensively-challenging Florida State and Southern Leagues. He’ll continue that work in the Arizona Fall League, and I think it will pay big dividends for the slugger in 2020.

3. Freddy Tarnok. It’s easy to forget Tarnok is still learning the finer points of his craft after being drafted as a raw converted shortstop out of high school in 2017. Still only 20 years old, Tarnok finished a tough season strong, pitching to a 2.98 ERA in 8 starts after returning from an IL stint in July.

4. Jake Higginbotham. I don’t think a quick rise for Justin Dean would be much of surprise to anyone, so I’ll choose the lefty out of Clemson. Higginbotham was a workhorse in the Rome bullpen, throwing 58.2 innings in 33 games, striking out 63. He’s been especially strong in the second half, pitching to a 2.42 ERA in more spaced-out, longer outings. I would not be surprised to see Higginbotham follow the road cleared by fellow lefty Hayden Deal from the Rome bullpen to the Florida rotation.

1. Beau Philip. The stats aren’t particularly pretty for the 2nd-round 2019 pick in his first pro season, but I’m impressed with the overall package of tools. He’s already likely a top 3 defensive shortstop in the organization, and he has already started on a swing change to try to offset some of his groundball tendencies.

2. All of the prep kids from the 2019 draft. Michael Harris, Stephen Paolini, Vaughn Grissom, Tyler Owens, Jared Johnson, Joey Estes, Mahki Backstrom, and Kadon Morton specifically. Harris and Owens look like they have the most polish and may be the best bets for being quick risers, but all of them have intriguing raw talent.