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.
Also be sure to check out the OFR Farm Report Podcast where we discuss these events and give opinions and commentary.
Top First Half Performers
AUGUSTA:
Position Player: Cade Bunnell, IF
.230/.391/.460 | 135 wRC+ | 9 HR | 8 SB | 20.7 BB% | 34.3 K%
Starting Pitcher: Joey Estes, RHP
2.25 ERA | 3.16 FIP | 12 G, 12 GS | 58.0 IP | 2.48 BB/9 | 10.71 K/9
Relief Pitcher: Justin Yeager, RHP
3.27 ERA | 3.27 FIP | 17 G, 0 GS | 58.0 IP | 3.68 BB/9 | 14.32 K/9
ROME:
Position Player: Jesse Franklin, OF
.269/.339/.572 | 139 wRC+ | 15 HR | 15 SB | 9.0 BB% | 26.2 K%
Starting Pitcher: Bryce Elder, RHP
2.60 ERA | 3.34 FIP | 9 G, 9 GS | 45.0 IP | 4.00 BB/9 | 111.00 K/9
Relief Pitcher: Indigo Diaz, RHP
1.00 ERA | 0.57 FIP | 18 G, 0 GS | 27.0 IP | 2.33 BB/9 | 18.00 K/9
MISSISSIPPI:
Position Player: Shea Langeliers, C
.249/.338/.508 | 130 wRC+ | 14 HR | 1 SB | 10.5 BB% | 26.5 K%
Starting Pitcher: Nolan Kingham, RHP
2.29 ERA | 3.23 FIP | 9 G, 9 GS | 55.0 IP | 1.47 BB/9 | 6.05 K/9
Relief Pitcher: Troy Bacon, RHP
2.13 ERA | 2.98 FIP | 20 G, 0 GS | 25.1 IP | 2.84 BB/9 | 8.88 K/9
GWINNETT:
Position Player: Orlando Arcia, IF
.303/.380/.552 | 145 wRC+ | 13 HR | 5 SB | 10.9 BB% | 10.9 K%
Starting Pitcher: Kyle Muller, LHP
3.92 ERA | 4.13 FIP | 9 G, 9 GS | 41.1 IP | 4.57 BB/9 | 12.19 K/9
Relief Pitcher: Dylan Lee, LHP
2.42 ERA | 3.90 FIP | 18 G, 0 GS | 26.0 IP | 1.04 BB/9 | 8.65 K/9
Weekly Round-Up
FCL BRAVES:
Rain did the Braves in for the back half of the week, so they were only able to get three games in, going 1-2. In one of those losses they were no-hit by the Twins in a rain-shortened 6-inning game.
Right-hander Rainiery Rodríguez continued to be the brightest point on the pitching staff, going 5 innings in his second consecutive start, allowing 1 run on 4 hits, striking out 5 and walking none. Converted third baseman-turned-reliever Darling Florentino had his first scoreless outing of his young pitching career, pitching 2 innings and earning a save. Righty Frankelvin Vidal pitched four scoreless innings of relief.
The Braves only scored 7 runs in their three games, but OF Brandol Mezquita continues to be a stand out performer in a week where he turned 20 years old, going 4-for-8 with a walk and a triple.
AUGUSTA:
Mayday! Mayday! The USS GreenJacket went down with all hands this week, getting swept in a six game series on the road to division leader Charleston. To add insult to injury, the Jackets lost Saturday in a miserable 0-22 catastrophe, and then followed that up with a 2-14 loss on Sunday. The disaster dropped their record to 28-37 on the season and last place in the South Division.
The one unequivocal piece of good news was the return of infielder Vaughn Grissom from the injured list, and he responded by hitting .375/.583/.500 in the three games he played with 4 walks and a double. After that hits were few and far between, though catcher Victor De Hoyos, outfielder Brandon Parker, and infielder Cade Bunnell each homered.
The pitching staff as a whole was absolutely torched by the Tampa low-A affiliate, with the nadir being reliever Zach Seipel‘s 10 earned runs allowed in 3 innings over two appearances. The one highlight was the return of right-handed fireballer Roddery Munoz from the injured list to pitch 3.2 shut-out innings on Friday.
ROME:
Rome’s home series against Greensboro went nearly has bad as Augusta’s as they dropped 5 of 6 to the Grasshoppers, dropping them into fourth place in the South Division at 33-33.
The bats mostly disappeared as the Braves only scored 23 runs over the 6 games. The exceptions were outfielders Andrew Mortiz (7-for-12, two doubles) and Jesse Franklin (5-for-18, a double, triple, and homer). Coincidentally, or perhaps not, first baseman Bryce Ball continued to show signs he was coming out of his season-long slump with 2 doubles on Tuesday before getting getting traded to Chicago on Thursday. Second baseman Cody Milligan went 8-for-23 with 4 walks and 2 stolen bases out of the lead-off spot, and reserve catcher Rusber Estrada had another home run, his fourth of the month. Outfielder Michael Harris continued his mini-slump; he is now only batting .191/.283/.298 since the calendar flipped to July.
The starting rotation had a good turn this week. Lefty Jared Shuster pitched 4 scoreless innings and struck out 5, and right-hander Darius Vines allowed 1 earned run in 5 innings. Right-hander A.J. Puckett had the best start of the week, going 7 scoreless innings and allowing only 3 baserunners to earn OFR Pitcher of the Week honors and Rome’s only win of the week. Overall team defense was poor however, and there were 5 unearned runs this week, with 2 errors committed on the same play essentially costing Rome a win on Wednesday.
MISSISSIPPI:
The Mississippi Braves took to the road for their longest trip so far this season as they took on the Tennessee Smokies. After taking the first two games of the series, they dropped three of the next four to come out with a series split. The M-Braves now return home with a 40-26 record to take on the last-place Biloxi Shuckers with an opportunity to extend their current four-game first-place lead.
The M-Braves offense did not have any dominating performances this week but had several significant contributors: catcher Shea Langeliers had three multi-hit games during a .300/.364/.450 week, outfielder Trey Harris hit safely in all six games and now has a seven-game hitting streak as well as hitting safely in 13 of his last 14 games. Outfielder Justin Dean hit safely in all five of his games during a .286/.375/.429 week while striking out only four times. Greyson Jenista started getting more playing time in the outfield with the trade of Tyler Neslony and an injury to Jefrey Ramos. He paid immediate dividends with a .304/.407/.565 week. Unfortunately, Drew Lugbauer followed up his prior week’s OFR Position Player of the Week performance by going 1-for-19 with 13 strikeouts and four walks.
The starting pitching was once again led by Bryce Elder, who followed up his seven-inning no-hit start with another seven-inning effort in which he gave up just four hits and two runs. Hayden Deal put up two more solid starts where he gave up five runs over eleven innings while notching a win. Spencer Strider made a nice follow-up start from being knocked out in the first inning of his previous one by giving up just one run over five innings while striking out six and walking just one. Victor Vodnik had the roughest start of the week, giving up four hits and four runs while being removed with two outs in the first inning.
The M-Braves bullpen received a solid contribution from their newest arm, Indigo Diaz, after he was promoted from Rome. Diaz was not as dominant as he had been in Rome but still tossed three shutout innings over two games. Matt Withrow had a nice 3.1 inning outing as a long man in relief of Vodnik. Brandon White gave up just one unearned run over 3.2 innings and striking out five while Brooks Wilson gave up two runs in two innings in his lone appearance for the week but all six hitters he retired were via strikeout. Emmanuel Ramirez took most of the damage for the bullpen this week as he gave up seven runs in just 1.2 innings.
GWINNETT:
The Gwinnett Stripers changed their fortunes this week as they paid a visit to Charlotte to face the Knights. They swept the series behind a robust offense, averaging over nine runs a game and scoring at least eleven runs four times. As a result, the Stripers have now drawn to within two games of .500 at 32-34 and crept up a bit in the standings, now 13 games out of first place. They now return home to face the last-place Norfolk Tides.
The Gwinnett offense had almost too many contributors to list but newly arrived catcher/DH William Contreras earned OFR Player of the Week honors in going 12-for-26 with three doubles, three home runs, and twelve RBI while producing a .462/.517/.923 week. Alex Jackson, the other half of the C/DH tandem, was nearly as prolific as he had three doubles, two home runs, and twelve RBI during a .269/.345/.615 week. Outfielder Travis Demeritte played in only four games but was 8-for-18 with three home runs and eight RBI as well as two outfield assists. Outfielder Drew Waters returned from the Futures Game and had a rough week in going 6-for-24 with three doubles and twelve strikeouts. Outfielder Cristian Pache played in just four games and went 3-for-16. Jason Kipnis had two three-hit games during a .350/.381/.700 week.
Gwinnett’s starting rotation had a couple of bright spots this week as Touki Toussaint had a second straight solid start as he gave up just two runs in six innings, striking out seven, while Kyle Muller (4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 K) and Bryse Wilson (5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K) put up a dominant tandem start. Because of this, Toussaint earned a Tuesday start in Atlanta while Kyle Muller will be recalled on Monday to do the same. Kyle Wright followed up his seven-inning, one-hit shutout, with a dud in a 3 IP, 6 ER performance. Jasseel De La Cruz made a nice start with four innings of one-run baseball.
The Gwinnett relief corps did not provide much help as only Jesse Biddle, Connor Johnstone and Trevor Kelley provided multiple scoreless outings. Sean Newcomb did pitch a scoreless outing where he struck out the side while Thomas Burrows gave up one run over 2.2 innings while striking out four.
POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:
PITCHER of the WEEK:
Transaction Round-Up
- 7/11/2021: Traded AA Mississippi OF Tyler Neslony to Chicago White Sox
A 2016 9th-round senior sign with the Braves after a strong minor league career at Texas Tech, Nesloney has been a strong organizational player in his tenure with the Atlanta organization, but going into his minor league free agent season he was not getting a lot of playing time with Mississippi, appearing in only 19 games while sharing time in left field with Jefrey Ramos and Jacob Pearson. With one or both of Jesse Franklin and Michael Harris likely heading to Mississippi before the end of the season, moving on was likely the best for Neslony.
- 7/13/2021: OF Travis Demeritte activated from the 7-day IL for AAA Gwinnett
Demeritte had been on a roll when he went injured and apparently picked up right where he left off on his return.
- 7/13/2021: RHP Rolddy Munoz assigned to A Augusta from the FCL Braves
- 7/13/2021: RHP Justin Yeager assigned to A+ Rome from A Augusta
- 7/13/2021: RHP Indigo Diaz assigned to AA Mississippi from A+ Rome
Diaz had been destroying high-A out of the Rome bullpen, and his promotion had long been coming. Yeager is a hard-thrower who had just come off an IL stint.
Rolddy Munoz is the first pitcher promoted from the FCL Braves since the start of the short season. The twin brother of current GreenJacket Roddery Munoz, Rolddy appeared in two games with the FCL Braves, allowing 1 run in 6 innings.
- 7/13/2021: C Henrick Clementina activated from the developmental list for AA Mississippi
- 7/14/2021: OF Jefrey Ramos and RHP Kurt Hoesktra placed on 7-day IL for AA Mississippi; IF Riley Unroe activated from 7-day IL
Some roster maintenance for Mississippi. Ramos had been on a hot streak, so his injury was a tough blow for him and the team.
- 7/14/2021: IF Vaughn Grissom activated from the 7-day IL for A Augusta
- 7/16/2021: OF Connor Blair placed on the developmental list for A Augusta
The top prospect on the GreenJackets roster had been out for 14 days. Blair was hitting .109/.263/.109 in limited action.
- 7/13/2021: RHP Jay Flaa outrighted to AAA Gwinnett
- 7/15/2021: Traded A+ Rome 1B Bryce Ball to the Chicago Cubs for OF Joc Pederson; IF Johan Camargo optioned to AAA Gwinnett
Because this is Flaa’s first time being designated for assignment he could be outrighted without being offered free agency first.
The Pederson trade was examined last week.
- 7/15/2021: LHP Corbin Clouse assigned to the FCL Braves
Clouse was a 26th-round selection in the 2016 draft and seemed on the cusp of making the big leagues when he suffered a shoulder injury in 2019 with Gwinnett. He now begins the climb back.
- 7/16/2021: RHP Ian Anderson placed on the 10-day IL by Atlanta; RHP Touki Toussaint activated from the 60-day IL
Anderson has been Atlanta’s most consistent first-half starter and losing him for any length of time is helpful as the team tries to claw back into the division race.
In Toussaint’s last two rehab outings he threw 12 innings, allowed only 5 hits, 2 earned runs, walked 4, and struck out 18, likely giving the organization confidence in giving him a crack at the rotation ahead of Bryse Wilson or Kyle Wright.
- 7/16/2021: Traded FCL Braves 1B Mason Berne to the Arizona Diamondbacks for C Stephen Vogt
- 7/17/2021: C Jonathan Lucroy designated for assignment
Vogt became the ninth catcher to play for Atlanta this year, tying a franchise record. An above average defensive catcher at this phase of his career, he replaces Lucroy who is not.
Berne was a 33rd-round pick in the 2018 draft. The 25-year-old has not progressed out of rookie ball.
- 7/17/2021: Signs LHP Dylan Dodd (3rd-round) and RHP Dylan Spain (10th-round) from the 2021 amateur draft
Two Dylans become the first official signings from this years’ draft. Both were college seniors who signed below slot value, freeing some draft pool to flow to the likes of 11th-rounder Adam Shoemake, who reportedly has already agreed to terms.
Your Moment of Zen
Hello, 9-11, we'd like to report a murder.
— Gwinnett Stripers (@GoStripers) July 18, 2021
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