Monday Braves Farm Report, 9/20/2021

Welcome to the final regular season Braves Farm Report of 2021, 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 this week for our Mississippi playoff preview and our Augusta season wrap-up!

Final Regular Season OFR Top Prospect Stats

Position Players

Michael Harris, OF
Age: 20 | Bats: L
.294/.362/.436 | 114 wRC+ | 7 HR | 27 SB | 8.3% BB | 18.1% K (A+)

Cristian Pache, OF
Age: 22 | Bats: R
.273/.341/.427 | 107 wRC+ | 10 HR | 9 SB | 9.0 BB% | 26.2 K% (AAA stats only)

Shea Langeliers, C
Age: 23 | Bats: R
.258/.338/.498 | 128 wRC+ | 22 HR | 1 SB | 9.7% BB | 26.2% K (AA)

Drew Waters, OF
Age: 22 | Bats: S
.241/.334/.379 | 95 wRC+ | 9 HR | 27 SB | 10.9% BB | 31.8% K (AAA)

Braden Shewmake, SS
Age: 23 | Bats: L
.228/.271/.401 | 84 wRC+ | 12 HR | 4 SB | 4.9% BB | 21.8% K (AA)

Vaughn Grissom, 3B
Age: 20 | Bats: R
.319/.418/.464 | 143 wRC+ | 7 HR | 16 SB | 11.8% BB | 14.2% K (A/A+)

Jesse Franklin, OF
Age: 22 | Bats: L
.244/.320/.522 | 118 wRC+ | 24 HR | 19 SB | 8.4% BB | 28.3% K (A+)

Ambioris Tavarez, SS
Age: 17 | Bats: R
DNP – Futures Contract

Trey Harris, OF
Age: 25 | Bats: R
.247/.317/.354 | 89 wRC+ | 8 HR | 4 SB | 6.4% BB | 17.8% K (AA)

Justin Dean, OF
Age: 24 | Bats: R
.237/.345/.364 | 104 wRC+ | 8 HR | 29 SB | 9.9% BB | 30.3% K (AA)

Cal Conley, SS
Age: 22
.214/.304/.307 | 2 HR | 8 SB | 8.7% BB | 20.5% K (A)

Pitchers

Kyle Muller, LHP
Age: 23
3.10 ERA | 3.97 FIP | 15 G, 15 GS | 72.2 IP | 4.7 BB/9 | 10.2 K/9 (AAA stats only)

Spencer Strider, RHP
Age: 22
3.68 ERA | 2.85 FIP | 21 G, 21 GS | 93.0 IP | 3.9 BB/9 | 14.5 K/9 (AA/A+/A)

Tucker Davidson, LHP
Age: 25
0.90 ERA | 2.97 FIP | 18 G, 17 GS | 20.0 IP | 1.8 BB/9 | 10.4 K/9 (AAA stats only)

Jared Shuster, LHP
Age: 23
4.44 ERA | 4.72 FIP | 10 G, 9 GS | 73.0 IP | 2.47 BB/9 | 11.10 K/9 (AA/A+)

Bryce Elder, RHP
Age: 22
2.80 ERA | 3.59 FIP | 23 G, 23 GS | 128.2 IP | 3.5 BB/9 | 10.2 K/9 (AAA/AA/A+)

Ryan Cusick, RHP
Age: 21
2.76 ERA | 1.53 FIP | 6 G, 6 GS | 16.1 IP |  3.34 BB/9 | 18.73 K/9 (A)

Freddy Tarnok, RHP
Age: 22
3.44 ERA | 3.82 FIP | 16 G, 14 GS | 73.1 IP | 3.44 BB/9 | 13.38 K/9 (AA/A+)

Victor Vodnik, RHP
Age: 21
5.35 ERA | 4.86 FIP | 11 G, 11 GS | 33.2 IP | 5.88 BB/9 | 10.96 K/9 (AA)

Jasseel De La Cruz, RHP
Age: 24
6.63 ERA | 5.06 FIP | 19 G, 15 GS | 55.2 IP | 4.85 BB/9 | 8.57 K/9 (AAA)

Spencer Schwellenbach, RHP
Age: 21
DNP – Injury

Joey Estes, RHP
Age: 19
2.91 ERA | 3.30 FIP | 20 G, 20 GS | 99.0 IP | 2.64 BB/9 | 11.55 K/9 (A)

Indigo Diaz, RHP
Age: 22
1.20 ERA | 1.42 FIP | 32 G, 0 GS | 45.0 IP | 3.20 BB/9 | 16.60 K/9 (AA/A+)

Darius Vines, RHP
Age: 23
2.92 ERA | 4.05 FIP | 22 G, 22 GS | 111.0 IP | 2.35 BB/9 | 10.46 K/9 (A+/A)

Brooks Wilson, RHP
Age: 25
2.54 ERA | 2.36 FIP | 35 G, 0 GS | 46.0 IP | 3.52 BB/9 | 14.67 K/9 (AAA/AA)

Daysbel Hernandez, RHP
Age: 24
3.52 ERA | 3.63 FIP | 32 G, 0 GS | 38.1 IP | 4.46 BB/9 | 12.44 K/9 (AAA/AA)

Jared Johnson, RHP
Age: 20
5.61 ERA | 5.48 FIP | 15 G, 13 GS | 51.1 IP | 5.61 BB/9 | 12.10 K/9 (A/FCL)

Nolan Kingham, RHP
Age: 25
4.58 ERA | 4.54 FIP | 19 G, 16 GS | 94.1 IP | 2.29 BB/9 | 6.01 K/9 (AAA/AA)

Adam Shoemaker, LHP
Age: 19
6.75 ERA | 5.83 FIP | 3 G, 2 GS | 5.1 IP | 2.48 BB/9 | 5.90 K/9 (FCL)

William Woods, RHP
Age: 22
4.66 ERA |7.90 FIP | 4 G, 4 GS | 9.2 IP | 3.72 BB/9 | 6.52 K/9 (A+)

Weekly Round-Up

FCL BRAVES:

The FCL ended their season as much of it was played — damp. The Braves dropped the final three games of the season in between two weather cancellations to finish with a 25-31 record.

Outfielder Brandol Mezquita went 2-for-5 in 2 games, and hit the only home run of the week; in his final 15 games, Mezquita has hit .314/.375/.510 with all three of his season homers.

Right-hander AJ Smith-Shawver had his best outing of his young pro career, firing 3 shutout innings and striking out 5 with only 24 pitches.

AUGUSTA:

Augusta finished up the regular season with a rare road series win in Myrtle Beach, 4 gamed to 2. The GreenJackets finish the season at 54-66, but rise to 3rd place in the division over the Columbia Fireflies.

Augusta received some stand-out starting pitching performances from some relative newcomers. Right-hander Royber Salinas had bookend starts for the series and delivered 5 innings in each, allowing 1 run on Tuesday and no runs on Sunday. Salinas gave up only 1 earned run in a total of 14 innings for Augusta in his three starts since being promoted on September 7, and he finishes 2021 with a 2.29 ERA in 39.1 innings between Augusta and the FCL. Righty Andrew Hoffman delivered his second consecutive start without allowing runs, this time going 7 shutout innings on Wednesday, striking out 8. Righty Ryan Cusick threw 66 pitches and 4 innings in his longest outing of the season, striking out 10 batters without allowing a run.

Righties Alec Barger, Peyton Williams, and Kenny Wells and left-hander Lisandro Santos each threw multiple outings on scoreless ball out of the bullpen.

On the offensive side, catcher Tyler Tolve had a big week; in his 4 games he went 6-for-13 with a homer, a triple, a stolen base and along with his 3 walks garnered a 1.409 OPS for the week. Infielder Cade Bunnell and first baseman Bryson Horne also finished up strong with a homer apiece Horne also doubled and knocked in 5 runs, often Bunnell who scored 5 runs.

ROME:

The R-Braves finished out with an abbreviated series at home against the Hickory Crawdads, with two games rained out and the season finale cancelled for COVID-19 testing and contact tracing on the part of Hickory. Rome went 2-1 in the games that were played, and they finish their first season as a high-A squad at 56-60, good for 4th place in the 7-team division.

Outfielder Michael Harris finished the last week going 4-for12 with 3 RBI, most of that output powering Rome’s win on Tuesday. Infielder Riley Delgado, pressed into becoming Rome’s everyday first baseman down the stretch, hit like a first baseman, going 5-for-11. Outfielder Drew Campbell stayed hot until the end, going 3-for-8. Infielder Vaughn Grissom only had two hits in the final three games, but used a walk and 2 HBPs to get a .417 OBP.

Rome got dominant starts from Tanner Gordon and Darius Vines. Gordon went 6 scoreless innings with 6 strikeouts, while Vines pitched 5 scoreless 1-hit innings. Righty Jake McSteen got the other start and was victimized by poor defense, giving up 4 unearned runs and 6 runs total. Rightoes Coleman Huntley, Marrick Crouse, and Zach Daniels each two-inning shutdown relief appearances this week.

MISSISSIPPI:

After clinching the Double-A South’s best record last week, the Mississippi Braves finished off the regular season in Chattanooga this week. They split the first four games of the series before having the last two canceled due to weather. The M-Braves finish the regular season at 67-44 (.604), eight games ahead of the team with the second-best record, the Montgomery Biscuits, whom they will take on in the best-of-five championship series beginning on Tuesday in Montgomery. It is the best regular season record for the team since they moved to Pearl, MS in 2005.

Mississippi backed off somewhat on their starting pitchers this week after having clinched a playoff spot. No starter went more than six innings this week as Jared Shuster (5 IP, 3 ER, 3 HR), Freddy Tarnok (4 IP, 2 ER), Alan Rangel (6 IP, 2 ER), and Spencer Strider (4.2 IP, 0 R, 7 K) all pitched effectively despite their various limited pitch counts.

Indigo Diaz had a second consecutive poor outing heading into the playoffs as he gave up two runs and a home run in his lone inning of work although he did strike out the side. Nolan Kingham surprisingly was inserted into the closing role this week and recorded saves in both M-Braves victories as he tossed three scoreless innings.

Catcher Shea Langeliers had a big week offensively as he went 4-for-10 with two home runs, two walks, two HBP, and six RBI (.400/.571/1.000). Outfielder Trey Harris was 4-for-12 with a double and three RBI while shortstop Braden Shewmake was 4-for-14 with two doubles, a home run, and two RBI (.286/.286/.643).

GWINNETT:

The Gwinnett Stripers finished up their regular season slate of games this week against the Nashville Sounds and lost three out of five games with another being canceled due to weather. They now have a 68-51 record, 8-1/2 games back of the first-place Durham Bulls, whom the Stripers will now visit in a five-game set beginning on Wednesday as the Triple-A leagues now begin the ten-game Final Stretch where a winner will be determined based on the best winning percentage over these last ten games.

Gwinnett starting pitching was a mixed bag this week but was led by Kyle Wright, who tallied the only two wins of the week for the Stripers. His first start was pedestrian with four runs allowed over six innings, but his second start was spectacular as Wright pitched a two-hit shutout on Sunday which was even a perfect game for 6-1/3 innings. This start is considered a ‘Maddux’ as Wright finished off Nashville on just 86 pitches. Bryce Elder had another solid start with just one unearned run allowed over five innings. Elder walked four and it appears that the organization is beginning to back off on his workload as he exited after just 78 pitches. Kyle Muller had his worst start of the five he has pitched since being optioned from Atlanta. Muller gave up four runs (only one earned) over just 2-1/3 innings after allowing four hits, four walks, and two wild pitches although he didn’t get any help from his defense as Yolmer Sanchez committed two costly errors.

Of note in the bullpen, Chris Martin made a brief rehab appearance where he pitched a perfect inning on just eleven pitches. Brooks Wilson (2 G, 2 IP, 1 ER, 1 SV) and Daysbel Hernandez (1 G, 1 IP, 0 ER, 2 K) both made their Triple-A debuts this week. Numerous Gwinnett bullpen arms made scoreless appearances while Trevor Kelley had two more scoreless appearances. Josh Tomlin made a rehab appearance during the week where he gave up three runs with a home run and two wild pitches in three innings of work.

The Gwinnett offense scored just seventeen runs during their five games and were shut out twice. Johan Camargo once again led the way with an 8-for-18 week with two doubles, a triple, and two home runs and eight RBI (.444/.524/1.000). Drew Waters was just 6-for-23 during the week but had three stolen bases during the week and closed out the series with a three-hit game on Sunday. Cristian Pache hit safely in all four of his games this week and was 6-for-17. Infielder Maikel Franco saw his first game action since being signed by Atlanta at the end of August after he was released by the Baltimore Orioles, going 1-for-12 with five strikeouts and a walk.

POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:

PITCHER of the WEEK:

Transaction Round-Up

• 9/12/2021: 1B Travis Snider released from AAA Gwinnett

The 8-year major league veteran hit .174/.305/.304 with 4 home runs in 167 plate appearances for the Stripers, filling in at first base and the corner outfield spots. The addition of Maikel Franco to the roster for the remainder of the season likely was the reason for this move.

• 9/13/2021: RHP Will Latcham released from AA Mississippi

Picked up in late April as a minor league free agent after having pitched 3 seasons in the Cardinals organization, Latcham made 30 relief appearances with Mississippi, pitching to a 4.19 ERA.

• 9/14/2021: RHP Dylan Spain assigned to A+ Rome from A Augusta

At the time of the promotion, the 2021 10th-round pick had yet to allow an earned run in 10 professional appearances. If he keeps that up, he should do well.

• 9/14/2021: C Carlos Martinez assigned to AAA Gwinnett from A+ Rome; C Cesar Rodriguez activated from developmental list

Martinez had been a good sport about dropping down to Rome to help with their depth problems in the wake of both the Bryce Ball trade and the Logan Brown injury. He returns to AAA where his skill level probably is.

• 9/14/2021: RHPs Daysbel Hernandez and Brooks Wilson assigned to AAA Gwinnett from AA Mississippi; RHP Nolan Kingham and OF Jefrey Ramos activated from 7-day injured list for AA Mississippi

The last of the Mississippi players who went on the IL during the COVID shutdown, Kingham will apparently finish out the season in the Mississippi bullpen while Ramos will rejoin the three-headed left field monster along with Jacob Pearson and Greyson Jenista.

He will replace one of Hernandez or Wilson, who get well-deserved looks at the AAA level. For Hernandez it’s his second pass at AAA this season after struggling with an initial assignment; Hernandez has added a change-up to his fastball/slider repertoire and has seen benefits in the second half.

• 9/15/2021: Troy Bacon activated from the 7-day injured list for AA Mississippi

As speculated last week, Bacon’s time on the IL was short.

• 9/16/2021: RHP Chris Martin activated from the 10-day injured list for Atlanta; RHP Luke Jackson placed on the paternity list

Mazel tov to Luke Jackson and family!

• 9/16/2021: RHP Jasseel De La Cruz activated from the 7-day injured list for AAA Gwinnett

It’s been a disappointing season for De La Cruz, who leaped up three minor league levels in 2019 and had good looks in major league spring training in 2020 and 2021. He will try to salvage something in the bonus baseball period for AAA.

• 9/18/2021: RHP William Woods and LHP Jake Higginbotham assigned to AA Mississippi from A+ Rome; RHP Emmanuel Ramirez assigned to A+ Rome from AA Mississippi; RHP Tyler Ferguson placed on developmental list for AA Mississippi

This was a series of moves that did not amount to anything thanks to poor weather ruining the end of the schedule for both Mississippi and Rome. After pitching well for Rome following recovery from injury, Higginbotham returns to Mississippi where he started the season in time for the postseason. Woods was scheduled to get a start for Mississippi in a game that ended up being cancelled.

Ferguson pitched well in 5 appearances for Mississippi after getting called from Rome and may be a candidate to be re-activated before the championship series.

• 9/19/2021: RHP Luke Jackson activated from paternity list; IF Orlando Arcia optioned to AAA Gwinnett

Arcia has had a fine season with Gwinnett, but his major league output has been negligible.

Your Moment of Zen

Poetry in motion 🗣 pic.twitter.com/YwqcKQWYya

— Gwinnett Stripers (@GoStripers) September 18, 2021