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.
William Woods Pushing Upwards
Right-handed pitcher William Woods has been in the Atlanta Braves organization since he was drafted in the 23rd round of the 2018 MLB Amateur Draft out of Dyersburg State Community College in Tennessee. He did not draw much attention during his first couple of seasons but then, during the COVID-shortened 2020 season, he posted a video of himself on Twitter hitting 99 on the radar gun that drew the attention of the Braves brass, who quickly invited him to spend some time at their Alternate Training Site late in the season.
Unfortunately, Woods was injured during 2021 spring training, and he missed a majority of the season. He finally returned in late August to make four short starts at High-A Rome towards the end of the season before being elevated to Mississippi to pitch for them during the playoffs. Woods followed that up with a stint in the Arizona Fall League, where he generated a respectable 4.29 ERA over 21 innings to finish out his season.
Woods was added to the Braves 40-man roster during the offseason to protect him during the Rule 5 Draft (which never took place). Due to this event, he was behind in his preparations due to not being able to report to camp until after the lockout ended in March. Despite the delay, Woods began his season as Mississippi’s opening day starter and lasted only three innings, giving up three runs on four hits. A few days later, he was moved to the Mississippi bullpen where he gave up three runs in his first one-inning appearance. His second outing went much better as he pitched a perfect inning, striking out two. Woods was surprisingly promoted shortly afterwards to Triple-A Gwinnett, where he was immediately thrust into action on Tuesday, April 19th and struck out all three batters he faced. Two days later, Woods pitched another perfect inning, striking out two of three batters. He then got his third appearance of the week on Sunday, striking out all three batters he faced.
In relief, Woods has been free to cut loose with his high-90s fastball to overpower hitters although he is also backed by a slider and changeup. Due to injuries to Daysbel Hernandez and Brooks Wilson and the claiming of Jacob Webb on waivers by the Diamondbacks, Woods has quickly moved up the right-handed reliever depth list. There are other veteran relievers at Gwinnett like Brad Brach and Nick Vincent but they provide limited upside. Woods, on the other hand, has substantially more upside and, unlike those options, is on the 40-man roster.
A path has been opened for William Woods to earn a promotion to Atlanta, it’s now up to him to take advantage of the opportunity. It’s likely he will, and sooner rather than later. -MC
Weekly Round-Up
AUGUSTA:
Augusta split the first homestand of the season with Fayetteville, winning two games in come-from-behind fashion. The Greenjackets will remain at home this week for a six-game set against the Delmarva Shorebirds of the Orioles organization, starting on Tuesday with an 11:05 AM “Education Day” game.
Augusta won their home opener on Tuesday despite the Woodpeckers getting off to an early 4-0 lead off young righty Tyler Owens, but the Jackets responded with a 5-run 4th inning, the big blow a bases-clearing 3-run double by infielder Caleb Durbin, who continued his hot start to the season this week by batting .333/.455/.500 with 3 doubles, 6 RBI, and 3 stolen bases while again logging starts at all three infield skill positions. In game 2, Fayetteville managed to scratch 2 runs against Royber Salinas, though the righty did strike out another 7 batters to maintain his minor league-leading strikeout lead with 31.
It wasn’t a good week for the teenage starters on the squad. After striking out the side in the first inning of game 3, righty A.J. Smith-Shawver lost his control in the second, walking 4 in the inning and allowing 2 runs before being pulled, and the Jackets ended up dropping the match 7-1. Game 4 on Thursday got off to an even worse start when righty Adam Shoemaker hit the first batter of the game, then immediately motioned for trainers. He was removed from the game with an undisclosed injury. The bullpen rallied however as Benjamin Dum, Isrrael De La Cruz, Miguel Pena, James Acuna, and Juan Mateo only allowed 5 hits the rest of the way and Augusta evened the series with a 5-2 victory, highlighted by Mahki Backstrom‘s best game of the season to date as he knocked in 3 runs on a 4th-inning double and an 8th-inning triple.
The Jackets dropped game 6 on Friday despite a sterling effort by starter Landon Leach, who allowed only 1 hit and 1 walk while striking out 8 over 6 scoreless innings. That work would be undone in the 7th however when reliever Estarlin Rodriguez surrendered a 3-run bomb. Backstrom would close the gap in the bottom of the inning with another RBI triple, his second in as many games, but Fayetteville scored three more in the 9th off Rodriguez to ice the game away. In the series finale, Owens would once again have a short start, allowing 3 runs in an inning before being relieved, but once again the bullpen rallied, led by lefty Samuel Strickland‘s scoreless 4.1 innings in his season debut. Durbin would bookend the series with clutch hits, this time a 2-RBI single in the 8th to put Augusta in the lead, enough for a 6-5 win and securing the series split.
Reliever J.J. Niekro continued his good long-relief work, pitching 3.1 innings in his appearance. He has not allowed a run this season over 3 appearances totaling 11.1 innings. In addition to Durbin and Backstrom, outfielder Brandol Mezquita had a good week as well at the plate, going 6-for-17.
ROME:
After being abused by the 2021 league champion Bowling Green Hot Rods in 2021, it had to have felt good this week to go to their place and split the series. The 9-6 R-Braves will return home this week to host the Greensboro Grasshoppers.
After jumping on Tuesday starter Roddery Munoz for 4 runs and holding on to a 5-4 win, Bowling Green dropped the next three, bowing to outstanding starting pitching for Rome. Left-hander Dylan Dodd held the Rods to 2 runs on 4 hits through 5.1 innings on Wednesday and Rome pounded out 12 hits to hang on for a 8-5 win. Righty Andrew Hoffmann was even better on Thursday, getting through 6 innings and allowing only 1 run on 3 hits while striking out a career high 11 to help secure a 4-2 win and earn the coveted OFR Pitcher of the Week award. As he has been all season, Tanner Gordon was strong on Friday, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) over 6 innings to lead Rome in a 7-2 win. Gordon and Hoffmann are now 1-2 on the South Atlantic League strikeout leaderboard. Not to be outdone, left-hander Luis De Avila threw 6 shutout innings in his start on Saturday, though his work was undone by shaky relief, with Malcolm Van Buren allowing 5 runs (2 earned) and only getting two outs in the 8th for a 6-2 come-from-behind win for Bowling Green. Vaughn Grissom had an untimely error at third base in that one. Grissom overall had a subpar series, and is only hitting .220 over the last two weeks with teams pitching the top prospect in the line-up very carefully. Bowling Green pummeled Braves pitching on Sunday to finish out the series with an 11-3 win to salvage the split.
Closer Justin Yeager had two scoreless appearances this week, including a save, and has yet to be scored upon in 5 outings this season, striking out 11 in 5.1 innings.
On offense, light-hitting infielder Beau Philip exploded at the plate this week, going 7-for-18 with a double, homer, stolen base, and 4 RBI. He was joined in the home run column this week by infielders Cade Bunnell and Justyn-Henry Malloy, outfielder Christian Robinson, and catchers Tyler Tolve and Javier Valdes — the first week Rome has had anyone homer this season other than outfielder Landon Stephens.
MISSISSIPPI:
The Mississippi Braves returned home this week to take on the Chattanooga Lookouts. After taking two of the first three games of the series, they then lost the last three to drop their record to 4-11, worst in the Southern League. The M-Braves now hit the road to face the rival Montgomery Biscuits.
The M-Braves received several solid efforts among the starting pitchers this week: Jared Shuster followed up his spectacular rain-shortened complete game shutout with a seven-inning stint where he gave up just two runs and allowed six baserunners, Darius Vines rebounded from his previous tough luck outing with just two runs allowed over 6.1 innings, Freddy Tarnok had a mixed bag of two starts (4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 6 K in one, 2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K in the other), while Alan Rangel continued his rough start to the season, lasting 2.2 IP while giving up 6 ER and raising his ERA to 10.57 after three starts.
Among the relievers, Hayden Deal continued his strong long-relief work, providing 5.1 more innings and taking the ERA lead for the Southern League at 1.35. Indigo Diaz had just one appearance but tossed two scoreless innings, giving up just one walk. Coleman Huntley did not give up any earned runs in three innings over two outings while Tyler Ferguson also provided two scoreless outings.
Outfielder Michael Harris continued the great start to his Southern League tenure, extending his on-base streak to fifteen games while hitting his first home run on Sunday. He added three stolen bases and scored a run in each of his last five games during the week. Fellow outfielder Jesse Franklin’s bat started to come around as, although he went just 6-for-21, he had a triple, two home runs, and eight RBI on his way to a .286/.370/.667 week. Infielder Luke Waddell’s offense greatly improved over his last couple of games during a .389/.450/.556 week while fellow infielder Riley Delgado batted .357/.500/.429 during the week and now sports a .304 batting average for the season. As much attention as Michael Harris has been receiving, the offensive star of the week for the M-Braves was 1B-DH Drew Lugbauer, who had one of his “on” weeks in going 7-for-18 with a double, home run, four RBI, eight walks, and an HBP during a .389/.593/.611 week to earn OFR Position Player of the Week honors.
GWINNETT:
The Gwinnett Stripers hit the road this week to face the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp with a new addition in the rehabbing Ronald Acuña Jr. Despite the new addition, the Stripers only scored nineteen runs in the six games (ten of those came in one contest) and lost five out of six to drop their record to 6-12 on the season. They now return home to face the Norfolk Tides.
Gwinnett starting pitching this week was not great as the best start came from emergency starter Connor Johnstone, who gave up just one hit over five shutout innings. After that, the results went downhill pretty quickly: Jasseel De La Cruz had a second consecutive poor start, lasting just 2.2 innings and giving up seven hits and five runs (two earned), Allan Winans gave up six runs in 2.2 innings during his start and was placed on the injured list after the game, Tucker Davidson’s second Gwinnett start was marginally better than his first (4.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 1 HR), Kyle Muller overcame a rough first inning to gut out four innings (3 ER, 8 K), while Huascar Ynoa, in his first start after being optioned from Atlanta, righted the ship somewhat after his first couple of innings to last 5.2 IP with three runs, although he allowed twelve baserunners.
Among the bullpen arms, William Woods had an impressive week after his quick promotion from Mississippi, pitching 2.2 perfect innings over three appearances and striking out seven of the eight batters he faced. Brad Brach tossed 3.2 scoreless innings over two outings while Thomas Burrows also contributed two scoreless appearances.
Ronald Acuña acted as a catalyst at the top of the Gwinnett lineup as opposing pitchers mostly avoided throwing to him. Acuña batted .286/.500/.357 with six walks and three stolen bases and showed that he is ready to rejoin the big club once he is deemed healthy enough to do so. Shortstop Braden Shewmake returned after being out briefly with an injury and went 6-for-20 with two doubles. Outfielder Delino Deshields Jr was 4-for-15 and contributed three walks and three stolen bases.
POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:
PITCHER of the WEEK:
Transaction Round-Up
- 4/18/2022: IF Jordan Cowan placed on the 7-day injured list for AA Mississippi; 2B Tyler Krieger signed to minor league contract and assigned to AA Mississippi
Krieger had previously been in the Cleveland organization after being selected in the 4th round of the 2016 draft out of Clemson, climbing as high as AAA. Like many Braves acquisitions, Krieger grew up in the Atlanta metro area, attending Northview High School in Johns Creek. A minor league free agent after the 2021 season, he initially signed with the White Sox but was released just prior to Opening Day.
- 4/19/2022: RHP Huascar Ynoa optioned to AAA Gwinnett; LHP Sean Newcomb designated for assignment; RHP Touki Toussaint and LHP Dylan Lee recalled from AAA Gwinnett
After two shaky starts and finally with some off-days on the schedule, the Braves sent Ynoa to Gwinnett to work on his command. Newcomb likewise was shaky all season, and after being left off the playoff roster last season, there was a sense that his time was short.
- 4/19/2022: OF Ronald Acuña Jr. sent to AAA Gwinnett on rehab assignment
The target date for Acuña’s return is still early May. His play with Gwinnett so far shows a sound knee, it’s simply a matter of Acuña getting his stamina and timing at the plate back.
- 4/19/2022: C Chadwick Tromp outrighted to AAA Gwinnett; RHP Jacob Webb claimed off waivers by the Arizona Diamondbacks
The Braves had to make room on the 40-man roster last week in order to add RHPs Bryce Elder and Jackson Stephens and Tromp and Webb were designated for assignment. Tromp cleared and has returned to Gwinnett where he will share catching duties with William Contreras and Ryan Casteel.
It seemed likely that one of the many rebuilding clubs would take a risk-free shot at Webb, and it was Arizona who had the best claim position. He was assigned to AAA Reno and will look to get back to the majors.
- 4/19/2022: RHP William Woods assigned to AAA Gwinnett from AA Mississippi
- 4/19/2022: RHP R.J. Freure assigned to A+ Rome; RHP Marrick Crouse released by A+ Rome
The Braves signed Freure back on April 1 but had held him back in extended spring training. Freure was a 6th-round pick by the Astros back in 2018 and pitched in AA last season, but was released by the Astros in spring training.
Crouse was signed as a minor league free agent in 2019. Last season he appeared in 32 games for Rome with mixed results. In 3 appearances with Rome this season he had allowed 8 earned runs.
- 4/20/2022: 3B Austin Riley placed on paternity list; OF Travis Demeritte recalled from AAA Gwinnett
Congratulations to the Riley family on their new addition and congratulations to Demeritte for making his Atlanta big league debut.
- 4/20/2022: C Arden Pabst assigned to AA Mississippi from AAA Gwinnett
With Tromp returning to the fold, that gave Gwinnett four catchers on the roster. Pabst goes down to Mississippi where he will look for playing time with Logan Brown and Hendrik Clementina.
- 4/21/2022: LHP Sean Newcomb traded to the Chicago Cubs for RHP Jesse Chavez and cash; RHP Touki Toussaint and LHP Dylan Lee optioned to AAA Gwinnett
Like Webb was certain to get a shot somewhere, a rebuilding club would certainly be interested in Newcomb, who despite his trouble still has tremendous arm talent. The Cubs elected not try to get lucky on the waiver wire and sent old friend and the Night Shift’s cool uncle Jesse Chavez back to Atlanta.
- 4/21/2022: RHP Allan Winans placed on the 7-day injured list for AAA Gwinnett
Winans had been used as a stop-gap member of the rotation, despite never starting a game in his professional career prior to 2022.
- 4/21/2022: RHP Miguel Pena activated from the 7-day injured list for A Augusta
- 4/22/2022: 3B Austin Riley activated from the paternity list
Riley gets to come back to the ballpark to relax.
- 4/22/2022: LHP Kris Anglin and RHP Ben Thompson placed on 7-day injured list for A Augusta; LHP Samuel Strickland assigned to A Augusta from extended spring training; RHP Benjamin Dum assigned to A Augusta from A+ Rome; RHP Elison Joseph assigned to extended spring training from A Augusta
Some bullpen shuffling for Augusta as stalwarts Anglin and Thompson have to go in the IL. Strickland was a 19th-round pick in 2021 out of Samford and he’s making his full-season debut. Dum had appeared in 3 games for Rome, allowing 2 earned runs and 2 walks in 4 innings. Joseph struggled in 3 outings for Augusta to start the season, allowing 7 runs (5 earned) in 3.1 innings over 3 appearances.
Your Moment of Zen
Well, hello there @MoneyyyMikeee!
The first Double-A homer for Michael Harris II is a three-run shot to make it 4-3 in the 3rd! He's up to 13 RBI, and now 2-for-2 on the day! pic.twitter.com/rKZ0xJ3GGa
— Mississippi Braves (@mbraves) April 24, 2022
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