Monday Braves Farm Report, 5/2/2022

Mississippi outfielder Michael Harris II leaves his feat to make a catch. (Tate Nations via twitter.com @kaotate)

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.

It’s Time For Michael Harris To Become a Striper

One of the most common questions I’m asked is when do I think Michael Harris will be called up to Atlanta. Before the season, my response was “sometime in 2023”. After spring training I adjusted my timeline to “maybe toward the end of the season”. That’s where I think I still am, but after the first month of minor league play, it seems time to challenge Harris at the AAA level.

This is not because Harris is suddenly performing well a AA Mississippi, though he certainly is doing that. It’s more in how he’s doing it. Moving from the high-A to double-A levels is one of the more difficult adjustments in climbing up the minor league ladder. The quality of pitching between the two levels is generally the widest gap, second perhaps only to the difference between complex leagues and low-A. Harris performed well right out of the gate, hitting .378/.410/.541 over the season’s first two series, which was impressive for a 21-year-old in his first exposure to the level. That said, how he was getting that performance wasn’t anything that made you clamor for immediate promotion. Harris was hitting the ball hard, but there were plenty of ground balls and lots of infield hits, a testament to Harris’s speed but not really a sustainable model for continued success. Speaking of unsustainable, Harris’s batting average on balls in play (BABiP) was .483; it was inevitable that if Harris kept hitting the way he was, he would find diminishing success over time as pitchers saw more of him, fielders started positioning him better, and so on.

A funny thing has happened the last two weeks however. As expected, that BABiP has gone down; since April 19 it’s been actually a little below average, at .306. However, his overall performance has improved. He has hit .300/.386/.620 despite defenses converting more of his batted balls into outs. He has hit all four of the home runs he has on his stat line within the last eight days. The number of ground balls he is hitting has gone down, and the number of line drives has gone up. Watching Michael Harris at the plate now is to watch a mature hitter with a fine batting eye, great wrists, power, and speed and he’s using all of his tools at his disposal. Harris has even walked at a 10.5% clip over the last two weeks, mirroring the late-season improvement in this area that he used to finish the 2021 in high-A Rome with aplomb.

In short, Michael Harris is ready for the next step. Atlanta has been notoriously aggressive with in-season promotions in the past, so it would not be without precedent even though the team may feel the need to be more cautious with their last remaining top-100 prospect in the wake of the Matt Olson trade that saw Cristian Pache and Shea Langeliers leave the organization. But if it’s not now, then I suspect it will be soon. Harris is ready to don the green-and-whites of Gwinnett. -AH

Weekly Round-Up

AUGUSTA:

The Greenjackets hosted Delmarva last week and won their second series of the season 4 games to 2 behind a potent offensive attack and some excellent starting pitching. Augusta will take their 12-9 record on the road to Zebulon, NC to face off against the Carolina Mudcats this week.

Right-handed pitcher Royber Salinas lead off the week with 4 hitless innings, striking out 12 of the 17 batters faced (and walking the other 4). J.J. Niekro and Benjamin Dum followed up with 5 innings of two-hit relief to secure a 3-1 victory thanks to a walk-off 2-run home run by shortstop Cal Conley. Salinas would bookened the series with 5 innings on Sunday, allowing 1 run on a solo homer, striking out 9 more and walking only 1 in Augusta’s 7-5 win. Salinas continues to lead all affiliated minor leagues in strikeouts with 52, 24 more than second-place Tanner Gordon of the Rome Braves.

AJ Smith-Shawver had his best start of the season (5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 7 SO) in a 3-4 loss on Thursday. Augusta shook up the rotation after Adam Shoemaker‘s injury last week and Tyler Owens‘ ineffectiveness, with Luis Vargas and Samuel Strickland moving out from the bullpen. Both pitchers gave fine efforts, each pitching 4 innings with Strickland giving up 1 run on four hits and Vargas no runs on 3 hits, both efforts helping in team wins.

The bullpen work, as it has been most of the season, was largely excellent. Niekro appeared in two games, giving the team 7 innings, though he did surrender his first 3 runs of the season. Tyler Owens made the adjustment to the bullpen well, throwing 2 innings of 1-hit relief on Saturday.

Catcher Antonio Barranca went on the injured list this week, but Victor De Hoyos made the most of his two starts behind the plate going 6-for-7 with two doubles and a 3-run home run. Rusber Estrada, finding playing time hard to come by in Rome, dropped down a level to give help behind the dish and went 3-for-7 with a home run in his first ever low-A plate appearance. Other part-timers had good weeks as well, with infielders Braulio Vasquez and Brian Klein going 5-for-11 and 4-for-10 respectively with Vazquez also homering and stealing three bases. Outfielders Connor Blair and Kadon Morton got in on the action as well, going 4-for-11 and 3-for-11 with Morton also homering. Infielder Caleb Durbin continued his hot season, hitting .320/.370/.440 on the week while knocking in 6 runs and steal 4 bases, giving him 12 on the season to pace the Braves organization. Outfielder Brandol Mezquita hit .333/.409/.611 with his first home run and triple of the season.

ROME:

Rome enjoyed the home cooking this week as they took four out of six from visiting Greensboro to up their record to 13-8. They are now just one game back of the division-leading Bowling Green Hot Rods after the first month of the season and now go back on the road to take on the Greenville Drive.

After being left out of last week’s power explosion in Bowling Green, outfielder Landon Stephens came back in a big way, slugging 4 homers on the week to give him 8 on the season, tying him Greenville’s Nicholas Northcut for the high-A lead. Rome also got big weeks from catcher Tyler Tolve (6-for-14, 2 triples and a homer), outfielders Christian Robinson (6-for-19) and Drew Campbell (8-for-21, triple, homer), and infielders Cody Milligan (6-for-19, 6 walks, 10 runs scored), and Vaughn Grissom (8-for-24, double, two homers, stolen base).

Dylan Dodd was a beneficiary of a 17-run explosion on Tuesday, though he didn’t need all of it, firing 5 innings of 2-hit ball and surrendering just one run, combining with Alec Barger, Lisandro Santos, and Austin Smith on a 3-hitter. Andrew Hoffmann pitched will in his start, giving up just 2 runs in 7 innings, but Rome lost on Education Day 3-1, disappointing a young crowd of 2890 that wasn’t really paying attention but had fun anyway. Bats come out at night anyway, and the offense gave 11, 10, and 8 runs of support the next three games, all wins. Staff ace Tanner Gordon had another impressive outing, pitching 6 innings of shutout ball and striking out 10, joining with Dylan Spain, Davis Schwab, and Justin Yeager on a 6-hit shutout. Lefty Luis De Avila had a tougher go of it on Friday night, giving up too much hard contact and allowing 5 runs, but the offense and the bullpen were strong enough to overcome. Righty Roddery Munoz followed with a solid outing on Saturday to help Rome finish out April with a win before Greensboro took the series finale with come-from-behind win on Sunday.

Outfielder Drew Waters, out with a hamstring injury since the first week of Grapefruit League play back in March, joined the squad on a rehab assignment this week. The OFR #2 prospect played in 3 games, manning centerfield Thursday and Saturday and playing as the DH on Sunday. He recorded at least one hit in each game, going 4-for-11 with a double, a home run, five runs scored, and three strikeouts.

MISSISSIPPI:

The Mississippi Braves took to the road this week to face the rival Montgomery Biscuits and had their best series of the season, taking four out of six games behind an offensive barrage of forty-five runs and scoring at least nine runs in four different games.  The M-Braves are now 8-13 on the season and now return home to face the Pensacola Blue Wahoos in a series highlighted by the Atlanta Braves World Series trophy making a tour stop on Friday night.

Starting pitching was spotty this week: A.J. Puckett had two more rough starts where he only lasted a total of six innings and giving up five runs while Darius Vines, after three solid innings during his start, was roughed up for six additional runs and finished his night shortly thereafter. Freddy Tarnok had a second straight tough start, lasting just 4.1 innings while giving up five runs (three earned) and two home runs. On the positive side, Alan Rangel had his first solid start of the season, giving up just one run over five innings while striking out six and earning the victory. Once again, Jared Shuster had the best start of the week, tossing six shutout innings before tiring in the seventh and leaving with a 7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K line.

The bullpen was generally roughed up during the week, but Hayden Deal tossed 2.2 more scoreless innings on Sunday to lower his ERA for the season to 1.06. Odalvi Javier had two scoreless outings where he struck out six over 3.2 innings and only gave a single hit. Indigo Diaz gave up a solo home run in one of his three outings, but it was the only blemish in 2.2 innings while he issued no walks. The big bullpen news of the week was the return of Victor Vodnik from injury; he appears to be slotted into the bullpen now and he threw two scoreless one-inning appearances, striking out four.

Outfielder Michael Harris continued to toy with Southern League pitching, putting together a .370/.433/778 batting line for the week with two doubles, three home runs, and three stolen bases while striking out just three times in thirty plate appearances. Infielder Luke Waddell continued to rebound in a big way from the slow start to his season by going 11-for-26 with a double, home run, and nine RBI (.423/.483/.577). 1B-DH Drew Lugbauer had a second consecutive great week with a .292/.440/.708 line and three more home runs. Catcher Hendrik Clementina got the negative mojo this week as he was just 3-for-16 with a triple and home run but also striking out ten times. Infielder Jalen Miller salted away the Braves 11-7 extra-inning victory on Monday with a grand-slam in the 10th inning.

GWINNETT:

The Gwinnett Stripers started a long homestand this week in fine fashion against the Norfolk Tides, taking five out of six behind a rejuvenated offense and standout pitching late in the series. The Stripers now have an 11-13 record and continue their homestand against the Charlotte Knights.

Gwinnett starting pitching was mostly good this week with standout bullpen game starts from Nolan Kingham (4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K) and Connor Johnstone (4 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K) and good starts from regulars Tucker Davidson (6.2 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 9 K), Huascar Ynoa (6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 6 K), and Touki Toussaint (5 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 3 K). Unfortunately, Jasseel De La Cruz once again imploded during his start as he gave up two hits and three walks while just retiring two hitters. De La Cruz made a bullpen appearance on Sunday and that is most likely his role moving forward.

The bullpen put in some solid work this week as Dylan Lee, Brad Brach, and Thomas Burrows all had two scoreless appearances. Brandon Brennan recovered nicely from a rough early start to his season with three scoreless outing covering four innings while veteran Nick Vincent struck out seven over three scoreless innings.

In true baseball fashion, Ronald Acuna departed Gwinnett for Atlanta during the week and the offense took off. The Stripers scored forty-one runs over the six games although they only hit two home runs in the process. Shortstop Braden Shewmake continued to progress after his return from injury in going 6-for-22 with a double, home run, two stolen bases, and his first three walks of the season. Outfielder Preston Tucker had three multi-hit games during a .421/.500/.526 week while Greyson Jenista had a .375/.500/.438 batting line. Alex Dickerson played his first two games after being outrighted from Atlanta and was 2-for-6 with a double and two walks while newly added infielder Hernan Perez was 4-for-11 with two walks, a home run, and a stolen base.

POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:

Mississippi OF Michael Harris II (MiLB.com)

PITCHER of the WEEK:

Augusta RHP Royber Salinas. (MiLB TV/Columbia Fireflies)

Transaction Round-Up

  • 4/24/2022: IF Yariel Gonzalez assigned to AA Mississippi from AAA Gwinnett

After an impressive 2021 season at AA and AAA in the Tigers system, Gonzalez has looked lost at the plate early in the season. This move paved the way from Atlanta signing veteran infielder Hernan Perez later in the week. Gonzalez

  • 4/26/2022: RHP Victor Vodnik assigned to AA Mississippi; C Arden Pabst sent to extended spring training from AA Misssissippi

Vodnik made an impressive spring training appearance for Atlanta, striking out 5 batters in 2 innings of work, but did not get assigned to a team on Opening Day. It looks like the Braves will again change his role back to reliever. Given his injury issues last season and his repertoire, this may be a good move for his career and a William Woods-style quick ascent may not be out of the question.

  • 4/26/2022: RHP William Woods recalled from AAA Gwinnett; OF Eddie Rosario placed on 10-day IL (blurred vision/swelling in right retina)

Woods got the OFR bump the day after he was featured in the Farm Report. Is that why he got called up for the first time, or was it him striking out 12 out of 21 batters faced as a reliever this season? The world may never know.

  • 4/27/2022: 3B Hernan Perez signed to minor league contract and assigns him AAA Gwinnett

The 31-year-old Perez takes the roster spot of Yariel Gonzalez, who was sent to Mississippi a few days prior. Perez is a 10-year major league veteran who first came up with the Tigers in 2012. Perez’s best seasons came with the Milwaukee Brewers, with whom he played from 2015-19 as a utility player, but he spent last season with the Nationals organization before being released at the trading deadline. Perez has logged 30 or more major league appearances at 6 different positions, a useful talent to have at AAA.

Chadwick Tromp will get the lion’s share of work at Gwinnett while Contreras splits time with Travis d’Arnaud.

  • 4/28/2022: OF Ronald Acuna Jr. activated from 10-day IL; OF Alex Dickerson designated for assignment

In some ways the return of Acuna feels like the real Opening Day. Acuna is one of the most feared hitters in the game, and he returns to the top of a Braves line-up that has been operating like a race car engine dropping a cylinder. Dickerson is DFA’d to make room, somewhat of a surprise as it gives Atlanta no left-handed hitters other than first baseman Matt Olson and switch-hitter Ozzie Albies. While Dickerson’s performance in the first three weeks of the season left a lot to be desired, metrics showed that he was actually hitting well but with dreadful luck. It doesn’t seem likely that Dickerson will clear waivers.

  • 4/28/2022: OF Drew Waters sent on a rehab assignment to A Rome

Waters sustained a hamstring injury early in the Grapefruit League season and was placed on the Gwinnett injured list before Opening Day. If Waters can prove himself healthy and find some success upon returning to Gwinnett there will no doubt be opportunities for him at the major league level.

  • 4/28/2022: OF Andrew Moritz assigned to AA Mississippi from A+ Rome; OF Jesse Franklin V placed on the 7-day injured list for AA Mississippi

Bad timing for Franklin, who was starting to overcome a slow start. Moritz, a 6th-rounder from the 2018 draft who was buried on the Rome depth chart gets a chance to earn a little more in his paycheck and get some playing time.

  • 4/28/2022: C Rusber Estrada and RHP Rolddy Munoz assigned to A Augusta from A+ Rome

Estrada has been playing behind Tyler Tolve and Javier Valdes in Rome, so moving down gives him more of an opportunity in the wake of Antonio Barranca’s injury. Despite a zippy fastball, South Atlantic League hitters have been tagging Munoz at a .286/.375/.600 clip, so he drops to Augusta to reinforce a somewhat depleted ‘pen.

Muller was brought up for a spot start in Texas that did not go well. Control has been an issue with both Muller and Elder in the big leagues, though Muller’s six walks in two innings were an extreme case.

  • 5/1/2022: LHP Kyle Muller and RHP William Woods optioned to AAA Gwinnett

When I said “spot start” I meant spot start. The Braves, like all other MLB teams, had to get their roster down to 26 players by Monday the 2nd. Who will get the next start when the 5th spot rolls around again is anyone’s guess at this point. Since I am part of “anyone” I’ll guess Spencer Strider or Jackson Stephens, maybe with one piggybacking the other.

Your Moment of Zen

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