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.
Check out the OFR Farm Report tomorrow for more observations and insights.
All-April Braves Minor League Team
Catcher: Adam Zebrowski, Rome
This was a surprisingly competitive spot as Mississippi’s Javier Valdes and Gwinnett’s Joe Hudson also had strong Aprils, but Zebrowski takes the prize with 7 extra base hits, including 4 homers, and by walking 10 times against 11 strikeouts.
First Base: Justin Janas, Augusta
Janas was an on-base machine at the University of Illinois and so far those skills have transferred to pro ball. Janas hit .327/.400/.408 in April with 4 doubles and 10 runs scored, the second highest batting average among qualified batters in the Braves system. He has also been a defensive rock at fist.
Second Base: Braden Shewmake, Gwinnett
Shewmake got off to a bit of a rough start early, but has come on strong over the last couple of weeks, and he now currently leads the Braves minor leagues in home runs with 5. Overall Shewmake is hitting .259/.314/.416 but has hit safely in 9 of the last 11 games. He has been splitting time between second and shortstop in preparation for a potential utility role in Atlanta.
Third Base: David McCabe, Augusta
McCabe has shown both patience and power with the Greenjackets, walking 10 times this month and swatting 5 extra-base hits, including 2 home runs. Overall he is hitting .250/.368/.411 while playing solid-average defense.
Shortstop: Nacho Alvarez, Rome
The could have gone to Vaughn Grissom for his work in Gwinnett, but with him spending half the month in Atlanta we’re giving the nod to Alvarez. Alvarez continues to play a solid shortstop despite a relative lack of experience at the position. Hitting .299/.453/.358, Alvarez has been Rome’s most consistent on-base threat and his 6.7% swinging strike rate is second best in the system behind only Gwinnett’s Luke Waddell.
Left Field: Forrest Wall, Gwinnett
Wall joined the Braves organization on a minor league free agent deal just before spring training and turned out an impressive spring campaign. Wall has kept that momentum going into April, hitting .264/.381/.425, stealing 11 bases (without being caught), and 8 extra-base hits including 2 homers. Typically a centerfielder most of his career, Gwinnett’s impressive defensive outfield options have had Wall mostly in left.
Centerfield: Cody Milligan, Mississippi
Only a recent trip to the injured list has been able to slow down Milligan, the Braves best minor league position player so far in the young season. After a breakthrough 2021 season, Milligan has made himself into an above average centerfielder, though the Braves still have him cameo at second base once or twice a week. Milligan currently leads Braves minors in batting average (.333), on-base percentage (.467), doubles (6), and wRC+ (175).
Right Field: Jeremy Celedonio, Augusta
Perhaps the weakest position in the organization currently, Celedonio takes this month thanks to a nice patience/power combo that mostly makes up for a .154 batting average. Thanks to 13 walks, Celedonio has been on base at a .356 clip. He’s also added 3 home runs, 2 doubles, and 2 stolen bases to the offensive mix.
Starting Pitcher: A.J. Smith-Shawver, Rome
A good way to get on lists like this is to simply not give up any earned runs, and this is the path that Smith-Shawver has decided to take. In only three starts this month covering 14 innings pitched, Smith-Shawver has an astounding 23 strikeouts and a measly 4 walks. He’s only allowed two extra-base hits, both doubles. We’re still waiting for him to crack the 80 pitch mark this season, but I can’t blame the Braves for taking special care for what looks to be a special talent.
Relief Pitcher: Yacksel Rios, Gwinnett
There were some notable relief pitching performances this month — Mississippi’s Alec Barger, Rome’s Miguel Pena, Augusta’s Landon Harper, and Rios’s Gwinnett teammates Brian Moran, Grant Holmes, and Kyle Wilcox for examples. But Rios will take this for the combination of not giving up any earned runs this month and short-stint domination with 16 strikeouts in 10.1 innings against only 3 walks. And if you like classic stats, Rios also leads the Braves minors in saves with 3.
Weekly Round-Up
AUGUSTA:
Despite a series of postponements over a soggy weekend, Augusta and Columbia managed in the end to play eight games, making up for two rainouts from the first weekend of the season. Unfortunately, the Greenjackets only came out the victor in two of the eight contests, dropping their record to 7-13 on the year, 5.5 games back in the division. The Jackets will open up the month of May on the road at division-leading Kannapolis.
The Jackets dropped the first two games of the series by scores of 1-3 and 2-3. In the opener, Adam Shoemaker managed to only allow 1 run in 4 innings despite giving up 5 walks. Wednesday saw the first start of the season for Jhoncarlos Lara, but he was run after a tough 4th inning saw him give up the three runs that would be enough for the Fireflies to win. Right-hander Seth Keller piggybacked and was again outstanding, throwing 4 innings in relief and only allowing 1 hit and 2 walks.
Augusta got their first win of the series in a rain-shortened Game 1 of a planned doubleheader on Thursday. Spencer Schwellenbach threw 4 shutout innings in the start, keeping to what appears to be a consistant 40-pitch limit. Friday saw the successful completion of a doubleheader, with the teams splitting. Augusta lost the opener 1-5 as righty Owen Murphy had his first just-OK start, surrendering 2 runs in 4 innings. In the nightcap, Nick Martinez allowed 3 runs in a 3.2 inning start, but right-hander Landon Harper continued his outstanding work in April, giving up an unearned run and striking out 6 in 4.1 innings of relief to earn the win.
J.R. Ritchie was the victim of his own shaky fielding on Saturday, with two throws to bases that should have been scored errors delivering 2 runs for Columbia, including a Little League inside-the-park “home run”. Otherwise Ritchie was dominating again, striking out 5 in 3.1, but piggybacker Jorge Bautista (4 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 BB, 7 SO) couldn’t hold the tie and Augusta dropped 5-3. Sunday saw the 7th and 8th game of the series played, with Augusta dropping both of them by scores of 4-13 and 3-9. In the opener righty Didier Fuentes struggled out of the gate, giving up 3 runs (2 earned) in the first inning, and reliever Chad Bryant followed with 6 runs in 1.2. In Game 2 Jared Johnson made his first start since September 2021, but allowed 3 runs in 2.2 innings.
Offense was generally hard to come by again for Augusta, but first baseman Justin Janas was a standout, hitting .444/.474/.556 on the week. Outfielder Ethan Workinger played in all 8 games and seemed to enjoy the work, batting .333/.429/.542with 2 doubles and a home run, one of only two hit by Augusta over the series.
ROME:
Not too far from North Augusta, Rome visited Greensboro and run into the same weekend weather, but the Hoppers and the Braves managed to get in all six games of their series through delays and postponements. The two teams split the six games, and Rome now has an 8-12 record, 6.5 games behind front-runner Winston-Salem in the division. The Braves will be home this week to face Bowling Green for six.
The Braves scored 7 runs on Tuesday to back starter Ian Mejia, who allowed 2 runs (1 earned) in 6 innings to pick up the win. Newcomer Patrick Halligan gave the team 3 innings of scoreless relief to get a save the hard way. Right-hander Tyler Owens picked up a spot start on Wednesday, his first since last May, and only allowed 1 run on 2 hits through 3 innings, striking out 4, but that was enough for Greensboro to get a 4-1 win.
After Thursday’s game was washed out, the teams managed to play only Game 1 of the planned doubleheader on Friday with the Braves getting a 6-0 shutout win. Right-hander A.J. Smith-Shawver again delivered a dominating start, allowing only two baserunners in 5 innings, striking out 6 and righthander Jonathan Hughes completed the final two innings, allowing only one hit. The teams did get both ends of a Saturday doubleheader in, splitting the games with Rome taking Game 1 7-4 in a Rolddy Munoz emergency start (4 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 5 BB, 3 SO). Needing innings in Game 2, Luis Vargas took one for the team, struggling through 3 innings and giving up 8 runs in a 9-4 loss.
For the series finale, Samuel Strickland took it on the chin, giving up 8 runs including a 2nd inning grand slam, one of three homers off of him in 1.2 innings and Rome got out of town following a 1-12 pasting.
Once again the offense was paced by shortstop Nacho Alvarez (6-for-15, 9 walks, 7 RBI, 0 strikeouts) and catcher Adam Zebrowski (5-for-12, 2 home runs). Rome also got some contributions from a slow-starters that showed some life. Outfielder Brandol Mezquita was only hitting .180/.200/.308 on the season coming into the series, but he doubled his hits, going 4-for-14 and socking a home run.
Infielder Keshawn Ogans returned to action after after 7 days, though he only went 1-for-9 in his return to action.
MISSISSIPPI:
The Mississippi Braves hit the road for a two-week road trip starting this week in Biloxi against the Shuckers. Much like the Gwinnett Stripers, the early-week games were deficient of offense, but the weekend bumped up the scoring numbers. The M-Braves earned a split on the back of solid starting pitching the leave the Mississippi gulf coast with an 8-13 record as they head east to Pensacola next week to take on the Blue Wahoos.
Alan Rangel earned the bookend starts this week and had a brilliant start on Tuesday as he tossed six shutout innings, allowing just two baserunners. However, Rangel got bombed in his Sunday start as he gave up five runs in just 2.1 innings and 71 pitches. Tanner Gordon followed up Rangel’s first start with a 5.2 inning, no-run effort on Wednesday, striking out seven and allowing just four baserunners. Domingo Robles had a great start on Saturday, giving up just one earned run over six innings with eight strikeouts.
In the bullpen, Alec Barger had two more one-inning scoreless appearances and two saves and now has eleven scoreless innings over seven appearances to start the season. Trey Riley had two scoreless one-inning outings while Jake McSteen had three scoreless innings over two appearances with a save. Victor Vodnik had a rough week with four runs allowed over 3.1 innings.
Outfielder Andrew Moritz took over leadoff duties after an injury to Cody Milligan and succeeded in getting on base regularly. He was 8-for-23 with a triple, home run, and four RBI (.348/.423/.565) and now sports a seven-game hitting streak. Catcher Javier Valdes only played in three games but had a tremendous series as he went 7-for-12 with three doubles and three home runs (.583/.615/1.583). Infielder Cade Bunnell had quite an eventful week as he went 6-for-24 with two doubles, two home runs, two walks, eleven strikeouts…and five errors (.250/.308/.583). 1B-DH Drew Lugbauer hit his 50th home run for Mississippi on Sunday in a week where he was 5-for-15 with two doubles and four RBI (.333/.375/.667). Outfielder Justin Dean returned from Gwinnett mid-week and went 3-for-12 over three games with a double, home run, and two outfield assists. Catcher Arden Pabst had a tough week, going 0-for-11 with ten strikeouts but he was also hit by a pitch once.
GWINNETT:
The Gwinnett Stripers returned home this week to start a two-week homestand against the Buffalo Bisons. The series started as a series of low-scoring affairs with a total of thirteen runs scored over the first three games before the offenses cranked up later in the week. When all was said and done, the Stripers earned a series split to exit with a record of 10-16. The Stripers now continue their homestand against the Charlotte Knights beginning on Tuesday.
Gwinnett’s starting pitching was subpar this week as no starter went more than four innings and the starting pitchers contributed only a total of 17.1 innings, causing the bullpen to have to cover a lot of innings. Beau Burrows had a lot of traffic on the basepaths on Tuesday but left after 3.1 innings with just one run allowed but threw 81 pitches. On Wednesday, Nolan Kingham tossed three innings of one-run baseball in a bullpen game. Things really went south for the rotation over the weekend as their top arms got hammered by Buffalo hitting. Dylan Dodd gave up six runs over three innings on Friday night with all the damage coming in his third and final inning. Jared Shuster fared no better on Saturday as he gave up four runs, nine hits, two walks, and two home runs, while Michael Soroka was lit up on Sunday for ten hits and seven earned runs along with two hit batsmen in just three innings.
In the bullpen, Allan Winans had a tremendous outing on Thursday during a planned long-relief stint working around a Raisel Iglesias rehab appearance. Winans tossed four innings of shutout ball and earned the win in a 6-1 victory. Yacksel Rios had another scoreless appearance with a save on Wednesday but was finally scored upon in his tenth appearance of the season on Sunday. Grant Holmes continued to impress with four more scoreless innings and now has twenty strikeouts in thirteen innings this season with a 1.38 ERA. Roddery Munoz tossed two scoreless innings during his first outing of the week but was roughed up on Sunday with three runs given up in just one inning of work. Kyle Wilcox was finally scored upon for the first time as a Striper on Sunday as well but had two other scoreless appearances during the week.
The Gwinnett offense only scored eleven runs over the first four games but exploded for eighteen more over the Saturday and Sunday games. Shortstop Braden Shewmake was just 5-for-24 during the week but had a double and two home runs (.208/.269/.500). Outfielder Michael Harris had a brief, two-game rehab stint and was 1-for-7 with two walks and a stolen base. Catcher Hendrik Clementina was 4-for-7 with a home run while outfielder Nick Solak was 4-for-13 with two doubles, a home run, and four RBI. Infielder Joe Dunand had three multi-hit games as he went 6-for-16 with two home runs and four RBI.
POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:
PITCHER of the WEEK:
Transaction Round-Up
- 4/24/2023: Signed amateur international free agent Francisco Vicioso to a minor league contract, assigned him to the DSL Braves
While most of the new international class was signed in January, the Braves still are adding.
- 4/25/2023: Activated RHP Collin McHugh from the 15-day injured list; optioned LHP Danny Young to AAA Gwinnett
McHugh re-joined a Braves bullpen that had begun showing some strain from injures. Young had been solid and would not stay away for long.
- 4/25/2023: OF Eli White placed on the paternity list; OF Nick Solak recalled from AAA Gwinnett
Around the majors there’s been a baby boom, perhaps not coincidentally around 40 weeks from the 2022 All-Star break. Congrats to Eli and family.
- 4/25/2023: Signed IF Daniel Robertson to a minor league contract, assigned him to FCL Braves
Robertson is a major league veteran, mostly appearing with the Tampa Bay Rays. He was last in the majors in 2021 for 50 games with Milwaukee, but injuries largely kept him out of the big leagues in 2022 as he bounced around in the Twins and Phillies organizations. Back in camp with the Rays, he was a late-spring cut. He will provide more depth at shortstop and will likely join the Gwinnett Stripers before too long.
- 4/25/2023: OF Cody Milligan placed on 7-day injured list for AA Mississippi; OF Bryson Worrell assigned to AA Mississippi from FCL Braves
No word on Milligan’s injury, but he has been the straw that stirs the drink for the M-Braves, hitting .333/.467/.521 with 5 stolen bases. Worrell is a non-draft amateur free agent signing from 2021 and a former star at East Carolina. He’ll fill the roster spot.
- 4/26/2023: OF Michael Harris II activated from the 7-day injured list; OF Eli White activated from the paternity list and optioned to AAA Gwinnett; OF Nick Solak optioned to AAA Gwinnett.
Harris had been slowed by a strained hamstring and the Braves were very cautious with his return.
- 4/26/2023: RHP Joe Jimenez placed on the paternity list; LHP Danny Young recalled from AAA Gwinnett
Congrats to Joe and family!
- 4/26/2023: RHP Austin Smith placed on the injured-full season list for AA Mississippi; C/1B Ryan Casteel placed on the injured-full season list for AAA Gwinnett
A disappointing early ending of the 2023 season for Smith and Casteel. Smith was one of the more impressive relief prospects at Rome last season and earned a look in the Arizona Fall League.
For Casteel, a spring-training invitation and a lengthy, solid showing in Grapefruit League games gave hope that the 12-year minor league veteran may finally get the call this year.
- 4/28/2023: OF Justin Dean assigned to AA Mississippi from AAA Gwinnett
For the second time in as many seasons, Dean starts the year in Gwinnett but moves back to Mississippi. Dean was bound to lose playing time with Eli White and Nick Solak rejoining the Stripers, but his .196/.371/.294 batting line with 4 stolen bases against 3 caught stealing made the decision easier.
- 4/29/2023: RHP Joe Jimenez activated from the paternity list; LHP Danny Young optioned to AAA Gwinnett. RHP Matt Swarmer placed on the developmental list for AAA Gwinnett
Welcome back Joe!
- 4/30/2023: RHP Rob Griswold assigned to A+ Rome from A Augusta; RHP Chad Bryant activated from the developmental list for A Augusta
One of Augusta’s best short relievers gets the bump up after posting 5 scoreless outings in 2023.
Your Moment of Zen
We thought we gave a sufficient warning two days ago.
DO NOT run on @Big_Popaa. Dude has an absolute 🚀 for an arm. pic.twitter.com/1jpYA7UM0t
— Mississippi Braves (@mbraves) April 30, 2023
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