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.
Weekly Round-Up
AUGUSTA:
The Greenjackets got the month of May off to a splendid start, getting their first series win of the season against the Kannapolis Cannonballers, taking five of the six games on the road. Augusta improved their record to 12-14 and climbed to fourth in the division, 4.5 games behind front-running Columbia. The team will return to SRP Park this week to take on the rival Charleston RiverDogs.
After having only hit 10 home runs in April, Jacket hitters tried to make up for it this week by slugging 7 round-trippers in this series. This barrage included first-of-the-season homers from shortstop Ambioris Tavarez, catcher Nick Clarno, outfielder Jair Casanova, and first baseman Mahki Backstrom (grand slam). Outfielder Ethan Workinger also homered this week while working on a 10-game hitting streak, earning the OFR Position Player of the Week. Infielder E.J. Exposito didn’t homer, but he did go 6-for-19 on the week including a 3-RBI day to help win on Sunday.
On the pitching side, righty Seth Keller finally gave up an earned run on Wednesday, but he pitched through the 5th to earn his first win of the season as Jhoncarlos Lara and Jason Franks followed him with four shutout innings of relief to secure the 4-1 win. Righty Cedric de Grandpre got the ball in the opener and allowed just one run in 4 innings, though Landon Harper struggled for the first time this season in relief and Augusta needed some extra innings heroics from Workinger (bases loaded walk), catcher Dawson Dimon (bases loaded single), and Casanova (2-RBI single) to pull out an 11-7 victory.
Right-hander Spencer Schwellenbach started on Thursday and threw a season-high 56 pitches, allowing 3 hits and 1 run in his 3.1 innings. Nolan Martinez and Hayden Harris followed with 5.2 innings of solid relief, allowing only one unearned run for a 6-2 win. Defensive miscues plagued Owen Murphy‘s start on Friday and he allowed 4 runs (2 earned) but struck out 6 in 4 innings. Tyree Thompson followed with a scoreless 5th, then right-hander Jorge Bautista took the game the rest of the way with 4 innings, allowing only 1 unearned run to pick up the tight 6-5 win. Saturday starter J.R. Ritchie faced the minimum going into the 4th inning and retired the first two batters of the 5th before pulling himself out of the game after throwing a slider with noticeably less zip and command. Reliever Elison Joseph entered the game with a 2-0 count and ended up completing the walk, then followed by allowing a 2-run homer. It was the most sour note of the week and lead to the Jackets’ only loss in the series.
ROME:
The Braves hosted the rival Bowling Green Hot Rods this week and treated them poorly for the first four games of the series, including a Thursday 3-0 shutout. The Hot Rods rebounded to take both games over the weekend however, but Rome improved their record to 12-14, tied for third in the division and 6.5 games behind first-place Winston-Salem. The Braves stay home this week to host the Asheville Tourists.
Rome’s four-game streak was powered in large part by great relief pitching as no starting pitcher threw 5 innings in a start. The longest and best of the week was from right Daniel Martinez, who steps into the rotation to replace the promoted A.J. Smith-Shawver. His strong 4.2 innings was backed by 4.1 innings of relief from Hunter Riggins that totaled the aforementioned Thursday shutout. Righty Tyler Owens got bookend starts this week, with Tuesday’s showing 3 innings of shutout ball on the way to a 6-3 Rome win. Sunday’s 2 inning start was rougher as Owens allowed 4 runs (3 earned) in only 2 innings.
Saturday starter Ian Mejia looked fairly dominating early in the game, but the wheels came off in the 5th as he surrendered a 2-run and 3-run home run. Rome would come back and force the games into extra innings, but the the Hot Rods would score an unanswered run in the top of the 11th. On a bright note, righty Rolddy Munoz in his second consecutive start looked strong in four innings of work on Friday, striking out five and only allowing 1 run. He was backed by Luis Vargas‘s best work of the season to day, 5 innings of shutout relief as he struck out 7.
On the offensive side, catcher Drake Baldwin shook off a recent slump, going 5-for-19 and slugging 2 homers. Fellow catcher Adam Zembrowski also homered this week, as he often does. Shortstop Nacho Alvarez continued his good work at the plate, going 5-for-14 with 7 walks. Lead-off man Kevin Kilpatrick only got 3 hits this week, but two of them were his first two home runs of the season, hit in the same game on Tuesday. Reserve infielder and former Georgia Bulldog Cory Acton also hit his first homer of the season this week, in fact his first professional home run of his career.
MISSISSIPPI:
The Mississippi Braves continued their two-week road trip in Pensacola in a rather low-scoring series as the two teams combined for a total of 37 runs over the six games due to solid starting pitching on both sides, including two tremendous starts for Pensacola from Marlins prospect Eury Perez, the #11 prospect in MLB. After dropping five of six games, the M-Braves bring a 9-18 record home to face the Chattanooga Lookouts beginning on Tuesday.
Tanner Gordon started the week with an outstanding start on Tuesday in which he outdueled Perez with seven shutout innings, giving up just four hits and no walks. Unfortunately, the bullpen blew the lead late so it was all for naught. A.J. Smith-Shawver made his Double-A debut on Friday and fared well over two innings of work with no runs allowed although he gave up two hits and two walks. Unfortunately, a long rain delay ended his night and Domingo Robles took over and put on the performance of the week on the farm as he tossed seven scoreless innings, allowing just four baserunners while striking out seven, to complete the combined shutout and taking home the only win for the M-Braves during the week.
In the bullpen, Alec Barger had two more one-inning scoreless appearances and now has thirteen scoreless innings over nine appearances this season. Domingo Gonzalez, Victor Vodnik, and Coleman Huntley each also had two scoreless outings during the week.
In a week in which the M-Braves scored just eighteen runs over six games, offensive standouts were tough to find. Outfielder Landon Stephens was just 3-for-14 during the week but had a double, a home run, and three RBI, the only M-Brave to drive in more than two runs during the week (.214/.450/.500). Outfielder Jesse Franklin returned from injury on Saturday in his first game in over a year, going 1-for-4 with a long home run to left-center field.
GWINNETT:
The Gwinnett Stripers continued their two-week homestand with a series against the Charlotte Knights. Attrition among both the starting rotation and position players caught up this week as the Stripers dropped four out of six games to the Knights, scoring three or fewer runs three times and giving up at least a dozen runs in half of their games this week. The Stripers, whose record now stands at 12-20 for the season, now hit the road to take on the Nashville Sounds.
Gwinnett’s starting pitching was mostly okay this week although Dylan Dodd was unavailable due to a spot start in Atlanta this week. Beau Burrows secured a win on Tuesday as he gave up just two runs over 5.2 innings as well as getting ten runs of support. Allan Winans had another good start on Wednesday with just two runs allowed over six innings. Nick Margevicius got a spot start on Thursday in place of Dylan Dodd and didn’t even make it out of the first inning as he gave up three runs while recording only two outs. Add that to the three runs in 3.1 innings he gave up on Sunday and he did not have a good week. Jared Shuster had a tremendous start on Friday, tossing six no-hit innings, striking out five and walking three in a 2-0 victory. Unfortunately, the weekend did not go well for Gwinnett as Michael Soroka gave up three runs in four innings on Saturday, giving up seven hits and throwing 77 pitches while Tanner Gordon was bludgeoned in his first Triple-A start on Sunday, giving up ten runs (nine earned) in just 1.1 innings while throwing 61 pitches.
In the bullpen, Joe Harvey continued his fine work with three scoreless one-inning appearances and has a 0.82 ERA over ten outings this season. Yacksel Rios had three scoreless innings over two outings and has both an ERA and a WHIP of just 0.61 over twelve games this season. Grant Holmes tossed another 1.2 scoreless innings this week and has a 1.23 ERA and 0.82 WHIP over eleven outings. Roddery Munoz had a horrific week as he was terrible in both appearances while giving up six hits, seven earned runs, five walks, and two wild pitches over just 2.1 innings.
The Gwinnett offense was Jekyll and Hyde as they scored at least nine runs three times while scoring three or fewer runs in the other three games. Outfielder Eli White had a solid week in his first full series since his return from the big club as he went 8-for-26 with two doubles, a home run, and three stolen bases (.308/.379/.500). Fellow outfielder Forrest Wall continued to perform well as he went 6-for-16 with three doubles and three steals (.375/.474/.563). Shortstop Luke Waddell did well in getting on base but not providing much else as he went 4-for-16 with a triple and eight walks (.250/.500/.375). Outfielder Nick Solak performed similarly to Waddell in going 7-for-21 with a double, six walks, and two HBP (.333/.517/.381). Shortstop Vaughn Grissom played in Sunday’s game after being optioned from Atlanta and went 3-for-4 with a double and a walk. Catcher Travis d’Arnaud played in three rehab games and went 0-for-8 with three strikeouts, two walks, and a run scored.
POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:
PITCHER of the WEEK:
Transaction Round-Up
- 5/2/2023: RHP A.J. Smith-Shawver assigned to AA Mississippi from A+ Rome; RHP Benjamin Dum activated from the 7-day injured list for A+ Rome; LHP Alex Segal placed on the developmental list for AA Mississippi
After not allowing an earned run the the month of April, the Braves decided to send the OFR #5 prospect to AA to try to find a challenge for him.
- 5/4/2023: Placed RHP Kyle Wright on the 15-day injured list (right shoulder inflammation); recalled LHP Dylan Dodd from AAA Gwinnett
Even once he returned two weeks ago, Wright was only occasionally effective in three starts. In his fourth start he came out of the game and almost immediately back onto the injured list. The Braves gave no timetable for his return. Dodd was brought up to make a (successful) spot start against Miami.
- 5/4/2023: RHP Tanner Gordon assigned to AAA Gwinnett from AA Mississippi; LHP Alex Segal activated from the developmental list
Gordon had been lights out through 5 starts with Mississippi, continuing a pattern of struggling at a new level one year, then returning and dominating the following season.
- 5/5/2023: Activated RHP Raisel Iglesias from the 15-day injured list; optioned LHP Dylan Dodd to AAA Gwinnett
With two off-days in the coming week, the Braves thought they could go without a fifth starter for a little. With word of something ailing LHP Max Fried, we will have to see. In any case Iglesias is a big weapon to return to the back end of the bullpen.
- 5/5/2023: SS Braden Shewmake recalled from AAA Gwinnett; IF Ehire Adrianza placed on the 10-day injured list (right elbow inflammation).
The OFR #12 prospect made his major league debut at shortstop that very night. Adrianza’s IL stint was back-dated to May 2, so there’s a possibility that he won’t be gone long. Ideally the Braves wouldn’t want either Shewmake or Vaughn Grissom sitting on a bench.
- 5/5/2023: RHP Nolan Kingham transferred to the developmental list for AAA Gwinnett; RHP Jon Olczak released
With Gordon in the rotation and Danny Young back to Gwinnett from a stint in the bigs, Gwinnett made room. Olczak had bounced on and off the developmental list since the season began, and only appeared in 4 games, allowing 10 earned runs in 3.1 innings.
- 5/5/2023: RHP Brent Burgess released by A+ Rome
Signed as an undrafted amateur free agent during the 2019, injuries and the COVID pandemic have limited the Georgia native to only 26.1 total innings in his minor league career. He had made three appearances with Rome this year, allowing 2 earned runs in 4.1 innings.
- 5/5/2023: RHP Francisco Romero released by DSL Braves
Romero was signed at the very end of the 2020-21 amateur signing period and appeared in 15 games with the DSL Braves last season, pitching to a 3.99 ERA in 29.1 innings. The complex league schedules start on June 5.
- 5/6/2023: IF Daniel Robertson assigned to AAA Gwinnett from FCL Braves; RHP Matt Swarmer activated from the developmental list and RHP Joe Harvey placed on the temporarily inactive list for AAA Gwinnett
Robertson is a major league veteran who will command time at all three infield spots.
- 5/6/2023: OF Jesse Franklin V activated from the 7-day injured list for AA Mississippi; OF Bryson Worrell assigned to FCL Braves from AA Mississippi
In a bit of good news on the injury front, Franklin returns just over a full year after having TJS. The OFR #16 prospect is perhaps the top power bat in the Braves farm system.
- 5/6/2023: RHP Daysbel Hernandez assigned to A+ Rome from AAA Gwinnett; LHP Samuel Strickland placed on the 7-day injured list
Hernandez had just completed a rehab stint with Rome, so this just keeps him in the same spot. Hernandez is trying to work his way back from TJS in the winter of 2022.
- 5/7/2023: SS Orlando Arcia activated from the 10-day injured list; SS Vaughn Grissom optioned to AAA Gwinnett; IF Joe Dunand placed on the developmental list for AAA Gwinnett
This came as a surprise as the Braves had said no word about Arcia nearing his return. He comes back after 22 days on the IL, a much shorter time than anyone would have thought when Cincinnati’s Hunter Greene nailed him on the wrist with a 99 mph fastball.
For Grissom, he gets to go play shortstop every day and continue to improve defensively. The 22-year-old made 6 errors in his 19 games at the position and had several noticeable mental errors on top of that and his .277/.314/.308 batting was too soft to overcome that.
Your Moment of Zen
This is what happens when you hit a baseball 111 miles an hour with the bases loaded, in case you were wondering.
Mahki Backstrom (@CMCMACB) is having a GRAND time tonight 🌊🌊🌊🌊 pic.twitter.com/DwCFStJ9q4
— Augusta GreenJackets (@GreenJackets) May 5, 2023
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