Outfield Fly Rule

Monday Braves Farm Report, 5/22/2023

May 22, 2023 Andy Harris & Matt Chrietzberg Minor Leagues 0

AJ Smith-Shawver struck out five over 5.0 four-hit, two-run innings in his Triple-A debut on Friday night in Memphis. (Memphis Redbirds)

 

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.

Prospect Spotlight: A.J. Smith-Shawver

Position: RHP
Age: 20
Height: 6′-3″
Weight: 205 lbs
Performance (2023): 6 G, 6 GS | 0.69 ERA | 2.36 FIP | 26.0 IP | 3.12 BB/9 | 36.6 K/9 (A+, AA, AAA)
Performance (2022): 17 G, 17 GS | 5.11 ERA | 3.53 FIP | 68.2 IP | 5.11 BB/9 | 13.50 K/9 (A)

Current Grades
Fastball: 60
Slider: 50
Curveball: 40
Changeup: 35
Control: 50
Command: 40

Smith-Shawver was a 7th-round selection in 2021 by Atlanta out of Colleyville Heritage High School in the Dallas-Ft. Worth suburbs. A quarterback in high school, Smith-Shawver only started pitching regularly in his junior year of high school but got the attention of scouts when he showed a fastball that topped out at 97 mph. Smith-Shawver turned down a football/baseball scholarship from Texas Tech to sign with the Braves after the latter offered a $1 million overslot bonus.

The Braves have worked with Smith-Shawver to clean up what had been a violent delivery coming out of high school. He now has a mechanically smooth delivery out of a 3-quarters arm slot. He has excellent arm speed, but still battles with keeping his arm and body in sync. Most of the time this takes the form of his arm moving faster than his body, firing the ball across his body and missing glove-side, though he can also sometimes overcorrect and the arm drags as well. This has improved quite a bit this season over his first full season last year with Augusta, where he could go whole starts playing push-me-pull-you with his own body. Now it’s something than can flare up but he has better tools to reign it in and get back on track.

Smith-Shawver’s stuff is that of a front-line starting pitcher. His fastballs sits in the mid-90s but he can ramp it up to 97-98 regularly. When he’s fully in synch it has natural armside run of 5-9 inches. It works best up in the zone. It plays with his developing slider that has tightened up considerably from 2022, coming in at around 10 mph slower than the fastball and with opposite break. Smith-Shawver has put his change-up and curveball in the back seat for now, but both could be weapons at the next level. The change-up in particular shows good glove-side fade and horizonal dip.

If Smith-Shawver’s quick ascent up the organizational ladder reminds you of another fastball/slider pitcher in 2021 named Spencer Strider, you aren’t alone. Smith-Shawver has been told to study Strider, and the Braves would likely be open to Smith-Shawver making some sort of impact on the major league team if he proves up to the challenge of AAA. He certainly has the arm talent for it, but it come down to how much he can shorten or even stop his moments of command problems. -AH

Weekly Round-Up

AUGUSTA:

Augusta travelled to Myrtle Beach and took care of business, winning the 7-game series 4 games to 3. Augusta and Myrtle Beach are now tied in the division with matching 19-20 records, good for third and 4 games back of the frontrunning Columbia Fireflies. The Greenjackets will return home to face second-place Kannapolis for a six game series.

Right-handers Owen Murphy and Spencer Schwellenbach got their first pro wins and quality starts this week. Murphy completed 5 innings, allowing only 1 run and striking out 5, throwing 62 efficient pitches. He was following a start by Schwellenbach who gave up only 2 hits and 2 walks in 5 innings, throwing 65 pitches. Righty Cedric De Grandpre now has a streak of 3 consecutive starts allowing 1 or fewer runs, on Tuesday striking out 6 while only an unearned pushed through. The roughest start of the week came on Thursday. After a rain delay delayed the 7:00 start to 8:30, righty Jhoncarlos Lara was staked to a 7-0 lead after three innings. Lara allowed 3 runs in the bottom of the third, then reliever Jason Franks allowed 6 in the 4th, and the Jackets would end up losing 10-8, finished just before midnight.

17-year-old righty Didier Fuentes had his best start of the season on Sunday, getting through 4 innings and only allowing 3 hits and a walk while striking out 4. Righties Seth Keller and Jorge Bautista did well in piggybacking opportunities, Keller allowing 1 run and Bautista none in 4 innings apiece.

Tuesday saw Ethan Workinger‘s 16-game hitting streak come to an end, and he only went 3-for-24 in the series, but did homer. Newcomer Bryson Worrell went 6-for-17 with 2 doubles, while outfielder Jeremy Celedonio went 5-for-18 with 2 homers, including a 4-RBI night on Friday. First baseman Justin Janas had 8 hits on the week.

The Braves are still evaluating treatment options for first-rounder J.R. Ritchie, who had to come out of a game on May 5 with an injury. Mark Bowman of MLB.com confirmed that the injury was to the elbow.

ROME:

The Braves travelled a little to the north to take on Hickory and took the first five of the series before dropping the final game on Sunday by a 7-8 score.  They brought their record over .500, now 20-18 and in second place in the division, 3.5 games behind Winston-Salem. They come home this week to play seven games against Greenville.

Rome pitching was particularly stingy this week, highlighted by a combined 3-hit shutout on Friday by Ian Mejia (6.2 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 5 SO), Ryder Jones (1.1 IP, 1 H, 2 SO), and Jonathan Hughes (1 IP, 3 SO, save) to beat the Crawdads 1-0. Right-hander Hunter Riggins continued his good work since joining the rotation, allowing only one run in 4.2 innings in the series opener with Daniel Martinez putting up a similar start the following night, allowing 1 run in 5.2 innings. Tyler Owens pitched 4 innings on only 49 pitches on Saturday, allowing 1 run on 4 hits, walking none. In 5 starts, Owens has allowed a .214/.228/.375 batting line against, good for a 3.00 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 15 innings.

Infielder Keshawn Ogans has struggled most of the season but destroyed Crawdad pitching this week. Ogans went 8-for-22 with 2 doubles and 3 home runs, raising his season OPS by 164 points and earning OFR Position Player of the Week. Shorstop Ignacio Alvarez missed the first two games of the series but hit .438 in the remaining 4 games and picked up his first home run of the season on Sunday. Catcher Drake Baldwin socked 3 homers this week, including two in Tuesday’s 7-3 win, and he now has 5 homers for the month of May.

MISSISSIPPI:

The Mississippi Braves made a road trip to Alabama this week to take on the Montgomery Biscuits and played reasonably well, splitting the series, and running their record over their last eleven games to 8-3 with two of the losses being by just one run. The M-Braves now have a 17-21 record, 7 ½ games back of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos in the Southern League South Division. Mississippi returns home this week to take on that same Pensacola team to put a dent into that division lead.

The starting pitching took a step back from their tremendous performance in the previous series as only Scott Blewitt’s six-inning, two-run start on Sunday and Alan Rangel’s five-inning, one-run outing on Saturday were the notable starts of the week. Jose Montilla did well as an opener on Thursday, tossing three perfect innings on just 37 pitches.

In the bullpen, Alec Barger gave up his first runs of the season on Saturday after eleven straight scoreless appearances as he blew a save. Domingo Gonzalez tossed three scoreless innings over two outings without allowing a hit and striking out six while Trey Riley had 2.1 scoreless innings over two games. Lucas Luetge had one rehab appearance with the M-Braves before returning to Atlanta and tossed 1.2 perfect innings with three strikeouts. Victor Vodnik continued his recent run of dominance with three scoreless innings and six strikeouts over two outings. Vodnik now has six consecutive scoreless appearances covering 8.1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 12 K.

1B/DH Drew Lugbauer was on a heater this week as he went 6-for-19 with a double, triple, two home runs, and seven RBI (.316/.381/.789). Lugbauer also made his professional pitching debut in Wednesday’s 10-0 loss, retiring the only two batters he faced while registering a strikeout. Outfielder Jesse Franklin continued to build up his playing time in going 4-for-16 with a home run and three RBI while fellow outfielder Landon Stephens had a much rougher week, going 1-for-16 with thirteen strikeouts (including four- AND five-strikeout games) although he did record two outfield assists. Catcher Tyler Tolve (3-for-14, two doubles, two RBI, .214/.353/.357) and Javier Valdes (4-for-14, home run, .286/.412/.500) continued to split time behind the dish.

GWINNETT:

The Gwinnett Stripers continued their two-week road trip with a stop in Memphis to take on the Redbirds. Behind solid starting pitching and not allowing more than four runs in any game, the Stripers took five out of six in the series and bumped up their record to 20-24 for the season, six games back of Iowa in the International League West Division. Gwinnett returns home to start a series with the Durham Bulls on Tuesday.

The starting pitching took center stage this week as no starter gave up more than two runs during their starts and registered a 1.95 ERA for the week. Allan Winans led the way during bookend starts with 4.1 innings of one-run ball on Tuesday and six scoreless innings on Sunday, winning OFR Pitcher of the Week honors. Winans now has a 2.98 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP in 45.1 innings so far this season. Michael Soroka had his best start of the season on Wednesday with 4.2 innings of one-run baseball and only four baserunners allowed while throwing 83 pitches. A.J. Smith-Shawver made his Triple-A debut on Friday night and proved to be up to the task as he gave up just two runs over five innings with five strikeouts while throwing 86 pitches. Dylan Dodd followed that up on Saturday with four scoreless innings before leaving after he reached his pitch count limit.

In the bullpen, Yacksel Rios had a strange week as he gave up two unearned runs over three innings of work although he did not allow a hit. This was due to five walks and an HBP although he did end up with a win and a save for the week. Kyle Wilcox also earned a win (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K) and a save (1 IP, 0 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 0 K). Nick Margevicius had just one appearance but was strong again as he tossed three scoreless innings. Newcomer Dereck Rodriguez got into two games and gave up one run over three innings of work. Danny Young made an appearance after being optioned from Atlanta and earned a save during an extra-inning contest. Tanner Gordon piggybacked Dylan Dodd following his four innings on Saturday and tossed five scoreless innings before giving up three runs in the tenth inning and taking the loss.

Shortstop Vaughn Grissom was solid once again as he went 5-for-17 with two doubles and four walks (.294/.429/.412) although he sat out both Saturday’s and Sunday’s games. Fellow infielder Braden Shewmake made his return to Gwinnett late in the week and played in two games, going 3-for-9 with two doubles and two RBI. Outfielder Forrest Wall hit safely in all five of his games (8-for-23, two 2B, HR, two SB, .348/.400/.565) and stole his 20th base of the season on Sunday. Infielder Hoy Park had a solid week in going 7-for-20 with two doubles, a home run, and four RBI (.350/.435/.600). Chad Pinder made his Gwinnett debut this week and had two four-hit games to begin his tenure with the Stripers. He finished the week with a double, two home runs, and a .421/.450/.789 batting line.

POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:

Rome IF Keshawn Ogans. (Mills Fitzner)

PITCHER of the WEEK:

Gwinnett RHP Allan Winans. (Ismael Caro)

Transaction Round-Up

  • 5/15/2023: Claimed LHP Dereck Rodriguez off waivers from the Minnesota Twins and optioned him to AAA Gwinnett; transferred RHP Kyle Wright from the 15-day to the 60-day injured list (right shoulder inflammation)

Rodriguez will be another back-end bullpen arm the Braves can have ride the Gwinnett shuttle as necessary.

The Braves at one point only had three starting pitchers on the 26-man roster. For now it looks like Shuster has the spot to lose in the revamped Braves rotation.

  • 5/16/2023: RHP A.J. Smith-Shawver assigned to AAA Gwinnett from AA Mississippi; RHP Ty Tice placed on the developmental list for AAA Gwinnett

At the time of this promotion, Smith-Shawver had not allowed a run in his first 21 innings of the season between high-A Rome and Mississippi. The Braves have never been hesitant about moving their players aggressively, but Smith-Shawver was clearly looking for a level to challenge him.

The plan seemed to let Shewmake fill the reserve infield job until Adrianza was ready to come back, but clearly Adrianza had a setback. Culberson is a fan favorite and a great story coming back after a few years away from the team, but is likely not long for the spot with experienced major league utilityman Chad Pinder in Gwinnett.

  • 5/18/2023: UT Chad Pinder assigned to AAA Gwinnett from FCL Braves; OF Magneuris Sierra placed on the developmental list for AAA Gwinnett

The 7-year major league veteran plays pretty much every position on the field and is a likely addition to the Braves bench at some point this season.

  • 5/19/2023: Activated LHP Lucas Luetge from the 15-day injured list; placed LHP Dylan Lee on the 15-day injured list (left shoulder inflammation)

Lee had been a workhorse since last year out of the Braves bullpen, but perhaps all those appearances caught up with him. Luetge had been out since April 12 with bicep inflammation.

The veteran Hudson has been having a good season with Gwinnett.

Your Moment of Zen

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