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.
Rome Braves to Change Name
The Rome Braves announced this week their intention to re-brand for the 2024 baseball season. The team was purchased by Diamond Baseball Holdings (DBH), a subsidiary of private equity firm Silver Lake, in 2021 from the Atlanta Braves shortly after the restructuring of Minor League Baseball before that season. While DBH re-upped their franchise agreement with the Atlanta Braves to keep the team under the Braves farm umbrella through 2030, the new owners would no doubt like to capitalize on the additional media and merchandising opportunities re-branding can bring.
Fans have been invited to send the club their ideas on a new name by filling at a form on their website.
Mailbag Q&A
Thanks to readers on the Outfield Fly Rule and Braves Support Group Facebook pages for questions!
Q: Who’s the one prospect we’re not talking about but probably should? – T. Poe
A: Tough question, as I’m not sure if anyone is talking about any Braves prospects except AJ Smith-Shawver and Hurston Waldrup. I’m going to say Jesse Franklin V, who has kind of gotten lost after missing most of 2022 and the first bit of 2023 after TJS. I’ve been skeptical of him before because of a questionable hit tool, but he’s come back from the surgery doing pretty well in that department. -AH
A: David McCabe has been a hitting machine between Augusta and Rome this season (146 wRC+ and .874 OPS in 42 games at Augusta, 155 wRC+ and .930 OPS in 56 games at Rome) but not much of a fielder at third base (18 errors in 87 games) although he can play first base as well. He’s a switch-hitter with a .958 OPS from the left side of the plate this season. He will likely get his toughest test so far at Mississippi next season (maybe even later this season). If he can hit there, then he could be in play for some DH time and a corner infielder backup in late 2024 or in 2025. -MC
Q: I have to know more about [FCL Braves outfielder] Noah Williams. Decent pedigree coming out of high school in California, but he fell so far in the draft. He had a decent start to his pro career, but has been quiet this year. Obviously his prospect pedigree isn’t crazy high or he wouldn’t have been drafted in the 18th round, but I still don’t really understand why he fell considering his size and high school numbers. – A. Bowers
A: The good news his that this size (6’1″, 180 pounds), athleticism, and high school performance got him drafted, but after that its about demonstrating skills. Williams is still very raw and is working on all of the basic hitting skills in the FCL. The Braves liked him enough to give him a taste of A-ball at the end of 2022 and he’s getting plenty of playing time in the FCL this season, but he’s very much a lottery ticket type of talent. -AH
Q: Who among our minor league catchers has the best chance to make the majors? – T. Christie
A: Going to assume you mean prospects, as Chadwick Tromp would be the easy answer otherwise. I’m going to say Javier Valdes has a decent chance of getting to the majors. He can hit, has good leadership skills, and is just good enough behind the plate. -AH
Q: What do you think the Braves plans for Vaughn Grissom are in the near future? Do they trade him? – P. Parsons
A: There’s no hurry to do anything with Grissom, considering he’ll still have two options next year and he’s raking in AAA while being over 4 years younger than the average age of the level. Yes, he’s probably the most likely player moved in the off-season if there’s a deal that could help the big-league club, but there’s no need to move him for reasons other than just making the big league club better. I’d also guess there’s a non-zero chance he could be Atlanta’s left fielder next season. -AH
Q: What’s your realistic expectation for Hurston Waldrup to get to the big leagues? – C. Hayes
A: Like a lot of people, I think’s there’s a decent shot that Waldrup could get to the majors in 2024 assuming performance and health. He looks to have two major league-quality pitches already, it’s just a matter of consistently commanding them. -AH
Q: Which minor league players have made the most progress this season? Which have taken steps back? – C. Hayes
A: Taking out players getting hurt or returning from injury, the first part of the question is pretty easy for me, AJ Smith-Shawver. Last season I had questions about his ability to stay healthy and his command, and while he’s not as finished a product as maybe the Braves thought back in June when they zipped him up to the majors he has definitely polished up those “future frontline starter” credentials. The answer for the second question is probably Cal Conley, who has simply not been able to get on base consistently enough after giving some hope that he’ll be adequate at the plate after a solid AFL performance last fall. -AH
A: Ignacio “Nacho” Alvarez has had solid bat-to-ball skills all along as well as good on-base skills and is now beginning to add some power to his profile. He has been playing solid defense at shortstop and shown no reason to consider moving him to another position. Alvarez is doing all of this at the age of 20 at High-A so there’s no hurry to rush him along unless he forces the issue. The minor-league players who have taken a step back this season are the tag-team of Jared Shuster and Dylan Dodd. Neither was ready to join the major-league rotation early in the season but were forced to do so due to injuries. The yo-yoing up and down has not helped either pitcher as Shuster has a 5.52 ERA in 12 Triple-A starts (with peripherals to match) and Dodd has a 7.21 ERA, although his peripherals are about two runs lower. Neither will likely see any more time in Atlanta this season so hopefully an extra 5-6 Triple-A starts for each could help them finish the season on a high note to get ready for 2024. -MC
Weekly Round-Up
COMPLEX LEAGUES:
AUGUSTA:
Augusta notched a rare road series win against the Salem Red Sox, winning 4 games to 2. Each game in the series was decided by 2 or fewer runs. The Greenjackets now find themselves in a three-way tie for third place in the Carolina League South at 20-22 and 7 games back of first-place Charleston. They’ll remain in Virginia this week, taking on Fredericksburg.
As you can imagine with so many close games, Augusta got some strong pitching performances last week, the most exciting being Friday’s performance by right-hander Owen Murphy. The 2022 first-rounder had a no-hitter going into the 7th inning before allowing a triple. That runner ended up scoring so he settled for 6.1 innings, 1 hit, 1 run, 1 walk, and 8 strikeouts. Righty Jhancarlos Lara scattered five hits over 6 scoreless innings to pick up a win on Wednesday, while left-hander Adam Shoemaker threw his best start of the season, allowing only 1 hits and an unearned run over 5 innings, striking out 5. In his second pro start, 6th-rounder Lucas Braun struck out 7 in 4.2 scoreless innings; between his two starts he has allowed no runs in 7.2 innings. Three different relievers notched saves this week, including righty Shay Schanaman in second Augusta appearance.
Infielder E.J. Exposito had a huge week at the plate despite only having played in 4 of the 6 games. Exposito went 4-for-13 with a double and a home run to knock in 7 runs. Centerfielder was on base at a .500 clip in the three games he started, while 10th-rounder Pier-Olivier Boucher went 4-for-20 in his first week with the club
ROME:
Rome took care of business against the cellar-dwelling Winston-Salem Dash at home, taking four of the six games to keep their flickering playoff chances alive. The Braves are now 20-22 in the second half, 9.5 games back of frontrunning Hickory where the team will travel this week to try to claw back some ground.
Like Augusta last week, the big news for Rome was the team debut for 2023 first-rounder Hurston Waldrep. On Saturday he tossed 3.2 hitless innings in his Rome debut, throwing exactly 50 pitches for the second week in a row. He worked around 3 walks but didn’t allow a run while striking out 2 batters. He was piggybacked by Jorge Bautista, who threw 4 innings, allowing two hits, 3 walks, and an unearned run to pick a win.
It was a good week for the Rome offense, with Rome getting a ton of production out of the catcher spot. Each getting three games behind the dish and one game at DH, Adam Zebrowski and Drake Baldwin combined to go 10-for-29 with 3 doubles (all by Baldwin) and a homer (Zebrowski) and scoring 8 runs. Nacho Alvarez went 9-for-19 with 3 walks and 3 HBP to post a .536 OBP. Third baseman David McCabe continued to stay hot, going 7-for-21 with 7 RBI; his 0-for-4 game on Sunday snapped what was a 13-game hitting streak.
MISSISSIPPI:
The Mississippi Braves took to the road this week for their first games this season against the Rocket City Trash Pandas. Despite a lack of success from the starting pitching this week, Mississippi managed to take three out of five games against the Trash Pandas with Sunday’s finale being suspended due to rain. The M-Braves will bring a 16-22 second-half record home to take on the Biloxi Shuckers beginning on Tuesday.
Mississippi’s best starting pitching effort this week took place in the first game of the series on Tuesday when Alan Rangel gave up just a solo home run and four hits over six innings of work, striking out ten while issuing no walks. Luis De Avila’s recent run of tremendous starts came to an end on Saturday as he uncharacteristically walked five over four innings before leaving at 91 pitches. Among the bullpen arms, Hayden Deal did not allow any earned runs in three innings of work while Trey Riley did the same over 2.2 innings. Hayden Harris gave up a run in 2.1 innings but all of his outs were via strikeout.
1B-DH Drew Lugbauer did not have a week quite as impressive as the week prior but still went 6-for-20 with two home runs and four RBI (.300/.364/.600), and he now leads the Southern League in homers. Outfielder Jesse Franklin also had two home runs and four RBI during a 6-for-19 week (.316/.409/.632) and is currently on a 23-game on-base streak. Leadoff man Cody Milligan continued to get on based during a 7-for-19 week in which he had two doubles, three stolen bases, and four walks (.368/.478/.474). 1B-DH Bryson Horne was promoted from Rome this week and had a nice debut, going 3-for-6 with two doubles and two RBI over two games.
GWINNETT:
The Gwinnett Stripers hit the road this week for a two-week swing through North Carolina. First on the agenda was the Charlotte Knights. Behind an offensive onslaught in which the Stripers scored at least nine runs in four out of six games and averaged ten runs per game for the week (including a franchise-record 20 runs on Thursday), Gwinnett swept the series and crept closer to .500 for the season. The Stripers now take a 54-58 record down the road to Durham for a series against the Bulls.
The Stripers rotation put up quality starts in four out of six games and even the other two starters went at least five innings. Jared Shuster had perhaps the best start of the week on Wednesday as he tossed seven innings of shutout ball while allowing just two basehits. Michael Soroka was not far behind in his Saturday start as he also threw seven scoreless innings while allowing just three hits and a walk while striking out eight. Dylan Dodd also had a solid start on Friday as he gave up just one run over six innings on just 74 pitches. AJ Smith-Shawver recorded a quality start on Tuesday as he gave up three runs over six innings while striking out seven with no walks.
In the bullpen, the rehabbing Dylan Lee had two scoreless one-inning appearances while Mike Morin and Grant Holmes each had two scoreless appearances. Jackson Stephens had a scoreless appearance in which he struck out four of the five batters that he faced.
The Gwinnett offense was led this week by Vaughn Grissom, who went 11-for-23 with eight walks, five doubles, two home runs, ten runs scored, and five RBI while striking out just two times all week (.478/.613/.957). Braden Shewmake was 8-for-27 with a double, home run, and six RBI (.296/.345/.444). IF-DH Joe Dunand went 9-for-24 with three doubles, a triple, two home runs, and six RBI (.375/.400/.833). 1B-DH Jesus Aguilar had an odd week, going 8-for-19 with eight walks, just two strikeouts, but with no extra-base hits or RBI (.421/.593/.421). IF/OF Luke Williams went 8-for-25 with a triple, two home runs, and seven RBI (.320/.414/.640).
POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:
PITCHER of the WEEK:
Transaction Round-Up
- 8/8/2023: 1B Bryson Horne assigned to AA Mississippi from A+ Rome; IF Beau Philip placed on the developmental list for AA Mississippi
Horne is a source of power and an excellent teammate. A severe lack of contact skills will likely limit him to the AA level, and this promotion makes room on the Rome roster for others.
- 8/8/2023: IF Cory Acton and RHPs Hurston Waldrup and Jared Johnson assigned to A+ Rome from A Augusta; C Wilton Cerrato assigned to FCL Braves from A+ Rome
First-rounder Waldrup steps up to high-A after making only one start in low-A. Johnson has made a success return from 2021 UCL replacement surgery and will step into a swingman role for Rome.
Over the previous 30 days with Augusta, Acton had been hitting .309/.373/.397 for the Greenjackets. It’s unclear what opportunities he will have with Rome in a crowded infield.
- 8/8/2023: IF Will Verdung, OF Pier-Olivier Boucher, RHPs Shay Schanaman and Zack Austin, and LHP Riley Frey assigned to A Augusta from FCL Braves; C Dawson Dimon placed on developmental list for A Augusta; RHP Jason Franks placed on 7-day injured list
The second wave of new draft picks arrives in Augusta.
- 8/9/2023: RHP Jose Montilla assigned to AA Mississippi from A+ Rome
After struggling in an early assignment with Mississippi, Montilla had dropped down a level in June. In 10 appearances with Rome, Montilla pitched to a 2.66 ERA in 26.2 innings.
- 8/10/2023: C Antonio Barranca released by the FCL Braves
The son of former major leaguer Gernam Barranca, Antonio signed as a non-draft free agent in the COVID year of 2020. After splitting time between Augusta and the FCL last season, hitting .147/.345/.250, he had not logged a game played in 2023.
- 8/11/2023: RHP Scott Blewett released by AA Mississippi
This was likely at the request of Blewett as he immediately signed a deal with the Uni-Lions of the Chinese (Taipei) Professional Baseball League (CPBL). Blewett had spent all season a AA Mississippi, likely a disappointing assignment after having made it to the majors in 2020 and 2021 with the Royals.
- 8/12/2023: RHP Allan Winans recalled from AAA Gwinnett; RHP Allan Winans returned to AAA Gwinnett
Called up to as the 27th man during Saturday’s doubleheader, Winans pitched 7 scoreless innings to improve his case for more time in Atlanta. Granted, it was only against the Mets.
Your Moment of Zen
No. 5 @Braves prospect Owen Murphy takes a no-hit bid into the 7th inning, racking up 8 K's along the way for the @GreenJackets: pic.twitter.com/YWrUrqTMkw
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) August 12, 2023
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