Outfield Fly Rule

Monday Farm Report, 4/1/2024

April 1, 2024 Andy Harris & Matt Chrietzberg Minor Leagues 0

Welcome to the first Braves Farm Report of the 2024 season! Every Monday we take a look back at the previous week in the Braves minor league system, recapping the week’s action, spotlighting top performers, analyzing rosters and transactions, and sometimes answering questions or doing deep dives into Braves prospects.

Stripers Roster Revealed

While we are patiently waiting for the Braves to announce the rest of their organizational rosters, the triple-A Gwinnett Stripers began play on Friday and the team announced their roster the day before.

As has been customary since the Braves have left the rebuild years behind them, Gwinnett is stocked with major league veterans with an eye on how they could fill in with Atlanta. Only six of the OFR Top 30 prospects will start the season in Gwinnett, and five of them already have some major league experience on the back of their bubblegum card.

Infield

1B/3B Phillip Evans
2B/3B/SS David Fletcher
2B/3B/OF Leury Garcia
2B/3B/SS/OF Alejo Lopez
2B/SS Andrew Velazquez
2B/3B/SS Luke Waddell
1B/2B/3B/SS/OF Luke Williams

As you can see, positional flexibility shouldn’t be a problem for the Stripers infield unit, with every player capable of playing at least average defense at multiple positions. All but Waddell have major league experience, led by former Angel and six year major league veteran David Fletcher.

Luke Waddell is the one prospect among the group, and it appears he will get the first shot at most of the shortstop time with everyone else rotating assignments on the infield and at DH around him.

Outfield

OF Skye Bolt
OF Luis Liberato
OF J.P. Martinez
OF Eli White

Like the infield, the outfield is stocked with major league vets, and all of them are capable of defending at all three outfield spots. Look for Martinez and White — the two most likely to jump to Atlanta if a need arises — to play nearly every day with Liberato, Bolt, Williams, and Garcia rotating through the last outfield spot.

Catcher

C/1B Ryan Casteel
C Sebastian Rivero
C Chadwick Tromp*

The initial roster reveal had Tromp and Rivero active and Casteel stashed on the developmental list, but those plans were upset before Gwinnett could even take the field as an injury to Atlanta catcher Sean Murphy had Tromp on the move and Casteel activated.

Both Tromp and Rivero have major league experience, with Tromp now in his fourth year in the organization after coming over from the Giants. Casteel started last season with Gwinnett but was injured on Opening Day and missed the rest of the 2023 season. Casteel has been with the organization since 2019 with his last three seasons with Gwinnett.

Starting Pitching

LHP Dylan Dodd
RHP Bryce Elder
RHP AJ Smith-Shawver
RHP Darius Vines
RHP Allan Winans
RHP Huascar Ynoa
RHP Ian Anderson*

Gwinnett will boast an impressively credentialed group, headlined by OFR #1 prospect Smith-Shawver and 2023 major league All-Star Bryce Elder. Along with Smith-Shawver, Dodd, Vines, and Winans all got their first taste of the major leagues last season. The wild card here is Ynoa, returning after Tommy John surgery in 2022. If he returns to form, he could have a big impact in Gwinnett — or Atlanta.

All of these pitchers hold 40-man roster spots, so if a need arises in the majors it would be very easy to move whomever is next ready to pitch to the big leagues to make a start.

Also on the mend is former Atlanta starter and 2016 first rounder Ian Anderson. He will be looking to return at some point mid-season.

Relief Pitching

LHP Ben Bowden
RHP Tommy Doyle
RHP Ken Giles
RHP Daysbel Hernandez
RHP Grant Holmes
LHP Ray Kerr
LHP Zach Logue
RHP Brian Moran*
RHP Jake Walsh
RHP Taylor Widener
RHP Brooks Wilson*

All but two relievers on the roster have at least some major league experience, including rookies Hernandez and Kerr who are on the 40-man roster and are the more likely to be recalled in case of big-league need.

Of course the name that really sticks out here is Ken Giles, the former Phillies and Astros closer with a 2.71 ERA and 115 major league saves in an 8 year career. He is looking to make a comeback after having not pitched in the majors in 2023. He looked impressive in Grapefruit League games and is a top candidate to have his contract selected.

Wilson and Moran will start the season stashed on the development list.

Weekly Round-Up

GWINNETT:

The Gwinnett Stripers opened their 2024 campaign on the road this weekend against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. After losing the opener 5-4, the Stripers used dominant pitching to take the final two games and win the truncated series. After Monday’s off-day, Gwinnett will open their home schedule on Tuesday against the Louisville Bats.

Starting pitching was solid throughout the weekend as all three starters went at least five innings in their initial outings. Darius Vines gave up three runs over five innings in the season opener while Dylan Dodd gave up just one unearned run over five innings on Saturday’s win. Dodd did have some command issues as he gave up three hits and five walks although he struck out seven. Bryce Elder had a dominant start on Sunday as he allowed just two baserunners over 6.1 scoreless innings on Sunday.

Gwinnett received a couple of standout relief appearances on Saturday as Daysbel Hernandez struck out three over 1.2 perfect innings while Ken Giles earned the save with a scoreless ninth inning. On Sunday, Zach Logue finished off a combined outing with Elder with 2.2 scoreless innings.

On the hitting side, outfielder J.P. Martinez got off to a strong start in going 5-for-11 with a double, two home runs, three stolen bases, an HBP, three walks, four runs scored, and three RBI. Fellow outfielder Eli White also went 5-for-11 with two doubles and three stolen bases. Yet another outfielder, Luis Liberato, went 3-for-8 over two games with two doubles, a stolen base, and two RBI.

POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:

Gwinnett OF J.P. Martinez (Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP)

PITCHER PLAYER of the WEEK:

Gwinnett RHP Bryce Elder. (Morales Photography/Louisville Bats)

Transaction Round-Up

Riggins was an undrafted minor league free agent signed in 2022; he played the entire 2023 season in high-A Rome as a swingman, appearing in 27 games including 10 starts and pitching to a 5.13 ERA

Keck was a 10th-round selection in the 2022 draft who spent most of last season with low-A Augusta working primarily off the bench or as an occasional DH. On the rare times he hit the field he manned a corner outfield spot though he also caught in three games. He hit a combined .186/.353/.271 between Augusta and Rome.

Whitley was signed mid-season after being released from the Cardinals organization and pitched for Gwinnett in 2023. In a spring game he was pitching the 9th and appeared to get injured.

Kingham was the last player in the organization from what has turned out to be a fairly disastrous 2018 draft. Kingham has been a swingman bouncing from Mississippi to Gwinnett and back again 9 times from 2021 through 2023, a true workhorse pitcher.

Culberson of course is the fan-favorite infielder from Rome, Georgia who first came to the organization in 2018 as part of general manager Alex Anthopoulos’s first major trade for the club, shipping out fragile outfielder Matt Kemp to the Dodgers for a package that included Culberson. After hitting only .246/.292/.373 for the Rangers in 2021-22, Culberson returned to the Braves organization where the team convinced him to try to covert to pitching. Clearly the organization has re-evaluated the likelihood of a successful transition.

Collins was an 8th-round pick in 2021 out of McKinney Boyd HS in Texas, a multi-sport athlete that got some early prospect buzz. An injury-plagued 2022 season however pushed his full-season debut to last season and while his speed on the basepaths was not in dispute (33 stolen bases versus 9 caught), he couldn’t show that he would be able to get on base enough to make it work (.201/.289/.255 in 344 plate appearances).

Maria and Jackson struggled in the FCL last season and got rapidly passed by the 2023 draft picks.

Bautista has been a bit of an enigma since joining the organization, a pitcher whose stuff never seemed to translate into games. After seeming to get into a groove midseason in Augusta he was promoted to high-A Rome where it just didn’t come together for him. With the lower minors awash in interesting arms, it can be assumed a disappointing spring signaled the end of his Braves tenure.

Stephens is an even bigger surprise as he swatted 21 homers for AA Mississippi in 2023 and injuries to Jesse Franklin and David McCabe will make power hard to come by for the M-Braves. Still, his .199/.319/.431 batting line last year showed that he had likely plateaued in his development at age 26 in AA.

There never has been a spring training without injuries, and some of those injuries are serious enough to write off the season. Of these the most disappointing is De Grandpre who looked promising for Augusta and Rome last season.

  • 03/26/2024: 3B David McCabe and RHP J.R. Ritchie placed on the 60-day injured list
  • 03/28/2024: RHP Ian Anderson placed on the 60-day injured list
  • 03/29/2024: OF Jesse Franklin V placed on the 60-day injured list

McCabe suffered a torn UCL working out before spring training and had Tommy John surgery. There is a possibility that he could return late in the season as a DH, but it’s a tough break for the top third base prospect in the system coming off a solid Arizona Fall League campaign.

Ritchie is looking to make a mid-season return after having Tommy John last April, as is major league veteran Ian Anderson.

No word on Franklin’s injury, but it’s his third major physical hurdle after he broke his clavicle in college and tore his UCL in 2022.

  • 03/25/2024: MLB Atlanta releases RHP Penn Murfee
  • 03/27/2024: MLB Houston claims RHP Penn Murfee off waivers from MLB Atlanta

The Braves seem to have been caught trying to sneak Murfee, whom they had picked up off waivers from the Mets early in the offseason, through waivers so he can sit on the Gwinnett roster and off the 40-man roster while on rehab assignment rather than the major league roster.

  • 03/30/2024: MLB Atlanta places C Sean Murphy on the 10-day injured list (strained left oblique); selected the contract of C Chadwick Tromp from AAA Gwinnett

Murphy strained his oblique on an awkward swing in the 7th inning of the Braves Opening Day game. Tromp was originally announced as in the line-up for Gwinnett but was scratched and put on a plane to Philadelphia.

Mailbag Q&A

Thanks to readers from the Outfield Fly Rule Facebook group for the question this week! Join us to talk Braves baseball all year ’round.

Q: Where is Hurston Waldrep starting the year, Mississippi or Gwinnett? -P. Parsons

A: It looks like Mississippi for the Braves 2024 first-rounder after storming his way up the organizational ladder last season, culminating in a final start for AAA Gwinnett. With the AA season finishing before the AAA season, that last promotion probably should be looked at as more of a way to let him continue getting innings rather than a sign that the organization was ready to start him in AAA in 2024 (the same as catcher Drake Baldwin, who finished out the string with Gwinnett in 2023 but will return to Mississippi to start 2024).

Waldrep has been nothing but impressive in his brief time with the organization, including looks this spring as a non-roster invitee, the large amount of starting pitching depth that the Braves have impressively collected no doubt a contributing factor in starting Waldrep in Pearl. That said, I wouldn’t count on him staying in the Magnolia State for too long.

Q: Just how cool is the new Rome logo and mascot? – B. Anderson

A: Very, very cool.

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