Welcome to the Braves Farm Report! 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.
Braves sign Yuri Gurriel to Minors Deal
Two-time World Series champion Yuli Gurriel is reportedly in agreement with the Braves on a minor league contract. Gurriel will presumably report to triple-A Gwinnett once transaction is officially announced.
A lifetime .281/.326/.440 hitter in the majors over 8 seasons, the 39-year-old Cuban will likely play first and DH for the Stripers as he looks to re-establish value and show he could be a viable bench option for the Braves or another major league team after two sub-par seasons with Houston in 2022 and Miami last season. Gurriel was the NL batting champion and a Gold Glove winner at first base in 2021 when he helped Houston win the AL pennant. He won World Series rings with Houston in 2017 and 2022.
Emperors Roster Revealed
The newly-rebranded Rome Emperors start the 2023 season with a starting rotation that is the envy of the South Atlantic League, full of quality arms that will keep the Birds in contention in most games. They will need that pitching as the offense has a notable lack of power and a high propensity for striking out.
Infield
2B Carlos Arroyo
3B Sabin Ceballos
IF E.J. Exposito
1B Justin Janas
SS Ambioris Tavarez
2B/3B Nick Ward
3B David McCabe*
The infield is filled mostly with players who spent most or all the season with low-A Augusta last year. The top prospects here are third baseman Ceballos, one of the few power bats in the Emperors line-up, and shortstop Tavarez, a slick-fielding 20-year-old who will try to ride a good spring into showing he can hit enough at a professional level. Janas will get most of the time at first base as a singles/doubles hitter with a good glove.
Second base will be a three-way split between Exposito, who will also see time at the other infield positions and be in the line-up most nights; Ward, a minor league free agent pick-up and 28-year-old minor league vet coming off a strong showing in the Australian Summer League; and Arroyo, a former Pirates and Marlins prospect who spent the last two seasons impressing in the Columbian Winter League.
McCabe is a power prospect who tore his UCL in offseason workouts and will miss at least most of the season rehabbing of Tommy John surgery.
Outfield
OF Jeremy Celedonio
OF Kevin Kilpatrick Jr.
OF Stephen Paolini
OF Ethan Workinger
OF Bryson Worrell
All of the team’s Opening Day outfielders with the exception of Celedonio finished out last season in Rome, so they already know where the Moe’s, Chipotle, and Chili’s are and can show the newer players.
Kilpatrick is perhaps the top defensive outfielder in the system and will play nearly every night in centerfield and bat leadoff. Workinger has some pop and will play every day in one of the corners. The other corner will rotate between Paolini and Worrell, with Celedonio in there about once a week though he will see more time as the designated hitter.
This should be a strong defensive unit with some offensive potential if they can keep the strikeouts down.
Catcher
C Nick Clarno
C Dawson Dimon
C Adam Zebrowski
C Will King*
Clarno lead the Carolina League in catching basestealers and will get at least half of the workload behind the plate. Most of the rest of it will be taken by Zebrowski, who returns for his second season with Rome. Zebrowski is the bat-first portion of this catching corps, and he brings some much-needed pop to the line-up, so he should also get some looks as the designated hitter. Dimon is a minor league veteran who starts the season in Rome but could find himself being moved around wherever a hole may open up.
Starting Pitching
RHP Lucas Braun
RHP Drue Hackenberg
RHP Owen Murphy
RHP Spencer Schwellenbach
RHP Tyree Thompson
RHP Cedric De Grandpre*
RHP Jhancarlos Lara*
The best reason to buy an Emperors ticket, other than new mascot Julius, is to check out who the team will run out as starting pitcher on any given day. The rotation is headed by 20-year-old 2022 first-rounder Owen Murphy coming off a promising if inconsistent first full season split between Augusta and Rome. Murphy brings the low-90s fastball with good life and hammer curve he showed last year and a little more maturity and confidence. He has essentially two co-number ones in right-handers Spencer Schwellenbach and Drue Hackenberg. The 23-year-old Schwellenbach was Atlanta’s representative in the 2023 Future’s Game and has a mid-90s fastball and a re-vamped slider. Hackenberg is an overslot 2nd-rounder from the 2024 draft out of Virginia Tech with an advanced 4-pitch arsenal.
Not far behind the top three is 22-year-old right-hander Lucas Braun, an advanced college arm with four pitches and a feel for the strike zone. Righty Tyree Thompson is a swingman who is filling in a rotation spot for Jhancarlos Lara, a Dominican flamethrower who should join the rotation in late April or early May after experiencing oblique tightness late in spring training. Unfortunately 2022 13th-rounder Cedric De Grandpre will miss the entire season with injury after a promising 2022 with Augusta and Rome.
Relief Pitching
RHP Ryan Bourassa
RHP Chad Bryant
RHP Rob Griswold
LHP Landon Harper
RHP Jared Johnson
RHP Elison Joseph
RHP Rolddy Muñoz
RHP Shay Schanaman
LHP Samuel Strickland
RHP Cory Wall
RHP Blake Burkhalter*
The Rome bullpen should be solid to start the season with a number of high-octane arms that will make life uncomfortable for SAL hitters. Late and close situations look like they will mostly be handled by the hard-throwing trio of Bourassa, Muñoz, and Johnson. Setting them up will be former Nebraska stand-out Schanaman, minor league veteran Griswold, and project arms Bryant and Joseph. Landon Harper is coming off a strong season with Augusta and will provide bulk middle innings along with Wall, Strickland, and Tyree Thompson, all of whom could fill in with a spot start as necessary.
Blake Burkhalter is a 2022 2nd-rounder who is rehabbing from Tommy John surgery and should make his way back at some point midseason.
Weekly Round-Up
AUGUSTA:
Augusta split the first full six-game series of the year, winning all three games over the weekend against the home team Kannapolis Cannonballers after dropping the first three. The Greenjackets are 5-4 on the young season, one game back of division co-leaders Columbia and Fayetteville. The will return to SRP Park to host the Carolina Mudcast this week.
The early part of the week was characterized by sloppy defensive play that enabled Kannapolis to score 8 unearned runs this week, including all three runs given up in Tuesday’s 3-1 loss in which the team committed 7 errors. The primary, though definitely not only, culprit was shortstop Diego Benitez, who committed 4 of those 7 errors, then threw in another 2 the next night. He did collect himself and remained error-free the rest of the week.
On the offensive side, outfielder Kade Kern broke out after starting the season 0-for-10. Kern went 5-for-11 with 2 walks and 2 stolen bases and hit Augusta’s first home run of the season in Saturday’s 6-0 win. Outfielder Jace Grady followed with a homer on Sunday and went 6-for-21 overall. First baseman Drew Compton also gained momentum as the week end along after a slow start, ending up going 6-for-18 with three doubles.
Augusta’s pitching has gotten off to a great start, and all six starters this week had good outings though some were ruined by the previously mentioned shoddy defensive work. In his second start of the season and his pro career, righty Adam Maier threw a 5 inning gem, allowing only 2 hits, no walks, and striking out 6. Cade Kuehler struck out 7 in 4 innings, allowing 2 unearned runs. The Greenjackets got promising outings from their two 19-year-olds; Garrett Baumann allowed 2 runs on 1 hit in 5.2 innings and Didier Fuentes pitched 3.2 scoreless innings in his season debut.
ROME:
The first three days of the planned six-game home series against Hudson Valley was washed away by consistent rain, but the two teams were able to squeeze in five games in three days over the weekend. Rome dropped two of the five to make their record 5-3, good enough for first place in the South Atlantic South Division, a half game over the Bowling Green Hot Rods. They will now go on the road in North Carolina for two weeks, first to Asheville then to Winston-Salem.
Righties Owen Murphy, Spencer Schwellenbach, and Lucas Braun all delivered good starts of at least 5 innings. Murphy struck out 8 in 5.1 innings, giving up 2 runs (1 earned), giving him 16 punch-outs in 13 innings. Righty Cory Wall pitched 3 scoreless innings in a spot start as the rain played havoc with the pitching schedule. Landon Harper threw four scoreless relief innings on Sunday and Rome pitchers only allowed 12 earned runs over the 5 games in the series.
Third baseman Sabin Ceballos only have 4 hits on the week, but it included a walk-off single in extras in game 1 of Friday’s doubleheader. Catcher/DH Adam Zebrowski went 4-for-12 with 2 walks and infielder E.J. Exposito launched Rome’s first home run of the season in Sunday’s 6-3 loss in game 2 of Sunday’s doubleheader.
MISSISSIPPI:
The Mississippi Braves opened their 2024 home slate this week for a series against their intrastate rival Biloxi Shuckers. In a low-scoring series, the M-Braves took the first three games but then dropped the final three for a series split. Mississippi now goes on the road with a 3-6 record for a short trip to Birmingham to take on the Birmingham Barons.
Starting pitching was tremendous early in the week as JJ Niekro tossed six shutout innings in the home opener to take the win although his Sunday start did not go quite as well (4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 ER). Drew Parrish gave up just one run over five innings in the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader while Ian Mejia threw six scoreless innings in the second game to complete the sweep. The rest of the week did not go as well as Luis De Avila gave up just two earned runs in 3.1 innings but allowed five hits ad five walks. Hurston Waldrep got the Saturday start and started poorly, giving up three runs over his first two innings but settled down to give up no more runs while going 4.1 innings on a career-high 85 pitches.
In the bullpen, Domingo Gonzalez had two one-inning outings where he did not allow any runs or hits while striking out four. Jake McSteen gave up just one run over 3.1 innings while striking out six. Parker Dunshee, Jorge Juan, and Patrick Halligan each provided a scoreless outing during the week.
Mississippi’s offense was punchless as they scored just eleven runs on the week. Shortstop Nacho Alvarez did a good job of getting on base as he went 5-for-19 with six walks and three stolen bases (.263/.440/.263). Outfielder Cody Milligan was 4-for-18 with a double, triple, three walks, and five stolen bases (.222/.333/.389). Fellow outfielder Justin Dean went 4-for-14 with a double and four stolen bases (.286/.333/.357).
GWINNETT:
The Gwinnett Stripers took to the road this week for a long trip to Omaha to face the Storm Chasers. However, the trip did not go well as the Stripers dropped five out of six while giving up sixty runs, averaging ten runs per game. Gwinnett dropped below .500 for the young season and now bring a 7-8 record home to face the Memphis Redbirds.
Starting pitching was a huge negative this week as Gwinnett was down three top starting pitchers in Allan Winans, Bryce Elder, and Darius Vines due to providing or preparing to provide reinforcements to the big-league club. No starter went as many as five innings and only supplied 16.2 innings of work. Huascar Ynoa had the bookend starts and had significantly different outcomes as he retired just five hitters on Tuesday while giving up six runs on eight hits. On Sunday, however, Ynoa gave up a solo home run as his only hit over four innings of work. Dylan Dodd had the longest start of the week at 4.2 innings on Thursday but gave up five runs. AJ Smith-Shawver’s struggles continued as he gave up three runs in 2.1 innings on Wednesday although he did strike out five. The bullpen fared no better as only Jake Walsh emerged unscathed this week as he tossed two scoreless innings. All twelve of the other relievers that saw work this week allowed at least one run apiece.
Gwinnett’s offense did try to help by scoring 28 runs in the six games with contributors like outfielder J.P. Martinez, who went 8-for-22 with a double, triple, and four stolen bases (.364/.440/.500). Leury Garcia had four multi-hit games during a 10-for-26 week in which he had three doubles, a home run, and five RBI (.385/.407/.615). Infielder David Fletcher hit safely in all six games and hit .348/.464/.391). Veteran catcher Sandy Leon had a huge week as he went 8-for-12 with two home runs and six RBI over three games.
POSITION PLAYER of the WEEK:
PITCHER of the WEEK:
Transaction Round-Up
- 4/10/2024: OF Eli White placed on the 7-day IL for AAA Gwinnett
It’s unclear what ails White, who came out of Tuesday’s game in Omaha at after two innings, but it’s another setback for a former major leaguer who has been hammered by injuries the last three seasons. While the two events may not be connected, it should be noted that the Braves reportedly signed veteran Yuli Gurriel to a minor league contract this week after White went on the IL.
- 4/12/2024: RHP Darius Vines recalled by MLB Atlanta; RHP Allan Winans optioned to AAA Gwinnett
Vines becomes the fresh arm after Winans made a start against the Mets on Wednesday. The Braves announced on Sunday that Vines would start against Houston today.
- 4/11/2024: LHP Zach Logue assigned to AAA Gwinnett from AA Mississippi
- 4/12/2024: RHP Jackson Stephens placed on the 7-day IL for AAA Gwinnett
Logue was sent to Mississippi right at the start of the season to make room for Stephens, who re-signed with the Braves on a minor league deal after having been designated for assignment at the end of spring training. Now Logue gets back to triple-A when Stephens has to go on the IL.
- 4/12/2024: RHP Daniel Martinez assigned to AAA Gwinnett from A+ Rome
Martinez gets his first triple-A assignment since a one-game promotion back in 2018 with Nashville. Martinez will provide bulk innings for the Stripers while the rotation is disrupted as the big league club pulls pitchers to make spot starts.
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