<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/t-IzYC9Oqaet16fhRAsxxvnkmbY=/0x1352:5504x5021/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73414041/DSC_1582.0.jpg">
Credit: Garrett Spain - Battery Power
Alvarez was called up to Gwinnett this past week and hit two home runs as the leader of the Stripers offense It was an exciting week on the Atlanta Braves farm system, as the bats went wild especially in Triple-A. Drake Baldwin and Nacho Alvarez each received call ups to Gwinnett, and they broke out in a big way with two home runs apiece. Then down in Augusta Isaiah Drake is getting hot, shedding his early season struggles and taking over as the team’s top hitter. At the lower levels we saw some interesting pitching development with a dominant outing from Lucas Braun and the first appearance of Jeremy Reyes in full season ball.
Gwinnett Stripers
Record: 34-35, 6th in IL West (14 GB)
The Stripers became the talk of the town last week after promotions, as the Braves sent both their top catching prospect Drake Baldwin back to Triple-A and their top position player prospect in Nacho Alvarez up to Gwinnett. Those two players came in to make an immediate impact on the team, each accounting for a pair of home runs and an OPS over 1.000 last week. Let’s start with Alvarez, whose two home runs are probably the most surprising after he had none in Mississippi. The first was a squeaker, as he just cleared over the center field wall in his second game of the weak, but there was no doubt about the second which in the next game he launched over the left field bullpen. Nacho didn’t really have high end exit velocities on any of his contact, but he was consistently in the hard hit range and just dominated last week. Only one strikeout, and yet still turning on the ball with authority more than we saw in Gwinnett. He also had one in Saturday where he turned on a ball and burned the left fielder with a line drive that short-hopped the wall. Where Nacho has made adjustments is in opening up his core a bit on his setup and swing, allowing him a bit more of an opportunity to lead with and drive his hips through contact. There were efforts in this department at the end of last season and start of this season, though recent weeks have been the first time we’ve seen a stretch of him consistently get to that hip drive in games.
As for Drake Baldwin, he became the only Striper over the past two seasons to have three batted balls over 110 mph, and he did so with one each in his first three games. Alvarez had the slightly better numbers, but Baldwin was perhaps a bit more impressive as he consistently cleared that 100 mph mark and topped out at 111.9 mph on a single. Baldwin also drew more walks than strikeouts, and while he will certainly be tested more by breaking balls as Triple-A pitchers get more of a feel for him, he showed off the pitch selection that I felt has improved throughout the season. Baldwin’s slow start has quickly faded to the past in my mind, as he is once again back to the Baldwin who was dominant in the second half of last season. Dating back four weeks, Baldwin has posted a 145 wRC+ with a 14.2% strikeout rate, 12.3% walk rate, and .163 isolated power.
The Stripers have also had good success with their veteran staff, notably with a dominant start from Bryce Elder. Elder struck out nine batters and walked none over eight scoreless innings, and he has been dominant in all three starts this month. Elder’s slider has been located better over his past few starts, and that lack of command was a huge factor in his major league struggles this season. Allan Winans was also brilliant again, with six scoreless innings and nine strikeouts, and outside of the two games surrounding his brief layoff due to blister issues he has been nothing short of dominant this season.
Series Preview
The Stripers head now to Charlotte to take on the Knights, the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. Chicago features a familiar face in Touki Toussaint, who has had a solid season with a 4.40 ERA but still is that same old wild Touki we came to know in Atlanta. Among the prospects Charlotte features a good number of Chicago’s best, notably Baseball America’s #12 overall prospect Colson Montgomery. Montgomery leads the Knights in home runs with nine, but he’s struck out 29.4% of the time this season and thus his overall numbers (.709 OPS) have been a bit weak.
Charlotte’s top pitching prospect is Nick Nastrini, the #5 prospect for the White Sox by Baseball America, and he has had mixed results in his couple of trips to Triple-A. Nastrini is striking out a ton of batters - 27.9% of them - but in both Charlotte and Chicago he has been unable to keep the ball in the park. Nastrini has allowed 10 home runs in 33 1⁄3 Triple-A innings this season, the highest home run total on the team.
Mississippi Braves
Record: 29-33, 3rd in SL South (6.5 GB)
Mississippi’s week got off to a bizarre start, as field conditions cancelled Monday’s game and ultimately led to the entire series moving to Rocket City, but they bounced back in a big way. Mississippi won four of the five games they did play, barely keeping a glimmer of hope alive in the first half division race. Their elimination number is one, however, so I do not suggest holding your breath.
Mississippi has lost all of their big name prospects over the past couple of weeks, yet the little guys have stepped up in a big way to continue to drive the team forward. And by little I mean guys like Geraldo Quintero, who just hooked a home run in fair last week and had a 1.179 OPS in five games played. Offensively it was one of the best weeks top-to-bottom for this lineup, and Keshawn Ogans played a role in this as well. Ogans has been a bit disappointing, and we still aren’t seeing any power production from him at all, but the hits have started to fall with more frequency and he led the team with five hits last week.
This now makeshift pitching staff, featuring a handful of a veterans, an infielder, and a converted reliever, has somehow managed to also continue to be one of the best in the Southern League. The standout performance was Luis De Avila, who finally had the breakout game I’ve been waiting on this season. De Avila is a solid depth starter, but was off to a disappointing start this season with an ERA well over five coming into June. Last week though he hit his peak, finally finding a feel for the zone and shutting out the Trash Pandas across seven scoreless innings.
Series Preview
The Braves now face a much tougher task in the Cubs-affiliated Tennessee Smokies, who are overall one of the best rosters in the Southern League. They are led in talent by two top 100 prospects - #33 overall Matt Shaw and #64 overall Kevin Alcantara, but neither player has had a particularly strong season. Shaw is a patient hitter with 35 walks in 52 games this season, but he hasn’t hit for all that much power and his OPS sits just below .700. So too does Alcantara’s but his peripherals are a lot worse than Shaw’s. In Alcantara’s defense, he is young and incredibly talented, but this season has been a mighty struggle and he is currently rocking a .693 OPS. The best of Tennessee’s prospects has been BA #17 Pablo Aliendo, who has been a fantastic contributor for this team. Aliendo has six home runs in 32 games played with the Smokies this season and is working with an .845 OPS, though his main weakness is that he does strike out 35% of the time.
Rome Emperors
Record: 34-27, 1st in SAL South (+1 G)
Magic Number: 4
Rome came into last week narrowly holding a lead over Bowling Green, and it was a huge series as they headed up to Kentucky to face off against them head-to-head for the first time. Bowling Green got off to a quick start, winning close battles in the first two to retake the division lead over the Emperors. However, the Emperors struck back and won three of the final four games to claim a pivotal road split and carry a one game lead into the final week of the season.
Ethan Workinger was the man for the Emperors offense, as they struggled through most of the series and were reliant on coming through in the clutch to score runs. Workinger was the one who always found himself in those spots, clubbing two home runs and driving in seven runs on the week to lead the team in both spots. Ever since his setup change to lower his hands he has been on fire, and the 22 year old is now looking like a second half trip to Double-A could be in order. At every level Workinger has been a bit slow to adjust, but when he gets it going his feel for the strike zone and solid power have made him a consistent offensive threat in his career. On the other end Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. has been a massive disappointment. The early season results gave us hope for a resurgence from him, but the swing changes that had him hitting the ball harder have him striking out much more and that has completely outweighed his somewhat better batted-ball results. Kilpatrick struck out 12 times last week, and it seems even with his defense and speed there probably isn’t enough of a hit tool to get him to a major league job.
There is little doubt in my mind at this point that the top player for that Rome Emperors team is Lucas Braun, as after a mediocre start to the year he has been nothing short of dominant since mid-May. He took that dominance to another level for Rome last week, striking out a career-high 12 batters in seven shutout innings. Braun’s ability to locate for major league quality offerings makes him a force, and the step forward from his slider has it sitting as a solid average to perhaps above average major league breaking ball. If that can become a go-to weapon as it has been at the lower levels, with him sitting around 94-95 this is a pitcher who could quickly advance through the system. Some of the Braves top mid-draft pickups, like Darius Vines, have struggled to really have a fastball good enough to pitch at the major league level despite quality secondary offerings and command. Braun doesn’t have that problem, and given the Braves aggression and constant need for pitching there is a good chance we see him in Atlanta next year if there aren’t any hiccups.
Another spotlight in the rotation goes to Jhancarlos Lara, whose overall numbers aren’t great I will grant you that. However he forced 19 whiffs and was brilliant the first time through the lineup, and he could be another player that sees himself on the fast track. In Lara’s case that would be as a reliever, which is where I firmly project him at this point, but right now the underlying results are improving and the further he gets away from his injury the sharper he has been. Luis Vargas has been strong as well with both his fastball and slider looking sharp, and is another well on his way to a relief role in the major leagues if he keeps throwing strikes at a high rate. Finally we come to Blake Burkhalter, and it has been quite impressive to see him in his early returns from Tommy John surgery. Burkhalter has hardly looked like. a pitcher coming off of a 15 month layoff, and over 3 2⁄3 innings last week he only allowed one hit. I’m still not sure I buy his arsenal working as a starting pitcher, but so far the Braves have run him out in that role and he has allowed one run over seven high-A innings.
Series Preview
Rome comes home for the final series of the first half, and giving them an advantage in the division race they have a matchup with the lowly Greenville Drive. Greenville, High-A affiliate of the Red Sox, sits at just 25-38 this season and the Emperors went 5-1 in their series with them at the end of May. Since then they have added a top prospect - Red Sox #4 Miguel Bleis who is a player I’m very high on given his ceiling. Bleis has only recently been called up and has a .498 OPS in four games, but is still a dangerous player on both sides of the ball who should feature prominently in the series.
However it’s Jhostynxon Garcia, called up a couple of weeks ago, who has been Greenville’s most impressive addition. Garcia has played in 14 games and already clobbered six home runs, giving the Drive a trio of power-hitters in the lineup. Bryan Gonzalez (12 HR) and Cutter Coffey (11 HR) will join him in trying to spoil the Emperors first half, though AdventHealth stadium isn’t often kind to power-first bats.
Augusta GreenJackets
Record: 26-36, 5th in CAR South (13 GB)
The GreenJackets are not a great team, but they sure are an interesting one and Isaiah Drake has made them must-watch baseball. Drake has suddenly turned a corner in a major way, turning random flashes of brilliance into sustained success as over the past couple of weeks he has been clearly the best GreenJackets hitter. Even his poor days are no longer wasted at bats, but more like games where the ball just doesn’t find the holes it needs to. His performance against the Hillcats was by far his longest run of success, as he had only four strikeouts in 23 plate appearances and tallied seven hits in five games. Drake’s big adjustment has been with his swing, where his front side would previously fly open and leave him vulnerable to secondary offerings, he now has been able to hang in longer and still manage to turn on the ball on the inner half. Drake still has pitch recognition and approach stuff to work through, but his bat speed is finally playing in games and he is able to utilize all of his skills when he is making consistent, hard contact.
The draw for this GreenJackets team is still the pitching staff, as it is a collection of wildly talented arms with all six starters having major league potential. The newest addition was Jeremy Reyes, and I definitely came away impressed by the 18 year old’s performance. The numbers for Reyes weren’t great and he struggled more as the game went on, but purely from looking at his raw stuff and potential I am pleased with where he is. I expected a mid-90’s fastball and solid slider, which we got from him, but what I didn’t think we would have yet is a strong feel for a changeup. His changeup is already game quality and could be above average at peak as he matches arm speed well, though like all of his pitches the big question mark will be his command. Right now it is not good, but there are markers for him to have average command at maturity. First off obviously he is only 18 and few guys that age with that arm talent have any semblance of command. Reyes’s actions on the mound are athletic and he doesn’t have any major command red flags, though I think he needs to loosen up a bit in his core and hip turn in order to sustain velocity deep into games and maximize his command. He has a loose arm action and has shown flashes of spotting his fastball up in the zone, so while I want to compile more looks at him I think overall that was one of the better first looks we’ve gotten at a guy. I haven’t seen a plus pitch out of him yet, so developing either his changeup or slider further would serve him well, but so far that’s a clear top 30 guy in my eyes who while in need of patience will be an intriguing watch on a weekly basis.
If we want to make a comparison here, let’s look at his teammate Didier Fuentes. Fuentes struggled, and his command wasn’t there at all last week, but he is so presently talented that Single-A hitters are struggling even when he doesn’t have his best. That says a lot. Fuentes’s fastball - both shape and velocity - isn’t as good as Reyes’s but I think he is closer to plus athleticism than Reyes with better arm speed and I wouldn’t be surprise if Fuentes ultimately ends up throwing as hard or harder. The athleticism especially shows in Fuentes’s command, which while inconsistent is better especially with his slider which is ahead of Reyes’s at this point. Fuentes needs to add a changeup to his arsenal to really project as a starter, but overall with his delivery and athleticism he certainly has the toolset to add a solid changeup. Fuentes in my opinion has the higher ceiling with that athleticism and arm speed working in his favor, and of course presently has better command and an overall feel for his breaking ball. However I almost feel more confident in Reyes’s ability to stick as a starter, and I’m rarely confident in teenage starters, with him already showing three pitches and having the athleticism to project to average command.
Series Preview
Augusta will close out their first half against the Salem Red Sox, who are not at all flush with top prospects. Their best healthy guy is Nazzan Zanatello, but Zanatello has struggled this season especially with strikeouts and his OPS is .697. Beyond that it’s just guys in the 20 to 30 range on Baseball America’s top 30, though BA #29 Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz has been fantastic. Rodriguez-Cruz has a 3.05 ERA this season and is striking out batters at a 28.4% rate this season.
FCL Braves
Record: 8-20, 6th in FCL South (9.5 GB)
It’s been raining a lot in Florida, well it always rains a lot in Florida but this time it’s affecting my baseball games. The FCL Braves only played three full games last week, but there was a lot of intrigue in those games. The original storyline from this was going to be Luis Guanipa, who hit his first home run of the season and since his return from injury has been nothing short of fantastic. Then yesterday we got a surprise, as JR Ritchie returned ahead of schedule and made a rehab start for the FCL Braves. It’s not a surprise that Ritchie is throwing at this point, but Tommy John recovery has to go exceedingly well for a very young prospect to get back into action after just 13 months as often the Braves will just have these guys throwing side sessions. The Braves obviously felt that Ritchie hit every marker, which is a great sign and encouraging for him moving forward, and he came in to Monday’s game and threw two scoreless innings for the FCL Braves. The question now is when we see him back in full season ball, and where he ends up with the Augusta rotation featuring a slew of top prospects all six of which are deserving of starting development.
DSL Braves
Record: 4-5, 4th in DSL West (3.5 GB)
4-2
I was hopeful this DSL team wasn’t as bad as their first week numbers - it really is the best group we’ve seen in a very long time - and last week hopefully proves they are. The DSL squad went 4-2, with much of that coming from one of the top 2023 signings Carlos Monteverde. Monteverde is hitting for power with four doubles already and has as many walks as strikeouts, and to be honest I’m surprised he is in the DSL still. The Braves have been aggressive with their top signings even when the numbers aren’t great, so it is a bit weird for Monteverde to still be hanging around the Dominican complex. 17 year old Juan Mateo has been brilliant for them as well, with a .415 on base percentage out of the leadoff spot. Walk and strikeout rates at this level are hardly indicative of anything long term, but Mateo is drawing his fair share of walks and keeping his strikeouts manageable so that’s certainly something to watch as the year goes forward.
<img alt="" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/t-IzYC9Oqaet16fhRAsxxvnkmbY=/0x1352:5504x5021/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73414041/DSC_1582.0.jpg">
Credit: Garrett Spain - Battery Power
Alvarez was called up to Gwinnett this past week and hit two home runs as the leader of the Stripers offense It was an exciting week on the Atlanta Braves farm system, as the bats went wild especially in Triple-A. Drake Baldwin and Nacho Alvarez each received call ups to Gwinnett, and they broke out in a big way with two home runs apiece. Then down in Augusta Isaiah Drake is getting hot, shedding his early season struggles and taking over as the team’s top hitter. At the lower levels we saw some interesting pitching development with a dominant outing from Lucas Braun and the first appearance of Jeremy Reyes in full season ball.
Gwinnett Stripers
Record: 34-35, 6th in IL West (14 GB)
The Stripers became the talk of the town last week after promotions, as the Braves sent both their top catching prospect Drake Baldwin back to Triple-A and their top position player prospect in Nacho Alvarez up to Gwinnett. Those two players came in to make an immediate impact on the team, each accounting for a pair of home runs and an OPS over 1.000 last week. Let’s start with Alvarez, whose two home runs are probably the most surprising after he had none in Mississippi. The first was a squeaker, as he just cleared over the center field wall in his second game of the weak, but there was no doubt about the second which in the next game he launched over the left field bullpen. Nacho didn’t really have high end exit velocities on any of his contact, but he was consistently in the hard hit range and just dominated last week. Only one strikeout, and yet still turning on the ball with authority more than we saw in Gwinnett. He also had one in Saturday where he turned on a ball and burned the left fielder with a line drive that short-hopped the wall. Where Nacho has made adjustments is in opening up his core a bit on his setup and swing, allowing him a bit more of an opportunity to lead with and drive his hips through contact. There were efforts in this department at the end of last season and start of this season, though recent weeks have been the first time we’ve seen a stretch of him consistently get to that hip drive in games.
As for Drake Baldwin, he became the only Striper over the past two seasons to have three batted balls over 110 mph, and he did so with one each in his first three games. Alvarez had the slightly better numbers, but Baldwin was perhaps a bit more impressive as he consistently cleared that 100 mph mark and topped out at 111.9 mph on a single. Baldwin also drew more walks than strikeouts, and while he will certainly be tested more by breaking balls as Triple-A pitchers get more of a feel for him, he showed off the pitch selection that I felt has improved throughout the season. Baldwin’s slow start has quickly faded to the past in my mind, as he is once again back to the Baldwin who was dominant in the second half of last season. Dating back four weeks, Baldwin has posted a 145 wRC+ with a 14.2% strikeout rate, 12.3% walk rate, and .163 isolated power.
The Stripers have also had good success with their veteran staff, notably with a dominant start from Bryce Elder. Elder struck out nine batters and walked none over eight scoreless innings, and he has been dominant in all three starts this month. Elder’s slider has been located better over his past few starts, and that lack of command was a huge factor in his major league struggles this season. Allan Winans was also brilliant again, with six scoreless innings and nine strikeouts, and outside of the two games surrounding his brief layoff due to blister issues he has been nothing short of dominant this season.
Series Preview
The Stripers head now to Charlotte to take on the Knights, the Triple-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox. Chicago features a familiar face in Touki Toussaint, who has had a solid season with a 4.40 ERA but still is that same old wild Touki we came to know in Atlanta. Among the prospects Charlotte features a good number of Chicago’s best, notably Baseball America’s #12 overall prospect Colson Montgomery. Montgomery leads the Knights in home runs with nine, but he’s struck out 29.4% of the time this season and thus his overall numbers (.709 OPS) have been a bit weak.
Charlotte’s top pitching prospect is Nick Nastrini, the #5 prospect for the White Sox by Baseball America, and he has had mixed results in his couple of trips to Triple-A. Nastrini is striking out a ton of batters - 27.9% of them - but in both Charlotte and Chicago he has been unable to keep the ball in the park. Nastrini has allowed 10 home runs in 33 1⁄3 Triple-A innings this season, the highest home run total on the team.
Mississippi Braves
Record: 29-33, 3rd in SL South (6.5 GB)
Mississippi’s week got off to a bizarre start, as field conditions cancelled Monday’s game and ultimately led to the entire series moving to Rocket City, but they bounced back in a big way. Mississippi won four of the five games they did play, barely keeping a glimmer of hope alive in the first half division race. Their elimination number is one, however, so I do not suggest holding your breath.
Mississippi has lost all of their big name prospects over the past couple of weeks, yet the little guys have stepped up in a big way to continue to drive the team forward. And by little I mean guys like Geraldo Quintero, who just hooked a home run in fair last week and had a 1.179 OPS in five games played. Offensively it was one of the best weeks top-to-bottom for this lineup, and Keshawn Ogans played a role in this as well. Ogans has been a bit disappointing, and we still aren’t seeing any power production from him at all, but the hits have started to fall with more frequency and he led the team with five hits last week.
This now makeshift pitching staff, featuring a handful of a veterans, an infielder, and a converted reliever, has somehow managed to also continue to be one of the best in the Southern League. The standout performance was Luis De Avila, who finally had the breakout game I’ve been waiting on this season. De Avila is a solid depth starter, but was off to a disappointing start this season with an ERA well over five coming into June. Last week though he hit his peak, finally finding a feel for the zone and shutting out the Trash Pandas across seven scoreless innings.
Series Preview
The Braves now face a much tougher task in the Cubs-affiliated Tennessee Smokies, who are overall one of the best rosters in the Southern League. They are led in talent by two top 100 prospects - #33 overall Matt Shaw and #64 overall Kevin Alcantara, but neither player has had a particularly strong season. Shaw is a patient hitter with 35 walks in 52 games this season, but he hasn’t hit for all that much power and his OPS sits just below .700. So too does Alcantara’s but his peripherals are a lot worse than Shaw’s. In Alcantara’s defense, he is young and incredibly talented, but this season has been a mighty struggle and he is currently rocking a .693 OPS. The best of Tennessee’s prospects has been BA #17 Pablo Aliendo, who has been a fantastic contributor for this team. Aliendo has six home runs in 32 games played with the Smokies this season and is working with an .845 OPS, though his main weakness is that he does strike out 35% of the time.
Rome Emperors
Record: 34-27, 1st in SAL South (+1 G)
Magic Number: 4
Rome came into last week narrowly holding a lead over Bowling Green, and it was a huge series as they headed up to Kentucky to face off against them head-to-head for the first time. Bowling Green got off to a quick start, winning close battles in the first two to retake the division lead over the Emperors. However, the Emperors struck back and won three of the final four games to claim a pivotal road split and carry a one game lead into the final week of the season.
Ethan Workinger was the man for the Emperors offense, as they struggled through most of the series and were reliant on coming through in the clutch to score runs. Workinger was the one who always found himself in those spots, clubbing two home runs and driving in seven runs on the week to lead the team in both spots. Ever since his setup change to lower his hands he has been on fire, and the 22 year old is now looking like a second half trip to Double-A could be in order. At every level Workinger has been a bit slow to adjust, but when he gets it going his feel for the strike zone and solid power have made him a consistent offensive threat in his career. On the other end Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. has been a massive disappointment. The early season results gave us hope for a resurgence from him, but the swing changes that had him hitting the ball harder have him striking out much more and that has completely outweighed his somewhat better batted-ball results. Kilpatrick struck out 12 times last week, and it seems even with his defense and speed there probably isn’t enough of a hit tool to get him to a major league job.
There is little doubt in my mind at this point that the top player for that Rome Emperors team is Lucas Braun, as after a mediocre start to the year he has been nothing short of dominant since mid-May. He took that dominance to another level for Rome last week, striking out a career-high 12 batters in seven shutout innings. Braun’s ability to locate for major league quality offerings makes him a force, and the step forward from his slider has it sitting as a solid average to perhaps above average major league breaking ball. If that can become a go-to weapon as it has been at the lower levels, with him sitting around 94-95 this is a pitcher who could quickly advance through the system. Some of the Braves top mid-draft pickups, like Darius Vines, have struggled to really have a fastball good enough to pitch at the major league level despite quality secondary offerings and command. Braun doesn’t have that problem, and given the Braves aggression and constant need for pitching there is a good chance we see him in Atlanta next year if there aren’t any hiccups.
Another spotlight in the rotation goes to Jhancarlos Lara, whose overall numbers aren’t great I will grant you that. However he forced 19 whiffs and was brilliant the first time through the lineup, and he could be another player that sees himself on the fast track. In Lara’s case that would be as a reliever, which is where I firmly project him at this point, but right now the underlying results are improving and the further he gets away from his injury the sharper he has been. Luis Vargas has been strong as well with both his fastball and slider looking sharp, and is another well on his way to a relief role in the major leagues if he keeps throwing strikes at a high rate. Finally we come to Blake Burkhalter, and it has been quite impressive to see him in his early returns from Tommy John surgery. Burkhalter has hardly looked like. a pitcher coming off of a 15 month layoff, and over 3 2⁄3 innings last week he only allowed one hit. I’m still not sure I buy his arsenal working as a starting pitcher, but so far the Braves have run him out in that role and he has allowed one run over seven high-A innings.
Series Preview
Rome comes home for the final series of the first half, and giving them an advantage in the division race they have a matchup with the lowly Greenville Drive. Greenville, High-A affiliate of the Red Sox, sits at just 25-38 this season and the Emperors went 5-1 in their series with them at the end of May. Since then they have added a top prospect - Red Sox #4 Miguel Bleis who is a player I’m very high on given his ceiling. Bleis has only recently been called up and has a .498 OPS in four games, but is still a dangerous player on both sides of the ball who should feature prominently in the series.
However it’s Jhostynxon Garcia, called up a couple of weeks ago, who has been Greenville’s most impressive addition. Garcia has played in 14 games and already clobbered six home runs, giving the Drive a trio of power-hitters in the lineup. Bryan Gonzalez (12 HR) and Cutter Coffey (11 HR) will join him in trying to spoil the Emperors first half, though AdventHealth stadium isn’t often kind to power-first bats.
Augusta GreenJackets
Record: 26-36, 5th in CAR South (13 GB)
The GreenJackets are not a great team, but they sure are an interesting one and Isaiah Drake has made them must-watch baseball. Drake has suddenly turned a corner in a major way, turning random flashes of brilliance into sustained success as over the past couple of weeks he has been clearly the best GreenJackets hitter. Even his poor days are no longer wasted at bats, but more like games where the ball just doesn’t find the holes it needs to. His performance against the Hillcats was by far his longest run of success, as he had only four strikeouts in 23 plate appearances and tallied seven hits in five games. Drake’s big adjustment has been with his swing, where his front side would previously fly open and leave him vulnerable to secondary offerings, he now has been able to hang in longer and still manage to turn on the ball on the inner half. Drake still has pitch recognition and approach stuff to work through, but his bat speed is finally playing in games and he is able to utilize all of his skills when he is making consistent, hard contact.
The draw for this GreenJackets team is still the pitching staff, as it is a collection of wildly talented arms with all six starters having major league potential. The newest addition was Jeremy Reyes, and I definitely came away impressed by the 18 year old’s performance. The numbers for Reyes weren’t great and he struggled more as the game went on, but purely from looking at his raw stuff and potential I am pleased with where he is. I expected a mid-90’s fastball and solid slider, which we got from him, but what I didn’t think we would have yet is a strong feel for a changeup. His changeup is already game quality and could be above average at peak as he matches arm speed well, though like all of his pitches the big question mark will be his command. Right now it is not good, but there are markers for him to have average command at maturity. First off obviously he is only 18 and few guys that age with that arm talent have any semblance of command. Reyes’s actions on the mound are athletic and he doesn’t have any major command red flags, though I think he needs to loosen up a bit in his core and hip turn in order to sustain velocity deep into games and maximize his command. He has a loose arm action and has shown flashes of spotting his fastball up in the zone, so while I want to compile more looks at him I think overall that was one of the better first looks we’ve gotten at a guy. I haven’t seen a plus pitch out of him yet, so developing either his changeup or slider further would serve him well, but so far that’s a clear top 30 guy in my eyes who while in need of patience will be an intriguing watch on a weekly basis.
If we want to make a comparison here, let’s look at his teammate Didier Fuentes. Fuentes struggled, and his command wasn’t there at all last week, but he is so presently talented that Single-A hitters are struggling even when he doesn’t have his best. That says a lot. Fuentes’s fastball - both shape and velocity - isn’t as good as Reyes’s but I think he is closer to plus athleticism than Reyes with better arm speed and I wouldn’t be surprise if Fuentes ultimately ends up throwing as hard or harder. The athleticism especially shows in Fuentes’s command, which while inconsistent is better especially with his slider which is ahead of Reyes’s at this point. Fuentes needs to add a changeup to his arsenal to really project as a starter, but overall with his delivery and athleticism he certainly has the toolset to add a solid changeup. Fuentes in my opinion has the higher ceiling with that athleticism and arm speed working in his favor, and of course presently has better command and an overall feel for his breaking ball. However I almost feel more confident in Reyes’s ability to stick as a starter, and I’m rarely confident in teenage starters, with him already showing three pitches and having the athleticism to project to average command.
Series Preview
Augusta will close out their first half against the Salem Red Sox, who are not at all flush with top prospects. Their best healthy guy is Nazzan Zanatello, but Zanatello has struggled this season especially with strikeouts and his OPS is .697. Beyond that it’s just guys in the 20 to 30 range on Baseball America’s top 30, though BA #29 Elmer Rodriguez-Cruz has been fantastic. Rodriguez-Cruz has a 3.05 ERA this season and is striking out batters at a 28.4% rate this season.
FCL Braves
Record: 8-20, 6th in FCL South (9.5 GB)
It’s been raining a lot in Florida, well it always rains a lot in Florida but this time it’s affecting my baseball games. The FCL Braves only played three full games last week, but there was a lot of intrigue in those games. The original storyline from this was going to be Luis Guanipa, who hit his first home run of the season and since his return from injury has been nothing short of fantastic. Then yesterday we got a surprise, as JR Ritchie returned ahead of schedule and made a rehab start for the FCL Braves. It’s not a surprise that Ritchie is throwing at this point, but Tommy John recovery has to go exceedingly well for a very young prospect to get back into action after just 13 months as often the Braves will just have these guys throwing side sessions. The Braves obviously felt that Ritchie hit every marker, which is a great sign and encouraging for him moving forward, and he came in to Monday’s game and threw two scoreless innings for the FCL Braves. The question now is when we see him back in full season ball, and where he ends up with the Augusta rotation featuring a slew of top prospects all six of which are deserving of starting development.
DSL Braves
Record: 4-5, 4th in DSL West (3.5 GB)
4-2
I was hopeful this DSL team wasn’t as bad as their first week numbers - it really is the best group we’ve seen in a very long time - and last week hopefully proves they are. The DSL squad went 4-2, with much of that coming from one of the top 2023 signings Carlos Monteverde. Monteverde is hitting for power with four doubles already and has as many walks as strikeouts, and to be honest I’m surprised he is in the DSL still. The Braves have been aggressive with their top signings even when the numbers aren’t great, so it is a bit weird for Monteverde to still be hanging around the Dominican complex. 17 year old Juan Mateo has been brilliant for them as well, with a .415 on base percentage out of the leadoff spot. Walk and strikeout rates at this level are hardly indicative of anything long term, but Mateo is drawing his fair share of walks and keeping his strikeouts manageable so that’s certainly something to watch as the year goes forward.
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