<img alt="MLB: Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2F8jw2kPVmgEEJSEA5vpfyHouMk=/0x0:4603x3069/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73525595/usa_today_18701715.0.jpg">
Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Anderson’s seven strikeouts were a season high We had a very interesting day on the Atlanta Braves farm system, especially from two notable pitching performances. Ian Anderson and Blake Burkhalter both had fantastic days for their respective teams, showing off the progression of their pitches for both of their Tommy John recoveries. In Double-A Jhancarlos Lara made his debut for Mississippi, but it was a terrible day where both his control and his velocity proved problematic.
(56-61) Gwinnett Stripers 15, (55-62) Norfolk Tides 1
Box Score
Statcast
Chadwick Tromp, DH: 4-5, 2B, BB, 3 RBI, .298/.378/.477
Drake Baldwin, C: 0-3, BB, 3 RBI, .304/.426/.470
JP Martinez, LF: 2-3, 2 BB, .236/.328/.338
Ian Anderson, SP: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 4.21 ERA
Zach Logue, RP: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 3.12 ERA
Ian Anderson had a solid start on Thursday, putting up his highest strikeout total so far this season while showing solid command of his fastball and changeup. For Anderson it’s all been about avoiding the middle of the zone, and in starts like this one where he keeps his pitches towards the edges and is able to distinguish his two breaking balls he tends to have more success. The new-ish slider and curveball do have a tendency to run together sometimes, but given the usage rates it seems the Braves are growing in their confidence of that slider that sits around 81-84 right now. While the one he showed a couple of weeks ago was really just a harder and shorter version of his breaking ball the one yesterday had a bit more horizontal shape to it, which shows the Braves are probably still tinkering with what the final version of that pitch will look like. It remains to be seen if working on more horizontal action for a guy whose primary approach is north to south and has been at his best when he changes levels is the right approach, but in a vacuum it’s a solid addition to an arsenal. Of course the main focus is and always will be his fastball and changeup, and he has done a great job of still maintaining his fastball averaging over 93 mph. He bounced a few changeups and let a few slip up high and arm side, but for the most part he was putting that pitch down and arm side to hitters effectively and was able to tunnel that and his fastball well. The fastball and changeup command seem to really be the focus for Atlanta right now, rightfully so, and while it’s been an inconsistent process Anderson seems to be finding his feel in a way that he could make a run at the starting rotation next spring.
It seems like I can never get both Drake Baldwin and Nacho Alvarez in the lineup at the same time in one of my recaps, so for today it’s Drake Baldwin’s chance to get the focus. This was one of the worst games Baldwin has played at Triple-A, with no hard hit balls despite getting some hittable fastballs especially late in the game. There have been some efforts made to have him pulling fastballs and at times he’ll roll over or pop up sinkers, though I generally think it’s a necessary adjustment to keep him from getting peppered up and in at the next level. Baldwin did have a fantastic walk in the sixth inning where he worked eight pitches and laid off some good splitters off of the plate, showcasing the progress he’s made at not chasing secondaries like he would do at lower levels. As a whole this Stripers offense just had everything they hit fall, as they scored 15 runs without a home run and had only three hits above 100 mph. If you trust minor league expected stats (which are inherently inaccurate, but fairly consistently across balls in play, because I’m pretty sure they don’t consider the difference between Triple-A and MLB defenses) the Tides lost 15-1 in a game where they put up an xwOBA 13 points higher (.341) than Gwinnett’s (.328). Alejo Lopez had five hits in the leadoff spot, with only one being a hard hit ball (96.3 mph) and three being sub-80 mph bloop singles. Further proof that baseball is a random, wonderful, and horrible sport all tied into one.
Swing and Misses
Ian Anderson - 12
Zach Logue - 9
(51-58) Mississippi Braves 4, (54-53) Biloxi Shuckers 3
Box Score
Cal Conley, SS: 2-3, 2B, BB, RBI, .248/.321/.317
Cody Milligan, CF: 2-4, 2B, .237/.292/.355
David McCabe, DH: 0-3, BB, .161/.297/.258
Jhancarlos Lara, SP: 2.1 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 8 BB, 2 K, 11.57 ERA
(51-59) Mississippi Braves 3, (55-53) Biloxi Shuckers 5
Box Score
Cal Conley, SS: 1-2, 2 BB, .248/.321/.317
Ethan Workinger, LF: 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .179/.207/.214
Lucas Braun, SP: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 2.85 ERA
It’s probably fair to raise some serious concern about Jhancarlos Lara’s first start, because it was a rough scene to watch. Lara had absolutely no feel for any of his pitches, and couldn’t figure out how to get anything in the strike zone throughout the entire outing. Quite a number of these looked like he could barely even grip the ball they slipped so far out of the zone, and he only threw 27 strikes on 73 pitches. Perhaps more of a concern was his velocity, which according to the broadcast radar was sitting in the low-90’s. Now I cannot attest to the accuracy of Biloxi’s stadium gun so we should take this with a grain of salt, however the velocity for Lucas Braun matched up to the information we have on him, and later in the same game the velocity for Drew Parrish who has statcast data available matched up. So assuming the broadcast radar is accurate, there are two explanations that would ease concern. First, the Braves could have, for some reason, told him to take something off of his fastball. I don’t think that’s the case, but the Braves have done weird things before and it wouldn’t surprise me. The second is that he could have not been able to grip his fastball for some reason or had some other issue with the ball. All of pitches were down in velocity by a similar amount, which kind of makes this harder to believe, but almost all of Lara’s very bad missed location came on fastballs and he was throwing far more cutters and sliders than we typically see. Lara reportedly felt fine during and after the game, so it’s something to monitor but may not be a real concern.
Somehow despite eight walks Lara managed to keep it together and not really have a complete blow up, allowing three runs which kept the M-Braves in the game. Cal Conley had a fantastic double-header, reaching safely six times across both games, and he was a critical contributor to Mississippi’s eventual comeback win. Conley led off in the second with a hit and advanced to third on a double from Keshawn Ogans, setting up a sacrifice fly from Bryson Horne that cut the lead down to one run. Cody Milligan played well in game one as well, singling to tie the game in the second. Conley again found himself in the thick of things in the fifth, when he ripped a ball to shortstop. Brewers prospect Eric Brown Jr. made a great diving stop to prevent the ball from getting to the outfield, then airmailed the throw that had no chance to get Conley in the first place allowing a run to score. Eventually Bryson Horne hit the go ahead home run in the next inning. Conley was again active when he led off game two by drawing a walk, sparking a three-run rally that put Mississippi up early. The team struggled to scrape together runs after this though, and eventually lost as Lucas Braun didn’t have his hottest day and ultimately the team failed twice to score in extra innings.
Biloxi was keying in on Braun’s slider this game, so while it wasn’t really his worst outing from a command or a stuff perspective it showed some of the issues Braun has with having really only one go-to strikeout pitch. Even when Biloxi was making outs they were often hard hit, and Braun wasn’t doing his best at keeping that slider off the plate on his glove side like he typically does. With it drifting over the plate a bit more often it became hittable and Biloxi took advantage. When Braun is struggling with his location he sometimes falls back into just filling the zone rather than trying to locate, and while it does help him limit walks it can be a dangerous game at the upper levels when a pitcher doesn’t have elite raw stuff.
Swing and Misses
Lucas Braun - 8
Jhancarlos Lara - 1
(53-54) Rome Emperors 4, (46-63) Asheville Tourists 5
Box Score
Drew Compton, 1B: 2-4, 2B, .264/.368/.387
EJ Exposito, SS: 1-4, 2B, RBI, .236/.305/.414
Blake Burkhalter, SP: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 2.79 ERA
Shay Schanaman RP: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 4.50 ERA
Blake Burkhalter had a poor inning and allowed a three run home run, but even with that this may have been the best he has looked all season. Burkhalter forced 21 swing-and-misses, and the most notable progression in my eyes was the quality of his slider location. Burkhalter has survived primarily on his fastball and cutter, and the cutter is a thing of beauty but he would have games where teams could key in on the pitch and he was heavily reliant on his command of his cutter to have success. He flashed in a slider and changeup, but rarely located them. This was a completely different story. The cutter was cutting, and it was still clearly his best pitch, but for the first time this season it seemed like he was putting three pitches in quality locations and his slider forced a handful of those seven strikeouts. It’s been a slow progress for Burkhalter coming back from Tommy John surgery, and while it’s been up and down when he has his good games he can be overwhelming for High-A hitters. The shape of these three pitches allows him to really work around the zone, going up and arm side with his fastball, peppering the outside corner with his cutter, and hitting the bottom parts of the zone with his slider making it difficult for hitters to pick out a location. That home run was a cutter in the top half of the zone that the hitter made a good swing on, but the two hits prior weren’t all that well hit with the second being a bloop that landed just behind the second baseman. I’m very impressed by how Burkhalter has looked both in this start and overall, though since the first couple I really haven’t seen him go to that changeup. It could be that they’re scrapping the pitch or that they simply want him to focus on his others for the time being. Time will tell if that gets re-introduced especially if he ends up in Double-A which given the staggered nature of the end of minor league seasons I wouldn’t be surprised to see.
Rome answered that three run home run with a three run inning in the fourth, and the first RBI came on a double from EJ Exposito. Exposito has been in a brutal slump for awhile now but finally seems to be breaking out of it a bit. He has hits in all three games so far this series, and has two extra base hits now in his past five games after going a couple of weeks without one. Drew Compton remains the best hitter on this team though and has hit safely in eight of his past nine games with four multi-hit games in that span. Compton can flat-out hit and has a great feel for the strike zone and for spin, and now it’s going to be a test of whether the power can keep coming on. His double in this game was his fourth extra base hit during this nine game span, this coming on the heels of a more than month-long stretch where he had just two. Compton has cut down on his strikeouts since being promoted, while maintaining only a slightly lower isolated power in a much more difficult home park than the one in Augusta. As he starts to turn and drive the ball more often I’m hoping to see him get to the point he can show average-ish power, which given his hit tool is probably enough to make him a second division starter at first base.
Swing and Misses
Blake Burkhalter - 21
Shay Schanaman - 8
(39-68) Augusta GreenJackets 6, (48-61) Fayetteville Woodpeckers
Box Score
Luis Guanipa, DH: 0-4, BB, .156/.217/.169
John Gil, SS: 3-4, 2B, RBI, .191/.269/.250
Isaiah Drake, CF: 1-4, 2B, .165/.255/.258
Rayven Antonio, SP: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2.70 ERA
We had our first chance to watch Rayven Antonio pitch in SRP Park, and frustratingly for most of the game we didn’t have a center field camera to judge off of. Antonio is a guy I’ve had my eye on for awhile as he throws hard and has been one of the better strike-throwers in the rookie levels over the past couple of years, though even in the little time we’ve seen him (he also pitched in Charleston last week) it’s clear he’s control over command at this point. Antonio’s best pitch his fastball, which can get into the mid-90’s and sit there at his best, and he’s better than most 18 years at commanding the ball at the top of the zone. It can be a little bit inconsistent as we’ve seen over the past couple of games, but there is generally a good approach though his fastball has below average shape. His slider has a solid shape that dives down and away from batters, and he’s able to utilize it effectively against both left and right-handed batters. He also mixed in a few changeups (though very few of any pitch was easy to judge yesterday, I’m mostly going off of his start in Charleston in regards to pitch shapes) and that’s definitely the pitch he struggles with. He tends to not locate it well and it’s a well-below-average shape, though even without it I think his fastball and slider give him MLB relief potential.
Augusta actually got some production from the top of the lineup for once, especially from John Gil who had three hits in the game. Much of this was the John Gil we’ve seen a lot of, hitting balls into the ground and beating them out for singles, but he also had a fourth inning double the opposite way where it seemed like he got jammed a bit on an inside pitch but still was able to hit it relatively hard. The GreenJackets had a tough assignment against a rehabbing Braves legend in Penn Murfee, and they jumped all over him with four runs in 1⁄3 of an inning. Gil and Guanipa (0-4) both have been far too aggressive on the first pitch since being called up, and I wonder if we may see similar approaches with them that we’ve seen from players like Robert Gonzalez and Isaiah Drake where Atlanta just has them sit back and watch more pitches on purpose to try to help them recognize pitches to hit. Colby Jones went 1-4 at the plate, and I’ve liked what I’ve seen from the Braves 14th rounder. Jones doesn’t have much raw pop, but he still swings to try to do damage and despite this tends to make a lot of contact. He may be tested at upper levels by breaking balls, but I’m never going to complain about a guy who swings hard and still manages to have some feel for the barrel.
Swing and Misses
Rayven Antonio - 10
Anthony Garcia - 9
(15-34) DSL Braves 13, (24-27) DSL Orioles Black 2
Box Score
Juan Mateo, SS: 2-4, BB, RBI, .246/.342/.312
Michael Martinez, RF: 2-4, RBI, .224/.352/.322
Noslen Marquez, SP: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 8.39 ERA
The DSL Braves winning games is apparently legal, and they actually got a bunch of hits rather than just relying on walks. Six batters in the lineup had multi-hit games, including Juan Mateo who is not on a six game hitting streak. Mateo and Michael Martinez have really separated themselves as the most consistent bats on the team, and both will be interesting to see in the FCL next season though Martinez strikes out a lot more than you would like. Juan Espinal is the most athletically talented of these guys though, but spent awhile after his injury being a strikeout machine. He hasn’t really gotten hot at the plate yet and doesn’t have an extra base hit since July 15th, but he’s starting to strike out a lot less though still too much. Despite his poor numbers he is one of the players to keep an eye on because if he ever figures out how to make consistent contact there is a huge ceiling to unlock.
<img alt="MLB: Atlanta Braves at Washington Nationals" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/2F8jw2kPVmgEEJSEA5vpfyHouMk=/0x0:4603x3069/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73525595/usa_today_18701715.0.jpg">
Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
Anderson’s seven strikeouts were a season high We had a very interesting day on the Atlanta Braves farm system, especially from two notable pitching performances. Ian Anderson and Blake Burkhalter both had fantastic days for their respective teams, showing off the progression of their pitches for both of their Tommy John recoveries. In Double-A Jhancarlos Lara made his debut for Mississippi, but it was a terrible day where both his control and his velocity proved problematic.
(56-61) Gwinnett Stripers 15, (55-62) Norfolk Tides 1
Box Score
Statcast
Chadwick Tromp, DH: 4-5, 2B, BB, 3 RBI, .298/.378/.477
Drake Baldwin, C: 0-3, BB, 3 RBI, .304/.426/.470
JP Martinez, LF: 2-3, 2 BB, .236/.328/.338
Ian Anderson, SP: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 7 K, 4.21 ERA
Zach Logue, RP: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 3.12 ERA
Ian Anderson had a solid start on Thursday, putting up his highest strikeout total so far this season while showing solid command of his fastball and changeup. For Anderson it’s all been about avoiding the middle of the zone, and in starts like this one where he keeps his pitches towards the edges and is able to distinguish his two breaking balls he tends to have more success. The new-ish slider and curveball do have a tendency to run together sometimes, but given the usage rates it seems the Braves are growing in their confidence of that slider that sits around 81-84 right now. While the one he showed a couple of weeks ago was really just a harder and shorter version of his breaking ball the one yesterday had a bit more horizontal shape to it, which shows the Braves are probably still tinkering with what the final version of that pitch will look like. It remains to be seen if working on more horizontal action for a guy whose primary approach is north to south and has been at his best when he changes levels is the right approach, but in a vacuum it’s a solid addition to an arsenal. Of course the main focus is and always will be his fastball and changeup, and he has done a great job of still maintaining his fastball averaging over 93 mph. He bounced a few changeups and let a few slip up high and arm side, but for the most part he was putting that pitch down and arm side to hitters effectively and was able to tunnel that and his fastball well. The fastball and changeup command seem to really be the focus for Atlanta right now, rightfully so, and while it’s been an inconsistent process Anderson seems to be finding his feel in a way that he could make a run at the starting rotation next spring.
It seems like I can never get both Drake Baldwin and Nacho Alvarez in the lineup at the same time in one of my recaps, so for today it’s Drake Baldwin’s chance to get the focus. This was one of the worst games Baldwin has played at Triple-A, with no hard hit balls despite getting some hittable fastballs especially late in the game. There have been some efforts made to have him pulling fastballs and at times he’ll roll over or pop up sinkers, though I generally think it’s a necessary adjustment to keep him from getting peppered up and in at the next level. Baldwin did have a fantastic walk in the sixth inning where he worked eight pitches and laid off some good splitters off of the plate, showcasing the progress he’s made at not chasing secondaries like he would do at lower levels. As a whole this Stripers offense just had everything they hit fall, as they scored 15 runs without a home run and had only three hits above 100 mph. If you trust minor league expected stats (which are inherently inaccurate, but fairly consistently across balls in play, because I’m pretty sure they don’t consider the difference between Triple-A and MLB defenses) the Tides lost 15-1 in a game where they put up an xwOBA 13 points higher (.341) than Gwinnett’s (.328). Alejo Lopez had five hits in the leadoff spot, with only one being a hard hit ball (96.3 mph) and three being sub-80 mph bloop singles. Further proof that baseball is a random, wonderful, and horrible sport all tied into one.
Swing and Misses
Ian Anderson - 12
Zach Logue - 9
(51-58) Mississippi Braves 4, (54-53) Biloxi Shuckers 3
Box Score
Cal Conley, SS: 2-3, 2B, BB, RBI, .248/.321/.317
Cody Milligan, CF: 2-4, 2B, .237/.292/.355
David McCabe, DH: 0-3, BB, .161/.297/.258
Jhancarlos Lara, SP: 2.1 IP, 1 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 8 BB, 2 K, 11.57 ERA
(51-59) Mississippi Braves 3, (55-53) Biloxi Shuckers 5
Box Score
Cal Conley, SS: 1-2, 2 BB, .248/.321/.317
Ethan Workinger, LF: 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .179/.207/.214
Lucas Braun, SP: 5.1 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 2.85 ERA
It’s probably fair to raise some serious concern about Jhancarlos Lara’s first start, because it was a rough scene to watch. Lara had absolutely no feel for any of his pitches, and couldn’t figure out how to get anything in the strike zone throughout the entire outing. Quite a number of these looked like he could barely even grip the ball they slipped so far out of the zone, and he only threw 27 strikes on 73 pitches. Perhaps more of a concern was his velocity, which according to the broadcast radar was sitting in the low-90’s. Now I cannot attest to the accuracy of Biloxi’s stadium gun so we should take this with a grain of salt, however the velocity for Lucas Braun matched up to the information we have on him, and later in the same game the velocity for Drew Parrish who has statcast data available matched up. So assuming the broadcast radar is accurate, there are two explanations that would ease concern. First, the Braves could have, for some reason, told him to take something off of his fastball. I don’t think that’s the case, but the Braves have done weird things before and it wouldn’t surprise me. The second is that he could have not been able to grip his fastball for some reason or had some other issue with the ball. All of pitches were down in velocity by a similar amount, which kind of makes this harder to believe, but almost all of Lara’s very bad missed location came on fastballs and he was throwing far more cutters and sliders than we typically see. Lara reportedly felt fine during and after the game, so it’s something to monitor but may not be a real concern.
Somehow despite eight walks Lara managed to keep it together and not really have a complete blow up, allowing three runs which kept the M-Braves in the game. Cal Conley had a fantastic double-header, reaching safely six times across both games, and he was a critical contributor to Mississippi’s eventual comeback win. Conley led off in the second with a hit and advanced to third on a double from Keshawn Ogans, setting up a sacrifice fly from Bryson Horne that cut the lead down to one run. Cody Milligan played well in game one as well, singling to tie the game in the second. Conley again found himself in the thick of things in the fifth, when he ripped a ball to shortstop. Brewers prospect Eric Brown Jr. made a great diving stop to prevent the ball from getting to the outfield, then airmailed the throw that had no chance to get Conley in the first place allowing a run to score. Eventually Bryson Horne hit the go ahead home run in the next inning. Conley was again active when he led off game two by drawing a walk, sparking a three-run rally that put Mississippi up early. The team struggled to scrape together runs after this though, and eventually lost as Lucas Braun didn’t have his hottest day and ultimately the team failed twice to score in extra innings.
Biloxi was keying in on Braun’s slider this game, so while it wasn’t really his worst outing from a command or a stuff perspective it showed some of the issues Braun has with having really only one go-to strikeout pitch. Even when Biloxi was making outs they were often hard hit, and Braun wasn’t doing his best at keeping that slider off the plate on his glove side like he typically does. With it drifting over the plate a bit more often it became hittable and Biloxi took advantage. When Braun is struggling with his location he sometimes falls back into just filling the zone rather than trying to locate, and while it does help him limit walks it can be a dangerous game at the upper levels when a pitcher doesn’t have elite raw stuff.
Swing and Misses
Lucas Braun - 8
Jhancarlos Lara - 1
(53-54) Rome Emperors 4, (46-63) Asheville Tourists 5
Box Score
Drew Compton, 1B: 2-4, 2B, .264/.368/.387
EJ Exposito, SS: 1-4, 2B, RBI, .236/.305/.414
Blake Burkhalter, SP: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 2.79 ERA
Shay Schanaman RP: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 4.50 ERA
Blake Burkhalter had a poor inning and allowed a three run home run, but even with that this may have been the best he has looked all season. Burkhalter forced 21 swing-and-misses, and the most notable progression in my eyes was the quality of his slider location. Burkhalter has survived primarily on his fastball and cutter, and the cutter is a thing of beauty but he would have games where teams could key in on the pitch and he was heavily reliant on his command of his cutter to have success. He flashed in a slider and changeup, but rarely located them. This was a completely different story. The cutter was cutting, and it was still clearly his best pitch, but for the first time this season it seemed like he was putting three pitches in quality locations and his slider forced a handful of those seven strikeouts. It’s been a slow progress for Burkhalter coming back from Tommy John surgery, and while it’s been up and down when he has his good games he can be overwhelming for High-A hitters. The shape of these three pitches allows him to really work around the zone, going up and arm side with his fastball, peppering the outside corner with his cutter, and hitting the bottom parts of the zone with his slider making it difficult for hitters to pick out a location. That home run was a cutter in the top half of the zone that the hitter made a good swing on, but the two hits prior weren’t all that well hit with the second being a bloop that landed just behind the second baseman. I’m very impressed by how Burkhalter has looked both in this start and overall, though since the first couple I really haven’t seen him go to that changeup. It could be that they’re scrapping the pitch or that they simply want him to focus on his others for the time being. Time will tell if that gets re-introduced especially if he ends up in Double-A which given the staggered nature of the end of minor league seasons I wouldn’t be surprised to see.
Rome answered that three run home run with a three run inning in the fourth, and the first RBI came on a double from EJ Exposito. Exposito has been in a brutal slump for awhile now but finally seems to be breaking out of it a bit. He has hits in all three games so far this series, and has two extra base hits now in his past five games after going a couple of weeks without one. Drew Compton remains the best hitter on this team though and has hit safely in eight of his past nine games with four multi-hit games in that span. Compton can flat-out hit and has a great feel for the strike zone and for spin, and now it’s going to be a test of whether the power can keep coming on. His double in this game was his fourth extra base hit during this nine game span, this coming on the heels of a more than month-long stretch where he had just two. Compton has cut down on his strikeouts since being promoted, while maintaining only a slightly lower isolated power in a much more difficult home park than the one in Augusta. As he starts to turn and drive the ball more often I’m hoping to see him get to the point he can show average-ish power, which given his hit tool is probably enough to make him a second division starter at first base.
Swing and Misses
Blake Burkhalter - 21
Shay Schanaman - 8
(39-68) Augusta GreenJackets 6, (48-61) Fayetteville Woodpeckers
Box Score
Luis Guanipa, DH: 0-4, BB, .156/.217/.169
John Gil, SS: 3-4, 2B, RBI, .191/.269/.250
Isaiah Drake, CF: 1-4, 2B, .165/.255/.258
Rayven Antonio, SP: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 2.70 ERA
We had our first chance to watch Rayven Antonio pitch in SRP Park, and frustratingly for most of the game we didn’t have a center field camera to judge off of. Antonio is a guy I’ve had my eye on for awhile as he throws hard and has been one of the better strike-throwers in the rookie levels over the past couple of years, though even in the little time we’ve seen him (he also pitched in Charleston last week) it’s clear he’s control over command at this point. Antonio’s best pitch his fastball, which can get into the mid-90’s and sit there at his best, and he’s better than most 18 years at commanding the ball at the top of the zone. It can be a little bit inconsistent as we’ve seen over the past couple of games, but there is generally a good approach though his fastball has below average shape. His slider has a solid shape that dives down and away from batters, and he’s able to utilize it effectively against both left and right-handed batters. He also mixed in a few changeups (though very few of any pitch was easy to judge yesterday, I’m mostly going off of his start in Charleston in regards to pitch shapes) and that’s definitely the pitch he struggles with. He tends to not locate it well and it’s a well-below-average shape, though even without it I think his fastball and slider give him MLB relief potential.
Augusta actually got some production from the top of the lineup for once, especially from John Gil who had three hits in the game. Much of this was the John Gil we’ve seen a lot of, hitting balls into the ground and beating them out for singles, but he also had a fourth inning double the opposite way where it seemed like he got jammed a bit on an inside pitch but still was able to hit it relatively hard. The GreenJackets had a tough assignment against a rehabbing Braves legend in Penn Murfee, and they jumped all over him with four runs in 1⁄3 of an inning. Gil and Guanipa (0-4) both have been far too aggressive on the first pitch since being called up, and I wonder if we may see similar approaches with them that we’ve seen from players like Robert Gonzalez and Isaiah Drake where Atlanta just has them sit back and watch more pitches on purpose to try to help them recognize pitches to hit. Colby Jones went 1-4 at the plate, and I’ve liked what I’ve seen from the Braves 14th rounder. Jones doesn’t have much raw pop, but he still swings to try to do damage and despite this tends to make a lot of contact. He may be tested at upper levels by breaking balls, but I’m never going to complain about a guy who swings hard and still manages to have some feel for the barrel.
Swing and Misses
Rayven Antonio - 10
Anthony Garcia - 9
(15-34) DSL Braves 13, (24-27) DSL Orioles Black 2
Box Score
Juan Mateo, SS: 2-4, BB, RBI, .246/.342/.312
Michael Martinez, RF: 2-4, RBI, .224/.352/.322
Noslen Marquez, SP: 3.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 8.39 ERA
The DSL Braves winning games is apparently legal, and they actually got a bunch of hits rather than just relying on walks. Six batters in the lineup had multi-hit games, including Juan Mateo who is not on a six game hitting streak. Mateo and Michael Martinez have really separated themselves as the most consistent bats on the team, and both will be interesting to see in the FCL next season though Martinez strikes out a lot more than you would like. Juan Espinal is the most athletically talented of these guys though, but spent awhile after his injury being a strikeout machine. He hasn’t really gotten hot at the plate yet and doesn’t have an extra base hit since July 15th, but he’s starting to strike out a lot less though still too much. Despite his poor numbers he is one of the players to keep an eye on because if he ever figures out how to make consistent contact there is a huge ceiling to unlock.
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