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Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
Ritchie was once again dominant in an Augusta win It was a muddy day on the Atlanta Braves farm, with three of the four levels being significantly impacted by rain. Still, all four games got played to some extent at least and we saw a few intriguing performances. The best of these came from JR Ritchie, who has exceeded all hopes with such a short recovery period from May 2023 Tommy John surgery and is dominating for Augusta.
(58-61) Gwinnett Stripers 7, (55-64) Norfolk Tides 5
Box Score
Statcast
Alejo Lopez, 3B: 3-4, 2B, 3B, BB, RBI, .305/.391/.386
Drake Baldwin, DH: 2-4, 2B, BB, RBI, .308/.430/.477
AJ Smith-Shawver, SP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 5.61 ERA
Daysbel Hernandez, RP: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 4.70 ERA
Nowhere was the weather felt rougher in Gwinnett, where a storm rolled in just late enough to axe AJ Smith-Shawver after just one inning. Smith-Shawver had a clean and breezy first inning where he struck out a couple of batters - both lefties whiffing at a couple of well-placed changeups. Smith-Shawver came out in the second inning, but after just a handful of pitches a foul tip off of the mask of the umpire chased him from the game. In the time while tending to the umpire was when everyone started to gather concern over the weather, and despite all players remaining on the field — the outfielders playing catch with eager young fans — the game remained at a stand still for a good fifteen minutes before an now-frustrated Smith-Shawver and the rest of the Stripers were told the game was entering delay. Thus, a promising first made way for a long delay and ultimately Gwinnett had to settle on Jackson Stephens to fill some bulk. Stephens had one of his best outings of the season as he struck out 7 batters over three scoreless innings, but Tommy Doyle got bombed in relief in the fifth inning and the Stripers offense had to catch up, but they ultimately did and the Gwinnett bullpen held it down from there. There have been occasional moments where his command begets frustration, but Domingo Gonzalez has been near unhittable at Gwinnett so far. Gonzalez has had a bit of bad luck but is rocking a 2.40 FIP and with two more strikeouts bumped his strikeout rate to 40.3%. He’s gone six straight outings now without a walk, and his command improvements this season have taken him from an interesting but unreliable reliever to a guy the Braves will likely be adding to the 40 man roster this offseason to protect from the Rule 5 draft. His mid-90’s heat plays up due to his low release point, and his sweeping slider gives him a pair of pitches that have both produced whiff rates north of 30%.
Good news and bad news, folks.Bad news is we are currently in a weather delay. Good news is that Justin Dean is still a man of the people. We will update you with information as we receive it. pic.twitter.com/zZpvACDE5x— Gwinnett Stripers (@GoStripers) August 17, 2024
Nacho Alvarez Jr. hasn’t played Wednesday, and it’s a bit odd because he played the full game on Wednesday without being removed so we really don’t know what he’s dealing with at the moment. Drake Baldwin continues to give Gwinnett at least one menace for opposing pitchers, and he started off early in this one by taking a low sinker and smoking it into the left-center field gap for a double. Baldwin reached base in his first three plate appearances with a walk and a soft single through the left side making up the next two, before striking out on a well-placed curveball that nipped the outside corner and then grounding out as he got jammed in on the hands by a cutter. The player who has been hilariously hot at the plate is Alejo Lopez, who similarly to his five hit game on Thursday came a home run short of the cycle despite his hardest base hit being 85.2 mph off of the bat. Lopez is just in one of those places where everything is finding a hole, and he lead off with a triple that put Gwinnett on the board early. Lopez is 11-20 with four walks and no strikeouts this series.
Swing and Misses
Jackson Stephens - 7
Domingo Gonzalez - 4
AJ Smith-Shawver - 2
(53-59) Mississippi Braves 3, (55-55) Biloxi Shuckers 2
Box Score
Ethan Workinger, LF: 2-3, HR, BB, .200/.243/.314
David McCabe, DH: 0-4, .128/.244/.205
David Fletcher, SP: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 5.97 ERA
Ian Mejia, RP: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 KK, 3.48
After a rough start to his Double-A career Ethan Workinger needed a day like this, as he provided the bulk of Mississippi’s scoring in a tight win. In his first at bat Workinger got a sinking fastball right on the inner half of the plate, exactly where his swing is geared to crush pitches, and he did not miss as he absolutely crushed it over the wall and over a low billboard in left field. Workinger didn’t put as good of a swing in the next time up as he reached for a slider and rolled it up the middle, but he showed off his sneaky speed by beating out the throw to first for an infield single. After falling behind 0-2 in the count in his third plate appearance he was able to work a walk, though he was less lucky his next time up as he got caught guessing and watched a sinker go in for strike three. Keshawn Ogans provided a huge hit for Mississippi in the fourth inning, rolling a ball down the third base line for an RBI double to put the M-Braves up 3-0.
KISS IT GOODBYE!! Ethan Workinger's First AA Homer!! M-Braves lead 1-0. pic.twitter.com/UwSK1QfWMs— Mississippi Braves (@mbraves) August 18, 2024
I feel like I always find myself here with Mississippi, recapping a David Fletcher start. MiLB’s player page says he has made 13 of them, however if feels like 40. Fletcher is somehow either awful or unhittable with little in between, and he fell into the former category on Saturday. The Shuckers had no answer for the knuckle ball, making mostly weak contact and ending up with only two hits in the game. Fletcher is not on his way to being an MLB starter, but it is pretty remarkable that a player who hasn’t ever pitched in his career has shown up at 30 to be at minimum a decent innings-filler at Double-A. Every now and then he may give you a ten-run deficit, but for the most part the Braves have managed to have an infielder who can also provide valuable innings to keep the rest of the rotation able to pitch on the schedule Atlanta wants them to be on.
PLAY OF THE YEAR!!! @Cal_Conley13 robs a game-tying hit and turns it into a game-ending double play! ️ @CHarris731 pic.twitter.com/gZm0n8AHF2— Mississippi Braves (@mbraves) August 18, 2024
Ian Mejia pitched out of the bullpen in this one, but I don’t think it’s a sign of any move rather the rain has made it hard to keep everyone in the rotation pitching regularly. I was a bit excited to see Mejia in this role at first as I do think his slider could make him a seriously valuable middle reliever with multi-inning potential, but he pitched four innings where he was the same Ian Mejia as he is as a starter. That’s not to say that’s a bad thing, as Mejia is a legitimate prospect, but the idea of seeing him doing new things in a new role didn’t come to fruition. Mejia’s changeup does seem to be making slow progress towards being a pitch he can locate effectively, but he isn’t peppering the top of the zone as consistently with his fastball and that’s why over the past few starts he hasn’t been as effective as early in the season. It seems to me the Braves are working on some stuff here, especially getting him a bit more arm-side movement on his fastball, and a lot of that is why his performance has been substandard lately. He still has one very good pitch and I would be curious to see if his velocity can tick up in a shorter role though I don’t see any reason to make that move just yet. Mejia was fine in this game and his command was a tick better than in previous starts, but it almost got away from him late. Biloxi had the tying run in scoring position when a hard line drive up the middle threatened to tie the game, but Cal Conley made a fantastic diving play to snag it in the air and double off the runner at second, saving the game at the expense of potentially hurting himself in the process. Hopefully Conley is healthy after that because he’s really had a solid year despite the hitting numbers not reflecting it.
Swing and Misses
Ian Mejia - 7
David Fletcher - 5
(54-54) Rome Emperors 4, (46-64) Asheville Tourists 1
Box Score
Kevin Kilpatrick Jr, CF: 1-2, 2B, RBI, .241/.322/.347
EJ Exposito, SS: 0-1, 2 BB, .235/.308/.413
Justin Janas, 1B: 1-1, BB, RBI, .245/.353/.349
LJ McDonough, SP: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 0.00 ERA
Austin Smith, RP: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 9.00 ERA
Rome was supposed to finish one game early today then play a second after that, but instead it turned into four innings and them just squeaking out an official game. We picked this one up at 0-0 at the start of the second inning, and LJ McDonough in relief for Mitch Farris who had his start yesterday cut short. McDonough is a fascinating player with an awkward delivery that does make it difficult to pick his pitches up, and given his swing-and-miss rates at the lower levels he has some real relief potential. Unfortunately it also negatively impacts his command, but when he is finding the strike zone with his fastball like on Saturday he can be an effective reliever. He threw three scoreless with four strikeouts, and in that time Rome opened up a sizable lead. The Emperors scored three runs with two hits - both singles - in the second inning and didn’t really struggle to hold onto that lead.
Austin Smith, who was recently demoted to Rome from Double-A, has unfortunately not been able to find a rhythm this season. After being down nearly all of last year and the first couple of months of this year his command just hasn’t come back to acceptable levels yet, but he showed with his three strikeouts the kind of arm talent he has. Maybe next year can be a bounce back and he can finally have a breakout season, but we’ve been waiting on that progression from him for a few years and unfortunately it just hasn’t come yet. In the bottom of the fifth Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. punched a slider to right field, and the line drive carried over the head of the defender for a double. This led to the final run of the game, as Kilpatrick would then steal third base and score on a throwing error. Kilpatrick has been a bit more impactful in the past few weeks, but he still hasn’t put up a stretch of consistent contact this entire season.
Swing and Misses
LJ McDonough - 11
Austin Smith - 10
Mitch Farris - 5
(40-69) Augusta GreenJackets 3, (49-62) Fayetteville Woodpeckers 1
Box Score
Luis Guanipa, CF: 1-4, 2B, .160/.218/.185
Junior Garcia, RF: 0-3, HBP, .072/.238/.087
John Gil, SS: 2-3, 2B, RBI, .213/.282/.280
JR Ritchie, SP: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 2.36 ERA
I’ve said it plenty of times that I really don’t read too much into a player’s first season or few months following their return from Tommy John surgery. Sure, you look for some markers like increased workload without setbacks, velocity recovery, and feel for secondary pitches, but for the most part the health is the primary concern. It’s rare guys come back and complete blow those expectations away, but JR Ritchie is doing that in Augusta. His changeup is better than it was when we saw him in 2023, and he’s showing a feel already for command two above average to plus secondaries and his fastball. He’s been dominant over his past two starts, and despite having so little experience he may be ready to go ahead and make the move up to Rome. He’s just a fantastic player and far ahead of the curve only 15 months post surgery, and the last step will be seeing his velocity recovery. He is mostly 91-92, about 2 mph slower than in 2023, but given the short timeframe for his rehab that isn’t at all out of the ordinary. If that velocity comes back like I expect in the next year or so he will once again be in the conversation as a top 100 prospect, and assuming guys like AJ Smith-Shawver and Drake Baldwin graduate he’s my early pick to be the number 1 prospect by mid-to-late 2025. He had one of the most impressive debuts I’d ever seen in 2023, and he looks to be that same player now, so as long as he can stay healthy and answer the questions of whether he can hold up under a starter’s workload he could really be on an extreme upward trajectory.
Luis Guanipa put up my favorite swing I’ve seen from him so far in Single-A, getting a fastball up and in and turning on it hard down into the left field corner for a double. Those flashes of bat speed reinforce why I’ve been so high on him, and when he is getting fastballs and attacking them with the mindset to do damage he is dangerous. Of course then a few pitch late he got caught breaking the wrong direction on a line drive and got doubled off at second base, reinforcing that he is extremely talented but still young and with plenty to learn. He had a nice take on a slider while behind in the count in the fifth inning, a spot he has been especially prone to chase in his early High-A career, though in this at bat when he got an inside fastball he went inside out and despite hitting it hard the center fielder tracked the line drive down in the right-center field gap.
John Gil did not start this game, but he came in early as a replacement for Colby Jones. Jones slid into first base while trying to beat out a swinging bunt he hit to third base (that the defender didn’t field cleanly anyways), and while I respect the effort here and that shows the sort of attitude that made the Braves want Jones, he also got himself hurt in the process and had to leave the game. Gil came in, and in a couple of his plate appearances made weak contact but also showed why we think so highly of him in his sixth-inning at bat. Gil got behind early, but fought off some tough sliders out away from him. Gil is so fastball-centric in his approach that he tends to dive over the plate for sliders, and in situations like this he just has to get lucky to make contact with breaking balls but has the bat speed and contact skill to do so more often than not. Then he got a fastball on the inner half and was ready for it, turning and burning a line drive down the left field line to bring in Augusta’s first run. Gil, like Guanipa has those tantalizing flashes of raw talent at the plate, and if they can get him performing better against sliders he is going to take off and take off quickly given just how good he is at finding contact.
Swing and Misses
JR Ritchie - 16
<img alt="2022 MLB Draft" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/KZYhpLnx0el2v0JbcL2UCMrt8Ug=/0x0:2658x1772/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/73528707/1241967968.0.jpg">
Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
Ritchie was once again dominant in an Augusta win It was a muddy day on the Atlanta Braves farm, with three of the four levels being significantly impacted by rain. Still, all four games got played to some extent at least and we saw a few intriguing performances. The best of these came from JR Ritchie, who has exceeded all hopes with such a short recovery period from May 2023 Tommy John surgery and is dominating for Augusta.
(58-61) Gwinnett Stripers 7, (55-64) Norfolk Tides 5
Box Score
Statcast
Alejo Lopez, 3B: 3-4, 2B, 3B, BB, RBI, .305/.391/.386
Drake Baldwin, DH: 2-4, 2B, BB, RBI, .308/.430/.477
AJ Smith-Shawver, SP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 5.61 ERA
Daysbel Hernandez, RP: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 4.70 ERA
Nowhere was the weather felt rougher in Gwinnett, where a storm rolled in just late enough to axe AJ Smith-Shawver after just one inning. Smith-Shawver had a clean and breezy first inning where he struck out a couple of batters - both lefties whiffing at a couple of well-placed changeups. Smith-Shawver came out in the second inning, but after just a handful of pitches a foul tip off of the mask of the umpire chased him from the game. In the time while tending to the umpire was when everyone started to gather concern over the weather, and despite all players remaining on the field — the outfielders playing catch with eager young fans — the game remained at a stand still for a good fifteen minutes before an now-frustrated Smith-Shawver and the rest of the Stripers were told the game was entering delay. Thus, a promising first made way for a long delay and ultimately Gwinnett had to settle on Jackson Stephens to fill some bulk. Stephens had one of his best outings of the season as he struck out 7 batters over three scoreless innings, but Tommy Doyle got bombed in relief in the fifth inning and the Stripers offense had to catch up, but they ultimately did and the Gwinnett bullpen held it down from there. There have been occasional moments where his command begets frustration, but Domingo Gonzalez has been near unhittable at Gwinnett so far. Gonzalez has had a bit of bad luck but is rocking a 2.40 FIP and with two more strikeouts bumped his strikeout rate to 40.3%. He’s gone six straight outings now without a walk, and his command improvements this season have taken him from an interesting but unreliable reliever to a guy the Braves will likely be adding to the 40 man roster this offseason to protect from the Rule 5 draft. His mid-90’s heat plays up due to his low release point, and his sweeping slider gives him a pair of pitches that have both produced whiff rates north of 30%.
Good news and bad news, folks.Bad news is we are currently in a weather delay. Good news is that Justin Dean is still a man of the people. We will update you with information as we receive it. pic.twitter.com/zZpvACDE5x— Gwinnett Stripers (@GoStripers) August 17, 2024
Nacho Alvarez Jr. hasn’t played Wednesday, and it’s a bit odd because he played the full game on Wednesday without being removed so we really don’t know what he’s dealing with at the moment. Drake Baldwin continues to give Gwinnett at least one menace for opposing pitchers, and he started off early in this one by taking a low sinker and smoking it into the left-center field gap for a double. Baldwin reached base in his first three plate appearances with a walk and a soft single through the left side making up the next two, before striking out on a well-placed curveball that nipped the outside corner and then grounding out as he got jammed in on the hands by a cutter. The player who has been hilariously hot at the plate is Alejo Lopez, who similarly to his five hit game on Thursday came a home run short of the cycle despite his hardest base hit being 85.2 mph off of the bat. Lopez is just in one of those places where everything is finding a hole, and he lead off with a triple that put Gwinnett on the board early. Lopez is 11-20 with four walks and no strikeouts this series.
Swing and Misses
Jackson Stephens - 7
Domingo Gonzalez - 4
AJ Smith-Shawver - 2
(53-59) Mississippi Braves 3, (55-55) Biloxi Shuckers 2
Box Score
Ethan Workinger, LF: 2-3, HR, BB, .200/.243/.314
David McCabe, DH: 0-4, .128/.244/.205
David Fletcher, SP: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 5.97 ERA
Ian Mejia, RP: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 KK, 3.48
After a rough start to his Double-A career Ethan Workinger needed a day like this, as he provided the bulk of Mississippi’s scoring in a tight win. In his first at bat Workinger got a sinking fastball right on the inner half of the plate, exactly where his swing is geared to crush pitches, and he did not miss as he absolutely crushed it over the wall and over a low billboard in left field. Workinger didn’t put as good of a swing in the next time up as he reached for a slider and rolled it up the middle, but he showed off his sneaky speed by beating out the throw to first for an infield single. After falling behind 0-2 in the count in his third plate appearance he was able to work a walk, though he was less lucky his next time up as he got caught guessing and watched a sinker go in for strike three. Keshawn Ogans provided a huge hit for Mississippi in the fourth inning, rolling a ball down the third base line for an RBI double to put the M-Braves up 3-0.
KISS IT GOODBYE!! Ethan Workinger's First AA Homer!! M-Braves lead 1-0. pic.twitter.com/UwSK1QfWMs— Mississippi Braves (@mbraves) August 18, 2024
I feel like I always find myself here with Mississippi, recapping a David Fletcher start. MiLB’s player page says he has made 13 of them, however if feels like 40. Fletcher is somehow either awful or unhittable with little in between, and he fell into the former category on Saturday. The Shuckers had no answer for the knuckle ball, making mostly weak contact and ending up with only two hits in the game. Fletcher is not on his way to being an MLB starter, but it is pretty remarkable that a player who hasn’t ever pitched in his career has shown up at 30 to be at minimum a decent innings-filler at Double-A. Every now and then he may give you a ten-run deficit, but for the most part the Braves have managed to have an infielder who can also provide valuable innings to keep the rest of the rotation able to pitch on the schedule Atlanta wants them to be on.
PLAY OF THE YEAR!!! @Cal_Conley13 robs a game-tying hit and turns it into a game-ending double play! ️ @CHarris731 pic.twitter.com/gZm0n8AHF2— Mississippi Braves (@mbraves) August 18, 2024
Ian Mejia pitched out of the bullpen in this one, but I don’t think it’s a sign of any move rather the rain has made it hard to keep everyone in the rotation pitching regularly. I was a bit excited to see Mejia in this role at first as I do think his slider could make him a seriously valuable middle reliever with multi-inning potential, but he pitched four innings where he was the same Ian Mejia as he is as a starter. That’s not to say that’s a bad thing, as Mejia is a legitimate prospect, but the idea of seeing him doing new things in a new role didn’t come to fruition. Mejia’s changeup does seem to be making slow progress towards being a pitch he can locate effectively, but he isn’t peppering the top of the zone as consistently with his fastball and that’s why over the past few starts he hasn’t been as effective as early in the season. It seems to me the Braves are working on some stuff here, especially getting him a bit more arm-side movement on his fastball, and a lot of that is why his performance has been substandard lately. He still has one very good pitch and I would be curious to see if his velocity can tick up in a shorter role though I don’t see any reason to make that move just yet. Mejia was fine in this game and his command was a tick better than in previous starts, but it almost got away from him late. Biloxi had the tying run in scoring position when a hard line drive up the middle threatened to tie the game, but Cal Conley made a fantastic diving play to snag it in the air and double off the runner at second, saving the game at the expense of potentially hurting himself in the process. Hopefully Conley is healthy after that because he’s really had a solid year despite the hitting numbers not reflecting it.
Swing and Misses
Ian Mejia - 7
David Fletcher - 5
(54-54) Rome Emperors 4, (46-64) Asheville Tourists 1
Box Score
Kevin Kilpatrick Jr, CF: 1-2, 2B, RBI, .241/.322/.347
EJ Exposito, SS: 0-1, 2 BB, .235/.308/.413
Justin Janas, 1B: 1-1, BB, RBI, .245/.353/.349
LJ McDonough, SP: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 0.00 ERA
Austin Smith, RP: 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 9.00 ERA
Rome was supposed to finish one game early today then play a second after that, but instead it turned into four innings and them just squeaking out an official game. We picked this one up at 0-0 at the start of the second inning, and LJ McDonough in relief for Mitch Farris who had his start yesterday cut short. McDonough is a fascinating player with an awkward delivery that does make it difficult to pick his pitches up, and given his swing-and-miss rates at the lower levels he has some real relief potential. Unfortunately it also negatively impacts his command, but when he is finding the strike zone with his fastball like on Saturday he can be an effective reliever. He threw three scoreless with four strikeouts, and in that time Rome opened up a sizable lead. The Emperors scored three runs with two hits - both singles - in the second inning and didn’t really struggle to hold onto that lead.
Austin Smith, who was recently demoted to Rome from Double-A, has unfortunately not been able to find a rhythm this season. After being down nearly all of last year and the first couple of months of this year his command just hasn’t come back to acceptable levels yet, but he showed with his three strikeouts the kind of arm talent he has. Maybe next year can be a bounce back and he can finally have a breakout season, but we’ve been waiting on that progression from him for a few years and unfortunately it just hasn’t come yet. In the bottom of the fifth Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. punched a slider to right field, and the line drive carried over the head of the defender for a double. This led to the final run of the game, as Kilpatrick would then steal third base and score on a throwing error. Kilpatrick has been a bit more impactful in the past few weeks, but he still hasn’t put up a stretch of consistent contact this entire season.
Swing and Misses
LJ McDonough - 11
Austin Smith - 10
Mitch Farris - 5
(40-69) Augusta GreenJackets 3, (49-62) Fayetteville Woodpeckers 1
Box Score
Luis Guanipa, CF: 1-4, 2B, .160/.218/.185
Junior Garcia, RF: 0-3, HBP, .072/.238/.087
John Gil, SS: 2-3, 2B, RBI, .213/.282/.280
JR Ritchie, SP: 5 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 2.36 ERA
I’ve said it plenty of times that I really don’t read too much into a player’s first season or few months following their return from Tommy John surgery. Sure, you look for some markers like increased workload without setbacks, velocity recovery, and feel for secondary pitches, but for the most part the health is the primary concern. It’s rare guys come back and complete blow those expectations away, but JR Ritchie is doing that in Augusta. His changeup is better than it was when we saw him in 2023, and he’s showing a feel already for command two above average to plus secondaries and his fastball. He’s been dominant over his past two starts, and despite having so little experience he may be ready to go ahead and make the move up to Rome. He’s just a fantastic player and far ahead of the curve only 15 months post surgery, and the last step will be seeing his velocity recovery. He is mostly 91-92, about 2 mph slower than in 2023, but given the short timeframe for his rehab that isn’t at all out of the ordinary. If that velocity comes back like I expect in the next year or so he will once again be in the conversation as a top 100 prospect, and assuming guys like AJ Smith-Shawver and Drake Baldwin graduate he’s my early pick to be the number 1 prospect by mid-to-late 2025. He had one of the most impressive debuts I’d ever seen in 2023, and he looks to be that same player now, so as long as he can stay healthy and answer the questions of whether he can hold up under a starter’s workload he could really be on an extreme upward trajectory.
Luis Guanipa put up my favorite swing I’ve seen from him so far in Single-A, getting a fastball up and in and turning on it hard down into the left field corner for a double. Those flashes of bat speed reinforce why I’ve been so high on him, and when he is getting fastballs and attacking them with the mindset to do damage he is dangerous. Of course then a few pitch late he got caught breaking the wrong direction on a line drive and got doubled off at second base, reinforcing that he is extremely talented but still young and with plenty to learn. He had a nice take on a slider while behind in the count in the fifth inning, a spot he has been especially prone to chase in his early High-A career, though in this at bat when he got an inside fastball he went inside out and despite hitting it hard the center fielder tracked the line drive down in the right-center field gap.
John Gil did not start this game, but he came in early as a replacement for Colby Jones. Jones slid into first base while trying to beat out a swinging bunt he hit to third base (that the defender didn’t field cleanly anyways), and while I respect the effort here and that shows the sort of attitude that made the Braves want Jones, he also got himself hurt in the process and had to leave the game. Gil came in, and in a couple of his plate appearances made weak contact but also showed why we think so highly of him in his sixth-inning at bat. Gil got behind early, but fought off some tough sliders out away from him. Gil is so fastball-centric in his approach that he tends to dive over the plate for sliders, and in situations like this he just has to get lucky to make contact with breaking balls but has the bat speed and contact skill to do so more often than not. Then he got a fastball on the inner half and was ready for it, turning and burning a line drive down the left field line to bring in Augusta’s first run. Gil, like Guanipa has those tantalizing flashes of raw talent at the plate, and if they can get him performing better against sliders he is going to take off and take off quickly given just how good he is at finding contact.
Swing and Misses
JR Ritchie - 16
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