Maier and Hackenberg were ground ball machines in A ball on Saturday
It was a slightly fuller schedule for the Atlanta Braves system on Saturday, as the rookie-level Florida Complex League opened played. It was also a full day of pitching, with interesting prospects going at every level including last season’s second round pick Drue Hackenberg
(15-16) Gwinnett Stripers 5, (12-20) Durham Bulls 3
- Forrest Wall, LF: 2-3, HR, 2 BB, 2 RBI, .317/.451/.488
- Allan Winans, SP: 5 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 3.33 ERA
- Daysbel Hernandez, RP: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 2.19 ERA
- Jimmy Herget, RP: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 0.00 ERA
Facing rehabbing Rays starter Shane Baz the Gwinnett Stripers had a task ahead of them on Sunday evening, but handled it well and were able to hold on after taking an early lead. Forrest Wall’s presence at the top of the lineup was vital to this effort as he accounted for each of the first three runs, first scoring on a JP Martinez single then taking a fat Baz fastball and depositing it on the berm for a 2 run home run. Wall’s big game at the top of the lineup catalyzed this Stripers win, but much of the reason he was in position to do so was the work of Andrew Velazquez at the bottom of the lineup. Velazquez had three hits on the day acting to flip the lineup over to Wall, and Velazquez and Wall either scored or drove in all five of Gwinnett’s runs.
Despite facing off against a lefty-heavy Bulls lineup it was a rare poor showing from Allan Winans and his changeup, as the Bulls were able to consistently make contact with his go-to offering and foul it off forcing him to go elsewhere to get outs. Winans struggled to keep the bases empty as the Bulls notched seven hits and two walks, but it wasn’t long rallies that did him in. Josh Lowe torched Winans from the top of the lineup, taking the first pitch of the game for a home run then in their third matchup getting a changeup in the heart of the zone and going deep once again.
Jimmy Herget made his debut appearance in a Stripers uniform and he had a dominant outing, pounding Durham with his curveball and getting strikeouts with the pitch for all three of his outs. 10 of Herget’s 18 pitches were his curveball, and each of the four batters he faced – including a base hit on a hanger – ended on the curve. Gwinnett kept rolling through their top bullpen arms and they all kept succeeding with Daysbel Hernandez getting three strikeouts out of four outs. Grant Holmes finished out the game with 1 2⁄3 scoreless.
(9-17) Mississippi Braves 2, (14-12) Pensacola Blue Wahoos 0
- Nacho Alvarez, DH: 2-3, BB, .289/.404/.325
- Drake Baldwin, C: 1-4, .250/.315/.325
- Ian Mejia, SP: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 2.40 ERA
- Hayden Harris, RP: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Ian Mejia keeps on chugging for Mississippi, and put out his longest start of the season on Saturday. Operating almost exclusively with his slider and fastball Mejia was able to keep the Blue Wahoos on their toes, racking up seven strikeouts across seven scoreless innings of work. Mejia never truly found himself in major trouble, though a two out triple off of the wall in the second inning did bring Pensacola close to breaking through. Mejia shutdown that inning and kept rolling, pounding the strike zone and managing to avoid the barrel of bats. Mejia’s ability to not make mistakes in the zone and get ahead early in counts has allowed him to excel through six starts.
It was another classic day for the Mississippi offense, with them relying on a handful of singles to push in runs. No one did that quite as well as Nacho Alvarez, who had two line drive singles into left field and drew a walk in his first plate appearance. Alvarez worked fantastic plate appearances, waiting out pitches until he got hittable fastballs that he could smack into the outfield. Unfortunately the top of the order continues to struggle to do anything around Alvarez, with the struggles of Drake Baldwin and Keshawn Ogans being a major hurdle to the team’s ability to score the often on-base Alvarez. Baldwin has been better of late, and it seems much of his struggles are just him tinkering with his approach, but it’s Ogans who has stood out as a hole in the offense. I was relatively high on Ogans coming into the season, and while it has held true that he is capable to putting the ball in play with remarkable consistency he simply hasn’t been able to make any sort of impact contact. Ogans hasn’t necessarily even been swinging at poor pitches, he has just often made weak contact and his efforts to produce power to the pull side have proven fruitless so far in 2024.
(13-11) Rome Emperors 3, (10-15) Hickory Crawdads 1
- Sabin Ceballos, 3B: 1-3, BB, RBI, .235/.344/.284
- EJ Exposito, SS: 2-4, HR, RBI, .262/.333/.574
- Drue Hackenberg, SP: 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 4.43 ERA
- Jared Johnson, RP: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 0.77 ERA
Sabin Ceballos has been impressive with the glove this season after a rough opening day, and he flashed leather early in this game with a diving stop to end the first inning. He did register his fourth error on the season in the fourth inning, but even this wasn’t a particularly egregious play on his end as the charging Ceballos made a good pick and quick choice to throw to second base but put the ball a bit wide. Outside of this the left side of the infield had an impressive showing with EJ Exposito also putting out a good game at shortstop, and these efforts were needed with Drue Hackenberg on the mound
Hackenberg was a ground ball machine, pounding the strike zone with his sinker to force ten ground ball outs across six innings of work. Hackenberg wasn’t even necessarily commanding the ball tightly, he just put his sinker in the bottom half of the zone and Hickory’s batters couldn’t do a thing with it. That error from Ceballos directly led to the only Hickory run of the game, and though it was charged as earned nothing hit was hit particularly hard. Hackenberg dotting in some secondary pitches and located them well enough to get swings-and-misses, though it’s notable to say this Hickory offense is statistically the worst in the South Atlantic League. Hackenberg was control over command in this start, and the movement on his sinker was just so that the Crawdads could never square him up.
Offensively it was that same left side of the infield that did the work to produce, with Ceballos and Exposito each having an RBI in the game. Ceballos did his damage early, smacking a base hit up the middle in the first inning to put Rome on top. Exposito did more, hitting his fifth home run of the season to move into third in the South Atlantic League. Exposito has been on a tear of late, and has four home runs across his last seven games played. Ceballos on the other hand hasn’t been amazing, as like many of Atlanta’s top prospects we have really yet to see him make impact contact. It’s been deep at bats and the pitch selection has been solid, but Ceballos has missed barrel too often and is hitting the ball either into the ground or weakly into the air.
(12-13) Augusta GreenJackets 1, (10-14) Charleston RiverDogs 2 SUSPENDED
- Drew Compton, DH: 0-3, BB, .355/.467/.539
- Robert Gonzalez, CF: 1-4, .237/.286/.329
- Adam Maier, SP: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 4.09 ERA
- Mitch Farris, RP: 3.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 5 K, 3.06 ERA
Everyone loves a good suspended game right? Right? Well neither of these offenses did anything notable in the first nine innings of this game, and I truly mean anything. Augusta’s bright spot was Adam Maier, who pounded the zone and forced the Charleston hitters to swing. When they did swing they did absolutely nothing, netting two hits and a ton of ground balls. The only really hard hit ball was a fifth inning double, and Maier came back to strike out the next hitter and end his day. Despite his six strikeouts there wasn’t a ton of swing-and-miss for Maier, as he only had seven whiffs in the game. The focus for Maier early in the season has clearly been working on his sinker, though when has flashed his slider and changeup they have been overwhelming for Single-A hitters.
The game was a bit more interesting with Mitch Farris in the game, as his command early in the season has been a problem for him and the same was true Saturday. The RiverDogs got six runners on base, but Farris’s ability to dice them up with his changeup bailed him out of a handful of sticky situations and he ended up with five strikeouts across 3 2⁄3 innings. In extra innings Reibyn Corona had a tough assignment, as they sent him out there to just fill innings. Corona struggled with his command, and that got even worse in the 11th inning as he fought with rain and fatigue allowing runs to score in both innings. Augusta did little to nothing on the offensive end, and in the tenth inning found themselves with two outs and Alexander Martinez, .100 batting average and all, as their last hope. Against all odds Martinez managed to float one into left field with a hit, but the GreenJackets wouldn’t yet get their second chance to score. Rain delayed the game in the middle of the 11th inning, and with the rain not likely to clear until late in the night the decision was made to suspend the game to Sunday afternoon.
(0-1) FCL Braves 1, (1-0) FCL Rays 3
- Mario Baez, 2B: 1-3, BB
- John Gil, SS: 0-4
- Douglas Glod: RF: 2-4, RBI
- Jeremy Reyes, SP: 5 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1.80 ERA
FCL play opened up on Saturday, and the Braves sent two of their top hitting prospects in Luis Guanipa and Jose Perdomo to Florida this season. Except neither played on Saturday, and it seems that Perdomo may not play at all this season as he is in Florida more to get work with the coaches there. Still, the FCL roster has a number of interesting bats that came over from the Dominican Summer League, the most notable among those being John Gil, Mario Baez, and Douglas Glod. Glod drove in the only run for the Braves in this game, bringing home Baez with a fourth inning single. FCL starter Jeremy Reyes is another interesting arm, who can run his fastball into the upper-90’s. Reyes didn’t pitch much in 2023, but he got the opening day nod for the FCL Braves and had a great outing. Reyes struck three of the first four batters he faced and completed five innings of one-run ball.