The Atlanta Braves started out the week hot, with three of the starters combining for 16 1⁄3 scoreless innings. One of those could have even gone deeper were it not for a scary play on a comebacker that knocked Lucas Braun from the game. In Gwinnett Jarred Kelenic has put up his first good stretch of play in awhile, while the Columbus Clingstones find themselves in position to fight for a playoff spot down the stretch.
(36-52) Gwinnett Stripers 1, (51-36) Indianapolis Indians 8
- Jarred Kelenic, CF: 1-4, 2B, .236/.312/.333
- Luke Waddell, 2B: 1-3, BB, .295/.417/.352
- Ian Mejia, SP: 4 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 3 K, 4.50 ERA
- Hayden Harris, RP: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 0.93 ERA
Ian Mejia is struggling to make a good impression in Gwinnett, once again coming up from Double-A and battling control in the first outing with the Stripers. Mejia got smoked for a 108 mph double and walked three batters in the first inning, though he managed to settle in after that and cover four full innings for Gwinnett. He struggled at the start of the second by giving up a home run, another walk, and two hard hits but recorded two critical strikeouts to begin a run of success. Mejia has made a ton of progress since his last go at Triple-A, diversifying his arsenal and especially improving his changeup, it’s just unfortunate that he had trouble finding the strike zone in this game. Hopefully this is a longer opportunity to stick at Triple-A for Mejia, and given the lack of starting depth for the Braves and Stripers with the injury bug going around he deserves at least a look at Gwinnett.
I made mention of how great Wander Suero has been this season after his last recap, so of course it only fits that he would give up three runs in this game. It’s hard, though, to place too much of the blame on Suero for these runs. Suero recorded five strikeouts and allowed singles of 56, 87, and 74 mph. The home run in the eighth inning was the only square hit that Indianapolis got off of him as he otherwise had them tied in knots. Hayden Harris gave up his first Triple-A run this season on a home run, breaking a span of scoreless innings that dates back to the first day of June. Harris has been toeing the line a bit with his command this season so surviving this long without runs allowed has been a bit of good fortune
Offensively, of course, it’s the same story we’ve been reading for months. Gwinnett only had three hits in the game and they weren’t just getting bad luck going against them. The only exception to that is Jarred Kelenic who had a well-struck double in the third inning and later had a 104 mph lineout in the 8th inning. We’re working with a very small sample here, but Kelenic has been signficantly better so far in July. He’s been whiffing less in these past few games, hitting the ball hard, and generally looks like he’s got some competence at the plate. We’re going to need to see a lot more of these types of games, and his aggressive approach is still severely limiting his on base production, but maybe we’ve reached the point where Kelenic is going to start turning a corner.
Swing and Misses
Ian Mejia – 8
- Wander Suero – 8
Hayden Harris – 4
(34-45) Columbus Clingstones 7, (41-40) Pensacola Blue Wahoos 5
- Drew Compton, 1B: 1-3, BB .264/.344/.350
- David McCabe, 3B: 3-4, 2 2B, .270/.363/.398
- Lucas Braun, SP: 4.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 4.13 ERA
- Elison Joseph, RP: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 3.20 ERA
Fortunately that Gwinnett game is by far the worst it got on Tuesday, with the other full-season affiliates all coming away with wins. The Clingstones had a huge offensive showing in the fourth inning and from there managed to hold off Pensacola and win yet another game. Columbus has scored by far the fewest runs in the league in the second half — 32% fewer than the second-fewest, with their 2.46 runs per game being 43% below league average — but with the help of a pitching staff that’s allowed the fewest runs in the league they have the best second half record in the Southern League. Is that sustainable? Absolutely not.
Both teams stayed scoreless for the first three and a half innings, but before anyone could blink the Clingstones sat there with a 6-0 lead. It started with a walk to Drew Compton, then David McCabe got a hanging slider on the inner half of the plate and turned it around for a hard-hit double. The next pitch hit Ethan Workinger, and the bases were suddenly loaded with no one out in the inning. Adam Zebrowski’s single and Cal Conley’s walk both brought home a single run, but it was EJ Exposito who delivered the game’s defining moment. Exposito got a first pitch fastball in the heart of the zone and saw no point waiting for a second pitch, turning and bombing one off of the light post in left field for a grand slam. With a six run lead the game was in the hand’s of the best pitching staff in the league, statistically, but it got a little scary down the stretch.
Lucas Braun branded this game with his ability to pound the zone with his entire arsenal, though it was far from his best outing and ended with a concerning final play. Braun was cruising efficiently, not missing many bats but placing the ball outside of the heart of the zone in a way that was producing loads of weak contact. Braun had no trouble in the first four innings, but that all changed in the fifth. A one-out single wouldn’t make much difference in the game, ultimately neither did the following hit, but that second hit would end Braun’s day. On a liner back to him Braun stuck up his pitching arm in defense of his head, the ball cracking off of his forearm and skidding over to third base for a hit. Braun left the game quickly, though he seemed to be as much frustrated as he was in pain following the play. Still he didn’t even throw a pitch to see if he could stay in the game, and the hope now, of course, is that he avoided a break.
The game still stayed well in hand following Braun’s departure, until the eighth inning when the newly-demoted Zach Thompson got his first shot with the Clingstones. His third pitch was tagged for a line drive home run and it only got worse from there. Thompson allowed two hits and two walks, finally getting pulled from the game with four runs in and the tying run on third base. Elison Joseph was able to work out of the jam with no further damage, and he closed out the win for his third save of the season. Joseph had a horrendous June, walking 15 batters in only seven innings, but his pure stuff was so dominant he somehow got away with only allowing three runs. He was far, far better in his first two games of July at controlling the ball, and hopefully that remains the trend as Joseph is one of the highest ceiling relief arms in the system.
Columbus in first place
Swing and Misses
Jose Cuas – 7
Lucas Braun – 6
Elison Joseph – 5
(36-44) Rome Emperors 4, (40-41) Hub City Spartanburgers 0
- Lisandro Espinoza, SS: 1-3, BB, .202/.266/.342
- Ambioris Tavarez, SS: 1-3, HR, BB, .233/.342/.325
- Cedric De Grandpre, SP: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K, 1.85 ERA
- Cory Wall, RP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 2.01 ERA
Cedric De Grandpre has been lights out in his return from Tommy John surgery this season, and his start on Tuesday night was his best so far in an Emperors uniform. De Grandpre touched as high as 96 on the gun and rattled off eight strikeouts while not allowing a run or a walk in six innings. De Grandpre didn’t face much of any hard contact, and the one hard hit ball against him (a line drive double in the sixth inning) was a ball that any major league quality right fielder would have caught. It was a fantastic start especially given that De Grandpre is in that stage where he is still figuring things out, but it wasn’t without its problems. Despite not allowing a walk De Grandpre’s fastball command wasn’t great throughout the game, and in particular he was typically pulling the ball glove side often significantly. His saving grace was his ability to land his slider in the zone, and he racked up many of his strikeouts based on the Spartanburgers just watching that pitch go by them. His slider is clearly his best pitch, but the progression of his fastball velocity as a professional has added yet another layer to his game. De Grandpre’s command actually improved the later in the game that he got and he started to land his fastball at the top of the zone with much more success in the later innings, at which point Hub City really had no chance. Five of De Grandpre’s strikeouts came in the final two innings of the start, though the broadcast decided to switch to a press box view for his final inning making it much harder for those watching on MiLB tv to judge him as he struck out the side in the sixth inning.
Throughout his outing De Grandpre didn’t have the luxury of run support to work with, as Hub City’s starter effectively held the Emperors to two hits and no runs across five innings. Once the Emperors dipped into the Hub City bullpen the results came immediately. Lizandro Espinoza smacked the second pitch reliever Dalton Pence threw for a single, and the rest of work was a result of Espinoza’s legs. He stole second base then advanced on a ball in the dirt, putting him in position to score on a sacrifice fly from Will Verdung. In the seventh inning Rome finally put some distance on the scoreboard. Hub City was able to keep the ball down in the zone and away from Tavarez, but on a 3-2 pitch made a mistake, leaving one up where Tavarez likes to see them. Tavarez smoked a fly ball the opposite way, clearing the right field wall for his fifth home run of the year and doubling the Emperors lead in the game. With a bit of luck Rome was able to keep adding on. A squibber down the line from Keshawn Ogans snuck past the first baseman and he was able to motor in for a double to put even more pressure on the Spartanburgers. Mac Guscette followed, poking at one and placing down the right field line for another soft-hit double to extend the lead to 3-0. Tavarez would play a role in bringing home the next run as well. On a deep fly ball to left field the defender dropped the ball at the wall, bringing home the fourth run of the game.
Swing and Misses
Cedric De Grandpre – 9
Cory Wall – 4
(41-39) Augusta GreenJackets 7, (32-48) Salem Red Sox 4
- John Gil, SS: 1-3, 2B, RBI, .222/.316/.287
- Luis Guanipa, DH: 2-4, BB, RBI, .224/.296/.265
- Eric Hartman, CF: 1-4, BB, .239/.354/.399
- Jeremy Reyes, SP: 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K, 3.00 ERA
Jeremy Reyes has had a highly inconsistent season and it’s nice to see him put up a great stat line and a career-high in innings pitched. Reyes was in the zone much more than he has been in prior starts, though the same tendency to spray his fastball throughout the zone was prevalent in this game. The thing he did best was landing his slider below the zone as he was able to get these Red Sox hitters to chase and both whiff and make poor contact on his slider throughout the game. Reyes, though, also had a lot of help from his defense with great plays around the horn but especially in left field from Isaiah Drake. We’ll get to Drake in a bit, but Reyes was mixing the sinker and four seam fastball well and was able to dial up his final pitch to 97. Still, his velocity has been sitting lower this season than when he came up last season and it seems with all of the injuries he has had he may still be just a bit off from peak form. He wasn’t utilizing his changeup this game, though with Salem being a righty heavy lineup he could really lean on the slider for his success.
Isaiah Drake had an infield single and a walk, but even that doesn’t really feel like it encapsulates how well he played on Tuesday night. Drake had a diving play in the outfield that turned into an inning-ending double play and a leaping catch at the warning track to save extra bases, but he also just looked tremendous at the plate. Drake did a hell of a job working deep counts and putting pressure on the pitcher, and that turned into a couple of walks. Unfortunately his best contact in the game was a 104 mph fly out that went to the deep crook in right center field and very likely clears the fences in most minor league parks. John Gil had a deep fly out as well. but Salem’s center fielder played a great defensive game and tracked down hard hit balls throughout. That includes a 101 mph batted ball off of Owen Carey’s bat, who only went 1-5 in the game but like Drake really put together some great at bats and put pressure on Salem pitchers to make great pitches. They were able to get their outs, but Carey’s maturity at the plate and ability to recognize spin puts him ahead of most hitters at this level. In the end it wasn’t hard hit balls that really led to Augusta putting runs on the board. A couple of infield hits in the third inning predated that Gil fly out I mentioned, a rocket into the gap that the center fielder made an incredible play on to save extra bases but that did chase home the game’s first run.
A couple of hits in the fifth inning came in front of Carey, who hit a hard one over to first base that the first baseman caught on an in-between hop. That went down as an error, but also scored a run and set up more scoring as two walks pushed home a fourth run. The eighth inning featured a hit from Luis Guanipa, a soft hit line drive that he just flicked into center field as he got beat on the outer edge. Guanipa certainly has the bat speed and bat control to get to anything, but often seems to be guessing at the plate and when he guesses wrong he tends to look pretty bad up there. Bat control and bat speed are traits that really can’t be taught so it’s nice to see Guanipa displaying those, but he has to be smarter about how he approaches these at bats so he can get more solid contact. Guanipa is definitely putting up more competitive plate appearances than last season and seems to be seeing the ball better, it’s just a matter of getting him to cover the plate and be able to hit it hard outside of a small area that he likes to see pitches.
Swing and Misses
Jeremy Reyes – 10
Samuel Mejia – 7
(15-30) FCL Braves 1, (26-18) Baltimore Orioles 12
- Jose Perdomo, SS: 1-4, .193/.243/.246
- Juan Mateo, 2B: 2-4, .302/.376/.349
- Michael Martinez, LF: 1-4, .375/.375/.875
- Junior Garcia, CF: 2-3, HR, .192/.265/.333
- Drue Hackenberg, SP: 1.2 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 12.27 ERA
This was an awfully busy game for a 12-1 loss, but the names we’re familiar with all had their impacts on the game. Drue Hackenberg made his second rehab appearance for the Braves, and after a shutout first inning he really struggled allowing five runs and four hits in the second inning. Juan Mateo had two more hits in this game, and has had the hot hand as of late at the top of the lineup. Since June 20th Mateo has played in 12 games and in seven of those he has had multiple hits. He’s reached base multiple times in 11 of those 12 games, and has maintained his impressive walk and strikeout rates. Jose Perdomo has not been hot. He has two hits in his past six games, but in this one finally broke a streak of nine straight with a strikeout. That’s really been the biggest surprise from him as he was expected to show an advanced hit tool immediately but has really been poor in most of his hitting traits. Junior Garcia has likewise been bad, with four hits in his prior 14 games coming into this one. Garcia hit a home run for the only FCL run in this game and had another single in the game, finally putting out his first good showing in awhile.
(11-15) DSL Braves 4, (10-15) DSL LAD Bautista 7
- Diego Tornes, CF: 2-5, RBI, .283/.360/.394
- Juan Espinal, RF: 2-3, .242/.425/.439
Diego Tornes is finally getting a taste of trouble in July, and coming into this game only has two hits while striking out 10 times in the first week of the month. This was a huge surprise given how good he was to start the season, but he went out on Tuesday and posted an excellent stat line that will hopefully get him right back on track. The hope for Juan Espinal was that he would be able to put out much better numbers this season, and while there has been more power and a lot more walks he is still striking out at an absurd rate. Espinal is a talented player physically, but it will be hard for the Braves to even get him out of rookie ball if he continues to post strikeout rates around 40%.