Workinger boosted his season OPS to .969 with his performance
Wednesday’s minor league action had a little bit of everything. Jarred Kelenic nearly hit for the cycle, Augusta walked things off and Ethan Workinger continued his scorching start to the season. There’s a lot to get into, so let’s dive in.
(14-21) Gwinnett Stripers 6, (23-12) Durham Bulls 5
- Jarred Kelenic, CF: HR, 3B, 2B, 2 RBI, R, BB
- Jason Delay, C: 2-4, RBI, 2 R
- Davis Daniel, SP: 6 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, BB, 8 K
- Craig Kimbrel, RP: IP, BB, K
Gwinnett managed to parlay a solid start by Davis Daniel and a season-best offensive performance from Jarred Kelenic to take the second game of the series against Durham.
Across six innings, Daniel scattered seven hits and allowed four runs. While those numbers aren’t great, Daniel managed to strike out eight batters and only walked one in his night of work. Wednesday was Daniel’s best outing of the season since his first start when he struck out six across six frames.
On the very first pitch he saw, Kelenic swatted a 92 miles per hour fastball over the center field wall for a leadoff homer to stake the Stripers to a 1-0 lead. The Stripers added onto their lead in the top of the third as Jason Delay scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Carlos Rodriguez. Kelenic would go on to add an RBI-triple and a double later in this one, coming a single shy of hitting for the cycle. Both his homer and triple came off the bat at more than 102 miles per hour, which is an encouraging sign as Kelenic tries to work his way back to the big league club.
Leading 2-0, Daniel gave up three consecutive homers in the home half of the third as Durham took a 3-2 lead. However, that lead for the Bulls didn’t last long, as the Stripers bounced back in the following frame.
A Jason Delay double scored Matthew Batten to tie the game at 3-3, as Eddy Alvarez then scored on a groundout to give Gwinnett the 4-3 lead. Delay would proceed to score on a Kelenic triple to extend the Stripers lead to 5-3 in this one.
Durham managed to tie the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh, but Gwinnett would get the last laugh in this one. James McCann notched a single before Kelenic walked in his final at-bat. The Stripers then loaded the bases on a Carlos Rodriguez single into right field prior to Leonard plating McCann to give the Stripers a 6-5 lead before Wander Suero tossed a scoreless frame in the bottom of the ninth to cap off the win.
In another pitching note, Craig Kimbrel tossed another scoreless frame for the Stripers as he continues to build his arm up to join Atlanta. Kimbrel’s velocity was actually up in this one, sitting in the mid-90’s in what was an encouraging sign for the veteran righty.
(11-17) Columbus Clingstones 13, (14-14) Birmingham Barons 7
- Ethan Workinger, RF: 3-4, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 3 R, BB
- Davis McCabe, DH: 2-2, 3 RBI, R, BB
- Cal Conley, SS: 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI, 3 R, BB
- Drue Hackenburg, SP: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K
One would be hard-pressed to find a Braves farmhand who has had a better start to their season than Ethan Workinger. Across 83 at-bats, the 23-year-old outfielder has tallied eight homers and driven in 22 runs while posting a .969 OPS.
While Columbus tallied 13 total runs and got several key contributions from multiple players, it was Workinger once again who did the lion’s share of the work. Going 3-4, Workinger launched not one, but two homers on the night while driving in five total Clingstones and scoring three runs. It’s not out of the realm of possibility to anticipate a promotion to Gwinnett before the all-star break for Workinger, especially if he keeps this pace of play up.
Workinger will get most of the attention for Columbus in terms of offensive output, but David McCabe shouldn’t be overlooked. After going 2-2 with 3 RBI and a pair of walks on Wednesday, McCabe is hitting .299 with an OPS of .881 — behind Workinger for second-best for the Clingstones.
In addition to Workinger and McCabe, Cal Conley and Chandler Seagle — who each drove in a pair of runs — also had solid performances on the night.
The offense for Rome was great, but the pitching left much to be desired, as Birmingham scored seven runs and tallied ten hits off of Clingstone arms in this one. Drue Hackenburg didn’t have his best stuff, as the 23-year-old righty lasted just 3.2 innings, scattering five hits and giving up four runs. He also issued a pair of walks and only struck out three in the start.
It’s been a bit of a disappointing start to the 2025 season for Hackenburg, especially as someone who a lot of prospect pundits thought could eventually make an impact in Atlanta this year. Of his seven starts, Hackenburg has given up four or more runs in three of those outings and has only tossed six complete innings once thus far. The season is still young, so there’s plenty of time for him to figure things out and settle in, but there’s no doubt his performance through the beginning of May has been disappointing.
(16-13) Rome Emperors 0, (13-16) Greenville Drive 6
- Patrick Clohisy, CF: 2-4, 2 SB
- Lizandro Espinoza, SS: 2-4, SB
- Garrett Baumann, SP: 5 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, BB, 6 K
Simply put, it just wasn’t Rome’s day on Wednesday as the Emperors fell by a 6-0 final.
Garrett Baumann made his sixth start of the season, tossing five innings of three-run ball. While he only issued one walk and struck out six, the 20-year-old allowed eight hits on the night. Baumann’s velocity has improved as the season has progressed, as he sat in the upper-90’s on Wednesday. His slider has also taken a huge step forward, as he managed to get a strikeout on it to end an early rally by Greenville. In order to take that next step forward as a pitcher, Baumann has to focus on limiting the hard contact that eventually turns into hits. That will hopefully come along as he tries to refine his offspeed stuff.
The Drive scored thrice more when Baumann gave way to the bullpen to take a 6-0 lead.
Meanwhile at the plate, things weren’t going much better for the Emperors as they tallied just six hits and were held scoreless on the night. One positive was Patrick Clohisy, whose two hit game raised his seasonal OPS to .800 on the season. Clohisy also stole two bases, bringing his season total to 18 on the season.
(15-14) Augusta GreenJackets 2, (14-15) Hickory Crawdads 1
- Colby Jones, SS: 1-4, 2B, R
- Nick Montgomery, C: 2-5, RBI
- Luke Sinnard, SP: 4 IP, 2 H, ER, 4 BB, 6 K
Augusta needed a walkoff to get the win on Wednesday, but Nick Montgomery came through and delivered as the GreenJackets officially moved above .500 for the season.
Luke Sinnard got the start in this one and was pretty decent. In four innings of work, the 6-foot-8 righty allowed just two hits and one earned run while striking out six. Walks would be what hurt Sinnard the most in this one as he issued four free passes on the day. Still, Sinnard managed to work out of a few jams and limit the damage to just one run, giving his offense a fighting chance at least.
The GreenJackets provided some early run support in this one, as Colby Jones stole third and then came home to score after a throwing error by the Hickory catcher to make it a 1-0 lead for Augusta.
The game would remain tied at 1-1 through the first nine frames, and Jacob Gomez struck out the side in a perfect top of the tenth inning to give Augusta a fighting shot in the home half. Eric Hartman was intentionally walked to put a runner on first and second before Montgomery singled over the left fielder’s head to plate Owen Carey and give the GreenJackets the 2-1 victory.