Baumann lowered his season ERA to 4.22 on the season
It was a busy day down on the farm on Wednesday, so let’s dive into all the action.
(11-17) Gwinnett Stripers 4, (16-12) Nashville Sounds 3
- Jarred Kelenic, CF: 2-4, R
- Matthew Batten, 1B: 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI
- Davis Daniel, SP: 6 IP, 2 ER, BB, K
Gwinnett battled back from an early deficit to get the win over Nashville by a 4-3 final on Wednesday.
The Sounds tagged Stripers starter Davis Daniel for three runs in the first four innings — only two of which were earned. Daniel actually managed to bounce back and provide some length as he ultimately tossed six innings of three-run ball to keep Gwinnett in the game.
After being held to just three hits through the first five innings, the Stripers offense finally came alive in the bottom of the sixth inning. Jarred Kelenic led off with a single into right field and Carlos Rodriguez advanced him to third on a single of his own. Eddys Leonard brought home Gwinnett’s first run of the game on a sac fly to make it 3-1. Garrett Cooper and Bryan De La Cruz kept the rally going with back-to-back singles, plating Rodriguez to cut the Nashville lead to 3-2. A double off the bat of Matthew Batten into center field scored Cooper and De La Cruz to make it a 3-4 lead for the Stripers.
Leading by one run, Jackson Stephens and Craig Kimbrel continued the solid pitching on the day. Stephens tossed a pair of scoreless innings while striking out two and walking one, while Kimbrel worked around a leadoff walk and a single later in the frame to cap off Gwinnett’s win.
(8-14) Columbus Clingstones 5, (12-11) Biloxi Shuckers 8
- Ethan Workinger, LF: 2-5, HR, RBI, 2 R
- Keshawn Ogans, 2B: 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI, R
- Jhancarlos Lara, SP: 3.2 IP. 2 H, 3 ER, 6 BB, 3 K
Columbus found themselves in an early hole on Wednesday, as starter Jhancarlos Lara lasted just 3.2 innings while allowing three earned runs. The biggest knock against Lara was his command, as the righty issued six walks in his short outing.
Lara’s start to 2025 has been arguably the most disappointing among all of the arms in Atlanta’s system. In 16 innings, he has struck out an encouraging 24 batters, but he’s also allowed 19 earned runs and 18 walks in the process. It might be worth sending him back down to Rome for a little while to get things right.
Offensively, the Clingstones finally scored in the home half of the fourth inning. Drew Compton and Ethan Workinger tallied back-to-back singles and Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. doubled into centerfield to score Compton and make it a 3-1 game. A sac fly off the bat of Keshawn Ogans scored Workinger and cut the deficit to 3-2.
However, Columbus reliever Landon Harper proceeded to allow three earned runs in his 2.1 innings of work as Biloxi extended their lead to 6-2 over the Clingstones. Ultimately, the Shuckers scored twice more in this one to give them eight runs total on the night.
The Clingstones did show a little life in the latter half of this one. With one gone in the bottom of the eighth, Ethan Workinger homered over the left centerfield wall to make it a 7-3 game. Kilpatrick Jr. singled into right field and proceeded to steal second base before an Ogans double scored him. The final Columbus run was scored courtesy of a Cody Milligan single into center field to plate Ogans.
A wild pitch from Columbus reliever Jorge Juan in the top of the ninth plated an additional run to make it an 8-5 lead for Biloxi.
(13-10) Rome Emperors 0, (13-10) Hub City SpartanBurgers 1
- Will Verdung, 2B: 2-4, 2B
- Garrett Baumann, SP: 4 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 7 K
Of all the Braves prospects who have bounced back following a rough start to the year, the case could be made that Garrett Baumann leads the pack.
In his season debut against Winston-Salem on April 5, the 20-year-old lasted just 3.1 innings, allowing seven runs on five hits while walking four. Since then, he has gradually gotten better with each outing.
However, Wednesday’s start against Hub City was perhaps one of the best performances of his professional career thus far — despite the Emperors ultimately coming up short.
While he only tossed four innings, Baumann scattered just two hits and walked a pair while striking out seven on the day. More importantly, he kept the SpartanBurgers off the scoreboard while on the mound.
On the day, Baumann sat consistently in the 94-95 miles per hour range with his fastball and his changeup produced several swing and misses — as the righty totaled 17 total on the day. His slider was a bit sloppy, but played well enough to keep hitters off-balanced.
Like most young arms, the biggest hurdle for Baumann will be to figure out ways to get through the batting order more than once. This year, Baumann has posted an ERA of 1.20 through the first three innings. However, that number skyrockets to a 9.30 ERA from the fourth inning onward, suggesting that hitters get a much better feel for him the second time around.
This isn’t uncommon and shouldn’t be cause for concern, as Baumann’s strikeout numbers (16.9 strikeout percentage) continue to trend in the right direction, which was always the primary concern when it comes to his development.
Baumann was spectacular on Wednesday — and while his reliever counterparts in Sam Strickland, Tyler LaPorte, LJ McDonald and Austin Smith combined for five innings of one-run ball — it still wasn’t enough to push Rome over the finish line as the offense stalled out.
Will Verdung was the lone Emperor to come away with a hit in this one, as the second baseman actually registered both of the team’s only hits, one of which was a double. E.J. Exposito also drew a pair of walks on the day as well to raise his OPS to a staggering 1.214. He also has a .357 batting average over the course of 10 games as well.
(13-10) Augusta GreenJackets 1, (13-10) Kannapolis Cannonballers 4
- Isaiah Drake, CF: 1-4, RBI
- Owen Carey, RF: 1-3
- Luke Sinnard, SP: 5 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 4 K
Much like their high-A counterparts, Augusta suffered from a lack of offense despite getting a solid performance on the mound from their right-handed starter.
Coming off his best pro performance to date — in which he struck out eight across 4.2 scoreless innings — Luke Sinnard was dealt an unlucky hand in Wednesday’s matchup, to put it plainly. After limiting Kannapolis to a pair of hits across the first two innings, Sinnard ran into a bit of trouble in the bottom of the third — but not by any fault of his own.
With one out, back-to-back errors by Eric Hartman and Colby Jones put a runner in scoring position. Sinnard then allowed a pair of singles as the Cannonballers scored three runs total in the frame to take a 3-0 lead. A pair of doubles in the home half of the fourth allowed Kannapolis to extend their lead to 4-0.
While his defense certainly didn’t do him any favors, Sinnard did relatively well working around the miscues as best he could. He did get hit around pretty hard from time to time though, as he tends to leave pitches — particularly his breaking balls — over the middle third of the plate.
So far in his career, Sinnard hasn’t had an issue with command or walks as the 6-foot-8 righty has walked six batters in 14 innings of work in 2025. However, he is allowing an average of one hit per inning in his four starts, which is a problem he needs to correct in order for the Braves to give him the bump up to high-A.
The offense was rather putrid in this one, as mentioned above. Hartman actually managed to get himself into scoring position in the top of the first, as he drew a walk and then stole a base before Isaiah Drake was called out on strikes to end the frame.
Another key opportunity Augusta let go to waste came in the top of the fourth. Owen Carey singled to begin the frame and Hartman drew his second walk of the game to move him up to second base. However, Drake proceeded to strike out again as Jones flew out and Douglas Glod went down swinging to leave Hartman and Carey stranded.
After Kannapolis’ starter left the game, the GreenJackets finally got on the board. John Gil drew a leadoff walk and later stole second base with two outs in the inning. Drake somewhat redeemed himself of his multi-strikeout day by singling into center field, scoring Gil to make it a 4-1 game.
That would be the only offense Augusta got in Wednesday’s loss. After winning six in a row, the GreenJackets have now lost three of their last four.