Quintero blasted the Clingstones to a narrow win
Ian Anderson is back in the Atlanta Braves system, but his season debut with Gwinnett wasn’t the most exciting performance of the day for the farm. That went to Geraldo Quintero’s power outburst, as he provided the thump to lead Columbus to a win. Down in Augusta the offense struggled, but fringe prospect Samuel Mejia showed off a dominant pitch that help him put up some impressive whiff numbers.
(13-21) Gwinnett Stripers 5, (23-11) Durham Bulls 6
- Jarred Kelenic, CF: 0-4, BB, .231/.375/.269
- Carlos Rodriguez, LF: 1-5, .288/.309/.348
- Ian Anderson, SP: 3 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 3.00 ERA
- Dylan Dodd, RP: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 5.65 ERA
You’ve got to get outs to win ball games, and far too often in this one the Stripers pitching staff couldn’t get enough of them. Ian Anderson’s return to the Braves was a mixed bag. Anderson had some big positives in that he threw strikes, his changeup was effective, and his velocity is nearly back to where it was prior to all of the injuries. The problem was that outside of his changeup he wasn’t particularly effective at locating his pitches, leaving far too much over the plate where Bulls hitters were able to get solid contact. Anderson especially struggled to settle in during the first inning, where Durham notched three 100+ mph batted balls but ultimately settled for only one run. Anderson wasn’t able to get much swing and miss outside of those changeups as he just wasn’t putting them in effective locations, but he did mostly tip-toe around six baserunners in three innings. Gwinnett as a whole was able to hold a lead up until the ninth inning, when Domingo Gonzalez got absolutely crushed. Gonzalez was serving up center-cut fastballs and the result was batted balls of 111.2 mph, 116.2 mph, and 107.4 mph off of that pitch alone. He had a chance to escape despite his poor location throughout his outing, but on an actually well-located slider Eloy Jimenez rolled a sharp one through the right side of the infield for a hit that scored a run and extended the inning. Durham would go on to tie the game before winning it in extra innings.
Not every result from this game was doom and gloom, however. Dylan Dodd again had an effective outing, and it seems like this full-time bullpen role is really suiting him. He’s maintaining the significant increases in his fastball velocity, and his cutter remains the only pitch he’s shown throughout his career that can miss bats at a high rate. He was a bit too in-the-middle of the zone in this outing, but 94-95 in the middle of the zone gets away with a whole lot more than 91-92 there. Dodd has been terrific with his command so I see no reason to nitpick this outing in that regard, with the one hard hit ball he allowed coming on the lone changeup he threw and left up to Eloy Jimenez. Offensively the Stripers didn’t hit all that well, but the hits came in bunches and they put up six runs in the sixth inning. Eddys Leonard had a walk to lead off that inning, in addition to a 103 mph double earlier in the game. That is his 23rd 100+ mph batted ball of the year, a number that is far-and-away the team lead despite him not spending the full season on the roster.
Swing and Misses
Ian Anderson – 7
Jordan Weems – 5
Jesse Chavez – 3
(10-17) Columbus Clingstones 4, (14-13) Birmingham Barons 3
- Geraldo Quintero, LF: 2-2, 2 HR, BB, .175/.284/.460
- David McCabe, 3B: 1-4, 3B, .280/.434/.413
- Lucas Braun, SP: 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 2.97 ERA
- Luis Vargas, RP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 5.06 ERA
Of all players Geraldo Quintero has turned into the power-hitting force of the Clingstones lineup with his two home runs lifting Columbus to victory. Quintero hasn’t gotten consistent at-bats this year, but in his 75 plate appearances the diminutive left fielder finds himself halfway to his career-high of four home runs. Quintero’s first came in the fourth inning, where he stepped up to the right side of the plate and jumped on a fastball from Noah Schultz. Quintero sent it soaring over the left-center field wall, tying the game at 2-2. Offense would be harder to come by for both squads in the later innings, but Quintero was clutch again in the 6th inning. This time from the left side of the plate Quintero was able to blast one out, putting Mississippi on top where their dominant bullpen would hold it down.
Lucas Braun is starting to run into the problem we see with a lot of player with his profile, and it cooked him for a run in this game. Braun relies on his slider to do most of his work, and he lacks averageb fastball velocity or movement, and those combined leave little room for error once a pitcher reaches the upper levels of the minor leagues. Fortunately, Braun is the type of pitcher who makes those errors less often than others. Unfortunately, on nights when Braun’s slider isn’t working he often struggles. Moreover, at Braun’s low-90’s velocity and pedestrian movement, he isn’t going to get away with mistakes over the plate. That often leads to home run issues, problems which plagues Darius Vines and Dylan Dodd before Braun. Braun has already issues five home runs this season, and though he does a good job of sitting around the edges hitters know that for the most part they can sit back and wait on him to come in the middle of the zone with a fastball. He was able to make enough pitches in this game to work around his problems with getting effective results on his slider, showing his improvements in working his pitches in and out and forcing a ton of ground ball outs. Because of this Braun was able to survive seven innings of solid work without his best stuff, and turn it over to Luis Vargas and Elison Joseph. Those two torched the Barons despite neither having great control in this game, shutting the door on the win for Columbus. Vargas has been particularly impressive. Double-A is typically the level where these wild pitchers run into more consistent umpires with fairer strike zones, and we’ve seen him getting fewer called strikes and you would expect. The good sign is so far hitters at this level are whiffing at his fastball and slider just as much as they did in High-A, and given the Braves will likely add him to the 40 man roster this offseason I wouldn’t be surprised to see a quick push to Triple-A if he does this for another month or two.
Swing and Misses
Lucas Braun – 6
Luis Vargas – 4
(16-12) Rome Emperors 4, (12-16) Greenville Drive 2
- Patrick Clohisy, CF: 1-4, 2B, RBI, .266/.391/.394
- Ambioris Tavarez, SS: 2-3, .270/.387/.337
- Brett Sears, SP: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 1.69 ERA
- Ryan Bourassa, RP: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 0.00 ERA
If you believe in the power of pitchability then Brett Sears has been a treat for you this year, with yet another stellar performance in his High-A debut. Sears has been dotting his pitches and he showed off in his 5 1⁄3 innings of one run ball, frequently working ahead of Drive batters and dropping pitches on the edge of the zone for called strikes. Sears threw 52 of his 72 pitches for strikes, but he wasn’t just dropping fat, low 90’s fastballs right down the middle. He worked the edges and changed elevation with his fastball extremely well, and hitters at this level often struggle to see guys with that sort of experience and control. His only huge mistake was a slider in the fourth inning that backed up and stayed up in the zone and over the inning third, where the batter was able to turn on it and drive it into the corner for an RBI double. Sears has done great things this season, though the fringe pure stuff makes him more of a solid organizational guy that’s going to eat plenty of innings but probably never take that next step. Fellow 25 year old Ryan Bourassa threw another scoreless inning, with now 12 scoreless innings to start the year. He’s thrown 17 straight scoreless innings with Rome dating back to last season’s stint before being called up, and they really gotta find this guy a spot in Mississippi.
Rome has the quality of High-A pitching to thank for their early lead in this game, as Greenville starter Eduardo Rivera cooked it up for them in the third inning. Ambioris Tavarez reached thanks to a soft tapper; the perfect swinging bunt that no one had a chance to get him on. Rivera then allowed three walks and threw a pickoff attempt away, allowing Rome to get a hit without a single ball getting more than ten feet in front of home plate. Rome earned it a bit more in the fifth inning, and it was the Clohisy/Dumitru duo that gave them an insurance run. After two quick outs Patrick Clohisy smacked a liner the other way, cruising into a second for a double to spark a brief two-out rally. Dumitru got behind 0-2 in the count, but waited out a hanging slider and sat to crush a line drive into left field for another double that easily scored Clohisy. A jam shot single marked Tavarez’s second hit, this in the sixth inning, and it once again led to a scoring for Rome. Justin Janas followed with a base hit to drive in a run, and Rome was able to hold that lead despite some trouble in the bottom of the seventh inning that Bourassa had to clean up.
Swing and Misses
Brett Sears – 9
Ryan Bourassa – 4
(14-14) Augusta GreenJackets 1, (13-15) Hickory Crawdads 3
- John Gil, SS: 1-4, RBI, SB, .240/.330/.320
- Isaiah Drake, CF: 2-4, .273/.356/.341
- Samuel Mejia, SP: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 5.00 ERA
- Adam Shoemaker, RP: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 0.00 ERA
It was education day at SRP Park, and the young GreenJackets fans learned a whole lot about how not to hit baseballs from the home team. The phrase “tough scene” comes to mind, as from the fourth pitch of this game on the GreenJackets trailed. We’re seeing some good progression at the plate for John Gil, and despite getting jammed on the fastball he flew out on in the first inning I do like how he approached that swing. Gil’s tendency to swing down into the point of contact has been crippling his power production, but we’re seeing him swing through the zone with a better plane more often with some occasional results. It’s going to be a difficult habit for Gil to break, but the two hits from Isaiah Drake help illustrate a player who has made the necessary adjustments. Drake’s first hit of the game was a grounder up the middle, but it was also solidly hit, and a good swing especially coming against a left handed pitcher with a tough release point. Drake went 2-38 with 17 strikeouts and only one walk against left-handed pitchers last year. This year he is 9-21 with only three strikeouts. He’s seeing the ball much better and staying on line with his swing, so those left-handed pitchers aren’t able to pound the outside corner to get outs like they did last year. Then in the ninth inning he looped a single into right field on a slider way down and in, a pitch that he simply would not have been able to reach last season. It wasn’t the best pitch to swing at, but he has made so much progress at the plate that we can overlook some swing decision mistakes. Even there, Drake has shown much more discipline at trying to find and attack his pitch in the zone, and the next step is to see him driving the ball in the air on the pull side.
Three runs and five strikeouts over 5 1⁄3 innings isn’t the most impressive statline, but when you look at Samuel Mejia’s whiff numbers he got 19 of them. Primarily, Mejia was dominating left-handed batters with a nasty changeup that he was dotting below the strike zone. 13 of his whiffs came against left-handed hitters with a 59.1% overall whiff rate against lefties, and that changeup might just be a carrying pitch for Mejia. His slider is no slouch either, though he doesn’t command it as well, with sweeping action that is moderately effective when he is able to run it away from right handed batters. The biggest problem for Mejia is that his fastball sits around 90-92, and the odd release that makes his changeup so effective leaves him with a fastball that doesn’t move a lot. Mejia is 22 so asking him to add velocity might be a pipe dream, but that changeup is so devastating that if he could just throw a bit harder he could find himself in a middle relief role.
Swing and Misses
Samuel Mejia – 19
Jackson Dannelley – 6
Adam Shoemaker – 4
(2-1) FCL Braves 6, (0-3) FCL Red Sox 3
- Juan Mateo, 3B: 0-2, BB .500/.545/.600
- Jose Perdomo, SS: 0-3, RBI, .222/.385/.333
- Rudit Pina, SP: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 8.10 ERA
It’s great to see the FCL team having some success, though unfortunately of the three games he has played this is the one where Jose Perdomo didn’t have success at the plate. Perdomo is healthy though and we’ve heard nothing to disagree with the sentiment that he will be fine and was only held back by injuries last season, so I’m expecting him to have a great year. Juan Mateo drew a walk in this game, a far cry from his electric first two games, but I’m really looking forward to his progress this year. He’s such a great pure hitter, and he’s added weight this offseason which gives him a real chance at taking the step forward and hitting the ball harder like he needs to.