Waldrep had his best start of the season and has a 0.78 ERA in July
It wasn’t the best day for the Atlanta Braves affiliates across the board, but one player in particular stands out for another strong outing. Hurston Waldrep threw seven scoreless innings to lead the Stripers to a win, and in the month of July he didn’t allow more than an earned run in any of his starts. He’s cut his walk rate below 10% across his past six starts, and the Braves seem to have settled on an approach and pitch mix for him.
(42-61) Gwinnett Stripers 3, (61-40) Durham Bulls 0
- Nacho Alvarez Jr., 2B: 0-4, .306/.469/.429
- Luke Waddell, 3B: 3-4, 2B, .299/.414/.370
- Carlos Rodriguez, LF: 2-4, .279/.350/.349
- Hurston Waldrep, SP: 7 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K, 4.42 ERA
- John Brebbia, RP: 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 2.31 ERA
Hurston Waldrep capped off an outstanding month of July with his best performance of the season, throwing seven shutout innings where he was able to use all three of his pitches effectively. Waldrep’s struggled in Triple-A this season have been one of the storylines of the season for the Braves system, but with the Braves mechanical changes earlier this season he is starting to see some payoff in his ability to command his pitches. His release point in his last handful of starts has been far more consistent, and this was by far the best he has looked at Triple-A yet. The Braves are finally allowing Waldrep to loop his changeup back into his arsenal after having him focus on his other pitches for a few months, and though it took a few starts to get his feel back for it he did an incredible job of landing the pitch on the arm side this outing and was able to dominate with six swing-and-misses on the pitch. He mixed in his cutter more often than he has been doing in earlier starts as well, and most importantly he was able to throw strikes without his fastball getting hard. The only sore point from this outing was his slider command was poorer than it has been over his past two starts and he left it in the strike zone far too often, but he was able to get away with it and the Bulls seemed to have trouble recognizing it. They swung quite often when he left the pitch in the strike zone, but they failed to connect with no hard hit balls against any of his secondaries while he was able to make them expand the strike zone on all of his pitches.
With Ronald Acuna Jr. now headed to the injured list attention turns to which player from the Triple-A lineup the Braves will choose to bring up, and there are no good options if we’re being frank. Jarred Kelenic had the hardest-hit ball of the day with a 103 mph single, and July has been a far kinder month to him than earlier in the season. He has been hitting the ball much harder with an average exit velocity of 90.7 mph and a 50% hard hit rate, but his numbers have still lagged due to his chase tendencies and less-than-ideal launch angles. Many of his hard hit balls have been on the ground, and when he has lifted the ball he has missed the barrel to often and flown out deep. Carlos Rodriguez continues to make a good impression with his plate discipline and contact skills, and added two hits in this game to his record. He just does not make any impact when he swings and hasn’t been doing much to curb that, though his defensive versatility and competence with his approach probably makes him a better fit right now. Luke Waddell is almost certainly not an option to play outfield in Atlanta, though his three hits in this game is helping to cap off an incredible month of July. He has drawn a 21% walk rate with a whiff rate of just 11.4%, adding up to a .452 on base percentage for the month despite him lacking the impact to do much when he makes contact.
Swing and Misses
Hurston Waldrep – 12
John Brebbia – 6
(38-56) Columbus Clingstones 2, (50-47) Montgomery Biscuits 3
- Kobe Kato, 2B: 1-3, HR, BB, .180/.314/.304
- David McCabe, 3B: 3-4, RBI, .288/.377/.401
- Brett Sears, SP: 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 3.96 ERA
- Rolddy Munoz, RP: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 1.75 ERA
Brett Sears got the boot down to Double-A after his awful performance in Gwinnett last week, and he had trouble once again as his command failed him in the second inning. He was able to work around a leadoff double in the first inning, but after two pretty quick outs in the second inning his outing went off of the rails. He could not finish off hitters in this game, and three straight seven-pitch at bats ended with a walk, a single, and then an RBI double. Finally he walked a hitter on four pitches, pushing his pitch count over 30, and had to be lifted with the bases loaded after a solid start to the frame. Rolddy Munoz had to come in to clean up the mess, and he got a soft chopper over to shortstop though the runner was able to beat it out by running through the base to force a rundown and allow the runner from third to score. In the end it was Munoz who saved the bullpen from a long and potentially disastrous opening to the series, dominating the Biscuits lineup with four strikeouts over three hitless innings. Munoz was able to keep his control in check and overwhelm Montgomery’s hitters with his raw stuff, and though he walked a couple of batters he never faced real danger. He and Jose Cuas combined for 5 1⁄3 innings of hitless relief, and this success gave the offense time to come back.
David McCabe, of course, had his role in the game, though this was a weaker offensive performance from him than we’ve seen despite the three hit showing. His first inning hit was a chopper that just found the soft spot in the defense for a hit, though in the fifth inning he roped a single into right field for the hardest hit ball of the game by a Columbus hitter. Neither of those contributed to the run-scoring effort, though when McCabe came to bat in the seventh inning Columbus trailed by only a run thanks to a big fly from Kobe Kato in the fifth. With Geraldo Quintero standing on second base McCabe had his first RBI opportunity of the day, and he got a bit lucky to tie the game up. He reached well out of the strike zone to chase a pitch, but was able to get just enough bat on the ball to flip one over the shortstop’s head, and that effort allowed Quintero to score and tie the game. Columbus’s luck ran out there, though, and they went hitless the rest of the way while Montgomery was able to chase home a run in the 8th inning to snatch the win.
Swing and Misses
Rolddy Munoz – 10
Brett Sears – 4
Jose Cuas – 3
(39-55) Rome Emperors 1, (68-28) Greensboro Grasshoppers 5
- Patrick Clohisy, CF: 2-4, .244/.337/.328
- Keshawn Ogans, 3B: 2-3, 2B, .161/.286/.184
- Luke Sinnard, SP: 4 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 4.50 ERA
It’s great to see your starting pitcher throw a lot of strikes, but not so wonderful when those pitches are getting hit. Luke Sinnard was filling up the strike zone in this game, but didn’t do a great job hitting his spots or landing his curveball and didn’t get as much swing-and-miss as we’re accustomed to seeing. Sinnard didn’t pitch awfully by any stretch, and the leadoff double to Konnor Griffin was a jammed pop up that happened to sneak inside the right field line, he just wasn’t crisp and Greensboro was able to take advantage with a couple of runs in the first inning. Greensboro for the most part wasn’t able to square him up with only a handful of hard hit balls in the game, but Sinnard has looked much better in other starts and got away with some pitches throughout the game. His overall season has been extremely positive even with the limited pitch count and time missed to injury, and if he can get a bit more time to settle in as the season goes into its last month he should be able to finish strong and set himself up to make a run at the major leagues at some point in 2026.
While Greensboro was able to bunch their hits up to score five runs the Emperors seven hits came scattered, and they didn’t do much to help themselves on the bases either. With a double play and two caught stealing they had three of their limited runners erased, putting out a disappointing single run in the game. The biggest bright spot for the offense has been Patrick Clohisy, who added a couple of single to extend a solid month of June. Clohisy had a terrible June, but is back on track with a .344 on base percentage this month and a couple of hard hit balls this game. Unfortunately while he had a strong May and seemed to be hitting the ball a bit harder, that seems to be a mirage as he is back to providing limited extra base power. Clohisy doesn’t lift the ball much and doesn’t hit the ball particularly hard consistently, so while his on base skill and speed on the bases could give him a future as a fifth outfield he is really going to have to improve his marginally-better-than-average contact rates to get there.
Swing and Misses
Luke Sinnard – 5
David Rodriguez – 4
(48-47) Augusta GreenJackets 2, (56-37) Carolina Mudcats 5
- Eric Hartman, CF: 1-3, 2 BB, .232/.348/.379
- Juan Mateo, 3B: 1-4, RBI, .200/.282/.229
- Ethan Bagwell, SP: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1.93 ERA
Repeating Sinnard’s performance, Ethan Bagwell threw tons of strikes and only needed 57 pitches to cover his five innings, but he didn’t miss as many bats as you would hope to see and was not finishing his pitches on the edges of the zone. In fairness to him, a nasty little squall that ran through the second and third innings made it a bit harder for him to settle into the game, and outside of a fly out in the first inning and a mammoth home run in the fourth the Mudcats didn’t make particularly good contact. They tended to hunt Bagwell’s fastball early in counts, and with Bagwell laying the pitch in the zone they were sitting but failed to barrel the ball with any consistency. Bagwell’s fastball was sitting solidly around 93-94 mph in the early stages of the game, but his velocity across all pitches dipped late in the game and he sat 90-91 in his final inning. That’s not ideal, but given Bagwell’s age and the time he has missed due to injury and still building back up stamina, it’s not a major red flag at this stage and he still has some physical projection left overall.
Augusta’s offense was held well in check the first time through the order, but after a couple of walks gave them life to flip the order over Eric Hartman kept his good play going with a great swing. Hartman was a bit out in front of a slider but was able to scoop it off of the bottom of the strike zone and hit the ball hard, but Douglas Glod made a terrible decision on the basepaths and got thrown out which took away a potential bases-loaded situation. Augusta had better luck hitting in the later innings, but after that mistake in a one run game rarely seemed threatening to make a comeback and ultimately went down quietly. Nick Montgomery was a bright spot for the offense, drawing a walk and flying one into right center field over the head of the defender for a triple. Montgomery is in the midst of a rough stretch at the plate with a bunch of strikeouts — he had two more in this outing — and getting some positive results in this game is a nice sign and hopefully he can end the season strong otherwise he’s likely to repeat in Single-A next year.
Swing and Misses
Ethan Bagwell – 5
Adam Shoemaker – 5
Justin Militello – 3
(17-22) DSL Braves 1, (22-19) DSL Astros Orange 12
- Angel Carmona, SS: 0-4, BB, .125/.192/.333
- Manuel Campos, 2B: 1-4, .243/.353/.300
Teams have had worse days for sure, but the DSL Braves turned in a bad one on Tuesday. Starter Wuilinyer Tovar didn’t record an out, allowing seven runs, and the offense managed just two hits to take a very sad loss. Manuel Campos had one of those hits, and he’s been a consistent contributor to the offense over the past three weeks. Through July 8th Campos had a wRC+ of 83 with a 19.6% strikeout rate, but has since only struck out 10.9% of the time while posting a .382 OBP. Campos hasn’t had an extra base hit in that span, however, and while the contact numbers are there overall his small size and ability to impact the ball will be a question mark on his future. On a positive note, while errors are far from the best way to judge defenders, he’s been very clean especially for players of this level with only five errors in 35 games between second base and shortstop (.971 fielding percentage).