Gwinnett Braves Season Opener Rained Out

Rain was consistently falling all day in the surrounding areas of Georgia which led to the cancelation of opening day for the Braves Triple-A Gwinnett team for the second consecutive season.  Gwinnett will try to get on the field for the first time this season on Friday at 7:05pm ET at Coolray Field against the Charlotte Knights.  They will make the original opening day game up as a part of a Saturday double header starting at 5:05pm ET.

The Gwinnett Braves opening day starter will be Baseball America’s 4th top prospect in the Atlanta organization.  He will take the mound tonight against the Knights Zach Stewart.  If your around the Gwinnett area you should stop by to check out the game as well as the free T-Shirt giveaway and post game fireworks.  On Saturday the first 2,000 fans in attendance will receive a Brandon Beachy Bobblehead.

Gwinnett’s lineup actually looks pretty decent heading into the 2013 season…especially compared to last seasons squad.  The team consists of many players who excelled in spring training.  The outfield has Joey Terdoslavich, Todd Cunningham, Jordan Parraz and Jose Constanza.  The infield will be Ernesto Mejia at first, Blake DeWitt at second, Tyler Pastornicky at short and Joe Leonard at third.  The Triple-A team will carry three catchers to start the year with Matt Pagnozzi, Jose Yepez and Matt Kennelly….this may change in a month when Brian McCann returns to the MLB team.

Where the team may struggle will be the pitching staff, LHP Gilmartin will be the ace of the staff.  In 2012 he went 1-2 with a 4.78 ERA in seven starts with the Gwinnett team.  He’s one of seven pitchers that spent time in the Braves Triple-A affiliate last season.  Other lefties in the rotation may be Yohan Flande who has spent the past two seasons for the team and supported a 6-11 record with a 4.21 ERA.  Daniel Rodriguez and Dusty Hughes are two other lefties that could find ways into the rotation.  David Hale and Cory Rasmus are new faces for the organization, each had decent seasons last year for Double-A Mississippi and will try to build off that to help Gwinnett win this year.

This should be a good year for the Braves Triple-A team, I’m expecting a winning season top of the standings team.  We’ve got the lineup to contend, just need our pitching to carry through for us.