Atlanta Braves Minor League Ag Report
Braves Minor League Ag Report: Rome Braves (7-12)
Brandon Barker kept up his “every other” pattern to start the season, following a poor start last Thursday with one of the best starts in the entire Braves system this year. He tossed 7 innings of shutout ball with 4 hits, no walks, and 7 strikeouts on Tuesday. Braxton Davidson had two walks and Ozhaino Albies had 2 hits while Keith Curcio had a double and Bryan De La Rosa had a home run. Albies also ran wild, stealing two bases and getting caught once, but that only brought his season totals to 6 steals and 4 caught stealing.
After Barker’s solid start, the start for Ricardo Sanchez on Wednesday was frustrating to say the least. He threw 3 innings, allowing 6 runs on 7 hits, one walk, and 4 strikeouts. Carlos Salazar and Felix Marte pitched well in the bullpen. The offense couldn’t overcome the poor start from Sanchez, losing 7-2. Jordan Edgerton had 2 hits and Ozhaino Albies had a triple in the loss, while Keith Curcio and Joseph Daris stole a base each.
Braves Minor League Ag Report: Carolina Mudcats (8-10)
Lucas Sims started the Mudcats’ week on a sour note, getting hit hard against Lynchburg. He threw 2 2/3 innings, gave up 5 runs on 4 walks, 5 hits, and 3 strikeouts. Sims has had major struggles with his control this season, and those absolutely continued Tuesday. Carlos Franco had two hits, including a home run, but only Johan Camargo had another hit as the Mudcats lost 8-2.
Carolina came out again in their first trip to Lynchburg since moving their high-A affiliate from Lynchburg to Carolina and won 8-2 on Wednesday. Andrew Thurman pitched 5 shutout innings, allowing 4 hits and 3 walks while striking out 7. Dustin Peterson was the offensive star with 4 hits, a home run, and a double. The Braves had 9 extra base hits in 16 total hits, including a home run from Connor Oliver and multiple extra base hits by Carlos Franco and Joey Meneses.
Braves Minor League Ag Report: Mississippi Braves (9-9)
Monday‘s game against Mobile was rained out. Tuesday saw Mississippi attempt to play one game of a double header before having the games rained out. The first game was completed Wednesday as a 6-1 loss to Mobile. The M-Braves got to see two of the Diamondbacks’ best pitching prospects in the game in Tuesday starter Braden Shipley and offseason Cuban signee Yoan Lopez. Mississippi had a poor offensive game, as evidenced by their one run, but Matt Lipka and Seth Loman both had two hits.
The M-Braves struggled through the last week, going 1-5 since the last ag report, including dropping both ends of the double header. After dropping the first game, Victor Mateo came out and had some very nice moments starting for Mississippi, but in the end, he only went 3 2/3 innings and allowed 2 runs. The Braves bullpen filled out the rest of the 7-inning game, allowing 2 runs in 3 1/3 innings in the 4-3 loss. Chris O’Dowd continued his offensive assault with two more hits, and he also had a double. David Rohm also had multiple hits.
Braves Minor League Ag Report: Gwinnett Braves (8-12)
Gwinnett was the only team on the docket for Monday. I posted a review of Manny Banuelos‘ start for your reading pleasure, so I won’t expand too much on that here, but the G-Braves did a great job of clawing back from down 4-0 to 4-2 to 4-4 before scoring two runs in the bottom of the 9th to win 6-5. Cedric Hunter was the hitting star, and he was robbed of having an even bigger night. He had two hits, one a home run and one a double, and he was robbed of another extra base hit that would have led to another 2 RBI. Elmer Reyes had 3 hits, and Adonis Garcia and Sean Kazmar had two hits as well. Kazmar had a great night in the field as well in his first game in two weeks. Eury Perez had his 11th steal.
Tuesday was a great showing for righty Williams Perez, throwing 7 innings of one run ball while allowing 7 hits, no walks, and 5 strikeouts. The Braves did not have a great offensive game, but Eury Perez did pick up two hits, including knocking in two of the team’s three runs in a 3-1 win.
Gwinnett saw another struggling start from Matt Wisler on Wednesday, losing 8-5 after Wisler allowed 7 runs in 4 1/3 innings, allowing 9 hits and 2 walks while striking out 4. I plan to watch Wisler’s start and review some of his recent struggles in a post later today. Sean Kazmar had another nice game after returning Tuesday to action with 3 hits and 2 doubles. Pedro Ciriaco, Todd Cunningham, and Braeden Schlehuber also had multiple hits. The G-Braves ran wild on the basepaths, stealing four bases, two by Cunningham, one by Ciriaco, and Eury Perez’s 12th steal of the season.
That’s All, Folks!
Around here, the fields are being planted in a manner called no-till planting, using equipment to plant over the residue of last year’s harvest. Right now, the Braves are seeing some residue of last season with Sims’ early control issues, Ricardo Sanchez’s struggles in a league all much older than him, and Wisler’s recent issues missing bats, but those residues often overshadow the true growth as seen by Dustin Peterson’s big game Wednesday and Ozhaino Albies continuing to make big strides forward along with Williams Perez once again showing that though he’s not hyped, he may be the best performing starter in a loaded Gwinnett rotation.