Atlanta Braves Minor League Monday, August 31

Aug 12, 2015; St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves first baseman

(53) at Tropicana Field. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta Braves Minor League Monday

To start the week, we’ll review the transactions of the last week:
Promoted to Atlanta: P Jake Brigham, P Sugar Ray Marimon, C Christian Bethancourt
Promoted to Gwinnett: P Mitch Lambson, C Braeden Schlehuber, P Hunter Cervenka
Demoted to Gwinnett: P Williams Perez
Promoted to Mississippi: P Andrew Waszak
Demoted to Mississippi: OF Mycal Jones
Promoted to Rome: P Taylor Cockrell, P Dakota Dill, P Chad Sobotka
Demoted to Danville: P Alec Grosser
Demoted to GCL: 3B Dylan Manwaring
Placed on DL: OF Eury Perez, C Wigberto Nevarez, P Taylor Lewis

Highlight Player of the Week:

We highlighted the GCL hitters of note from the now-completed season on Thursday’s Ag Report. Today, we’ll explore the GCL pitchers who pitched well in 2015:

Kolby Allard was the Braves top pick in 2015 at pick 14 in the first round. Allard finished without allowing a run in his 3 starts, spanning 6 innings, allowing only 1 hit and 1 hit by pitch while striking out an astonishing 12 batters. Granted, the sample size is ridiculously small, but Allard absolutely blew away scouts who saw him pitch, and I think he’ll start in GCL in 2016, but I’d imagine he’ll have a quick track to Danville.

Jhon Martinez struggled in his first exposure to state side pitching in 2014, but he fared much better in 2015 in a repeat season in the Gulf Coast League. He threw 40 1/3 innings over 10 games (7 starts), finishing with a 2.23 ERA and 1.04 WHIP, and a bb/k ratio of 8/31. Martinez is a 20 year old out of Venezuela who’s 6′ and very slight at 165, but he does throw with his left hand, and you can imagine that the Braves will give him every opportunity to impress. I’d imagine he’ll start at Danville next season.

Evertz Orozco is an intimidating pitcher whose 6’5 frame looks to carry more than his listed 192 pounds. The 20 year-old right-hander from Nicaragua had his first experience in the US this year after signing ahead of the 2013 season. Orozco pitched entirely out of the bullpen in 2015, hurling 27 innings over 15 appearances, finishing with a 2.33 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and a 5/22 BB/K ratio. He has the size and results to move up quickly. I have not seen him live, but I’ve been told that Orozco can run mid-90s with a heavy fastball, and he also throws a slider with good arm-side run. At his size and with that arsenal, I could see him starting in Danville in 2016 with a quick road to Rome if he continues to throw well.

The Braves have a good history of finding local gems in the late rounds, and Jaret Hellinger could be one of those. He was picked in the 20th round in 2015 out of Georgia high school. He finished the season having thrown 34 1/3 innings over 10 appearances (6 starts). Hellinger ran up a 3.15 ERA and 1.40 WHIP along with a 14/33 BB/K ratio. Hellinger had some pretty intense “blow up” games where he suddenly gave up tons of hits, but he finished well with a 6-inning gem on the 25th of August in his last start. He’s a 6’4 lefty without overwhelming “stuff”, but he could possibly play up in the Braves development system.

While his performance in 2015 wasn’t exceptional, his pedigree deserves note in this comment area. Dilmer Mejia was the very rare pitcher who was moved state side within the season last year as he was purely dominating in the Dominican league. The 18 year-old left-handed Nicaraguan is small in stature but when he’s going strong, he packs quite a punch with wicked moving pitches that can make hitters look foolish. His performance this year was up and down, throwing 21 2/3 innings over 7 games (2 starts). He was shut down at the end of July with an injury, but over those 7 appearances, he posted a 5.82 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, and a 4/19 BB/K ratio. His FIP was 3.58, so he may have had some poor luck in his season, but if nothing else, the walk and strikeout rates are very positive going into 2016. He’s still got plenty of time to figure it out, but I’d wager he returns for a 3rd year to the Gulf Coast League.

Let’s look at the weekend’s games!

Next: Gwinnett Braves Report