Atlanta Braves Minor Leagues 2016: Year In Review
The Atlanta Braves had an excellent finish to 2016 at the major league level. How did the year look overall at the minor league level?
The end of the year is a great time to look at how things finished up for the Atlanta Braves on the season. Today, we’re going to specifically look at the minor league system.
The 2016 season started with previews from Tomahawk Take (Gwinnett, Mississippi, Carolina, Rome here) based on the opening day rosters, and as seen on opening day, the two strongest rosters were the Rome and Mississippi rosters. I do find this quote very interesting from the Rome preview:
"This could be one of those teams that people talk about years down the road."
The final records for each level:
AAA Gwinnett 65-78
AA Mississippi 73-65
high-A Carolina 52-87
low-A Rome 70-69
advanced rookie Danville 31-36
GCL 28-28
DSL 30-40
The Good
That leads us into our highlights of the season. The quote I brought out of the preview above was poignant as the Rome Braves ended up winning the South Atlantic League and ended up winning the Baseball America minor league team of the year. The Mississippi Braves made the playoffs in the Southern League and lost their championship to Jackson of the Seattle system.
On top of the two teams that many saw at the beginning of the season, the Gwinnett Braves rode a strong second half to not only make the playoffs in the International League, but they made the championship series and even gave a very loaded Scranton/Wilkes-Barre team of the Yankees system a run for their money for the championship. The GCL Braves made their playoffs as a wild card, but lost in the wild card game to the Phillies team.
On an individual note, it’s hard to isolate too many guys, but here are a few:
– Braulio Vasquez was a July 2nd signee that blew up with the DSL after signing for a line of .333/.416/.374 with 11 stolen bases in 28 games.
– Ronald Acuna was injured this year early on as he was having a breakout year, though he’s continued that this winter with the Australian Baseball League. His season line was .312/.392/.429 with 4 home runs and 14 stolen bases.
– Cristian Pache showed tremendous offense and defense at the GCL and Danville levels in center field in his first year after signing in 2015. He hit .309/.349/.391 with 7 triples and 11 stolen bases.
– Jared James came from a 34th round selection in June to hitting a combined .300/.379/.420 across Danville and Rome, playing very well in left field for the championship Rome team.
– Ozzie Albies won the Southern League batting title, in spite of spending over 50 games at the AAA level, hitting .321 for Mississippi, combining for a .292/.358/.420 line with 33 doubles, 10 triples, 6 home runs, and 30 stolen bases as he moved into one of the more elite prospects in all of baseball.
– After struggling out of the gate, Austin Riley made adjustments to his grip and to his position in the batter’s box to allow him to hit 20 home runs on the season, leading the system. His teammate, Carlos Castro made a swing adjustment, and in just 84 games, he hit 17 home runs of his own.
– Dustin Peterson came out healthy after the bus crash in Carolina in 2015 cut down what was a breakout season for Peterson, instead having that breakout year for AA Mississippi, where he hit .282/.343/.431 with 38 doubles and 12 home runs.
– While he tracked down absolutely anything in the outfield and could throw out anyone, anywhere, Ray-Patrick Didder was noted for being hit by pitch an astonishing 39 times on the season! The crazy part is that on a per-game basis, Marcus Mooney actually was hit more frequently, as he was hit 21 times in just 62 games.
On the pitching side:
– A.J. Minter was dominant across three levels of the minors as he came back from Tommy John surgery. He pitched in 31 games, totaling 34 2/3 innings, with a 1.30 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, and a 11/47 BB/K.
– Crazy enough, fellow lefty Corbin Clouse was even better after being drafted for Danville and Rome, pitching 30 1/3 innings with a 1.19 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, and a 15/53 BB/K.
– The AA rotation saw three of the biggest surprise performances come through over the course of the year. Rob Whalen started with Mississippi and finished with Atlanta before being traded this offseason. He finished with a 2.40 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, and a 44/112 BB/K over 120 IP in the minors this season. Max Povse was part of the same deal with Whalen. He started with Carolina and finished with Mississippi, posting a 3.36 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and a 29/139 BB/K over 158 combined innings. Finally, Patrick Weigel started with Rome and finished with Mississippi, totaling a 2.47 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, and a 55/152 BB/K ratio over 149 2/3 IP combined.
– The Braves saw “retreads” picked up and perform well. Jed Bradley was purchased from the Brewers, throwing 83 innings in the minors between AA and AAA with a 2.17 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, and a 34/88 BB/K ratio. Rob Wooten nearly threw two no-hitters in a row! Lucas Harrell came to the Braves system and put up a 2.81 ERA across 32 minor league innings before going to Atlanta and doing well enough to bring a solid trade package from the Rangers.
The Bad
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Carolina’s team was anemically bad. The pitching didn’t seem to come together at all, in spite of what looked like a good rotation and very good bullpen on paper. The lineup was even worse, which led to by far the worst winning percentage of an affiliate this season. The Braves won’t be returning to Carolina in 2017 as they have moved their high-A affiliate to the Florida State League and the newly-named Florida Fire Frogs.
On the player side, a few guys really struggled:
– Braxton Davidson had a very tough season to start the year, and while he recovered to some degree, he put up a .224/.344/.360 line with 184 strikeouts over 516 plate appearances.
– Lucas Herbert could not seem to get his bat going at all this season after I was worried about him jumping levels as he did. He hit .185/.234/.278 with 6 home runs and 96 strikeouts over 367 plate appearances.
– After flashing big talent in his draft year, Bradley Keller struggled to a .185/.225/.292 over 318 plate appearances, “earning” a demotion to Danville from Rome.
– Isranel Wilson flashed some of the best raw power in the system in 2015, but he was suspended by the team this year after struggling to a .192/.276/.315 line for Danville.
– Zachary Bird really could never get going at all out of the bullpen in Carolina, posting an 8.87 ERA over 47 2/3 innings out of the bullpen, with more walks than strikeouts.
– Andrew Thurman and Manny Banuelos were both released midseason after struggling to come back, Thurman to his form before the Carolina bus crash and Banuelos from multiple surgeries.
New Faces
The Braves acquired multiple players during the season via the draft, and while we mentioned Clouse already, and many know guys like Kevin Maitan that were signed by the Braves in their big July 2nd international free agent class.
Instead of those guys, we’ll highlight a few guys who came to the team over the course of the year via trade:
– In the trade to move Harrell, the Braves acquired Travis Demeritte from the Rangers. He flashed exceptional defense in the Arizona Fall League, drawing praise from all sorts of outlets there. In his time with Carolina, he was very good, though he did strike out plenty, as he had a .250/.384/.476 line with 17 extra base hits, 4 steals, and a 26/50 BB/K ratio over 152 plate appearances.
– The Braves acquired utility man Dylan Moore as part of their deal to trade away Jeff Francoeur, and he showed very well for Carolina in his short time with the team, hitting .343/.415/.457 over 41 plate appearances.
– The Braves also acquired Matt Foley in that same trade, and Foley only had one game for the GCL team after he was acquired. His value is in his amazing Twitter avatar!
– Mel Rojas, Jr. was acquired from the Pirates for cash, and between Mississippi and Gwinnett, he hit .261/.330/.445 with 12 home runs and 12 stolen bases over 99 games. He has firmly established himself as a possible 4th outfield candidate for the 2017 Braves.
– When trading away Erick Aybar, many were surprised the team could get anything, so to get a possible quality catcher like Kade Scivicque was definitely a pleasant surprise. Scivicque hit poorly in just 11 games for Carolina and Mississippi, but he did get good reviews for his defense in the Arizona Fall League.
– Anfernee Seymour was part of the trade of lefty Hunter Cervenka, and the speedy infielder was a spark for Rome, showing very good defense at second base as the season closed. He’s easily the fastest prospect in the Braves system, and in his time with the Braves, he hit .266/.298/.278.
– In the annual Kelly Johnson trade, the Braves were able to acquire reliever Akeel Morris from the Mets. Morris threw 35 2/3 innings for Mississippi, posting a 2.27 ERA and 1.35 WHIP with a 21/50 BB/K ratio.
– One of the first trades of the season brought the tallest player to the team in lefty reliever Adam McCreery, acquired from the Angels for Jhoulys Chacin. He pitched for Danville and Rome on the season, putting up 34 1/3 innings of 4.19 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, and a 13/33 BB/K ratio.
– Michael Mader was the second half of the Cervenka deal, and he posted a tremendous run for Mississippi in the rotation as the lefty made 5 starts, throwing 30 innings with a 2.40 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and a 6/26 BB/K ratio.
Next: Braves Minor League Database
We’ll close out with a video of the Rome Braves celebrating their South Atlantic League Championship!