Atlanta Braves Minor League Top Performers For June 2017

Atlanta Braves minor league standouts in June

As discussed in yesterday’s AQA thread, this will be my final post with Tomahawk Take. I have enjoyed immensely the time getting to cover my favorite team while also learning plenty on scouting and evaluating players along with building up my writing skills to convey what I see in my evaluations. While covering the Atlanta Braves for Tomahawk Take has been amazing, you can be sure that I’ll still be covering the team in some of my articles with Call To The Pen going forward. But that’s not why you’re here…let’s get to the prospects that shone in June!

First, the organizational leaders for the month (min 50 PA, 10 IP):

BA – Lucas Herbert .410
OBP – Jace Peterson .450
SLG – Alay Lago .594
R – Juan Carlos Negret 20
H – Ozzie Albies 29
2B – Juan Carlos Negret 8
3B – Ozzie Albies 4
HR – Ozzie Albies, Travis Demeritte, Carlos Franco, Matt Tuiasosopo 4
RBI – Jace Peterson 18
SB – Ray-Patrick Didder, Juan Carlos Negret, Randy Ventura 8
BB – Jace Peterson, Matt Tuiasosopo 14
K – Connor Lien 36
TB – Ozzie Albies 52
W – Mike Soroka 3
ERA – Phil Pfeifer, Corbin Clouse 0.00
G – David Peterson 11
GS – Max Fried, Kris Medlen, Jeremy Walker 6
SV – Brandon White 4
IP – Mike Soroka 34
BB – Tyler Pike 20
K – Lucas Sims 36
WHIP – Corbin Clouse 0.56
K/BB – Jesse Biddle 20.00

Hitters

More from Tomahawk Take

Catcher

– Throughout the season, Lucas Herbert has been making tremendous strides at the plate in his quality of contact and this month saw the culmination of that work. With

Brett Cumberland

moved up to Florida, Herbert is the primary catcher in Rome and will get the majority of the starts going forward.

He hit .410/.429/.541/.970 on the month with 4 runs scored, 5 doubles, a home run, 11 RBI, and a 1/9 BB/K ratio.

First Base – If he hadn’t have gone on the DL, the easy choice would have been Joey Meneses, who hit .406/.472/.563 in limited action before succumbing to the DL, but the choice is the veteran at AAA, Matt Tuiasosopo, who continues to provide a solid “three true outcomes” bat in the middle of Gwinnett’s lineup, hitting .264/.375/.453/.841 on the month with 18 runs scored, 4 doubles, a triple, 4 home runs, 14 RBI, and a 14/31 BB/K ratio.

Second Base – The Braves forayed into the Cuban market this winter to pick up two players, and both of them shone this month. The first we’ll mention is second baseman Alay Lago, who is at high-A Florida. He’ll likely move up soon to AA and has shown a capable bat as he’s adjusted to pro pitching. He’s improved each month, and if he can find a way to improve on June, he might be pushing into a top 100 overall conversation.

On the month, he hit .362/.400/.594/.994 with 9 runs scored, 3 doubles, 2 triples, 3 home runs, 9 RBI, 2 stolen bases, and a 5/11 BB/K ratio.

Third Base – I’m going to cheat here just a touch. Because one played a couple games at 3B before going back to Atlanta and the other played 3B upon his return to Gwinnett, I’m going to have Jace Peterson and Rio Ruiz share the honors here. Peterson ended up playing 2B, 3B, SS, LF, and RF on the month. He hit .338/.450/.477 with 12 runs, 4 doubles, a triple, a home run, 18 RBI, 4 steals, and a 14/11 BB/K. Ruiz, since he returned, has hit .313/.371/.438 with 3 runs, a double, a homer, 3 RBI, and a 3/9 BB/K.

Shortstop – Okay, second time cheating here. No primary shortstop really established himself here, so the guy who played the position the most that deserved mention this month was Ozzie Albies, who played a handful of games at short. Albies’ elbow finally appeared healthy, and it showed in the power he was getting his contact. On the month, Albies hit .312/.366/.559/.925 with 15 runs, 3 doubles, 4 triples, 4 home runs, 16 RBI, 5 steals, and a 7/17 BB/K ratio. Interestingly, Albies had his first caught stealing this month, though that puts his ratio at 19/1 this season.

Outfield – The second Cuban signee of the winter of mention is teenager Juan Carlos Negret, who turned 18 this month. Negret has been an absolute revelation with the DSL squad since coming over, and he could be a guy to come stateside quickly if he keeps up his first month’s production after hitting .306/.451/.528/.978 with 20 runs scored, 8 doubles, a triple, 2 home runs, 5 RBI, 8 stolen bases, and an 11/23 BB/K ratio.

Outfield – After a strong showing last year after being a late-round draft pick in 2016, Jared James has struggled to establish himself in 2016, but he was one of the few bright spots in Mississippi’s offense on the month as he hit .333/.373/.444/.818, with 9 runs, 5 doubles, a triple, 7 RBI, and a 4/10 BB/K ratio.

Outfield – The final spot was actually a tough choice between two teammates, so I’m going to do another split, because it’s my post and I can!

Xavier Avery has been a solid addition to the Gwinnett lineup all season long, but he filled up the stat sheet in June with a .273/.367/.455/.821 line with 16 runs scored, 5 doubles, 3 home runs, 12 RBI, 4 stolen bases, and a 12/34 BB/K.

Originally a Brave, Kyle Kubitza has had an up-and-down season in his return to the organization. This month, he hit for excellent contact, though his power was oddly missing, as he hit .315/.375/.436/811 with 16 runs scored, 3 doubles, 2 home runs, 10 RBI, a steal, and 8/18 BB/K.

Starter – The Braves top draft pick last year put forth an excellent month to celebrate his first year in the system, making 4 starts, going 2-0 over 20 1/3 innings, allowing a 2.21 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and a 10/22 BB/K ratio.

Starter – Having been used out of the bullpen and in the rotaiton and at three different levels this season for the Atlanta Braves, Enderson Franco has proven to be an extremely valuable organizational starter. This month, he made 4 starts, going 2-1, throwing 20 innings, allowing a 3.60 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, and posting a 9/15 BB/K ratio, filling in rotation spots decimated by injuries and promotions.

Starter – His initial exposure to AA didn’t go so well before he ended up hurt, but Luiz Gohara has come back from that injury with a vengeance, seemingly getting better every time out. He made 5 appearances in June, posting a 1-1 record over 22 2/3 innings, allowing a 3.18 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, and a 8/25 BB/K ratio.

Starter – The five starters who opened in Mississippi seemed to all fall on hard times in June, except for Mike Soroka. Matt Withrow suffered a setback in his return, Kolby Allard had a rough month on the hill, Max Fried was even worse, and Patrick Weigel succumbed to Tommy John surgery. Soroka simply put up an incredible collection of 5 starts, going 3-1 over 5 starts and 34 innings, allowing a 0.79 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and a 4/21 BB/K ratio.

Starter – The second pick in 2016 for the Braves also showed well in his anniversary in the system as Joey Wentz began to show some of his ability to dominate in Rome in June. He made 5 starts, going 25 2/3 innings, with a 2-0 record, a 3.51 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and a 14/29 BB/K ratio.

Reliever – For the second straight month, Corbin Clouse did not allow a single run the entire month. This month, Clouse was not just keeping runners from scoring, he was keeping them off base as well, as he led the entire Atlanta Braves system with a 0.56 WHIP. Clouse made 7 appearances, throwing 10 2/3 innings, with a 0.00 ERA, 0.56 WHIP, and a 2/19 BB/K ratio.

Reliever – Acquired from the Angels last season for Jhoulys Chacin, Adam McCreery is a towering (6’9″) lefty who was extremely raw coming out of college. He’s put more polish into his pitching with the Braves organization over the last year-plus, and it’s really beginning to round into form. McCreery’s June showed exactly that, as he made 7 appearances, throwing 11 1/3 innings, with a 0.79 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, and a 3/15 BB/K ratio over the month while also saving 2 games.

Reliever – Former Vanderbilt lefty Phil Pfeifer was acquired last year by the Braves and has had ups and downs this season as he’s worked in the Mississippi bullpen. The entire month of June was one of the “up” moments, however, as he made 8 appearances, throwing 10 2/3 innings, allowing no runs, posting a 1.22 WHIP, a 6/16 BB/K, and even saved two games.

Reliever – The Braves typically tend not to utilize a traditional “closer” with their minor league affiliates. The team attempts to give a number of guys work at the back of the bullpen and hope to see the cream rise to the top. Brandon White has been the exception since he was drafted last season. He’s worked primarily as a closer during his Braves tenure, and June was one of his best months, as he made 7 appearances, throwing 8 2/3 innings, allowing a 2.08 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, and a 2/10 BB/K ratio while saving 4 games.

Next: Braves Minor League Database

Now we come to my pitcher and hitter of the month…

Hitter of the month for June: With two Cubans really being the primary competition, I’m going to shoot for the one that filled up the stat sheet the most and choose Juan Carlos Negret. Negret was little-hyped when he was signed in May.

The reports I’ve received on Negret have raved about his build. At 6’1″ and 190 pounds, he has an excellent frame that generates natural power already from the right side, has good zone judgement, and is a tremendous athlete overall.

Negret has shown that power, speed, and defensive ability in just a month with DSL, leading to a trip already from one Braves official to see him to determine if he should be brought stateside, just a month into his minor league career.

Pitcher of the month for June: It was a definite down month for starters in the system with guys like Kolby Allard putting up a 5.19 ERA and 1.65 WHIP, Max Fried posting a 8.53/1.70, Drew Harrington going 7.79/2.02, and Ricardo Sanchez posting a horrid 10.67/2.37 ERA/WHIP combo.

However, that shouldn’t down grade how incredible Mike Soroka was in June. After a May where he was more mediocre than bad, he rebounded to post an incredible month, leading all starters in wins, ERA, WHIP, and innings pitched.

Thanks for all of your reading, and I look forward to you following the work I do with Call To The Pen, if not with Puckett’s Pond!

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