Atlanta Braves name minor league players of the year
The competition has been friendly-fierce as there were a lot of excellent minor league performances this season.
Via twitter, the Atlanta Braves announced their minor league players of the year at all levels. Yet to be announced are the overall organizational players of the year; that will come before all of these prospects are honored at SunTrust Park this weekend.
DOMINICAN SUMMER LEAGUE BRAVES
This was a team that didn’t fare very well in the standings (18-53, no other team had less than 24 wins), but it doesn’t mean that there weren’t some standouts.
Juan Negret was the best hitter among the regulars on this team at .264/.410/.391/.801. Yes – he walked a bunch (27 times in 174 AB) and then stole 23 bases to lead the team (next closest had 10), which routinely turned his singles and free passes into doubles.
21-year-old Gabriel Noguera was promoted to the GCL later to get a taste of the states after posting a 0.87 ERA in 31 DSL innings. In Florida, he threw 20 more with a 2.66 ERA… with batters still unable to hit more than .200 off of him. Overall, he K’d 48 in 51.1 innings, though walked 25 as well.
GULF COAST LEAGUE BRAVES
- LHP Miguel Jerez
- OF Jefrey Ramos
Jefrey Ramos (18) didn’t stick around in the GCL for the full campaign (this is kind of a theme with these players, for obvious reasons). In fact, he saw 3 levels this season: DSL, GCL, and Danville. Combined, he played 83 games with 315 AB for a .266 average. His best work was in the GCL, hitting .325 and OPS’ing .930, hitting 6 homers (8 for the year).
19 year old Miguel De Jesus Jerez will be 20 next month, but was also promoted to a stateside assignment after throwing to a 1.00 ERA in 9 DSL innings and a 10:1 K/BB ratio. But he more than held his own in the Gulf Coast League: 39 innings, 1.38 ERA in 15 games with a 35:10 K/BB split. How many pitchers threw to a sub-1 WHIP in two different leagues?
DANVILLE BRAVES
He’s still just 19, but “Willson’s little brother” just might have a chance to be better. He hit .290 in 45 games/169AB with an .379 OBP and .811 OPS. He also can recognize a strike zone, walking 24 times and K’ing just 30. Contreras also had 4 jacks for Danville.
Javier is 21 now, and in 63 innings, he was getting hitters out: .253 average against and 50/22 K/BB split. He started 13 games for Danville… and in that league, an average of nearly 5 innings per outing nearly max’s out the mound time that coaches will permit.
ROME BRAVES
- RHP Bryse Wilson
- CF Cristian Pache
This was probably a close call between Randy Ventura and Pache. Pache gets the nod, but check these numbers:
- Pache: 119G, 469AB, 132H, 13 2B, 8 3B, 0 HR, 42 RBI, 104K/39BB, 32 SB, .281/.679 OPS
- Ventura: 95G, 381AB, 112H, 7 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 16 RBI, 83K/24BB, 29 SB, .294/.664 OPS
It is thought that Pache might have been the chief bait for the A’s in the Braves’ tepid pursuit of Sonny Gray this Summer, but of course the A’s didn’t bite.
Bryse Wilson. Baseball America also chose to highlight him today… though their story is behind a paywall, sorry.
No Braves pitcher was more consistent than the 19-year-old Bryse Wilson.https://t.co/xKGXY5ViwK
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) September 14, 2017
At just 19 years old, the 2016 draftee cranked it up this season with 137 innings and 26 starts. But what’s more is evident in the numbers: 2.50 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 139K/37BB. He had just 4 “bad” outings (4, 4, 5, and 6 runs). Even so, all but one of those was still 5+ innings. In 8 starts, he gave up zero runs. There’s a fair chance that Bryse could start 2018 in Mississippi.