Week 17 Atlanta Braves Farm Report: Mississippi’s pitchers show out

The Farm Report has reached Week 17. Let’s see which Atlanta Braves prospects performed the best last week.

Last week was an important week for Atlanta Braves prospects. As the MLB Trade Deadline is just hours away now, major league scouts have been hitting the road to check out teams’ top talent.

Meanwhile, Gwinnett and Mississippi played as if no one’s watching, going a combined 8-5 last week, thanks to a continuation of great offense from the Stripers and solid pitching from the M-Braves.

(63-43) Gwinnett Stripers

The Stripers finished Week 17 with a nice 4-2 record, capping the week off with a 3-1 win over Columbus on Sunday, in which the Stripers only tallied 5 hits, though three of them were homers.

Gwinnett now has sole possession of 1st place in the INT SOUTH division, 2.5 games ahead of Durham.

Second baseman Andres Blanco started off the homer party on Sunday with a solo-shot to the deepest part of the field:

Blanco assisted Gwinnett in scoring over five runs per game last week, thanks to his strong hitting — .333 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI. Blanco has started to heat up again over the last 2 weeks and is batting .267 with 14 homers this season.

Adam Duvall — before his call-up to the Atlanta Braves on Saturday — and fellow outfielder Ryan LaMarre, led the productive Gwinnett offense this time around.

Duvall only played in 4 Stripers’ games last week, but hit .312 with a homer and 7 RBI, plus a triple. The record-breaking HR hitter, is now slashing .259/.349/.778 (.931 OPS) with 29 homers and 84 RBI. I sort of want him to stay in Gwinnett just to see how many homers and RBI he can finish with.

Although, Duvall didn’t stop hitting once he reached Atlanta:

Back to LaMarre: the 31-year-old finished last week with a .291 average and a home run, plus 5 RBI and 3 stolen bases. His 2019 campaign has been a strong one — .301 average with 7 home runs and 19 doubles, in 89 games with Gwinnett.

Rafael Ortega — who hit 2 home runs and a double, with 5 RBI last week — also deserves a shoutout:

Ortega is having an unreal year, practically batting .300 (.291 BA) to go along with 20 homers and 31 doubles.

The Stripers starting pitching was strong once again, compiling a 3.15 ERA with rates of 8.42 K/9 and 1.84 BB/9 as a staff.

Making his fifth-straight start for the Stripers — he’s been down in Gwinnett since June 29 — Mike Foltynewicz picked up the win on Wednesday, tossing a three-hitter over 7 innings.

Folty allowed just one run and no walks while punching out four. Over his last two Triple-A starts, that’s 13 innings-pitched and just 7 hits allowed with 10 strikeouts and 4 walks, plus two wins.

Folty has made some strides. Since June 29 — his most recent stint with Gwinnett — the righty hasn’t given up a single home run and has given up more than three runs just once.

Kyle Wright (Thursday) and Bryse Wilson (Sunday) also provided quality starts last week:

• K. Wright: 6 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 6 K
• B. Wilson: 7 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 7 K

That’s back-to-back shutouts for Wilson, who’s trying to get things back on track after allowing 9 runs in Week 15, back on July 11.

Roster Moves

* Carle was traded to the Texas Rangers for cash.

(17-19) Mississippi Braves

Led by several strong pitching performances, Mississippi finished the week 4-3 and moved up to 4th place in the South division, now 6 games back from first-place Biloxi.

Kyle Muller, Tucker Davidson and Ian Anderson led the starting rotation, combining for a 0.40 ERA and 11.00 K/9 in four starts (22.1 innings-pitched). Muller was especially productive, turning in two starts in Week 17:

• Tuesday: 6 IP, 3 H, 3 BB, 6 K
• Sunday:  5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 BB, 4 K

We know good Anderson’s been in 2019, but Muller is another Atlanta Braves prospect that’s turning heads.

Since July 4 (five starts), Muller has allowed just 6 runs total in 26.2 innings-pitched. Overall, the team’s No. 7 prospect (FanGraphs) is sporting the Southern League’s 9th-best ERA (3.14) to go along with a 7-6 record — tied for the 5th most wins.

Davidson, another arm that has been excellent in 2019, leads the league with his 2.01 ERA. Listed No. 17 on the Atlanta Braves’ prospect list, Davidson has struck out 10.31 batters per nine, allowing just 4 homers in 98.2 innings-pitched this season.

Reliever Claudio Custodio was sharp once again, making two appearances and striking out three in four innings-pitched. He allowed one run from two hits. Custodio carries a 2.54 ERA in Mississippi.

It was a team effort on offense. Drew Waters had a bit of a down week, batting .192 in Week 17. Although, catcher William Contreras put up solid numbers when he was in the lineup.

Contreras hit .307 with 2 home runs, a double and 5 RBI, pushing his season batting average to .252. He also has 5 home runs and 14 doubles, in 85 games so far in 2019.

Cristian Pache hit two doubles, batted .240 and knocked in one run last week, while also stealing a base.

The Atlanta Braves top prospect is slowly inching towards .300 for the season (.278 BA), with double-digit homers and doubles (11 HR, 27 doubles).

Roster Moves