Atlanta Braves minors: End of season recap of 2019 Gwinnett Stripers
By Clint Manry
An end-of-season recap covering all seven Atlanta Braves minor league teams from the 2019 season: Gwinnett Stripers.
In this series, we’re covering each of the seven Atlanta Braves minor league levels, evaluating each club and its top performers.
If you’re interested in jumping to previous recaps:
- 2019 DSL Braves (RK)
- 2019 GCL Braves (RK)
- 2019 Danville Braves (RK+)
- 2019 Rome Braves (A)
- 2019 Florida Fire Frogs (A+)
- 2019 Mississippi Braves (AA)
Today we move on to the Gwinnett Stripers, the Atlanta Braves’ Triple-A club, who ended its season on September 7 in a postseason loss to Columbus.
The team
Gwinnett was the Atlanta Braves organization’s overachievers, winning its division and becoming the only Braves’ minor league club to qualify for the postseason — the Stripers lost in four games to the INT West champs, the Columbus Clippers.
Despite appearing overmatched throughout its 5-game playoff series, Gwinnett’s 2019 season was a success, ending the regular season with an 80-59 record — five games ahead of the IL South’s second-place team.
It would be an understatement to say that the Triple-A level changed from last season to 2019. Additionally, the same thing could be said about the Stripers. The league turned into a video game on offense:
Overall Triple-A
- 2019: 5.16 R/G, 2,440 HR, .787 OPS
- 2018: 4.16 R/G, 1,555 HR, .709 OPS
Gwinnett
- 2019: 5.62 R/G, 254 HR, .809 OPS
- 2018: 4.20 R/G, 101 HR, .699 OPS
The over 200-percent increase in runs per game from the new rabid baseball boosted the Stripers’ offense tremendously. Gwinnett finished third in the International League in runs per game and fourth in home runs and OPS. Slugging 1.82 homers per game will do that.
You know what else it will do…? Break records.
On July 27 (!), catcher Alex Jackson belted a homer against Columbus for the Stripers 162nd long ball of the 2019 season — breaking the single-season home run record set by the Richmond Braves back in 1993.
Who knew that a month-in-a-half later Gwinnett would finish with 91 more than the previous record. Absolutely unreal.
The Stripers also finished the season with above-average slash stats (.269/.348/.461) — good for 6th-place in batting average, 5th in OBP, and 4th in SLG in the 14-team league.
All of that slugging came with a fair share of swings and misses for Gwinnett, as only three other teams finished with more total strikeouts (1,265 / 26.8 K%). However, the Stripers were among the best at drawing walks too (4th), running a healthy walk-rate of 10.5%.
Given the crazy offensive environment in 2019, the organization’s most talented pitching prospects somehow found a way to succeed.
Gwinnett led the league in ERA, finishing with a 4.29 ERA in a league where a 4.90 mark was average. The Stripers found a way to maintain control on the mound, allowing the second-fewest hits and home runs, all while striking out 8.9 batters per nine — good for 6th-worst.
The Stripers finished the year with 449 walks (3rd-fewest) and on a rate basis held a solid mark of 3.31 BB/9. Even better, Gwinnett’s pitchers allowed the fewest total home runs in 2019, surrendering 134 long balls — 69 fewer than the team with the most allowed.
Overall, the Stripers were an elite team on the mound, and given the fact that the Gwinnett roster finished the season as the youngest team in the league, it’s pretty impressive how the staff not only held its own but led in numerous categories.
The average age of a player in the International League in 2019 was 26.2 years-old. Gwinnett’s roster averaged just 24.8 years-old.