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Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap: 4/29

Norfolk 1, Gwinnett 6

  • F. Freeman 2-2 RBI, 2BB, .250
  • M. Jones 1-4 HR(2), 3 RBI, 2K, .240
  • C. Resop 6IP 3H 1R 5BB 8K 1.40
  • M. Dunn 1IP 1H 0R BB 1K 0.87
  • C. Kimbrel 2IP 1H 0R 1BB 0K 1.54

Gwinnett bounces back from the tragic No Hitter at the hand of the evil Chris Tillman with the help of some excellent pitching from the resurgent Chris Resop and Freddie Freeman (Mitch Jones deserves some recognition for his 3 run shot). In 20 innings Mike Dunn and Craig Kimbrel have allowed just 3 runs in over 20 innings pitched and just 10 hits. Freddie Freeman had 1 BB and 12 K in his first 12 games but in his last 10 he is 5/5. He also has posted an 1.162 OPS.

Mississippi 1, Jacksonville 2

  • M. Gomez 1-4 2B, K, .208
  • C. Johnson 1-3 HR(4), 2K, .235
  • R. Sullivan 7IP 8H 2R 0BB 4K 4.07
  • M. Stanton 2-4 2B, HR(10), 2K, .347

Yes I put Mike Stanton up there because frankly he has been amazing so far this season and he deserves some recognition for it. Richard Sullivan also pitched his best game of the season. Hew threw just 88 pitches in 7 innings and posted a 7-3 GB-FB rate for the game. His sinker is pretty fantastic. Cody Johnson also did his thing.

Potomac 5, Myrtle Beach 4 - 10 Innings

  • G. Avila 2-3 HR(4), 2 RBI, 2BB, .286
  • J. Sucre 1-5 2B, RBI, .265
  • R. Delgado 6IP 4H 2R 2BB 7K 3.45
  • V. Pope 1IP 0H 1R 2BB 0K 5.40

Van Pope continues to try his hat at pitching and he had a bit of a wild ride tonight filling the box score with everything but a hit and a strike out. He hit a batter, balked him to 2nd, wild pitched him to 3rd and then let him score the winning run on a ground out. Randall Delgado has been a little better than his ERA indicates as he has given up just 19 hits and 6 walks in 28 innings to go along with 29K and a near 2-to-1 GB-FB rate. He has been very impressive in his short time with Myrtle Beach, but not quite as impressive as this next guy.....

Rome 0, Greensboro 3

  • K. Rose 2-3 BB, K, SB(7), 2 CS(11), .365
  • C. Harrilchak 2-4 .243
  • C. Bethancourt 1-4 2B, .262
  • J. Teheran 6.2IP 4H 2R 1BB 8K 1.03

Julio Teheran has been fan-freaking-tastic so far this season as he has given up no more than 1 ER in any of his starts (2 total runs twice) and he has 30K, 13H and 9BB in 26 innings this season. Most nights his stuff has been damn near unhittable and his control has only been an issue in a couple of games. Kyle Rose is sort of the fast version of Cody Johnson for me. His speed is so tantalizing but it just can't quite turn into something useful. He ended two innings tonight by getting picked off and caught stealing. Edit: I forgot to mention Robert Hefflinger made his season debut in Rome last night and then I forgot to mention it again today. So I am coming back and adding it in. Hefflinger is a big athletic guy in the Adam Milligan mold and his game compares favorably. He start the year hot last season but cooled near the end due to what he says was poor conditioning because of the bus rides. He has some solid power in his bat and I am looking forward to his performance in Rome. Gondeee also did an interview with him here.

0 recs  |  41 comments

Comments

More raw power: Stanton or CJ?

Cody. But there might not be a more impressive athlete in the Minors than Big Mike.

That’s what I’ve heard from the scouting sites. Better athlete: Heyward or Stanton? I figure you’d know better than just about anyone.

I’m gonna go Stanton. J-Hey is the better baseball player overall, but I’d give Stanton a slight tick above on the athlete scale. Probably just because Stanton is a bit thinner and looks more flexible.

One tiny thing to consider

Stanton’s background/rise/lineage is surreptitiously like one guy’s – Jeff Francoeur. Like Frenchy, Stanton was also a football stud and probably could have gone the collegiate route too, but chose baseball. KLaw said something that if Stanton doesn’t improve his overall plate discipline he could one day lose the strike zone and then end up like, yup, Jeff Francoeur.

Thankfully (as a baseball fan, not so much a Braves fan)....

Stanton is a Marlin, which means unlike French he’s a) not in his own hometown with all the “you can do no wrong” that tends to come with it, and b) no one pays attention to the Marlins so he’s unlikely to be on the cover of any major magazines as a natural or certain star.

This is true, and why I think the argument that Stanton is/was a better prospect than Heyward was fairly silly.

The frightening thing for me is Stanton has developed to the point where he has a nearly even K/BB as well with 21/20 this season. Thats just out of control.

Dude works his ass off. He’s had to go a long way because a few years ago he was very raw as a baseball player.

And Cody Johnson?

31:3, not good at all. In a ratio of K to AB, that’s 31:68.

And something has to be up with Rose. It’s getting ridiculous, and almost like Cody Johnson where you expect him to have at least 1 K every game, I almost expect Rose to have a CS every game now.

I have a friend who went to USC (Stanton had committed to the school), so I’d heard a fair bit about him before the draft and was really hoping that we’d take him..

Instead we used picks on Jon Gilmore and Josh Fields, those didn’t work out so well.

umm

Pretty sure they picked Heyward 1 and Freeman 2 that year.

I think Freeman was a 3rd rounder, but I could be wrong and I’mtoo lazy to check

He was a 2nd...

but went two picks after Stanton. Stanton went 76th, Freeman 78th, and prior to that we drafted Heyward, Gilmore, and Fields (who chose not to sign on advice from Boras after a poor season, as he’d rebound with a dominant one and become a first rounder with Seattle in the following draft).

We also ended up with Brandon Hicks and Cory Gearrin right after that. The Braves did well in 07. Lennox just has to find fault with everything.

Still...

imagine the lefty dominance of a lineup that could have been…
Heyward
Stanton
Freeman
McCann

Stanton’s a righty

Right, silly me, wishing we’d taken one of the best prospects in the game right now instead of Jon Gilmore or a guy that didn’t sign …

I've heard CJ from some published things

I don’t know that anyone in the minors tops his raw power

Nobody in the minors has more raw power than Cody Johnson, he just doesn’t make consistent contact to make money off of it.

I pray this kid can make more consistent contact

He’s improved on defense tremendously but if he can ever figure out that contact thing, LOOK OUT! But the thing that kinda worries me is all the LH hitters we have in our system. We already have McLouth, McCann, Heyward and just think if we add to that Schafer, Freeman, Johnson/Milligan that’s too many LH hitters. Here’s to hoping we have an awesome draft and Salcedo turns into the next Hanley Ramirez(minus the attitude).

$5 bucks says Nate McLouth isn’t with the team in 2011.

Hopefully he's gone by the all-star break

Love his speed, whenever he gets on, hate the Ks in key situation. There have been several times where all he needs to do is put the ball in play and we’ll score but he ends up striking out.

ditto

His speed isn’t even used with this team, so in essence we have an above average defensive CF with an 40 hr swing, but 20 hr power.

I'm not keen on him by any means

But what can we get for him? His value is in the basement right now, it would be difficult to move him for much more than organizational depth, and with no obvious internal candidate to assume that role in CF, would it not be better to have him ride out the year, however mediocre it might be, in the hopes he catches a hot streak later and raises his trade value for the winter market?

Yeah

Crossing my fingers that Schafer can step it up after the injury.

When do you think Teheran joins Delgado in Myrtle Beach??

It doesn’t seem he has anything else to prove in Rome.

No rush

I say after 10-15 starts in Rome maybe more.

Hey Matt

It’s been a long day/past couple weeks for us as Braves fans but you put Rome where Myrtle Beach is suppose to go.

Also ZERO Ks for Kimbrel!!! I think that’s a first!

Fixed and actually if I remember correctly Kimbrel didnt K anyone in his first appearance of the year either.

Your right!

It just seems like everytime he’s out there he Ks a couple guys.

Yeah when you throw a 15+ K/9 you pretty much have to strike guys out every game.

Freeman for July

Especially if this team continues to suck and is out of it by then. Might as well look at the future.

why? he’ll barely be 21 by then. IF we need a 1B besides Glaus or Hinske, I’d want to make a deal for a cheap soon-to-be-FA (similar to Roachy last year) instead of rushing Freeman.

September, for service clock purposes

if we succeed, Glaus is likely one of the reasons why. If we don’t, no need to rush his service clock anymore than need be.

I want to see the FO wait it out and see if Freeman can develop more power at AAA.

Teheran

Should be considered untouchable at this point for any reasonable in season moves we make, even for pipedreams like Adrian Gonzalez. He’s been massively impressive.

If anyone gets traded itshould be the new kid on the block

But I really don’t want to trade any of them.

Just eight months ago, I was living in Jacksonville, dangit. I could’ve gone to that game!

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