LV Ware had a perfect night at the plate, reaching base all 4 times up and he even added 2 steals.
Gwinnett 3, Buffalo 4
Freddie Freeman collected 2 hits, including his 11th homer of the year, extending his hitting streak to 7 games. In Mitch Jones' last 2 games he's gone 5-8 with 2 homers, 6 RBI, and 2 walks. Cristian Martinez made his first start of the year and pitched well, though he was victimized by errors by Joe Thurston and Brandon Hicks. After allowing 6 earned runs in 0.2 innings on July 7th (which was a nationaly televised game), Cory Gearrin has had 4 straight scoreless appearances, covering 8 innings.
Mississippi 0, Mobile 1
I commented earlier in the week that if the Braves didn't promote Willie Cabrera after the All-Star break it would say a lot about how they viewed him internally. He has nothing left to prove at AA and the fact that he wasn't promoted may be a strong indication that the Braves don't think he can contribute at the highest level. Or, they could be waiting until Nate McLouth's rehab is over to promote him. Or, it could mean nothing. Chris Resop had a solid rehab appearance for the M-Braves, throwing 2 scoreless, and was followed by Erik Cordier who had his best appearance of the season, striking out 8 Bay Bears over 7 scoreless frames.
Myrtle Beach 5, Lynchburg 2
The Pelicans had absolutely no respect for Lynchburg catcher Chris McMurray, as Myke Jones, LV Ware, and Luis Sumoza combined to steal 7 bases against him. Ware had a perfect night, collecting a single, a double, and 2 walks in 4 plate appearances. Jones is now 7 for his last 12 and Cory Harrilchak is 8 for his last 20. Brett Oberholtzer had a solid start, picking up his 3rd win.
Rome 3, Hagerstown 10
Christian Bethancourt rapped out 3 hits tonight, including a triple, and he's gone 6-13 in his last 3 games. After putting up a 2.84 ERA and a 0.90 WHIP in 57 innings in April and May, Chris Masters has put up a 6.23 ERA and a 1.73 WHIP in 26 innings in June and July.
Danville 6, Pulaski 7
In 21.2 innings for Danville before tonight, Ryan Weber had only allowed 3 earned runs and 14 hits, but he gave up 7 earned and 9 hits in just 6 innings against Pulaski. David Rohm stays hot, driving in a run on a double.
GCL Braves 6, GCL Blue Jays 0
After hitting just .206 with a .651 OPS in 68 at bats for Danville, Daniel Falcon was demoted to the GCL, but he had a great first game for the team, rapping out 3 hits, including a double, and stealing a base. Matt Lipka is trying to do the opposite and get himself promoted to Danville, he extended his hitting streak to 9 games and during that stretch he's hitting .432 with a 1.070 OPS. 23 year old Ian Marshall, this year's 40th round selection of out the University of Richmond, picked up his 3rd win, shutting out the GCL Jays over 6 frames.
DSL Braves - Off
0 recs | 36 comments
CB, are you a hockey fan?
I ask this because this is the second time in a row you’ve mistakenly written Brandon Drury’s first initial as “C.” Which makes me think that when you hear the last name Drury, you, as I do, automatically think of NHL all-star (and former Little League World Series participant) Chris Drury … or maybe it’s just a coincidence.
J-Turn14 - July 18, 2010
Haha, man, I hadn’t thought of it, but I absolutely think of Chris Drury every time I see his name. I’m not a huge hockey fan, but I know it enough to know some of the stars, and he was pretty damn good. Appreciate you helping me figure out my subconscious, hopefully I’ll get his name right next time.
cbwilk - July 18, 2010
Well if Brandon ends up being as good at baseball as Chris has been at hockey...
No Braves fan will have trouble remembering his name.
J-Turn14 - July 18, 2010
Man,
Matt Lipka is just tearing it up in the GCL. And unlike many guys who do that, he’s age appropriate for the level. I love to see that so much. I wonder… Might he see a call up to Danville here in a couple weeks?
Another guy who I’m loving is Freddie Freeman. After a slow start in AAA, he’s really caught fire, and for an extended stretch. He’s restored all our faith in him after his injury-related troubles in AA last year. At this rate, he’ll be ready for Opening Day 2011.
Jacob Peterson - July 18, 2010
I could see Lipka getting moved up to Danville to help out in the playoffs, just as a reward for a good season. No matter what he’s getting a trip to Atlanta in September to be given his GCL Braves player of the year award (yeah, I’m calling it already).
Freddiekenstein!
cbwilk - July 18, 2010
Kid is OPSing .939 this month and has already matched his HR total from last month. He has less doubles though and during this 7 game hitting streak his homer tonight is the only XBH so far. I think what we are going to get out of freddie is going to be someting like a justin morneau light. He may never hit quite that many homers, but he could hit for a consistently high average and greatly benefit from hitting behind Heyward just like Morneau does behind Mauer.
yondaime4 - July 18, 2010
I think it's too early to say on his power...
it’s certainly improving with age, and with that large frame at 20 years old, he’ll certainly get stronger as he gets older, and I think he could show more power than expected.
Mr. Sanchez - July 18, 2010
I don’t think his body will be the problem. That 2 hr game he had earlier both of those balls were crushed. Hr can hit the. All fat but I just think his hitting stroke won’t generate tons of homers. Do I think he will hit 30 bombs? Probably more than once. But I think his normal.years will see him hitting 40-50 doubles with 20-25 hr power which is still very valuable.
yondaime4 - July 18, 2010 via mobile
Lovin me some Lipka
He reminds me so much of Ian Kinsler it’s ridiculous. Hopefully that’s the type player that we have on our hands.
Jay212033 - July 18, 2010
very exciting that Lipka is doing so great straight out of HS and being only 18 years, 3 months old, and the Braves should want to fast track him and give him the challenge of the next higher level before the end of the season.
fandave - July 18, 2010
And he's been a part time athlete too...
considering Texas high school football, I’d say he spent a lot of time in past summers running routes and such. Baseball too, but not full time and full focus. With his athleticism, he might take off focusing 100%.
Mr. Sanchez - July 18, 2010
Certainly seems like it with Freeman...
he’s been hot, but it’s been for over a month if not two now that he’s been hot. I think it’s safe to say one of the youngest players in AAA has gotten acclimated and is in customary form.
Mr. Sanchez - July 18, 2010
19 home runs for mitch jones…that’s pretty darn impressive. we could really use his power.
Bravely going forward - July 18, 2010
Mitch jones has more HRs than walks this season.
yondaime4 - July 18, 2010
hmm
i don’t know if that’s more indicative of his power or his inability to take walks
Bravely going forward - July 18, 2010
That means he has less than 19 walks over the course of the entire season. What do you think that means?
Scott Coleman - July 18, 2010
Is Schafer still doing nothing? At what do point do we send him to Mississippi and let him get straightened out down there?
ruxsin - July 18, 2010
He won’t be getting sent to AA.
cbwilk - July 18, 2010
Willie Cabrera
There are too many OF in AAA even when McLouth leaves there’s still too many guys there for Cabrera to be promoted.
Jay212033 - July 18, 2010
Our AAA outfielders are getting some age on them.
J Anderson born in ‘82
M Jones…..’77
Schafer…‘86
Tavares…..’81
Young….’82
I’m no expert but it seems like we should be trying to get a prospect or two into the AAA outfield.
bighop - July 18, 2010
If it was up to me Anderson and Tavares wouldn’t be on the team. I hope Matt Young gets a shot in the ML he’s been great this year, Mitch Jones is Diaz lite can’t hit righties and doesn’t walk nearly enough and Schafer is recovering from a wrist injury. Age aside there’s just no room for Cabrera in AAA.
Jay212033 - July 18, 2010
Young and Schafer seem to be the only 2 with a snowballs chance of making it to MLB, and that chance ain’t that big. Wren addressed the left side of the infield on the farm very strongly in this years draft. I’d like to see the farms outfield addressed as well, maybe thru trades. We are far from desparate, with Blanco and Clevlan, but a couple of good AA-AAA outfield prospects would bring this system some much needed balance.
bighop - July 18, 2010
I'd assume once McLouth and Clevlen are healthy...
then Blanco can go back down and Clevlen can work back in there, and Tavares and Anderson become expendable.
Mr. Sanchez - July 18, 2010
Young’s mostly been playing 2B lately, Anderson is on the DL, and Taveras hasn’t played at all lately and didn’t hit when he was playing. If the Braves wanted Cabrera in AAA it would be easy to have him there playing alongside Schafer and Jones. We’ll see after McLouth goes back up.
cbwilk - July 18, 2010
But when McLouth goes up, Blanco comes down...
and then there’s Clevlen.
Mr. Sanchez - July 18, 2010
Clevlen is probably never coming off the DL. And who says Blanco goes down? He’s played great. Maybe Diaz or Cabrera suddenly develop a phantom injury. And even if he does, they have a DH and the Braves obviously don’t care about Barbaro Canizares. Found out a neat fact: Canizares is the first player to make three consecutive AAA All-Star games. My guess is nobody has done that because guys who do end up getting promoted.
cbwilk - July 18, 2010
Is Clevlen's injury that bad?...
If so, that opens room for Cabrera I guess. But I’d think there’d be a numbers crunch on Blanco. Without a “phantom injury”, you’ve got Melky and McLouth in CF, Heyward in RF, Diaz and Hinske in LF, plus Infante able to play there in a pinch. Of those 6, Blanco goes down imo.
Mr. Sanchez - July 18, 2010
But, the team’s trying to win, so they’re going to make sure the best players are the ones playing. Right now, Blanco is better than Cabrera and Diaz.
I doubt Clevlen’s injury is that bad, but, like someone said the other day, I bet he doesn’t play until rosters expand.
cbwilk - July 18, 2010
With Blanco though...
the question is if he’s just hot right now, while Cabrera and Diaz are the veterans. Diaz brings a different style than Blanco, and the ability to smack lefties, while Cabrera has put up solid #s since April ended. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see when McLouth gets back, cause I can’t see us rushing his return.
And I don’t get that on Clevlen. If he’s ready and can play, it just seems to make more sense to let him get back to everyday work in AAA and dump Tavares or Anderson instead of keeping him stashed on the DL and letting those two go.
Mr. Sanchez - July 18, 2010
What’s the deal with Edison Sanchez? Do the Braves think highly of him? He’s got a Barry Bonds type OBP in GCL in limited at bats. He did the same thing last year in the DSL. I’d like to see him challenged at a higher level.
BravesFan - July 18, 2010
He’s only 19 and probably still growing into his 6’4" frame.
Also,I think the Braves general rule is to be very cautious and go very slow with the very young prospects, especially those from the 3d world nations.
fandave - July 18, 2010
Anyone else a bit surprised to see Pastornicky in AA?...
he was in high A for Toronto, and being that Myke Jones is older, I know it’d be rushing him but I’d have figured he’d get the bump up over Pastornicky. I guess that speaks highly for what the front office thinks of our new SS acquisition.
Mr. Sanchez - July 18, 2010
But Pastornicky already had 92 games of High A experience, so he was more ready to be moved up than Jones. The only other real alternative was to move Jones to AA and put Pastornicky at High A, which just wouldn’t have made as much sense.
cbwilk - July 18, 2010
I can get the more experience, but it's a difference of 4 years...
I agree that he’s probably better suited for it, considering he’s more experienced at high A, probably more fundamentally sound and better on D. I guess that’s the main thing in my mind, at his age, it’d be nice if Jones could have been the one at the higher level. But as said above, one way to look at it would be negative on Jones, but the realistic way to look at it would be more positive on Pastornicky. They must think highly of his abilities to push him in AA at 20.
Mr. Sanchez - July 18, 2010
Where the 4 years? Jones is 2 1/2 years older than Pastornicky.
cbwilk - July 18, 2010
Damn, don't know why I thought he was 24.
my mistake.
Mr. Sanchez - July 18, 2010
You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Talking Chop to post a comment.