Talking Chop

Talking Chop's monthly look at how the Braves' top prospects have fared in the last 30 days. Or 31 days depending on the month.

2. Freddie Freeman, Gwinnett - .318 AVG, .923 OPS, 8 2B, 3 HR, 17 RBI, 12 BB - Big Freddie had his best month yet at AAA as one of the league's youngest players. He continues to make the adjustments that indicate he'll have prolonged success at the game's highest level.

3. Julio Teheran, Myrtle Beach - 1-2, 5.01 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 6 K/BB, 9.3 K/9, 1.5 BB/9 - Allowing 8 earned runs in his final start of the month made his overall numbers look terrible. In his other 3 June starts, Teheran had a 2.50 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP.

4. Arodys Vizcaino, Rome, Myrtle Beach - 2-0, 2.66 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 7.0 K/BB, 8.0 K/9, 1.1 BB/9 - Vizcaino had a rougher time in with the Pelicans than he did with the R-Braves, but his overall numbers looked fantastic, helped in large part by his ability to limit walks. Unfortunately, he ended the month by being placed on the disabled list with a partially torn elbow ligament that will keep him out at least 6 weeks.

5. Edward Salcedo, DSL Braves - .297 AVG, .885 OPS, 5 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 11 RBI, 18 BB, 8 SB - Visa issues forced Salcedo to begin his professional career in his native country and he was able to start things off well, showing a knack for getting walks and a multi-faceted approach to hitting. He's back in the States and will be starting his American professional career with Rome any day now.

6. Mike Minor, Mississippi - 1-2, 3.73 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 3.6 K/BB, 8.3 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 - Minor struck out less than he had in previous months, but he also lowered his ERA and walked fewer batters. He pitched well enough that the Braves promoted him to AAA to start July.

7. Craig Kimbrel, Gwinnett - 0-0, 1 SV, 0.00 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 2.3 K/BB, 12.6 K/9, 5.4 BB/9 - The little flame-thrower was dominant in 5 AAA games and just as dominant in 4 games in the Majors, where he was 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, 2.5 K/BB, 18 K/9, and 7.2 BB/9. That's a heck of a month.

8. Christian Bethancourt, Rome - .305 AVG, .695 OPS, 4 2B, 9 RBI - June was by far Bethancourt's best month of the season and while he's still not showing the extra base pop or the on base ability you'd hope for, it's important to keep in mind that he's just 18 years old.

9. Randall Delgado, Myrtle Beach - 0-1, 3.07 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 2.5 K/BB, 7.7 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 - Delgado's ERA and walks per 9 increased a bit in June, but overall he continued to show why he's getting more and more attention as one of the better pitching prospects in the Minors.

10. Zeke Spruill, GCL Braves - 1 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 0 BB, 0 K - Spruill made his first appearance since early April after breaking his hand. He'll make several more rehab appearances before resuming his Single A career.

The rest of the list after the jump:

11. Cody Johnson, Mississippi - .157 AVG, .395 OPS, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 28 K - After finding his power stroke in May, Johnson had a horrible June, striking out in 51 percent of his plate apperances for the month. He played in just 15 games for the month, missing time with a severly strained hamstring that caused him to walk with a pronounced limp.

12. JJ Hoover, Myrtle Beach - 2-2, 6.17 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 2 K/BB, 6.9 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 - After pitching great in May with a 2.86 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP, Hoover pitched even worse in June than he had in April. Hopefully he can get things going the right way again in July.

13. Adam Milligan, Myrtle Beach - Didn't play at all in June after hurting his shoulder in early April. He's likely to miss most of the season, though he may be able to return at some point in August.

14. Brett DeVall, Rome - 2-3, 4.13 ERA, 1.69 WHIP, 1.8 K/BB, 5.9 K/9, 3.2 BB/9 - DeVall continues his comeback from offseason surgery and while he's gving up way too many hits, the important thing is that he's healthy. The more he pitches the sooner he'll get his feel back for location, which will likely lead to fewer hits and walks, and more strikeouts.

15. Dimasther Delgado, Rome -Delgado broke his leg in an off-season car accident and will miss all of 2010.

16. Jose Ortegano, Gwinnett - 0-4, 6.60 ERA, 1.83 WHIP, 1.8 K/BB, 8.7 K/9, 4.8 BB/9 - Ortegano was great in May for Gwinnett but fairly awful in June, enough to wonder if the injury issues that plagued him during Spring Training haven't resurfaced.

17. Cory Gerrin, Gwinnett - 0-1, 2.70 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 2.1 K/BB, 9.2 K/9, 4.3 BB/9 - After a rough May that saw his ERA double from April, Gearrin was good again in June and the sidearming righty continues to show that he'll soon be a viable option out of Atlanta's bullpen.

18. Cole Rohrbough, Myrtle Beach - Rohrbough hasn't pitched since late April because of an undisclosed injury.

19. Brandon Hicks, Gwinnett - .280 AVG, .677 OPS, 1 2B, 1 RBI - Hicks played in just 9 games for Gwinnett in June, spending the majority of the month with Atlanta where he was hitless in 4 at bats, scoring once and collecting a walk. June was the first time he seemed to get his hitting stroke going at AAA, so it's a shame that injuries forced him on to Atlanta's bench where he's had absolutely no opportunity for regular at bats.

20. Jacob Thompson, Mississippi - 2-3, 7.27 ERA, 1.77 WHIP, 1.4 K/BB, 4.5 K/9, 3.1 BB/9 - Thompson hasn't been very good all season and he's been getting progressively worse each month. You'd always like to find the positives and point them out, but right now, there just aren't any.

21. Brett Oberholtzer, Myrtle Beach - 0-0, 2.08 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 11 K/BB, 7.6 K/9, 0.7 BB/9 - Oberholtzer missed 3 weeks this month with a minor arm injury but was stellar when healthy. More than anything his ability to limit his walks was impressive as his 11 strikeouts per walk ratio is about as great as you'll ever find.

22. David Hale, Rome - 1-2, 5.25 ERA, 1.67 WHIP, 1.7 K/BB, 9.0 K/9, 5.25 BB/9 - As bad as it looks, June was actually Hale's bet month of the season and if you took out his lone start, where he allowed 6 earned runs in 3.1 innings, it looks great, with a 1.13 ERA, a 1.25 WHIP, 3.7 K/BB, 12.4 K/9, and 3.4 BB/9.

23. Robinson Lopez, Rome - 1-2, 5.02 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, 1.3 K/BB, 5.0 K/9, 3.8 BB/9 - Lopez saw a huge jump in all of his numbers, likely because of wearing down a bit. By the end of the June he'd thrown 18 innings more than he had in any previous season, so hopefully the Braves will let him ease off things a bit in the season's final 2 months.

24. Scott Diamond, Mississippi - 1-1, 2.97 ERA, 1.62 WHIP, 1.8 K/BB, 5.9 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 - Despite some odd peripherals, a high WHIP and low strikeout numbers, Diamond was effective and actually turned in his best month of the season.

25. Tyler Stovall, Danville - 0-0, 4 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 3 BB, 7 K - After putting up a 3.12 ERA, a 1.77 WHIP, 1.0 K/BB, 9.9 K/9, and 9.7 K/BB in 12 starts for Danville last season, Stovall returned to Danville this year, starting his season by working 4 scoreless innings out of the bullpen. The big goal for him is to lower his walks, which he's done a bit, and still strike out a lot of batters, which he's actually gotten better at.