Myke Jones has been on top of the Hot Sheet a ton this season.
This week Gwinnett was 4-4 (3rd, 14.5 GB), Mississippi was 2-5 (4th, 8 GB), Myrtle Beach was 3-4 (3rd, 1 GB), Rome was 0-6 (6th, 8.5 GB), Danville was 4-3 (2nd, 2.5 GB), GCL was 1-5 (5th, 6.5 GB), and DSL was 4-2 (2nd, 5 GB).
Who's Hot?
Myke Jones - 8-22, 2B, 4 HR, 5 RBI, 9 BB, SB - The Braves have had some dominating weekly performances this season, but none may be better than what Jones did this week. With a .954 slugging percentage, buyoed by hitting 4 homers in 4 games, he put up a 1.502 OPS for the week. His .548 OBP out of the leadoff spot was just ridiculous.
Matt Weaver - 12-24, 4 2B, 4 RBI, BB - While hitting .213 with a .542 OPS in 202 at bats before the All-Star break, there was reason to wonder if Weaver would ever hit as a professional, but he's been tearing it up since the break, with a .331 average and .847 OPS in 124 at bats. He hit a high point this week, with a .500 average and a 1.187 OPS.
Freddie Freeman - 11-29, 4 2B, HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB - Freeman hit .379 with a 1.040 OPS this week, and he's having a fantastic year. He ranks in the top 5 in several offensive categories in the International League, including batting average (2nd), slugging (4th), OPS (3rd), hits (2nd), doubles (3rd), RBI (3rd) and total bases (4th), and he ranks 7th in on base percentage.
Scott Diamond - 2 G, 1-0, 9.2 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 8 K - Diamond had 2 solid starts this week, allowing just 1 earned run between them, and after allowing 6 earned in his first AAA start, he only allowed 3 in his next 5, covering 28.2 innings.
Honorable Mention: Gwinnett - Mike Broadway, Cory Gearrin, Craig Kimbrel, Steve Marek, Barbaro Canizares, Matt Young; Mississippi - Ty'Relle Harris, Julio Teheran, Yasser Gomez, Mauro Gomez; Myrtle Beach - Luis Sumoza, Matt Kennelly, Cody Johnson, Gerry Rodriguez, Mike Jones, Brett Oberholtzer, Angelo Paulino; Rome - David Hale, Steve Kent, Phil Gosselin; Danville - Kenny Fleming, Joey Terdoslavich, Andrelton Simmons, Elmer Reyes; GCL - Daniel Falcon Matt Lipka
Who's Not?
Edward Salcedo - 1-19, BB, 6 K - Salcedo has struggled mightly with Rome, hitting just .184 with a .538 OPS in 125 at bats. August has been a struggle, as he's hit .122 with a .338 OPS in 41 at bats. He was even worse this week, with a 0.53 average and .153 OPS.
Donell Linares - 2-22, HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB - Linares hit just .090 with a .394 OPS this week, just about his lowest point of the year. Overall, the 26 year old isn't having a great season, hitting .246 with a .660 OPS in 399 at bats, and since the All-Star break he's only hitting .238 with a .596 OPS.
Randall Delgado - 2 G, 0-2, 11 IP, 11 ER, 12 H, 7 BB, 6 K - Delgado has struggled since his promotion to AA, collecting a loss in every game he's pitched in. The bad trend continued this week, as he put up a 9.00 ERA and a 1.72 WHIP in 2 starts. His walk rate has nearly doubled since his promotion.
Jordan Schafer - 3-25, 2B, RBI, 4 BB, 4 K - Schafer's season just seems to be one bit of bad news followed by another, and this week was no exception, as he hit .120 with a .401 OPS. His wrist is clearly not healthy and you have to wonder if the future of his career wouldn't be better served by just shutting him down for the rest of the year.
Dishonorable Mention: Gwinnett - Wilkin Ramirez; Myrtle Beach - LV Ware, Cory Harrilchak, Jordan Kreke, Braeden Schlehuber, Luis Avilan, Paul Clemens, Matt Crim, Cory Rasmus; Rome - Jake Hanson, Joe Leonard, Christian Bethancourt, Julio Surinach, Riaan Spanjer-Furstenburg
Is it possible for the Braves to have 2 of the top 5 prospects in baseball going into next season – Freeman and Tehran?
justincredubil02 - August 16, 2010
Impressive as Freeman has been this year he isnt a top 5 prospect. In any normal year he’s probably top 20.
chopc - August 16, 2010
So, all of his numbers this year as the youngest or 2nd youngest player in AAA don’t make him top 5?
Geez, is Albert Pujols in AAA or something?
justincredubil02 - August 16, 2010
No, it’s just that some folks have ridiculous ideas about what makes a prospect. A brittle guy like Desmond Jennings, who’s 3 years older than Freeman and not playing as well at the same level, is a can’t miss, while Freeman is just a guy.
cbwilk - August 16, 2010
The “establishment” in baseball (for lack of a better word) annoys the hell out of me.
justincredubil02 - August 16, 2010
Desmond Jennings hype makes no sense to me
and I’ve seen him play four times this year. His manager in AAA doesn’t really have much faith in him either, apparently.
Londonjoe - August 16, 2010
Freeman offensive stats > Montero offensive stats
Freeman age/level = Montero age/level
Freeman defensive ability >>> Montero defensive ability
Montero will be top 5
Freeman will be lucky to get top 20
bwellnjonesco - August 16, 2010
Ah the joys of being a Yankee. The biggest part of this to me: Freddie as a person>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Montero as a person.
cbwilk - August 16, 2010
Montero=Catcher.
blitzerlover - August 16, 2010
Not really...
he doesn’t. Maybe DH, maybe 1B, but if he’s a C, he’s Mike Piazza and to be honest I’d rather not have a huge liability handling my staff.
Mr. Sanchez - August 16, 2010
I’m not saying he’s not gonna be a catcher, but realistically, he’s not gonna be a catcher. Montero’s career would last about 3 years as a catcher, he’s just too big for the position. Imagine Frank Thomas, or Troy Glaus, as a catcher.
Yeah, he’s a minor league catcher now, but nobody is buying his ability to stay there. And, the Yanks will only allow so many passed balls and stolen bases before they move him to
bwellnjonesco - August 16, 2010
Well
It’s more than just hitting involved in ranking players, it’s the overall tools, age, level, upside and position that comes into play when ranking players. That being said it’s ridiculous how scouts continue to underrate Freeman, stating that he’s a 1B who’s not athletic, has a bad body for development and has an ugly swing that won’t cut it in the ML.
Jay212033 - August 16, 2010
Especially since none of those are true.
cbwilk - August 16, 2010
Jesus Montero is...
and Freddie has produced much better at the plate than the supposed high level hitting prospect, plus is already considered an above average fielder for his position while Montero is considered a likely DH. So if one’s top 5, I’d say the other has a pretty strong case for it too.
Mr. Sanchez - August 16, 2010
As good as Freeman has been, there are still plenty of elite upside bats to contend with on next year’s list. Brown, Montero, Ackley, Moustakas, Hosmer, Trout, and Wallace are all in that discussion without even talking about pitchers. I think Teheran will be top 10 and Freeman will be top 20.
ajones2522 - August 16, 2010
Free Freddie Freeman!!!!
Darin H - August 16, 2010
Glaus has more HRs than Freddie in the past week…and for you RBI fans, he has more of them too.
Freddie doesn’t need to be brought up unless it is to play 3B.
justincredubil02 - August 16, 2010
Justin-
What is your hatred with Freeman? Did he not sign your baseball card when you asked him too? The kid is legit and should get a shot when September comes. Also he has been pretty much consistent this whole year and the last 3 months he has been on fire.
FreddieFreemanTime - August 16, 2010
I love Freddie. I can’t wait until he is on the team.
However, putting him on the team at the expense of Glaus is not the right move to make – especially since Glaus is heating up again.
justincredubil02 - August 16, 2010
.229 the last 10 for Glaus man hes unstopable.
BRaves1 - August 16, 2010
.250 for his career, .260 for the past week.
Stop using batting average.
The only thing Troy is not doing right now that he normally does is walk. That’s it.
His average is actually higher for the past week than his career average, but his OBP is much lower.
He is hitting the ball, and hitting it hard. He is coming around, and looks to be out of his slump.
justincredubil02 - August 16, 2010
Glaus’ week: .250/.286/.600/.886. Sure, this is the first time he hasn’t completely sucked in a while, but Freddie’s line was .379/.419/.621/1.040. Better baseball players make outs less. Freddie got on 133 points higher than Glaus. Despite having 1 less homer and 1 less RBI, he slugged 21 points higher. He OPSed 154 points higher. He was just plain more productive. Glaus was better than he had been this week, but Freddie continued to dominate. And played stellar defense while doing it.
And if Freddie could play third base he’d be doing it, because a third baseman is more valuable than a first baseman. Any and all ideas of Freddie playing third in any scenario other than an emergency need to be put to rest.
cbwilk - August 16, 2010
I’d consider the prospect of Conrad being the everyday 3B as “emergency”.
:)
justincredubil02 - August 16, 2010
Brooksy was a lot better than Glaus this week: /.294/.368/.647/1.015.
cbwilk - August 16, 2010
Freddie has more RBI in the last 10 days then Glaus.
BRaves1 - August 16, 2010
For that matter he has as many home runs (16) and more RBI (75 to 69) in 2 fewer plate appearances.
cbwilk - August 16, 2010
Why
are we comparing Freddie Freeman’s HR and RBI totals to AAA pitching vs Glaus’ vs MLB pitching? Funsies? Otherwise, it a waste of a usable comparison.
CharlotteChop - August 16, 2010
Sure. It is. But you also have to remember that Freddie is several years younger than what would be an appropriate age for AAA, so all of his numbers are even more impressive than they really are.
cbwilk - August 16, 2010
That’s exciting and heartening, but it still doesn’t make sense to do a straight up comparison of his numbers to Glaus when the two are different levels.
Bronn - August 16, 2010
No, it doesn’t.
cbwilk - August 16, 2010
Freddie Freeman is good at baseball
MBL1 - August 16, 2010 via mobile
I think Freeman has placed himself in the top 10 prospects
2nd-youngest player in the league with an OPS near .900. His power hasn’t fully developed, but his plate discipline has gotten better and his defense, from what I hear, is as excellent as it gets for a 20-year-old.
I’d be shocked if he isn’t in the top 10, actually. He was in the top 50 after an injury-plagued year in 09 wasn’t he?
Undocorkscrew - August 16, 2010
Well don’t expect to see it man. I’m not necessarily disagreeing, but a lot of scouts see Freddie as a 20-25 HR a year type guy. I think he has more power upside than that, and has shown the ability to hit for high AVG. Expect to see him in the top 20-30 range on most lists this winter.
timmy3 - August 16, 2010
this
He will be in the top 25
Braves24 - August 16, 2010
How long do we hold obviously wrong projections?...
Freeman has the frame to develop plenty of power, and is showing increased power at 20 in AAA. He’s shown as much HR power as Chipper did at similar ages.
Kind of like scouts said Jurrjens was a back of the rotation type guy, not exactly true is it? Projections can, and often are, wrong.
Mr. Sanchez - August 16, 2010
hey just wondering: Do the Braves have a power-hitting prospect in the minors or from this year’s draft that plays 3rd base… any power-hitters in outfield?
Albert K - August 16, 2010
We need some kids with pop to play third and left-field
Albert K - August 16, 2010
They took a kid name Joe Leonard
He projects to have average power and hit for a pretty good average. He needs to work on his plate discipline, though, because he’s only drawn 6 walks in 28 games at Rome. He should be a plus defender, however. They also took this kid Terdoslavich, who doesn’t have a lot of power but might end up being a better OBP guy. Both play third base. Terdoslavich is at Danville and Leonard is at Rome.
In the OF, there weren’t any power hitting prospects. Todd Cunningham, our second pick, is a CF prospect with plus speed. He doesn’t project to have a lot of power.
Bronn - August 16, 2010
Terdoslavich is playing primarily first base. 30 games at 1st, 18 at 3rd, even 1 in RF. But lately it’s been almost exclusively 1st.
cbwilk - August 16, 2010
Is that because they don't like him at third?
I assumed it was because they have so many third basemen in Danville. Joe Leonard was there for a while, and they also have Kleinknecht who can play third. I’m not sure if Terdoslavich ultimately stays at first.
Bronn - August 16, 2010
I don’t know why they’re doing it. Maybe when I go see Danville in a few weeks I can ask the guys. My assumption has always been that you put the guys you want playing the position at the position. You wouldn’t move a guy around just cause another guy plays the same position if you think he has a better shot of succeeding.
For comparison, Kleinknecht has 27 games at third, 7 at second, and 3 at short. For the team overall, at 3B: Kleinknecht 27 games, Terdoslavich 18 games, Leonard 10 games; at 1B: Terdoslavich 30 games, Odreman 17 games, Dalfonso 14 games.
Obviously they’re playing everyone around a little bit, but Terdoslavich looks like he might be pretty rough in the field, with a .967 fielding % at 1st and a .900 % at third.
cbwilk - August 16, 2010
How about Rohm?
in terms of power hitting OFs in the recent draft (and hopefully Sabol too).
Mr. Sanchez - August 16, 2010
I think Rohm ultimately ends up at first.
Bronn - August 16, 2010
uhhh frank better draft a power guy next year…. I like the system with all the pitching and speed but no power hitters is worrying especially with Chipper’s mileage
Albert K - August 17, 2010
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bwellnjonesco - August 16, 2010
I don't know whether to +1 or -1 this.
Bronn - August 16, 2010
If you are cool, you press -1. If you aren’t, don’t vote..
bwellnjonesco - August 16, 2010
I mean I spent like 5 minutes typing that out backwards, and I get to the title line and screw up “koot”…
bwellnjonesco - August 16, 2010
Pretty sure Terdoslavich got moved to Rome today.
rbravesfan - August 16, 2010
Myke Jones
I’m really lovin how he’s being more patient at the plate. If he can continue this he’s going to be in ATL real soon!
Jay212033 - August 16, 2010
He was a guy I was really on the fence about before the year. I loved his athleticism, easily the best in the system (at the time, I’d have to reevaluate it now), but I wasn’t impressed with how he didn’t dominate the Appy League the way a guy his age should. But considering that he’s had success at Rome and Myrtle Beach this year, and I really wanted to see him succeed at MB to be able to consider him a prospect, he’s really shooting up the chart in my eyes. Still, it’s scary to think that I’d rank Lipka and Salcedo ahead of him on a prospect list. Sure, both are younger and less proven, but their ceilings are higher. But Myke’s leaps and bounds this year are exciting.
cbwilk - August 16, 2010
Freddie
i’m still not in favor of rushing freddie, but i have to admit, a part of me is dying to see what he could do at this level right now.
Bravely going forward - August 16, 2010
I didn’t realize he was that high on all those lists until earlier in the week. I know some of the best players get moved to the Majors and thus can’t put up the great numbers, but there are plenty of guys with a ton of AAA experience who are much older and have been there all year and he’s outshining most of them.
cbwilk - August 16, 2010
i know, it’s crazy.
Bravely going forward - August 16, 2010
I don’t get the rushing him to the Majors. He has 15 games remaining in August. He is suppose to be our starting 1st baseman next year. There is not much more he needs to do or prove then what he has done. Do we need him to be at least 21 before he plays a ML game?
FreddieFreemanTime - August 16, 2010
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