I was going over ESPN's expanded standings today and noticed a couple of interesting things. First: the Rangers have been really good so far. They have a +46 run differential through 13 games. That is unreal. St. Louis is next at +31 and then the Braves at +18. Pretty good right?

Poll

Which is more likely?

50%

The offense will continue to be good and the pitching will get better

78 votes

0%

The offense will continue to be good and the pitching will get worse

1 votes

44%

The pitching will get better but the offense will get worse

69 votes

4%

Everything will collapse

7 votes

155 votes | Poll has closed

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So I mess around with this PC Baseball Sim called Out of the Park Baseball (awesome for anyone who wants endless options in simulating/managing baseball seasons) and I got bored today and decided to start a league comprised solely of teams made from homegrown talent. So I dumped the whole league into the free agent pool, turned off financials and trades and started with the Braves. I knew the Braves had a good run on player development (I mean I've obviously been following the minors for a while) but wow look at the team we would put together:

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Today we continue Talking Chops countdown of the top 25 prospects in the Braves organization. The top 25 are selected by cbwilk, gondeee and myself each putting together our own lists and then averaging the three lists together. 

16. Dimasther Delgado, LHP
The Skinny: After missing all of 2010 due to a fractured femur, Delgado returned to action in Lynchburg. After knocking the rust off early in the season his peripherals improved as the season wore on with a 4.80 ERA in the first half and a 2.98 mark in the second half. 
The Good: When he is on Delgado has a fastball that sits in the low 90s with good movement and a plus changeup that he uses to get hitters out.
The Bad: His curveball is slow and inconsistent though he has shown improvement. The injury cost him a year of development; he should have been in AA this year.
...In a perfect world.... he continues to develop his arsenal and he becomes a solid back end of the rotation starter for the Braves.
ETA: The logjam of starters ahead of doesn't help, but he could be in Atlanta by 2013.

17. Mycal Jones, OF
The Skinny: Jones put together a solid season in Mississippi while adjusting to his third position (centerfield this time) in two years.
The Good: He is an excellent athlete which has allowed to him adjust quickly to center. He showed an excellent eye at the plate this year and can combine that with good speed on the basepaths.
The Bad: He will be 25 next season, just his fourth in professional ball. Because he got started so late his athleticism hasn't translated to skills on the diamond and he fights to stay consistent week to week.
...In a perfect world....he could be a top of the order hitter with a patience/speed combo that is rare.
ETA: The Braves are pushing him and he could be in AAA this season. 2013 seems like a good bet. 

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Today we kick off our 2012 top 25 Braves prospects with players 21-25. We will bring you five a day each day until Friday when we unveil the top five. 

21. Jean Carlos Gil, RHP
The Skinny: Gil has been the best pitcher on his staff in both the GCL and the DSL but has gained very little national acclaim. He's the kind of lighter-tossing "pitchability" pitcher the Braves are great at identifying and developing. 
The Good: In two professional seasons Gil has struck out nearly a batter an inning with low walk totals and a good groundball rate while demonstrating the ability to work deep into ballgames.
The Bad: At 20 years old in the GCL Gil isn't old, but many of the guys he was up against were two or three years younger.
....In a Perfect World.... Gil's stuff plays well at higher levels and he becomes an innings eater number four starter.
ETA: Given his age the Braves could push him to Rome next season and on a normal progression curve we could see him in 2015 if everything goes well.

22. William Beckwith, 1B
The Skinny: He showed power and patience in the Appalachian League and finished as one of the best all around hitters in the league.
The Good: His .251 isolated power comes from both doubles and home runs and in two seasons he has maintained a walk rate over 12% between two levels while striking out less than 20% of the time.
The Bad: Beckwith doesn't have an ideal physical frame and doesn't offer a ton of projection, but so far he has shown good athleticism (he swiped eight bases in ten attempts this season). He finished the season at 21 years old, just a year younger than Freddie Freeman.
....In a Perfect World.... His power and patience continue to shine at higher levels and he becomes a legitimate power bat in the middle of a lineup, though it may not be the Braves.
ETA: He will start 2012 in Rome, but if he continues his performance from 2011 he will move to Lynchburg in a hurry. He could be in the majors by late 2014. 

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In 2010 TalkingChop ranked each infield position separately with lists consisting of mostly three players per list. This year we have segregated the players into corner and middle infield prospects respectively. Graduating Freddie Freeman to Atlanta took away the only real top end talent that this group had, but the while there isn't any superstar talent here, there is good depth with several players very likely to have some sort of impact in Atlanta.

1. Edward Salcedo - B/T: R/R, Born: 07/30/1991, Ht: 6' 3", Wt: 195

Nearly two years removed from their signing of Edward Salcedo we still aren't sure what we have with him. The Braves aggressively pushed him to Rome in 2010, skipping two levels from the Dominican Summer League, and he couldn't match the competition level there as a 19 year old. He returned to Rome in 2011 and showed steady improvement through the first three months of the season culminating with .364 wOBA in June. The second half of the season wasn't as kind as he posted a .656 OPS after his walk rate and power completely deteriorated. He spent most of the season at third base after starting the year splitting time at shortstop with Matt Lipka (who ironically is also no longer a shortstop).

Salcedo is a physically impressive baseball specimen. At 6' 3" he is just the right size for the 'hot corner'. At 195 he looks a little thin but he has put on weight since arriving in the US and I would suspect he is still growing into his body. He may need to add some extra bulk to give him the durability he needs for a full professional season after two straight second half collapses. At the plate he has excellent bat speed that allows him to make hard contact. His set up and load leave him off balance at times but he doesn't strike out a ton because his good hand eye coordination allows him to make contact even when he is fooled. Defensively Salcedo still has some work to do. With his shift to third he made 40 errors in 100 games there. He is still young and many good defenders made tons of errors in the minors (Chipper Jones for one - ok serviceable defenders), though some scouts still think he will be better suited in an outfield corner. 

Edward Salcedo remains maybe the most physically gifted player in the Braves system, but his physical abilities haven't converted to skills as fast as maybe the hype led us to think they would. Still, for a young toolsy guy, he has shown solid plate discipline and power in his first two seasons without being a strike-out machine. If his defense can get to serviceable and his swing calms down he could be a special player. The Braves have been aggressive with him so far and I wouldn't expect that to change now, look for him in Lynchburg in 2012. 

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This year's list for the Braves left handed pitching prospects should look a good bit different from last years after some pretty radical changes to the minor league depth chart. Mike Minor has lost his prospect status after spending enough time in Atlanta this season, Carlos Perez is still here though his star lost some of its juster,Brett Oberholtzert was traded to Houston for Michael Bourn, Scott Diamond was taken in the Rule-5 draft. Brett DeVall was also released from the organization and guys like Andy Otero and Cole Rohrbough failed to bounce back from injuries. On the positive end of the spectrum Atlanta added Sean Gilmartin, Dimaster Delgado had a successful return from injury and Oriel L Caicedo had great start to his career. 

1. Sean Gilmartin - B/T: L/L, Born: 05/08/1990, Ht: 6' 2", Wt: 195

The Braves took Gilmartin with the 28th overall pick in the 2011 draft. He signed for right at the MLB slot recommendation, which was a big reason the Braves picked him. Despite the Braves shallow pocketbooks Gilmartin represents good value with an excellent chance to provide a return on their investment. He was taken out of Florida State where he spent three years serving as their Friday starter (college speak for Ace) and he showed significant improvement over his last year in college by adding velocity to his excellent command. 

No scouting report on Gilmartin can go long without a comparison to current Braves lefty Mike Minor. The comparisons are apt as the pitchers share similar backgrounds, builds and repertoires. Gilmartin possess an average fastball that sits 88-91 with good movement. His change-up is his go to pitch while his slider still needs some improvement. What pushed Mike Minor from being a starter with the ceiling of three or four starter to a possible number two was a jump in his velocity shortly after the Braves drafted him. There is no telling if the Gilmartin can make the same kinds of adjustments, but he has already added velocity in just the last year and professional work routine and coaches could find ways to magic more velocity out of his arm. 

Gilmartin wasn't the glamorous pick for the Braves in this draft, but he was the sensible one. He is a very good pitcher  and while he may not be an ace caliber guy, he almost certainly will reach the majors and he probably won't take long to do so. He projects as a number three starter in the majors and could be there as early as 2013. His early performances in the Sally and Arizona Fall Leagues have been good and I would expect him to start 2012 in Lynchburg with a chance to move up depending on his performance. 

2. Carlos Perez - B/T: L/L, Born: 11/20/1991, Ht: 6' 2", Wt: 195

On May 9, 2011 I saw Carlos Perez go seven innings against the Augusta Greenjackets allowing just two hits and one run while striking out seven. That turned out to be his best start of the season. In 2010 Baseball America ranked the lefty as the number one prospect in the Appalachian League and the Braves eleventh best prospect. A year later he didn't rate in the top 20 for the Sally League and didn't make the Braves top ten. That is a testament to how poorly his 2011 season was. He finished the year with a 4.82 ERA (his FIP was 4.19). His walk rate remained steady from 2010 though his K-rate dropped about 3%. The biggest difference statistically was his groundball rate which dropped from around 65% in 2010 to just 46% in 2011. 

Perez still has time on his side as he has yet to turn 20. His fastball sits in the highs 80s and touches 92 at times though his velocity varied from start to start this year. His change-up is a true weapon when and when he is on he can deliver it with the arm angle and action as his fastball. His curveball is a different matter. Even in the start I saw he had very little control or command over it. It has 11-to-5 movement and can get men out when he keeps it low in the zone. With the Braves pitching depth at the upper levels and Perez' age there is no need to rush him. He could return to Rome in 2011 to get his feet underneath him before the Braves give him a chance to move up.

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The more I go over this year's farm system the more I like our depth in the position prospects. Sure we still don't have a lot of impact bats, but it is better than it was last year this time and the outfield prospects are a testament to that. Last season Cory Harrilchak, Todd Cunningham and Adam Milligan were 1-2-3 on this list. Now those three are reversed and sitting at the bottom and they are all essentially the same players they were a year ago. Those three were all leap-frogged by two guys moving from the infield to center. There are a few other guys worth mentioning like Kurt Fleming, David Rohm and Chase Larsson who could all surprise next season.

1. Mycal Jones - B/T: R/R, Born: 05/30/1987, HT: 5' 10", WT: 170

The Braves drafted Jones in the fourth round in the 2009 draft with the understanding that he was an older but 'toolsy' JUCO guy whose athleticism they could turn into baseball skills before his prospect clock ran out. His athleticism has been evident  in his time in the Atlanta organization after ranking second on Talking Chop's shortstop list in 2009, first among second basemen last season and now first among Braves' outfield prospects in 2011. While he appears to have found a home in center field for the foreseeable future (all reports on his defense were very positive) but questions still remain about his bat after an erratic year at the plate. 

A quick glance at Myke's month-by-month plate discipline is an exercise in confusion. His first month and a half saw him post a 32/25 BB/K rate, a huge improvement over previous seasons and reason enough to get excited even with a low batting average (.196 in June). But July saw his rates do a 180 with a 7/35 BB/K but he still posted a .741 OPS due to increased power production. August saw him find a happy median as he his for average and power along with showing patience (.309/.411/.427) that resulted in his best month of the season before he finished the year on a terrible cold streak during September. 

Jones' tools flash often enough to tantalize the fans and they are good enough to profile as an everyday player at the big league level, but he has yet to find the consistency that we look for in an everyday player. Despite the offensive rollercoaster 2011 was still a success for Myke because he showed that he could improve his plate discipline while adjusting to a new position and level of play. If his power returns in 2012 and the plate discipline remains he could put himself perfectly in line to fill Michael Bourn's shoes in 2013. 

Jones got himself a MiLBy nomination for this superb defensive play:

The rest of the list after the jump...

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Another tough offensive night for everyone but Rome (Gwinnett was ok as well). Zeke Spruill collected his sixth complete game of the year and has been impressive though not dominant this year. Julio Teheran put in a solid start to collect his 15th win and several hitters for Rome and Danville stayed hot.

Norfolk Tides 2, Gwinnett Braves 4

• Wilkin Ramirez, LF 3-4, 2 SB(17), K, .259 Avg
• Mauro Gomez, 1B 1-4, HR(20), 2 RBI, .282 Avg
• Julio Teheran 6 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 2.22 ERA

Julio Teheran put together yet another solid start for Gwinnett and the Braves keep pace with Durham who also won tonight. Teheran also improved his record on the year to 15-2 and leads the International League in both ERA and wins, which are the best stats to use to see a pitcher's true talent level. Wilkin Ramirez led off tonight and of course an idea that crazy worked. He collected three hits and stole two bases. Maybe he has been used wrong all these years.

Birmingham Barons 1, Mississippi Braves 0

• Sean Henry, RF 2-3, 2B, .245 Avg
• Zeke Spruill 9 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 1 K, 3.46 ERA

I don't even remember if Zeke Spruill was on my prospect list last season but he has certainly put himself back on it for this offseason if only because he has shown he can be a workhorse starter. He threw just 105 pitches tonight though only 58 we for strikes. He didn't give up any extra base hits but still got the loss.

Lynchburg Hillcats @ Kinston Indians 

Postponed. 

Kannapolis Intimidators 7, Rome Braves 6 - 10 Innings

• Tommy La Stella, 2B 2-5, HR(8), 3 RBI, .325 Avg
• David Rohm, RF 3-5, 2B, K, .277 Avg
• Matt Weaver, 3B 4-5, 2B, RBI, SB(1), .287 Avg

It hasn't been brought up much (at least not by me), but the R-Braves are 14-5 in their last 19 games. They have scored four or more runs in 14 of those games which is a huge swing from earlier in the season when the offense was terrible. A big part of that has been the play of La Stella and Rohm this month. La Stella has an 1.100 OPS in August and Rohm is just over .900 after a rough first half of the year. Chris Garcia and Evan Gattis have both put up OPSs near 1.100 this month as well. 

Johnson City Cardinals 2, Danville Braves 5

• Nick Ahmed, SS 1-4, 2 RBI, BB, CS(6), .263 Avg
• Fernando De Los Santos, 2B 2-5, 2 2B, .326 Avg
• Chase Larsson, CF-RF 3-4, 2 2B, .249 Avg
• John Cornely 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K, 2.18 ERA

With their win tonight the D-Braves move into a tie for first place in their division. The offense got their work done tonight with the middle of their order (Drury, Beckwith and Sanchez) only collecting one hit and one walk. Chase Larsson has woken up in the last week with five extra base hits in his last six games. Fernando De Los Santos has been the real hot hand for the offense recently. Over his last ten games he is hitting .361 with seven doubles, a triple and two homers. 

GCL Braves 1, GCL Tigers 2 - 12 Innings

• Aris Alcantara, 1B 1-4, RBI, K, .258 Avg
• Frank Lafreniere 5 IP, 2 H, 1 R(0 ER), 1 BB, 3 K, 3.51 ERA

The most striking aspect of this boxscore for me is the Braves used six pitchers in this game. The Tigers used just two. MiLB doesn't have pitch counts below AA usually so I don't know what was going on there, but it just looks weird in the boxscore. This game also ended on a walkoff walk when Charlie Robertson couldn't record an out in the twelfth inning. 

Tonight was just a rough night across the board. Only Rome won and scored more than one run. Delgado pitched a solid game and Gilmartin was impressive again in his start for Rome. 

Norfolk Tides 4, Gwinnett Braves 1

• Ruben Gotay, 2B 2-4, 2B, K, SB(5), .256 Avg
• Mauro Gomez, 1B 2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 K, SB(6), .282 Avg
• Randall Delgado 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 4.15 ERA

Delgado put together another solid start for Gwinnett though, like his partner in crime Julio Teheran, he had some issues with command racking up over 100 pitches in just five innings. The Braves offense couldn't get much going tonight behind Delgado with Maruo Gomez plating the only run of the game. Coming into the night the G-Braves had made up three games in the standings in their last three games. Their elimination number is 11 at this point and they have five games left against the worst team in the league and two against the division leader. They definitely have a shot. 

Birmingham Barons 9, Mississippi Braves 0

• Cory Harrilchak, RF 3-4, BB, K, .259 Avg
• Kenshin Kawakami 1 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 2 BB, K, 8.31 ERA

I just don't have anything good to say about this games. The offense was completely shut down, collecting just six hits (one for extra bases) and striking out fifteen times. Kenshin Kawakami was basically what he has been all season long. 

Kannapolis Intimidators 2, Rome Braves 7

• Tommy La Stella, 2B 2-3, BB, K, .323 Avg
• Chris Garcia, 1B 3-3, 2 RBI, BB, .328 Avg
• Edward Salcedo, 3B 1-3, 2 RBI, E(43), .252 Avg
• Sean Gilmartin 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 9 K, 2.87 ERA

Rome's offense has really come around the second half of the season with their best player pretty much tanking it at the plate (Salcedo). Guys like Chris Garcia and Tommy La Stella have made this lineup into a dangerous foe for opposing teams. Tonight Sean Gilmartin was dangerous for opposing hitters. He did give up a two-out two-run homer in the first, but after that he struck out six over four innings and just one hit allowed. 

Johnson City Cardinals 1, Danville Braves 2

• Fernando De Los Santos, RF 1-3, HR(2), .323 Avg
• Edison Sanchez, DH 2-4, 2 2B, 2 K, .274 Avg
• J.R. Graham 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 1.72 ERA

I totally missed this game somehow tonight. J.R. Graham continues to prove the Appy League is no match for him and at 21 years old it probably shouldn't be. Edison Sanchez has been better this season than last when he missed some time and his plate discipline is very good, which is rare in this organization (though becoming less rare with all the college guys recently). I just want to see some more of his power emerge. 

GCL Tigers 2, GCL Braves 0

• Will Skinner, LF 2-4, 2B, K, .300 Avg
• Jean Carlos Gil 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 2.91 ERA

Jean Carlos Gil has been one of my favorite breakout prospects this season. At 20 years old he is still a little old for the GCL but he is also in his first year in the states, so he gets a pass. For the year he has allowed a hit and inning but has also struck out nearly a batting an inning as well. He has walked just twelve in 65 innings while inducing his fair share of groundballs. He will definitely be on my watch list going forward. 

Norfolk Tides 1, Gwinnett Braves 4

• Matt Young, LF 1-4, 3B, 2 K, .264 Avg
• Wes Helms, 3B 2-4, 2 RBI, .190 Avg
• Mauro Gomez, DH 2-4, 2B, .280 Avg
• Yohan Flande 6 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 5 K, 3.88 ERA
• J.J. Hoover 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 4.30 ERA
• Jairo Asencio 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB 3 K, 1.46 ERA

Everyone that stepped on the mound wearing a Gwinnett jersey pitched great tonight. Flande had a no hitter through six innings tonight, but walked the leadoff man in the seventh and gave up a single to the second man. The man on second eventually scored but that was the only run the Braves staff gave up. Since returning to AAA in relief J.J. Hoover has tossed 9.2 scoreless innings allowing just two hits, three walks and striking out twenty. Those are Kimbrelian type numbers. 

Mississippi Braves 15, Montgomery Biscuits 0

• Ernesto Mejia, 1B 2-5, HR(22), .299 Avg
• Ed Lucas, SS 2-6, 3 RBI, K, .273 Avg
• Matt Kennelly, C 3-6, 2B, 2 RBI, K, .257 Avg
• Sean Henry, DH 3-6, 4 RBI, .233 Avg

Jose Lugo pitched a eight innings of three hit ball behind an offensive onslaught from the M-Braves. Actually this game was more like death by a thousand papercuts as the Braves knocked out 19 hits and just two of them went for extra bases. Every starter collected at least one hit, seven had two hits and and three had three hits. The Braves have waited late in the year to really turn it out winning eight of their last ten games. They are in second place in the division but 10.5 games out and their elimination number is 2. They would need to win every game the rest of the way and Mobile would have to lose the rest just to tie at the end. 

Lynchburg Hillcats 2, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 3 - 12 Innings

• Christian Bethancourt, DH2-6, 2 K, .268 Avg
• Joey Terdoslavich, 1B 4-6, 2B, .285 Avg
• David Hale 8 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 2 HR, 4.30 ERA

After a terrible start that saw David Hale give up  nine runs in less than five innings the good Hale returned tonight to go eight strong against the former Braves affiliate. Unfortunately the Pelicans Justin Grimm was just as good and the game was left up to the bullpens. Hale allowed two homers to the Pelicans Mike Olt tonight. Olt has owned the Hillcats this season hitting five of his thirteen homers against them. 

Savannah Sandgnats 3, Rome Braves 4

• David Rohm, RF 1-3, 3B, .274 Avg
• Tony Mueller, CF 2-3, 2B, RBI, .240 Avg
• Ronan Pacheco 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 1 K, 4.50 ERA

The R-Braves managed just four hits and just one walk tonight but capitalized on four errors from the Sandgnats to get four runs. Ronan Pacheco wasn't exactly dominant, striking out just one batter, but he got ten ground balls to help work around the baserunners he allowed. 

Johnson City Cardinals 8, Danville Braves 1

• Fernando De Los Santos, SS 1-4, 2B, .322 Avg
•  Brandon Drury, 3B 2-4, 2 2B, K, .352 Avg

Even on nights like this one Brandon Drury finds a way to shine. His two doubles tonight give him 32 extra base hits on the season out a total of 90. The impressive thing about him is he has struck out in just under 15% of his plate appearances this season. Not on does he make hard contact consistently but he also gets the ball in play on a regular basis. His home run power has diminished a bit this month but Firstinning.com has him down for a 20% line drive rate for the season. Basically what I am saying is he has been very impressive all season long. 

GCL Blue Jays @ GCL Braves 

Hurricane Irene has other plans for baseball fans this weekend. 

There is less and less for me to write about everyday it feels like. Granted Gwinnett was off today. Myke Jones has been on fire recently bringing his season performance from suspect to promising in one really hot week. David Rohm has also been hitting over .400 in the last ten games. 

Gwinnett Braves 

Off Day.

Mississippi Braves 5, Montgomery Biscuits 8

• Mycal Jones, CF 3-4, 2 SB(15), .266 Avg
• Dan Nelson, 3B 2-5, RBI, .326 Avg
• Richard Sullivan 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 4.25 ERA

Myke Jones extended his hitting streak to eight games. During that span he has five multi-hit games and he is hitting .566 as well. He is now threatening to to push his OPS over .800 for the season and he has also been steal bases at a more prolific rate with seven in the last ten games. A hot start next season could put him squarely in the Braves bench plans going forward. 

Lynchburg Hillcats 3, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 2

• Andrelton Simmons, SS 1-4, BB, SB(22), .309 Avg
• Chris Masters 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 3 K, 3.19 ERA

Lynchburg got just enough offense to take home the win tonight. Chris Masters pitched a solid game as well despite not having his typical control. Masters has had a better year than I had anticipated after his complete collapse in Rome in the second half last season. He could have just gotten tired in the second half and this year his endurance has improved. In fact this season his first and second half stats are eerily similar. Check it:

1st Half: 72 IP, 62 H, 27 R, 4 HR, 31 BB, 66 K, .236 Avg

2nd Half: 71.2 IP, 62 H, 28 R, 5 HR, 28 BB, 54 K, .236 Avg

Creepy.

Savannah SandGnats 3, Rome Braves 5

• David Rohm, RF 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI, .273 Avg
• Kyle Rose, LF 3-3, BB, .204 Avg
• Aaron Northcraft 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 3.59 ERA

Aaron Northcraft has bounced back nicely in his last two starts after a run of about five sub par ones. David Rohm is another first and second half guy. He posted a .680 OPS in the first half of the year and is at .789 since the All Star break. His walk rate and  strikeout rates have stayed pretty similar but his batting average has risen fifty points in the second half. CB and I both had him as our breakout pick for Rome and while that hasn't materialized like I had hoped he has shown flashes of what I was expecting from him. 

Danville Braves 4, Kingsport Mets 9

• Nick Ahmed, SS 2-4, BB, K, SB(18), .267 Avg
• Kyle Kubitza, DH 3-4, 2B, RBI, K, SB(9), .329 Avg
• Brandon Drury, 3B 1-3, 2 RBI, .350 Avg

As the headline states, Brandon Drury was voted the Co-MVP of the Appy League today even though there is a week of play left. Amazingly he wasn't even the best hitter on his own team, but the Appy League always seems to give awards based on the old standby stats, so Drury lead the league in batting average and Twins farmhand Eddie Rosario led the league in homers was the other MVP. Don't get me wrong, Drury had been fantastic and i do think he is the best prospect on the team, but awards are awards. 

The farm falls just one team short of a second straight organizational sweep. The theme today was extra inning games as three teams played free baseball with Gwinnett and Lynchburg both winning their. 

Charlotte Knights 6, Gwinnett Braves 7 - 13 Innings

• Mauro Gomez, 1B 3-5, BB, K, SB(5), 2 E(9), .278 Avg
• Wilkin Castillo, C 1-5, HR(4), 3 RBI, BB, K, .272 Avg
• Cory Gearrin 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 1.69 ERA
• J.J. Hoover 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 4.61 ERA

Gwinnett had a wild one tonight against the Knights. The Braves got out to a six run lead by the third inning but the normally solid Todd Redmond gave all six runs back by the sixth inning. Fortunately for Gwinnett their bullpen is fantastic and combined to throw 7.1 innings of one hit ball. The Braves scored the winning run on a bases loaded groundout (attempted double play) from Matt Young.

Mississippi Braves 4, Montgomery Biscuits 1

• Mycal Jones, CF 2-3, BB, 2 SB(13), .260 Avg
• Ernesto Mejia, 1B 1-3, 2B, RBI, BB, 2 K, .299 Avg
• Luis Avilan 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 8 K, 4.58 ERA

The mercurial Luis Avilan turned in a fantastic performance for the M-Braves tonight allowing just one hit across five innings of work. Mycal Jones has turned his season around with a fantastic August. His walk rate isn't quite what it was at the beginning of the year but his contact rate has spiked and the walk rates remains good. He still struggles heavily against lefties (.633 OPS vs LHP/.830 against RHP). 

Lynchburg Hillcats 8, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 4 - 11 Innings

• Keenan Wiley, RF 2-5, RBI, BB, 2 K, .282 Avg
• Andrelton Simmons, SS 2-5, K, .309 Avg
• Joe Leonard, 3B 2-5, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 2 K, .268 Avg
• Christian Bethancourt, C 3-6, 2 RBI, .265 Avg
• Ryan Buchter 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K, 3.62 ERA

Another wild extra inning game with the Hillcats coming out ahead. The 'Cats went into the ninth down by one run when Joe Leonard hit a sac fly to send Andrelton Simmons home to tie the game. They then dropped four runs in the eleventh inning to put the game out of reach for the former Braves affiliates. Andrelton Simmons picked up two more hits and while he has hit for a little doubles power he hasn't taken many walks and his stolen base success rate is god awful (21/38). He kind of reminds me of what we have now but with less power. 

Savannah Sand Gnats 2, Rome Braves 6

• Matt Lipka, SS 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI, SB(21), .240 Avg
• Evan Gattis, C 2-4, RBI, .326 Avg
• Edward Salcedo, DH 2-4, 2B, RBI, .254 Avg
• Willie Kempf 6.1 IP, 9 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 3.81 ERA

Matt Lipka picked up two extra base hits tonight and raised his average to .240 - the highest it has been since early May. He is in the middle of his best month of the year but that still is just a .658 OPS. Hopefully this means he is finishing on a high note and will start 2012 on fire. Salcedo picked up just his second extra base hit of the month tonight playing DH. Maybe getting him out of the field will help him get his legs back under him. 

Danville Braves 7, Kingsport Mets 5

• Kyle Kubitza, 3B 2-5, 2B, K, SB(8) .324 Avg
• Brandon Drury, 2B 2-4, 2 2B, RBI, .350 Avg
• Edison Sanchez, 1B 1-4, HR(2), 2 RBI, .276 Avg
• Chase Larsson, LF 2-4, 2B, .241 Avg
• Fernando De Los Santos, RF 2-4, HR(1), 3 RBI, 2 K, .336 Avg

The D-Braves offense just keeps rolling along with another seven runs and six extra base hits. Edison Sanchez is finally starting to find his power stroke with two homers in his last four games. He continues to get on base at a fantastic rate (.404 OBP) but his body is still filling out and the power hasn't completely come yet. Brandon Drury has now hit in twelve straight games and is leading the league in hitting and is second in doubles. 

GCL Braves 3, GCL Pirates 4 -  10 Innings

• Ronald Luna, SS 2-4, SB(9), .277 Avg
• Brian Stamps, CF 2-4, 2B, RBI, K, .213 Avg
• Ignacio Geronimo 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 2.84 ERA

Ignacio Geronimo pitched four no hit innings in this one but the bullpen couldn't hold the lead and the GCL team picks up the only loss of the night. The two teams combined for just twelve hits in ten innings but managed to capitalize one their opportunities (HBP and errors no doubt helped). 

DSL Braves

The DSL season is over and the playoffs are currently on. The Braves did not make it. 

The Braves farmhands put together the super rare organizational sweep tonight (though two teams were off). Good pitching reared its head throughout the farm tonight after some serious offensive outbursts over the last week. Julio Teheran had an OK start but his ability to control his pitchcount is still an issue. Zeke Spruill put together a gem as well while Frank Lafreniere helped flirt with a no hitter. Also today is my birthday! Happy Birthday me!

Charlotte Knights 2, Gwinnett Braves 3

• Stefan Gartrell, RF 2-4, 2 2B, RBI, K, .262 Avg
• Brandon Hicks, SS 2-4, RBI, 2 K, .264 Avg
• Peter Moylan 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
• Julio Teheran 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 2.19 ERA

With just two weeks left in the season the G-Braves have dropped to 5.5 games out of the division race and 3.5 out of the wild card. All of their remaining games are against Charlotte, Norfolk and the Division leader Durham. Moylan's rehab appears to be coming along perfectly just in time for roster expansion in September. Julio Teheran threw 101 pitches in just five innings tonight demonstrating that while he is awesome he still has some things he needs to work on.

Mississippi Braves 8, Montgomery Biscuits 5

• Dan Nelson, 3B 3-5, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, BB, .329 Avg
• Ernesto Mejia, 1B 2-6, HR(21), 3 RBI, K, .299 Avg
• Sean Henry, LF 2-5, 2 2B, .216 Avg
• Zeke Spruill 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 4.20 ERA
• Kenshin Kawakami 1 IP , 3 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 7.58 ERA

Zeke Spruill put together his first really good start for the M-Braves tonight and Dan Nelson lead the offense and fell a homer shy of the cycle. Srpuill has put together a nice season between Lynchburg and Mississippi after a tumultuous 2010 season and has put some of the shine back on his star.

Lynchburg Hillcats

Off Day 

Savanah Sand Gnats 3, Rome Braves 4

• Matt Lipka, SS 2-4, 2 K, CS(13), .237 Avg
• Tommy La Stella, 2B 2-4, 2B, K, .326 Avg
• Chris Garcia, 1B 1-1, 3 BB, .324 Avg
• David Rohm, RF 2-4, K, .271 Avg
• Carlos Perez 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, 4.86 ERA

The R-Braves didn't score ten runs tonight but they did enough to get the win and Carlos Perez put together a nice relief outing. The Braves are easing off on his workload late in the season and the extra rest appeared to give him some extra life tonight. Tommy La Stella cracked out two more hits which gives him seven straight games with at least two hits and nine of his last ten games. That is pretty ridiculous. 

Danville Braves 11, Kingsport Mets 2

• Kyle Kubitza, 3B 2-4, 2B, RBI, K, .321 Avg
• Chase Larsson, LF 3-5, HR(8), 2 RBI, K, .235 Avg
• Fernando De Los Santos, 2B 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI, BB, .324 Avg
• Rafael Briceno 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 8 K, 3.14 ERA

The Danville just keeps rolling along and tonight the two big boys (Beckwith and Drury) went just 1-10, but the team still scored eleven runs. Kyle Kubitza is my favorite 2011 draftee so far and he is my darkhorse candidate to take over third from Chipper. Granted I say this after less than 200 pro at bats from him. Fernando De Los Santos is another guy who has come out swinging a good bat this season. His profile reminds me a little of Martin Prado at this point. He is showing some doubles pop and has played all over the diamond. He could be one whose bat develops slowly over and never wows us but ends up being productive anyways. Or I could be full of it. 

GCL Pirates 1, GCL Braves 11

• Carlos Franco, 3B 3-3, 2B, 2 RBI, SB(8), .239 Avg
• Will Skinner, 2-5, 2B, RBI, K, .288 Avg
• Aris Alcantara, 1B 1-4, HR(4), 5 RBI, .269 Avg
• Felix Marte, RF 3-5, 2B, 2 K, .281 Avg
• Seth Moranda, SS 2-4,2B, RBI, BB, .208 Avg
• Frank Lafreniere 7 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 3.79 ERA

The Braves almost pulled off the combined no hitter Yaliar Castro pitched a hitless first inning in rehab and then Frank Lafreniere threw six innings of hitless baseball (he did hit one batter) before giving up a lead off homer in the eighth inning to lose both the no hitter and shutout. Felix Marte is still my favorite hitter on this team but he needs to cut down on the strikeouts a bit. 

DSL Braves

Off Day.

For once it was the bats making a name for themselves this week, especially that duo at Danville. Evan Gattis is about the only person hitting in Rome, but apparently he doesn't care if anyone else in the batting order can protect him. Both Delgado and Teheran had nice outings this week as well. 

Who's Hot?

1. William Beckwith, Danville Braves - 9-25, 5 HR, 10 RBI, 6 BB, 4 K - His three homer night on Sunday cemented Beckwith's spot at the top of this list. He posted a .360/.484/.960 line for the week producing one of the most valuable offensive weeks of the year for a farmhand. He turns 21 this week so I'd like to see him in Rome. But maybe he plays at two or three levels next year if he has similar success. 
2. Evan Gattis, Rome Braves - 12-21, 4 2B, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 3 BB, 4 K - We all know that Gattis is way too old to be playing in the Sally League. It doesn't mean he isn't destroying it though. He doesn't currently qualify but he would be leading the league in SLG and OPS if he did and he is just a couple homers off the league lead. His .571/.625/1.047 split is pretty absurd. 
3. Randall Delgado, Gwinnett Braves - 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K - Delgado has not allowed a run in 13 innings since his promotion to Gwinnett and he won't allow any this week either as the Braves recognized his success (and scheduled turn in the rotation) by giving him the start in Atlanta. After spending much of the year just treading water, his last two starts have been a reminder that he is still a top pitching prospect who would be the top guy in a lot of systems. 
4. Brandon Drury, Danville Braves - 15-31, 2B, HR, 5 RBI, 0 BB, 5 K - It seems like Drury and Beckwith are on this list every week.  Of course when you hit .469 in any given week its going to get you placed pretty high on this list. Drury has yet to take a walk this month, which is a concern, but at 18 years old and with the contact and power he is showing I'll wait and see if it becomes a problem. 

Honorable Mention: Gwinnett - Eric Cordier, Julio Teheran, Todd Redmond, Mauro Gomez, Wilkin Ramirez; Mississippi - Ernesto Mejia, Mycal Jones; Lynchburg Hillcats - Joey Terdoslavich, Andrelton Simmons, Joe Leonard, Todd Cunningham David Hale, Gary Moran; Rome Braves - Matt Weaver, Tommy La Stella, Chris Garcia, Robby Heffligner, Sean Gilmartin, Willie Kempf; Danville Braves - Nick Ahmed, J. R Graham, Adam Holland, David Filak.

Who's Not?

1. Edward Salcedo, Rome Braves - 2-18, RBI, 2 BB, 4 K, 2 SB - It was just last month that Salcedo was blowing up offensively, but he followed that hot streak up with his longest and deepest slump of the season. He has yeat to collect and extra base hit this month and is hitting just .190 so far. I don't know if he is getting tired, is bored or has gotten something completely out of whack in his swing. 
2. Carlos Perez, Rome Braves - 4 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 6 BB, 4 K - Perez has had an up and down season though recently he has been pitching well. His command has been an issue all season long and this week's start was no different as he had issues keeping the ball down and he was hit hard while giving up six walks. 
3. Matt Lipka, Rome Braves - 2-21, 2B, RBI, BB, 3 K - Lipka's name seemingly appears on this list every week. His .573 OPS is a huge disappointment and with a .577 OPS in August he is actually in the middle of his second best month of the season. 
4. Stefan Gartrell, Gwinnett Braves - 3-21,  2 RBI, 6 BB, 7 K - Gartrell put on a power show in June and July but August has seen him backslide with just one homer this month and a .544 OPS. Oddly, he has already walked more this month than he has in any other prior month and his plate discipline has improved each month of the season. If the power comes back he could be even more of a force than before. 

Dishonorable Mention: Gwinnett Braves - Yohan Flande; Mississippi Braves - Luis Avilan, Benino Pruneda, Zeke Spruill, Matt Crim; Phil Gosselin; Rome Braves - David Rohm, Tony Mueller, Kyle Rose, Ronan Pacheco; Danville Braves - Kurt Fleming, Edison Sanchez, Dan Jurik.

The rain affected a couple of games tonight but it didn't stop William Beckwith from exploding in Burlington. Gwinnett didn't look good in their game against Matt Fox and Mississippi got shut down against a top draft pick from this year's draft. Rome did deliver some power in place of the Lynchburg game getting cancelled. 

Pawtucket Red Sox 5, Gwinnett Braves 0

• J. J. Hoover 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K, 8.22 ERA

The G-Braves got shut down by journeyman Matt Fox in this one. Fox went the distance and allowed just two hits and one walk while throwing just 99 pitches. Brandon Hicks picked up one of the hits when he replaced Tyler Pastornicky who left the game in the sixth inning with a leg injury.

Mississippi Braves 4, Mobile BayBears 5

• Mycal Jones, CF 1-4, BB, K, SB(9), .239 Avg
• Dan Nelson, 3B 3-4, 2B, RBI, SB(2), .329 Avg
• Cory Harrilchak, RF 2-4, 3B, RBI, 2 K, .248 Avg

The M-Braves went up against Trevor Bauer - the third pick from this year's draft and possessor of nasty stuff - in his first appearance in AA. Bauer is on the fast track after pitching just two games in A ball before making the jump. Luckily for the Braves Arizona is still stretching him out because he shut them down for five innings while striking out eight. Their luck didn't last however as Benino Pruneda allowed the winning run to score when he made an error on a pickoff allowing the runner to advance from first to third. He later scored on a single. 

Lynchburg Hillcats @ Wilmington BlueRocks

This one was cancelled due to rain.

Rome Braves 8, Greenville Drive 4

• Matt Weaver, SS 2-4, 2B, 3B, BB, K, .297 Avg
• Tommy La Stella, 2B 2-4, HR(5), 2 RBI, .262 Avg
• Evan Gattis, C 3-4, HR(19), 2 RBI, K, .309 Avg
• Robby Hefflinger, LF 2-4, HR(8), 2 RBI, K, .266 Avg

The impressive part about the Braves offensive outburst in this game is that four of the nine hitters went hitless, but when the guys that are hitting are hitting for power it doesn't matter as much. Matt Weaver is finally starting to add a little power to his game as he has now equaled his July extra base hit total in about half the at bats in August. Robby Hefflinger has always been a guy that looks like he should hit for power but it has never come through in games. He has three homers in  his last ten games but he still isn't hitting many doubles either. Evan Gattis would lead the league in SLG and OPS if he qualified. 

Danville Braves 10, Burlington Royals 2 - 7 Innings

• Nick Ahmed, SS 3-3, HR(4), 2 RBI, BB, SB(15), .267 Avg
• Brandon Drury, 2B 3-5, 2B, RBI, .351 Avg
• William Beckwith, DH 3-3, 3 HR(11), 5 RBI, BB, .299 Avg
• Chase Larsson, LF-CF 2-4, 2B, K, .239 Avg

William Beckwith has been on a tear over the past week but tonight he put up the line of any Braves hitter this season. He was up to bat for the fifth time in the eighth inning when the game was called because of rain. Drury had another great night as well and has raised his average 25 points in the last 10 games and has 11 hits in his last four games. 

Brian McCann hit a homer in his second rehab game in Gwinnett and promptly declared himself healthy. I drool over what our lineup will be like with everyone together now. Todd Redmond backed up McCann's homer with another solid pitching performance and Chris Masters took a no hitter into the sixth inning but picked up a no decision when Andrelton Simmons committed a walk off error. 

Pawktucket Red Sox 2, Gwinnett Braves 4

• Brian McCann, C 1-3, HR, K, .333 Avg 
• Mauro Gomez, 1B 3-4, 2B, .279 Avg
• Wilkin Ramirez, RF 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .262 Avg
• Todd Redmond 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 6 K, 2.84 ERA

Todd Redmond tossed another gem for Gwinnett and Brian McCann homered in what will probably be his last game rehabbing for Gwinnett. Redmond continues to dazzle at AAA and should probably get a chance somewhere, but it most likely won't be with the Braves. Tyler Pastornicky did pick up a hit tonight as well. Gwinnett currently sits one game behind Durham in the division. 

Mississippi Braves 3, Mobile BayBears 11

• Mycal Jones, CF 2-5, PO, .239 Avg
• Willie Cabrera, 2B 2-5, 2B, 3B, K, .267 Avg
• Ernesto Mejia, 1B 1-3, RBI, BB, 2 K, .294 Avg
• Braeden Schlehuber, C 2-4, 2B, RBI, 2 K, .250 Avg

Not much went right for the M-Braves tonight especially on the pitching side of things. The starter, Shafer, gave up six runs (five in the fifth) in less than five innings and the relief didn't give much relief. The offense collected thirteen hits but couldn't capitalize on their many opportunities The defense also committed five errors, three from Donell Linares. 

Lynchburg Hillcats 2, Wilmington BlueRocks 3

• Todd Cunningham, CF 1-4, .291 Avg
• Andrelton Simmons, SS 1-4, 2B, .299 Avg
• Christian Bethancourt, C 0-2, RBI, BB, 2 K, .238 Avg
• Chris Masters 8 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 3 BB,  9 K, 3.28 ERA

Chris Masters and  Justin Marks were locked in a tough pitcher's duel for most of the game with Masters holding the BlueRocks hitless until they broke through for two runs in the sixth inning. The Hillcats got the runs back in the top of the seventh but Eliecer Cardenas came on in relief in the ninth inning and gave up two consecutive singles before Andrelton Simmons committed the walkoff error. That's a tough way to lose a game. 

Asheville Tourists 2, Rome Braves 7

• Evan Gattis, DH 2-4, 2 2B, RBI, BB, K, .303 Avg
• Edward Salcedo, 3B 1-2, RBI, K, .262 Avg
• Matt Weaver, RF 2-3, 2 2B, 2 RBI, BB, .289 Avg
• Willie Kempf 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R(1 ER), 3 BB, 8 K, 3.38 ERA

Rome's offense broke out tonight against the Tourists scoring more than five runs for just the second time this month. Willie Kempf tossed his best game of the season but at  23 years old he should be doing this at least one level higher and probably two. Edward Salcedo went 1-2 tonight but he is hitting just .211 this month and appears to be tiring out a bit. 

Danville Braves 9, Burlington Royals 2

• Nick Ahmed, SS 3-5, SB(14), .255 Avg
• Chase Larsson, LF-CF 1-3, HR(7), 3 RBI, 2 BB, K, SB(5), .232 Avg
• Brandon Drury, 2B 2-4, HR(8), 2 RBI, 2 K, .245 Avg
• Sam Munson, RF 2-5, 2 RBI, K, .281 Avg
• Kurt Fleming, CF 2-4, RBI, .250 Avg
• David Filak 6 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 6.07 ERA

Danville's offense blew up tonight behind Larsson and Drury's home runs and David Filak never looked back. 2011 has been an incredibly rough year for Filak who posted a 7.54 ERA in Rome and still has a 6.07 for Danville even after tonight's game. He may be showing signs of turning it around however after throwing 11 innings and allowing just two runs and nine strikeouts in his last two outings. 

GCL Braves 8, GCL Blue Jays 6

• Logan Robbins, SS 1-5, HR(6), 4 RBI, .222 Avg
• Aris Alcantara, 1B 2-5, 2B, HR(3), K, .281 Avg

The Braves were down 6-2 going into the top of the ninth inning. Aris Alcantara led off the inning with a double and the Braves eventually collected two runs and had the bases loaded with two outs when Logan Robbins hit the go ahead grand slam. Expectations for Alcantara were high after he showed excellent plate discipline and moderate power in the DSL last year but he got off to a slow start. August has been a change of pace however as he has posted a .980 OPS this month. 

DSL Braves 3, DSL Angels 6

• Jose Peraza, SS 1-4, 2B, RBI, 2 K, .287 Avg

Jose Peraza has been in a mini-slump lately and hopefully getting an extra base hit will help him break out of it. 

There wasn't much winning going on outside the Appy League for the Braves tonight but some interesting performances none the less. Julio Teheran put together a very solid start for Gwinnett in Brian McCann's rehab start. William Beckwith and Brandon Drury continue to be the driving force behind the Danville offense and Joey Terdoslavich has 64 extra base hits. Should we start taking bets on what he ends up with?

Pawtucket Red Sox 5, Gwinnett Braves 3

• Matt Young, CF 2-4, BB, K, .278 Avg
• Tyler Pastornicky, SS 0-3, 2 BB, .385 Avg
• Brian McCann, DH 1-3, RBI, .333 Avg
• Brandon Hicks, 2B 3-5, K, SB(7), 263 Avg
• Wilkin Ramirez, LF 1-4, HR(8), BB, K, SB(12), .258 Avg
• Julio Teheran 7 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 5 K, 2.16 ERA

Brian McCann's rehab started tonight and he picked up an RBI in the sixth but was quiet otherwise. Julio Teheran went seven innings for the first time since June 25 and threw 106 pitches. He gave up single runs in the fourth and seventh innings and put together a really solid start. Wilkin Ramirez gave a sampling of everything that has made him interesting and frustrating as a prospect with power and strikeouts and steals. He is the kind of guy that will hang around forever because someone will always believe in his tools. 

Mississippi Braves 1, Mobile BayBears 8

• Ernesto Mejia, 1B 1-3, HR(19), 2 K, .294 Avg

There just wasn't much going right for the M-Braves in this one. Tyler Skaggs shut the offense down allowing just two hits on the night and surrendering no walks. Mycal Jones did go 1-4. 

Lynchburg Hillcats 3, Wilmington Blue Rocks 9

• Joey Terdoslavich, 1B 2-3, 3B, RBI, BB, .279 Avg
• L.V. Ware, CF 2-4, 2B, .254 Avg
• Mark Lamm 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 3.00 ERA

The Hillcats got hit hard in this one with Matt Crim giving up six runs in four innings. Joey Terdoslavich still did what he does by collecting yet another extra base hit. In fact, in his last ten games he has ten hits, but nine of them have gone for extra bases. Unfortunately my boy Todd Cunningham didn't collect a hit tonight.

Asheville Toursits 4, Rome Braves 3

• Chris Garcia, 1B 1-4, HR(13), .319 Avg
• Tommy La Stella, 2B 2-3, .261 Avg
• Robby Hefflinger, LF 1-3, HR(7), 2 RBI, K, .264 Avg
• Carlos Perez 4 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 6 BB, 4 K, 4.88 ERA
• Cody Martin 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 1.59 ERA

The top three hitters for Rome combined to reach base zero times in this one. Add in Carlos Perez' poor outing and the Braves didn't have much of a chance in this one. Cody Martin has been solid in relief for Rome, but he has a four pitch repertoire and the Braves haven't been shy about trying relievers as starters recently. Don't be surprised if he is starting games next season.  

Danville Braves 8, Burlington Royals 3

• Brandon Drury, 3B 4-5, RBI, .342 Avg
• William Beckwith, DH 1-3, HR(8), 2 RBI, 2 BB, .287 Avg
• Sam Munson, RF 3-5, 3B, 4 RBI, .277 Avg

Brandon Drury must find a hit in each shoe when he wakes up each morning. He has actually been a little schizo so far this season with a .585 OPS in June, then 1.047 in July and then just .612 in August before tonight. His extra base power is down a little after a .645 SLG last month. Beckwith has been very consistent so far despite the drop in his batting average. 

GCL Blue Jays 5, GCL Braves 8

• Felix Marte, RF 1-4, HR(5), 3 RBI, 2 K, .261 Avg
• Brian Stamps, CF 2-3, HR(2), K, .203 Avg
• Wei Huang 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 3.86 ERA

The Braves pullout the win against the Blue Jays who are just a half game ahead of them in standings. Felix Marte picked up his fifth homer of the season and currently has an .811 OPS for the year. Eduardo Castillo gave up five runs in four innings of work and has consistently give up three or four runs in all but one of his outings this season. 

DSL Braves @ DSL Tigers

Not reported. 

There were several nice performances tonight including both of the Flying Delgados pitching well. Randall has yet to allow a run in AAA and Dimaster has been solid this year. Todd Cunningham has been a hitting machine since his return from the DL and 2011 first round draft pick Sean Gilmartin made his first appearance in Rome. 

Gwinnett Braves 1, Scranton/WB 0

• Brandon Hicks, 2B, 1-3, HR(15), K, .257 Avg
• Wil Nieves, C 3-3, .370 Avg
• Randall Delgado 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K, 0.00 ERA

The Braves picked up their only run on a second inning homer from Brandon Hicks, but that is all Randall Delgado needed in his quest to never allow a run in AAA. So far in two outings for Gwinnett he has this line: 13 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 5 BB, 15 K. Up to his promotion I would have said that Delgado had put together a nice consolidation season after his breakout campaign: his strikeouts were still there, the walks were still a problem, but he hadn't really improved much or backtracked either. But now with a change of scenery he has put together two of his best starts of the season against some of the toughest competition he has faced. Obviously I'm not say he has taken a massive step forward but sometimes when a guy has a quiet season you forget about the things that make him great. And Randall Delgado is still great.

Mississippi Braves 2, Mobile BayBears 4

• Mycal Jones, CF 1-5, 2B, 3 K, .236 Avg
• Cory Harrilchak, RF 3-4, K, .246 Avg
• Zeke Spruill 7 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 6 BB, 2 K, 5.00 ERA

I am not real sure how someone can give up six walks in a game and still go seven innings with just 93 pitches thrown. That is better pitch management than our major league staff. The impressive part was Spruill didn't give up a run till the sixth inning when he gave up two homers for a total of four runs. Unfortunately for the Braves Spruill was up against recovering super-prospect Jarrod Parker who shut the Braves down even without his best stuff. 

Lynchburg Hillcats 4, Wilmington BlueRocks 1

• Todd Cunningham, CF 3-5, K, SB(14), .297 Avg
• Andrelton Simmons, SS 2-5, RBI, CS(14), .300 Avg
• Joe Leonard, 3B 1-4, 2B, RBI, BB, K, .263 Avg
• Dimaster Delgado 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 6 K, 3.87 ERA
• Eliecer Cardenas 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB 2 K, 0.79 ERA

Randall Delgado wasn't the only Delgado throwing a nice game tonight as Dimaster had a very nice start and has had a nice return from broken leg last year. He is still just 22 years old so there is still time left on his prospect clock, though he will have to get his walks under control. Todd Cunningham collected three more hits tonight and has seven multi hit games in his last ten. Eliecer Cardenas has been downright dominant in Lynchburg this year striking out 12.4 per nine innings while allowing just 24 hits in 44 innings. He has given up 21 walks as well and he got absolutely hammered in five appearances in AA but his slider can be nasty when he trusts it. His fastball isn't anything special however. 

Asheville Tourists 2, Rome Braves 4

• Evan Gattis, DH 3-4, .304 Avg
• Sean Gilmartin 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 0.00 ERA
• Matt Chaffee 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 1.32 ERA

Sean Gilmartin made his full season debut against another top prospect in Tyler Matzek. Gilmartin went less than three innings but his performance was impressive and the Braves ended up with the win. The only red flag with Gilmartin's start is that he induced zero groundballs. Gilmartin gets a lot of comparisons to Mike Minor because of his repertoire and college success and I wouldn't be surprised to see him have the same kind of ascent to the majors that Mike Minor has had especially considering that he has added velocity over the last year. His fastball is currently average but if the Braves can work magic with him we could have have another breakout lefty. But we must remember that what happened with Minor isn't a typical outcome. We must temper our expectations. 

Elizabethton Twins 4, Danville Braves 0

• Brandon Drury, DH 2-4, .330 Avg
• William Beckwith, 1B 2-4, K, .286 Avg

The D-Braves offense was absolutely shut down with Beckwith and Drury collecting four of the total five hits. No batter after the cleanup spot collected a hit and the bottom four hitters went 0-12 with nine strikeouts. There just wasn't much going on for Danville tonight. 

GCL Braves 1, GCL Pirates 2 -  7 Innings

• Will Skinner, RF 1-3, 2B, K, .280 Avg
• Matt Talley 5 IP, 3H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 3.47 ERA

The GCL Braves finally got to play a game but they brought their taxi squad to the first game of the day. Matt Talley, out of the Citadel, tossed a nice game but Jean Carlos Gil (a nice breakout prospect to keep your eye on) came in to close the game out and gave up a couple of runs on an error. 

GCL Pirates 1, GCL Braves 5 - 7 Innings

• Aris Alcantara, 1B 2-2, 2B, SB(6), .280 Avg
• Carlos Franco, 3B 2-3, 3 RBI, .227 Avg
• Kenshin Kawakami 2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 15.00 ERA

This team was a bit better than the on fielded in the first game and hey! they even had a real major league pitcher as their starter! Well sort of. I don't even know what to think about Kawakami anymore. Is he hurt? Are the Braves trying to see how far they can banish him?

DSL Blue Jays @ DSL Braves

Not reported. 

Another good night for the winz but nothing super exciting from the player side of the recaps. David Hale did have a nice start for the Hillcats and JJ Hoover picked up his first AAA save. Pastornicky is still putting up multiple hit games but the hot hitters in Lynchburg fell short. The GCL Braves may never play another game. 

Gwinnett Braves 4, Scranton/WB Yankees 2

• Matt Young, DH 2-4, K, .278 Avg
• Tyler Pastornicky, SS 2-4, CS(3), .416 Avg
• Stefan Gartrell, RF 2-2, RBI, 2 BB, .265 Avg
• Wilkin Ramirez, LF 2-4, 2B, 2 K, CS(3), .262 Avg
• JJ Hoover 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 9.45 ERA

The Braves have taken three of four from the Yankees in a five game series and neither team has scored more than four runs in any game. That means tomorrow the score will be 20-19. Tyler Pastornicky is closing in on 100 plate appearances in the AAA and he is still hitting over .400 after compiling a .299 average for Mississippi. J.J. Hoover made a triumphant return to AAA tonight after getting roughed up as a starter a couple of months back. His conversion to a bullpen role is looking pretty permanent at this point.

Mississippi Braves 5, Mobile BayBears 4

• Willie Cabrera, LF 2-5, CS(4), .271 Avg
• Ernesto Mejia, 1B 2-5, HR(18), 2 RBI, 2 K, .296 Avg
• Ed Lucas, SS 3-4, .271 Avg
• Mycal Jones, CF 1-2, 2 RBI, .236 Avg

The Braves pick up the win behind solid pitching from the bullpen and some timely hits. Remember back in spring training when Ed Lucas was in serious consideration for the utility spot on the bench after a very nice AAA season in the PCL. He never got going in Gwinnett and has since been moved down to Mississippi where he is putting up OK numbers but nothing close to what he did in the offense inflated PCL last year. Willie Cabrera is another guy who had a very good season last year but just hasn't regained the magic this year. He was never going to be more than a fourth outfielder and last year may have been his peak season. 

Kinston Indians 4, Lynchburg Hillcats 3 - 10 Innings

• Andrelton Simmons, SS 2-4, 2B, BB, .299 Avg
• Gerry Rodriguez, DH 2-5, HR(8), 2 RBI, .206 Avg
• David Hale 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R(2 ER), 2 BB, 6 K, 3.44 ERA

David Hale notched another solid start for the Hillcats but for once the offense couldn't get going. Cunningham, Terdoslavich and Gosselin all went hitless in the game. Hale continues to impress as a starter allowing less than a hit an inning and striking out 7.3 per nine innings. 

Asheville Toursits 3, Rome Braves 6

• Matt Lipka, SS 1-5, 2B, .238 Avg
• Chris Garcia, 1B 1-2, HR(12), 2 BB, K, .324 Avg
• Evan Gattis, C 1-1, 2B, 2 BB, .297 Avg
• Ryan Delgado, DH 2-3, 3B, RBI, K, .207 Avg
• Caleb Brewer 5 IP, 3 H, 3 R(1 ER), 3 BB, 7 K, 5.32 ERA
• Chasen Shreve 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, 3.86 ERA

Caleb Brewer continues to struggle with his control but tonight he had the strikeout pitch working tonight. Chasen Shreve came in relief and walked some guys while collecting a few strikeouts as well. Evan Gattis is still way better than the competition in the Sally League as is semi-journeyman Chris Garcia. 

Elizabethton Twins 3, Danville Braves 0

• Nick Ahmed, SS 3-4, BB, .247 Avg
• Edison sanchez, DH 1-3, BB, K, .292 Avg
• Fernando De Los Santos, RF 3-4, K, .333 Avg
• Joe Lucas 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 1.89 ERA

The Braves collected a lot of hits tonight (ten total with three walks), but couldn't capitalize on any opportunities. Neither Brandon Drury or William Beckwith reached base and that probably had a lot to do with the lack of scoring. The pitching staff was solid as youngster Ernesto Silva (who looks like a 13 year old in his MILB picture) threw just three innings but allowed just one hit. 

GCL Braves @ GCL Pirates

Yet another rain out for the GCL Braves.

DSL Braves @ DSL Angels Gm 1

DSL Braves @ DSL Angels Gm 2

Not reported. 

 Not a super exciting night tonight in terms of prospects. Cunningham continues to be awesome since his return from the DL and Gosselin is showing some signs of life after a mini slump. J.R Graham has been pretty fantastic for an already fantastic Danville pitching staff. 

Gwinnett Braves 3, Scanton/WB Yankees 4

• Matt Young, LF 2-4, K, .271 Avg
• Tyler Pastornicky, SS 1-3, .390 Avg
• Brandon Hicks, 2B 1-4, 2B, K, .271 Avg

The Yankees delivered the walkoff win in the bottom of ninth to defeat the Braves. Gwinnett is now three games back in the division race and they are second in the wild card for the league as well. Yohan Flande tossed a nice game but  the offense couldn't capitalize on their few opportunities. 

Carolina Mudcats 4, Mississippi Braves 3

• Cory Harrilchak, RF 1-4, 3B, .241 Avg
• Braeden Schlehuber, C 2-3, BB, .225 Avg

This one was tied going into the seventh inning and Jordan Kreke single handedly cost the Braves three unearned runs in the inning by committing two errors. The Braves got two back in the bottom of the inning but it wasn't enough against a Mudcats staff with a combined ERA well over five. 

Kinston Indians 0, Lynchburg Hillcats 9

• Todd Cunningham, CF 3-3, 2 BB, SB(13), .297 Avg
• Phil Gosselin, 2B 2-4, HR(6), 4 RBI, BB, .264 Avg
• Joey Terdoslavich, DH 1-4, 2B, RBI, K, .280 Avg
• Joe Leonard, 3B 2-3, RBI, 2 BB, .263 Avg
• LV Ware, LF 1-3, HR(7), 3 RBI, BB, K, .250 Avg
• Gary Moran 8 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 8 K, 0.00 ERA

The Hillcats jumped out to an early lead with five runs in the first two innings behind a Phil Gosselin homer and then added four more behind a big night from Cunningham and a three run shot from LV Ware. The offense didn't need to get much on the board with Gary Moran completely shutting down the Indians' offense. He allowed just the one hit on the night and gave up 12 groundballs to just 2 flyballs. And for my nightly love of Todd Cunningham: he has gotten on base twelve times in the last three games (ten times in the last two!!!). 

Rome Braves

Off Day!

Elizabethton Twins 3, Danville Braves 2 -  10 Innings

• Nick Ahmed, SS 2-5, 2B, SB(12), .236 Avg
• Brandon Drury, 3B 2-4, RBI, K, .333 Avg
• J.R. Graham 6 IP, 7 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, 1.85 ERA

J. R Graham tossed another solid game tonight but after getting a walkoff win last night the Braves surrendered two runs in the top of the ninth inning to tie and then gave up the winning run in the tenth. Edison Sanchez didn't pick up a hit tonight which ended his 12 game hitting streak which stretched way back to July 23. Daniel Lopez gave up a couple of runs which were his first allowed for Danville. In case you were wondering Danville has had the best pitching staff in the Appy League this season and it isn't really close. They lead the league in ERA, strikeouts, WHIP, fewest HR allowed and hits allowed. Walks are the only thing they don't lead in but when your pitching staff as whole is striking out a batter an inning you must be doing something right.

GCL Braves @ GCL Phillies

GCL Phillies @ GCL Braves

Rain out!

DSL Tigers 4, DSL Braves 5

• Luis Cabarello, SS 2-5, K, .194 Avg
• Gustavo Gomez, 2B 2-3, 2B, 2 BB, .179 Avg
• Victor Velazquez, C 2-3, .158 Avg
• Abraham Espinosa 4 IP, 3 H, 2 R(0 ER), 1 BB, 5 K, 1.81 ERA

To exacerbate the fact that I know very little about most of the DSL players the Braves apparently played their taxi squad today because I don't recognize half the lineup. Abraham Espinozsa I do recognize and this kid needs to get a call up, though this late in the year in the DSL seems unlikely to me. He is having a very similar season to last year with a little bit higher walk rate but similar hits allowed and a little bit higher ERA, but 1.41 to 1.81 isn't really much. 

A winning night from most of the affiliates with only the DSL and Rome taking losses. Offense was on display in Lynchburg and Danville. Andrelton Simmons and Todd Cunningham both had sexy games and William Beckwith launched the D-Braves into first place with a walk off homer in the 12th inning. Todd Redmond has quietly been one of the best pitchers in AAA this season and tonight he had one of his best games. 

Gwinnett Braves 3, Scranton/WB 1

• Matt Young, CF 2-5, 2B, K, .267 Avg
• Tyler Pastornicky, SS 0-3, BB, K, SB(6), .392 Avg
• Brandon Hicks, 3B 1-3, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K, .261 Avg
• Todd Redmond 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 10 K, 2.91 Avg

Todd Redmond picked up his eighth win of the season with one of his best outings of the year. Redmond has been the model of consistency this season as he has allowed more than three runs just three times this season. Pastornicky didn't pick up a hit tonight which ended his 12 game hitting streak but he did get on base and he picked up another steal. 

Carolina Mudcats 3, Mississippi Braves 7

• Mycal Jones, CF 0-3, RBI, BB, 2 SB(8), .238 Avg
• Aaron Schafer 2-3, 2B, K, 5 IP, 5 H, 3 R(0 ER), 1 BB, 3 K, 4.22 ERA
• JJ Hoover 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 2.66 ERA

A bit of a ho-hum seven runs for the Braves in this one with only player - Aaron Schafer the pitcher -  collecting more than one hit or an extra base hit. Schafer pitched solidly in his second AA start though errors led to him surrendering three unearned runs. Hoover continues to look impressive in the bullpen, though chances of him coming to Atlanta this season are looking slim since Varavaro has been pitching well. 

Kinston Indians 6, Lynchburg Hillcats 11

• Todd Cunningham, CF 1-2, 2B, RBI, 3 BB, .289 Avg
• Andrelton Simmons, SS 3-5, 3B, 7 RBI, SB(18), .300 Avg
• Joey Terdoslavich, 1B 1-4, 2B, RBI, 2 K, .281 Avg
• Christian Bethancourt, C 1-5, RBI, 2 K, SB(2), .240 Avg
• Elier Cardenas 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 0.81 ERA

I am starting to get a little excited about Todd Cunningham. He was the forgotten man coming into the season even after being our second round draft pick last year. Since coming off the DL he has also flashed some newfound power. He has 18 extra base hits on the season and six of them have come since the start of August. Add in his ability to take walks and steal some bases and you have the makings of a solid center fielder. Andrelton Simmons also had himself a game tonight collecting seven RBI on a three hit night. He also knocked a run across on an error. So he was actually responsible for eight runs on the night. 

Rome Braves 3, Augusta GreenJackets 7

• Matt Lipka, SS 1-5, 3B, .239 Avg
• Edward Salcedo, 3B 1-4, BB, K, SB(18), .266 Avg
• Evan Gattis, C 3-4, 2B, HR(18), K, .295 Avg
• Tommy La Stella, DH 2-4, 2B, RBI, .262 Avg
• Cody Martin 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 1.74 ERA

Rome got out to an early lead in this one but the offense sputtered out and the pitching gave up seven runs behind some porous defense from Edward Salcedo and Matt Weaver who both committed two errors. I always get excited when I see Evan Gattis racking up hits and then I realize he is 25 in in the Sally League. I am really liking this La Stella kid though. He has flashed some nice power and an excellent eye at the plate. If he gets his batting average up you would see him with .800+ OPS. 

Bristol White Sox 3, Danville Braves 5 - 12 Innings

• Brandon Drury, 2B-3B 2-6, K, .330 Avg
• William Beckwith, DH 1-3, HR(7), 3 RBI, 2 BB, .289 Avg
• Adam Holland 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 3.24 ERA

This one went into extras with the teams tied at two. The Sox picked up a run in the top of the 12th inning but the Braves rallied in the bottom of the inning and William Beckwith launched a three run homer for the walkoff win. While his average has fallen off a bit, Beckwith has still been collecting extra base hits and walks and has an OPS well north of .950 on the season. The win also propels the Braves into first place in their division. 

GCL Braves @ GCL Phillies 

Postponed due to torrential rain in the gulf. 

DSL Braves 3, DSL Rangers 5

• Jose Peraza, SS 0-3, BB, K, SB(26), .284 Avg
• Robinson Arno, 3B 2-4, 2B, RBI, .235 Avg

The DSL team has a serious lack of offensive firepower with just Emmanuel Daniel and Jose Peraza having anywhere close to above average seasons. Peraza's speed is pretty ridiculous though his 26 steals have him just barely in the top ten in the DSL. Steal numbers are crazy in general in the DSL. 

Just the Hillcats picked up a win tonight with good pitching and more crushing from Joey Terdoslavich. Todd Cunningham may be the most overlooked prospect in the organization this year. He hasn't blown the world away this year but he has been solid after starting at High A in his first professional season.

Gwinnett Braves

Off Day

Mississippi Braves 3, Jackson Generals 5

• Willie Cabrera, LF 2-5, RBI, K, .270 Avg
• Ernesto Mejia, 1B 2-4, 2 2B, K, .302 Avg
• Donell Linares, 3B 2-4, 2B, RBI, .278 Avg

Aaron Shafer's first game for Mississippi didn't go as well as he planned as he allowed five runs in 5.2 innings of work. Ernesto Mejia continues to mash opposing pitchers. With the promotions of Delgado, Vizcaino and Pastornicky I find it hard to stay interested in this team.

Lynchburg Hillcats 7, Frederick Keys 1

• Todd Cunningham, CF 2-5, 2B, 2 K, .279 Avg
• Phil Gosselin, DH 1-2, 2 RBI, K, .268 Avg
• Joey Terdoslavich, 1B 1-3, HR(15), 3 RBI, .284 Avg
• Chris Masters 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 2 K, 3.08 ERA

Chris Masters continued his mini bounceback in the second half with another solid outing. He has allowed one run or less in five consecutive starts and has his season ERA down to 3.08. Terdoslavich continues to pound baseballs like they stole something from him. He has hit in six straight games and has racked up a total of seven extra base hits in that span. There is an outside shot he could end up with 80 extra base hits this season which would be pretty incredible.

Greenville Drive 7, Rome Braves 5

• Tommy La Stella, 2B 1-5, 2B, .263 Avg
• Robby Hefflinger, DH 2-4, 2B, RBI, K, .272 Avg
• Matt Weaver, LF 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .304 Avg
• Kyle Rose, CF 1-3, 2B, BB, SB(8), .204 Avg

Caleb Brewer surrendered seven runs in three innings of work and the good start he had to this season is quickly sliding down the tube. Over his last ten games he has given up seven or more runs five times. That is five times in ten games. Actually less than that. I can't say that it is because it is his second or third time through the league or if he is just tiring out because of his injury history and workload. He is supposed to have a live arm but the two months have not been kind.

Danville Braves 4, Princeton Mariners 5

• Elmer Reyes, 2B 3-5, 2B, K, .272 Avg
• Brandon Drury, 3B 1-5, 2B, RBI, .327 Avg
• Edison Sanchez, 1B 3-5, .301 Avg
• Kenny Fleming, CF 2-4, 2 2B, 2 K, .188 Avg
• Adam Holland 3.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 4.26 ERA

Brandon Drury has seen his average fall about 35 points in the last three games after collecting just one hit in that span. He still has just three walks on the season but his power appears to be real and if he can learn some pitch selection he could be really dangerous. Edison Sanchez (one of my favorite Braves prospects) has been a completely different hitter and has been heading in the opposite direction since he started getting regular playing time. He has a seven game hitting streak and has posted a .435 OBP this season though his power hasn't shown up quite like I had expected. Either way I still think he is one of the biggest sleepers in the system and I would be surprised to see him break out in the next season or two. Adam Holland has now struck out 16 hitters in his last 6.1 innings. 

GCL Tigers 10, GCL Braves 0

• Logan Robbins, SS 1-4, K, .242 Avg

There weren't a whole lot of positive things going on this game for the Braves. They had eight hits as a team but no one player had more than one. The pitching was worse.

DSL Tigers @ DSL Braves

Tropical storms put almost all of the DSL on hold today.

Sorry for the late post on this one, had a lot of stuff going on with work and moving this week. For once it was much easier to fine good players than bad players over the last week. It was also a weird week with our top two starters having one excellent game and one not so excellent one. Delgado brought prospect purgatory back with his performance but Teheran didn't make either list. 

Who's Hot?

1. Tyler Pastornicky, Gwinnett Braves - 11-26, 2B, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 SB, 1 CS - Since his promotion to Gwinnett, Pastornicky has gone hitless in just one game and has recorded multiple hits in nine of his twelve games. His hot start at AAA has been fairly empty (just one extra base hit) but any time you hit .423 no one is going to complain.
2. David Hale, Lynchburg Hillcats - 13 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 10 K - If you read our recaps with any regularity you know the story with Hale who has jumped back and forth from the rotation to bullpen ever since he was drafted. The consensus on him coming out of college was that he would be a bullpen arm, but the Braves being the stubbor organization they are decided they would try him in the rotation. That failed so they moved him to the bullpen and he did well. Then back in the bullpen this year he struggled so the Braves gave him another shot in the rotation and lo and behold he has excelled since the move. 
3. Chase Larsson, Danville Braves - 9-22, 2 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K - Larsson is still too old for the league at 22, but week's like this are nice no matter how old you are. His OPS over the last 10 games is north of 1.200 and appears to indicate a need for his promotion.
4. Brandon Drury, Danville Braves - 8-21, 3 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 7 K - Drury is tied for third in the Appy League in batting average and is in the top ten in OPS. He is sporting a .401 wOBA for the season and has gotten better as the season has worn on with a .440 wOBA in July after a meager .262 mark in June. The only chink in his armor so far is his inability to take a walk, but I don't think I would take any walks either if I could hit everything thrown to me. 
5. Joey Terdoslavich, Lynchburg Hillcats - 11-25, 4 2B, HR, 8 RBI, 4 BB, 3 K - It is easy to fall into the belief that Terdoslavich has fallen off since the start of the season, especially after he hit 11 homers in the first two months and has added just three in the last two months. But in 128 ABs since his All Star game he has posted a .320/.385/.500 line (that slugging is just 12 points under what he did in the first two months).

Honorable Mention: Gwinnett -Yohan, Flande, Arodys Vizcaino, Julio Teheran, Jairo Asencio, Todd Redmond, Brandon Hicks, Mauro Gomez; Mississippi Braves - Ernesto Mejia; Lynchburg Hillcats - Chris Masters, L.V Ware; Rome Braves - Chris Garcia, David Rohm, Robby Hefflinger, Caleb Brewer; Danville Braves - Edison Sanchez, Lucas La Point, Daniel Lopez, J. R. Graham, Adam Holland.

Who's Not?

1. Eric Cordier, Gwinnett Braves - 5 IP, 8 H, 8 R(4 ER), 2 BB, 2 K - Cordier started the season well enough, even if he did start it late, but July was a nightmare for him as he posted an 8.06 ERA with as many walks as strikeouts (17 in 22.1 innings). The Braves even game him an extra five days rest this past week but it didn't prove to be any help. 
2. Mycal Jones, Mississippi Braves - 4-21, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 8 K, SB - Jones has had his ups and downs this season and he has been pushed faster than normal because of how old he was when he was drafted. Unfortunately the one thing he was doing really well he has been take walks, but he hasn't been doing that well at all. In June he walked 22 times in 92 ABs. In July he walked just seven times in 100 ABs. 
3. Matt Crim, Lynchburg Hillcats - 1.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 0 K - What makes this week especially bad for Crim is that all of the runs and hits came in an appearance on Saturday where he didn't record an out. Crim is another guy that has switched roles this season but he has been pretty bad as a reliever, posting a 7.01 ERA in 16 games in the role. 
4. Phil Gosselin, Lynchburg Hillcats - 5-26, 4 RBI, 3 BB, 5 K -  Gosselin has put together a nice season and was hitting well coming into July, but the last two weeks have not been kind to the keystone sacker. He has just one extra base hit in his last ten games and his batting average is 40 points lower than his season average for the month of July. 
5. Aaron Northcraft, Rome Braves - 4 IP, 6 H, 5 R(4 ER), 2 BB, 3 K - When Northcraft was promoted he spent a month as the best pitcher in the Rome Rotation but he has come crashing down in the last two months.  Northcraft has an excellent sinker but his stuff is just mediocre, and his second time through the league has caught up with him.

Dishonorable Mention: Gwinnett Braves - NONE!; Mississippi Braves - Willie Cabrera, Marcus Lemon; Lynchburg Hillcats - Christian Bethancourt, Blaine Sims, Dimaster Delgado; Rome Braves - Matt Lipka, Edward Salcedo, Kyle Rose, Ronan Pacheco, Tony Mueller; Danville Braves - Kurt Fleming, William Beckwith.

Several early leads were squandered tonight and only  the short season teams could pull out victories. The Danville squad provided one of the more impressive showings of the year with the pitching staff combining for 19 strikeouts and a four K inning from Adam Holland. 

Indianapolis Indians 10, Gwinnett Braves 5

• Matt Young, CF-2B 2-5, .263 Avg
• Tyler Pastornicky, SS 2-5, K, .435 Avg
• Stefan Gartrell, RF 2-4, HR(23), 4 RBI, .272 Avg
• Arodys Vizcaino 1IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 3.00 ERA
• Jairo Asencio 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 1.34 ERA

Eric Cordier didn't have his best stuff tonight and gave up four runs in each of the first two innings before settling down too little and too late. Tyler Pastornicky continued his assault on AAA pitchers. And by assault I mean pestering. Still, hitting .435 over any stretch of time is impressive and I do think his continued success in AAA is an indication that his hitting abilities have taken a step forward this season. 

Mobile BayBears 4, Mississippi Braves 3

• Cory Harrilchak, RF 2-4, 2B, RBI, K, .244 Avg
• JJ Hoover 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 2.57 ERA

The Braves got out to an early lead in this one with a run in each of the first two but starter Jose Lugo gave up three in the fourth and Mississippi couldn't get it back. Hoover continues to do well in the 'pen though aside from his ERA his peripherals are pretty similar. I still don't get this move. I understand the argument that if he is going to end up in the bullpen why not put him there now and let him get acclimated. Unless they are considering him in Atlanta this season. Then it makes sense.

Salem Red Sox 6, Lynchburg Hillcats 3

• Barrett Kleinknecht, 2B 1-3, HR(4), 2 RBI, .231 Avg
• Joey Terdoslavich, 1B 3-4, 2B, .276 Avg
• David Hale 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 8 K, 3.30 ERA

David Hale just plain dominated for seven innings tonight before his bullpen (mostly Matt Crim) imploded on him. We have been cautiously excited about the progress Hale has made since returning to the rotation and tonight's start was his best. In his six starts he allowed more than one run just once but tonight was the first night that everything clicked and his stuff turned into the strikeout totals you would expect from him. Of course after I stated that Terdoslavich might be tiring out he has three straight multi hit games with three extra base hits.

Rome Braves 7, Lexington Legends 8 - 12 Innings

• Edward Salcedo, 3B 2-6, HR(11), 2 RBI, .266 Avg
• Chris Garcia, 1B 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 BB, .319 Avg
• Robert Hefflinger, DH 2-5, HR(5), 2 RBI, 2 K, .269 Avg
• David Rohm, RF 2-5, RBI, K, .261 Avg

A two run homer from Edward Salcedo in the top of the twelfth inning put the Braves ahead long enough for the Legends to make it really exciting for the home crowd when they score three in the bottom of the twelfth to take the win. Salcedo has been mired in a slump and hopefully this big hit will propel him into another hot streak. Rohm collected his fourth straight multi-hit game though he has just one extra base hit during that span. 

 Danville Braves 3, Elizabethton Twins 2

• Brandon Drury, 3B 0-4, 3 K, .346 Avg
• Edison Sanchez, 1B 1-4, 2B, K, .255 Avg
• Chase Larsson, LF 2-3, 2B, HR(6), 2 RBI, BB, SB(4), .269 Avg
• J. R. Graham 5 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 7 K, 2.67 ERA
• Adam Holland 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 K, 5.79 ERA
• Daniel Lopez 1 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 0.00 ERA

Just stop and look at those pitching numbers for a second. That's right, Adam Holland and Daniel Lopez recorded twelve strikeouts in four innings - the maximum - but Holland allowed a flyout. How you say? He had a four strikeout inning in the sixth after a wild pitch on his first strikeout. The three pitchers combined for 19 Ks. Chase Larsson has homered in three straight now and at 22 years old he needs a shot at the next level. 

GCL Braves 8. GCL Pirates 6

• Todd Cunningham, CF 1-4, 2 RBI, .182 Avg
• Logan Robbins, DH 1-3, HR(5), 2 K, SB(10), .250 Avg
• Felix Marte, RF 2-3, 2B, HR(3), 2 RBI, BB, .269 Avg

The more I look at this year's draft class the more I like it. Last year I got the feeling we went after guys that could play positions - specifically infield positions - and we loaded up on them with the hopes that someone would be able to hit enough to get to the show at one of those positions. This year I think we just went for guys that could hit and hope they can find a spot to play in the field. Logan Robbins is one player that fits that mold. He is a bit old for the GCL but his bat has played well. Another guy that I have secretly been a fan of is Felix Marte. He had a nice season in the DSL last year and has improved his plate discipline this season. He is 20 years old so I would like to see him up at least a level this season, but I think he has some secret potential. 

DSL Braves @ DSL Tigers 

Not reported. 

Gwinnett and Danville get the organization on the board tonight with a couple of wins. Good pitching from Todd Redmond and his bullpen got the win for Gwinnett and Tyler Pastornicky continues to collect singles at an impressive rate. Danville is led by Brandon Drury who just keeps getting better. 

Gwinnett Braves 2, Durham Bulls 0

• Tyler Pastornicky, SS 2-4, K, CS(1), .447 Avg
• Mauro Gomez, 1B 1-4, 3B, RBI, 2 K, .285 Avg
• Brandon Hicks, 3B 2-4, 2 2B, RBI, K, .261 Avg
• Todd Redmond 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 3.02 ERA
• Arodys Vizcaino 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K, 4.50 ERA
• Jairo Asencio 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB 3 K, 1.37 ERA

In case you had not been paying attention Todd Redmond is third in the IL in ERA. Julio Teheran still leads by nearly 3/4 of a run over the next closest person and then Redmond is about the same behind him. This tells me how ridiculously good Teheran has been and how quietly good Redmond has been as well. Brandon Hicks is also putting together his best offensive season of his career. Unfortunately his skillset has not translated to the majors well. Arodys Vizcaino struck out the side tonight on three swinging strikes. I just hope this move to the 'pen is a temporary thing. 

Mobile BayBears 5, Mississippi Braves 3

• Antoan Richardson, LF-CF 2-4, K, .295 Avg
• Donell Linares, 3B 2-3, RBI, BB, .275 Avg
• Ernesto Mejia, 1B 1-4, 2B, RBI, .299 Avg
• Beninio Pruneda 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 3 K, 4.05 ERA

The M-Braves have dropped three straight to the BayBears. At this point about the only reasons I keep up with this team are Randall Delgado and Brett Oberholtzer. Myke Jones is interesting sometimes too. 

Lynchburg Hiilcats 5, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 7

• Joey Terdoslavich, 1B 2-3, RBI, 2 BB, .268 Avg
• Joe Leonard, 3B, 2-5, HR(6), 4 RBI, .254 Avg
• Christian Bethancourt, C 1-4, K, .258 Avg

The Hillcats carried a two run lead into the bottom of the ninth in this games but Ryan Buchter gave up three runs and surrendered a walk-off single to give the Hillcats their third straight loss at the Pelicans' hands. I wonder if Joey Terdoslavich hasn't tired out a little bit as the season has gone on. His power has dropped dramatically and power isn't something that generally just disappears. Either that or he is nursing a minor but unknown injury. 

Rome Braves 5, Lexington Legends 7

• Edward Salcedo, 3B, 1-4, 2 K, .269 Avg
• Chris Garcia, 1B 1-3, 2B, RBI, BB, 2 K, .319 Avg
• Robert Hefflinger, DH 2-3, HR(4), 2 RBI, K, .267 Avg
• David Rohm, RF 3-4, 2 RBI, .257 Avg
• Cody Martin 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K, 0.00 ERA

Edward Salcedo has drifted into a mild slump after being red hot during the middle of the month. He is another guy I expect will probably tire down the stretch. He just hasn't played this kind of rigorous baseball schedule in the past. David Rohm continues to tease me. 

Danville Braves 8, Elizabethon Twins 1

• Brandon Drury, 3B 2-2, 2 HR(6), 3 RBI, HBP, .362 Avg
• William Beckwith, DH 0-2, 2 BB, .288 Avg
• Chase Larsson, 1-4, HR(4), 3 RBI, .245 Avg
• Greg Ross 6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 K, 2.59 ERA

The offensive juggernaut that is the Danville Braves rolls on past perennial rival Elizabethton. Brandon Drury continues to improve at the plate and now has a slight edge over Beckwith in OPS (.988 to .983). His plate discipline is still scary bad, but he makes consistent hard contact and is now starting to drive the ball. Chase Larsson is another guy to keep an eye on. He has a 1.042 OPS over his last ten games after a slow start. 

GCL Braves 4, GCL Phillies 5

• Todd Cunningham, CF 0-2, BB, K, .000 Avg
• Logan Robbins, 2B 1-4, 2B, K, .247 Avg
• Aris Alcantara, 1B 2-4, 2B, .269 Avg

I hate losing to the Phillies no matter what level they are playing at. 

DSL Angels @ DSL Braves

No Reported. 

In a winless night for the organization Mike Minor had a solid start for Gwinnett and Tyler Pastornicky continued to rake in AAA. The teams combined for nine runs in six games tonight and six of those runs came from the GCL Braves. Cole Rohrbough made his first appearance in nearly a year tonight as he looks to return from injury. 

Gwinnett Braves 0, Durham Bulls 4

• Tyler Pastornicky, SS 2-3, BB, SB(4), .441 Avg
• Mike Minor 7 IP, 5 H, 4 R(2 ER), 0 BB, 7 K, 3.14 ERA
• Jairo Asencio 1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, 1.41 ERA

Even when the rest of the Braves offense can't get on board Tyler Pastornicky is still hitting. He still hasn't picked up an extra base hit in AAA but I am loving the steals and he is walking at exactly the same rate compared to his time in Mississippi (SSS caveat). Mike Minor had a solid start for Gwinnett and he may be the trade chip the Braves are most willing to part with. Luis Val....I mean Jairo Asencio has a 1.41 ERA and is a right handed reliever yet the Braves still look to trade for one on the market. 

Mobile BayBears 2, Mississippi Braves 1

• Mycal Jones, CF 1-3, 2B, BB, K, PO, .240 Avg
• Ernesto Mejia, 1B 2-4, RBI, K, .300 Avg
• Paul Clemens 6.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R(0 ER), 4 BB, 4 K, 3.73 ERA

After a very rough stretch in June that saw his ERA rise almost two full runs, Paul Clemens has returned to form in his more recent starts. His July ERA is still 4.81 but that is much better than the 6.85 monstrosity from June. Mycal Jones has quietly turned his season around this month. He is currently on an eight game hitting streak and has posted a .792 OPS in July while knocking ten doubles after collecting just four in his first two months. Also remember his home stadium is a very tough hitters park. 

Lynchburg Hillcats 0, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 5 - Game 1, 7 Innings

• Phil Gosselin, 2B 1-3, .270 Avg
• Zeke Spruill 7 IP, 7 H, 5 R(4 ER), 2 BB, K, 3.19 ERA

Spruill has picked up five complete games this season -  which you don't see in the minors too often - but I think only two of those have been of the nine inning variety. Moving on..

Lynchburg Hillcats 0, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 4 - Game 2, 7 Innings

• Barrett Kleinknecht, 1B 1-2, 2B, .237 Avg

So to recap this double header: four total hits, zero runs score and nine runs allowed. 

Rome

Today was an off day for the league. 

Danville

Off day for the team. 

GCL Phillies 7, GCL Braves 6

• Todd Cunningham, CF 0-2, 2 K
• Gerardo Reyes, 2B 2-4, 2B, RBI, BB, K, 4 SB(12), .279 Avg
• Carlos Franco, 3B 3-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .205 Avg
• Cole Rohrbough 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 0.00 ERA

Today must have been rehab day for the GCL because the team fielded three players on rehab assignments from other minor league teams. Todd Cunningham has been out since June 12 and was actually having a nice solid season before going down. Yeliar Castro also made a relief appearance tonight. The one guy I had completely forgotten about however was Cole Rohrbough. The lefty demolished two levels of A ball in 2007 and fluctuated between good and bad until 2010 when he went down with an arm injury. He is on the comeback trail now and it should be interesting to see what the Braves do with him. He has always posted solid strikeout numbers with plus stuff and and spike curve but his inconsistency form year to year and the injury are obviously concerns. 

DSL Mets1 4, DSL Braves 1

• Jose Peraza, SS 1-3, BB, K, CS(6), .274 Avg
• Emmanuel Daniel, RF 1-4, RBI, 2 K, .295 Avg

Peraza and Daniel continue to be the only real offensive threats the Braves have going for them. 

Gwinnett Braves 9, Durham Bulls 3

• Tyler Pastornicky,  SS 2-4, BB, SB(3), .419 Avg
• Stefan Gartrell, DH 3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI, .271 Avg
• Brandon Hicks, 3B 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, K, .260 Avg
• Julio Teheran  6 IP, 8 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 9 K, 1.67 ERA

Teheran put together maybe his best start of the season and showed the doubters that he does still know how to strike out opposing hitters. Tyler Pastornicky is unimpressed by the purportedly more advanced pitchers that AAA has to offer. Gwinnett and Durham continually battle for the top spot in their division and the Braves are currently just one game back.

Mobile BayBears 14, Mississippi Braves 6

• Ed Lucas, SS 2-4, 2B, BB, .300 Avg
• Braeden Schlehuber, C 2-3, 2B, 2 RBI, BB, .333 Avg
• Randall Delgado 2.2 IP, 6 H, 10 R(6 ER), 4 BB, 2 K, 4.00 ERA

Randall Delgado couldn't locate his pitches and his defense (namely Willie Cabrera) wasn't giving him any help. Somewhere along the line I missed that Willie Cabrera had been playing some second base this season. That hasn't gone well and tonight he was so bad they pulled him in the middle of the fifth inning. He managed to make three errors of three different varieties: fielding, throwing and a missed catch. Amazingly he wasn't the only guy in the game with three errors as one of the BayBears also 'accomplished' the feat. 

Lynchburg @ Myrtle Beach

More rain has pushed this game to another day.

Kannapolis Intimidators 8, Rome Braves 9

• Edward Salcedo, 3B 1-5, 3B, .269 Avg
• David Rohm, RF 3-4, HR(4), 2 RBI, .251 Avg
• Ryan Query, C 2-3, 2B, HR(1), 4 RBI, BB, .667 Avg
• Carlos Perez 2.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 3 K, 5.02 ERA

Apparently Julio Teheran took all the pitching goodness in the minors tonight because neither Perez nor Delgado could get out of the third inning. David Rohm continues to tease us with his offensive potential. He gets into some prolonged slumps but then he will have some big games that make you think that hitting ability is finally coming through. I still like his bat and will be intrigued to see what he does in his second professional season.

Pulaski Mariners 1, Danville Braves 4

• Kyle Kubitza, 2-4, 2B, RBI, .292 Avg
• William Beckwith, 1B 0-2, 2 BB, K, .294 Avg
• Lucas La Point 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, 2.02 ERA

Danville continues their hot streak with their seventh win in the last ten games. Kyle Kubitza is hitting .378 over that span with more walks than strikeouts (8BB/6K). His OPS is up to .840 on the season though with less power than I was expecting, but with very good patience. Lucas La Point has been fantastic for the D-Braves though he started the season with some really nice groundball rates but in his last four starts he is surrendering more flyballs. Just something to watch to see what kind of pitcher he turns in to. 

GCL Braves 9 , GCL Yankees 12

• Gerardo Reyes, 2B 2-5, 2B, 2 RBI, K, .268 Avg
• Aris Alcantara, 1B 2-3, 2B, 2 BB, K, .260 Avg
• Will Skinner, LF 1-5, HR(2), 3 RBI, K, .250 Avg

The Braves lost a slugfest with the Yankees even though starter Jean Carlos Gil allowed just three runs in his six innings of work. The bullpen allowed nine runs in the eighth inning to hand the win to the Yankees. 

DSL Braves 3, DSL Blue Jays 2 - 10 Innings

• Jose Peraza, SS 2-5, 2B, .273 Avg
• Victor Velazquez, C 1-3, 2B, BB, K, .136 Avg
• Abraham Espinosa 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 1.97 ERA

After a rough start to the season last year's DSL ace Abraham Espinosa has bounced back and is putting together another solid season. As I always say I don't like his low K rate but I'll take the results and the youth any day. Isn't that right Julio Teheran? Jose Peraza also started the season slow but has hit safely in eight of his last ten with six of those being multi hit games. 

Rain spoiled a couple of games tonight on top of Mississippi already being off. The Danville offense continues to put up lots of runs behind William Beckwith and Brandon Drury with several other guys starting to turn it on as well. David Hale is also showing that he may actually be a starter after all.

Gwinnett Braves 1, Norfolk Tides 1 - Suspended 

Rain pretty much covered the East Coast tonight so it shouldn't be surprising that this one got suspended. Being that the Braves leave town after this game they will attempt to make it up on 8/31. 

Mike Minor will take the hill tomorrow and will likely be under scouts radar as the trade deadline approaches. 

Mississippi Braves -  Off Day

Randall Delgado should take the hill tomorrow in what may be a showcase start for scouts.

Lynchburg Hillcats 4, Myrtle Beach Pelicans 1

• Joey Terdoslavich, 1B 1-4, 2B, RBI, K, .269 Avg
• Keenan Wiley, RF 2-4, 3B, RBI, K, .282 Avg
• David Hale 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 2K, 3.75 ERA

In a complete reversal of fortunes from a year ago, David Hale has proven to be better out of the rotation than the bullpen this year. His ERA in five starts this season is 2.25 against a 5.64 mark as a reliever. While I am glad to see his success I feel it may not be sustainable. His walk rate and strikeout rate are both similar to last year when he had a 4.13 ERA and his groundball rate has regressed somewhat. His stuff is undeniable but I need to see a string of solid starts before I am a believer. 

 It is Dimaster Delgado's turn in the rotation but he pitched in relief tonight. Matt Crim could look to pick up the start.

Kannapolis Initimidators @ Rome Braves - Postponed

More rain around Atlanta. No make up date has been announced yet.

Carlos Perez will look to improve on his season tomorrow against Kannapolis. 

Pulaski Mariners 3, Danville Braves 7

• Nick Ahmed, SS 2-5, 2 2B, K, .271 Avg
• Brandon Drury, 3B 2-4, 2 RBI, K, .352 Avg
• William Beckwith, DH 1-4, 2B, .300 Avg
• Edison Sanchez, 1B 1-3, 2B, RBI, BB, K, .255 Avg
• Chase Larsson, 2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .242 Avg

Brandon Drury continues to rake for the D-Braves with a .390 average over his last 10 games. He is currently fourth in the Appy League with a.355 average and all while he is still just 18 years old. If he goes to Rome next season he will be the same age as Edward Salcedo when he was in Rome. Beckwith has fallen off a little in the batting average department but he has eleven hits in his last ten games and eight of them have been for extra bases. Nick Ahmed has also started to hit with a little authority with six extra base hits of his own in the last eight games. 

GCL Yankees 7, GCL Braves 1

• Logan Robbins, 2B 1-4, 2B, K, .259 Avg
• Felix Marte, RF 1-3, 2B, BB, 2 K, .268 Avg
• Troy Snitker, CF 2-4, 2B, RBI, K, .206 Avg

Braves pitchers gave up two homers to Isais Tejeda -  yet another teenage Dominican from the Yankee ranks. The offense didn't get much going either. Five of Logan Robbins last seven hits have been for extra bases, unfortunately nine of his 16 outs have been via strikeout. He is still putting up an OPS north of .850 though because he is flashing power (.222 ISO) and patience. Maybe we have a three true outcome guy here. 

DSL Braves @ DSL Angels

Not reported. 

Surprisingly it was very hard to find players who had truly bad weeks last week. Many players had less playing time because of the All Star Breaks and most every put together at least moderately good performances. A couple of low level guys get some love with their smoking performance to start the season. 

Who's Hot?

 

1. William Beckwith, Danville Braves - 8-22, 3 2B, 3B, HR, 8 RBI, 2 BB, 5 K, SB - I hope you guys aren't tired of me singing the praises of this guy, because really I'm not going to stop until he stops hitting. His numbers this week translate into a .363/.416/.727 line. Looking at pictures of him you would really never think he is an athlete but he has shown an excellent eye at the plate with superb power and he is even 5/5 in stolen base attempts this season. 
2. Edward Salcedo, Rome Braves - 9-22, 2B, 3B, HR, 4 RBI, BB, 2 K, SB, CS - Salcedo is currently putting together his best month of the season and I expect he will spend his last month in Lynchburg. He hit .409 for the week and if you fudge the numbers and add last Sunday in you get - 12-26, 4 2B, 3B, HR, 5 RBI, BB, 2K, SB, CS which comes out to .461/.481/.808. I'll take that from a 19 year old in A ball. 
3. Oriel L Caicedo, DSL Braves - 11 IP, 5 H, 1 R(0 ER), 3 BB, 7 K, 13-6 GB:FB - Caicedo was one of the Braves top international signings a year ago and already he is showing them what their money is worth. He has a .97 ERA on the season, good for the best in the league among players with more than one start. His strikeouts aren't mind blowing but you can't deny his performance has been phenomenal. 
4. Arodys Vizcaino, Mississippi Braves - 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K - With every good outing Arodys Vizcaino moves back up the prospect charts. Baseball America and Keith Law released their mid season lists this week and Arodys was firmly inside the top 20 on both. 

 

Honorable Mention: Gwinnett - Eirc, Cordier, MIke MInor, Todd Redmond, Juan Abreu; Mississippi - Ernesto Mejia, Cory Harrilchak; Lynchburg - Joey Terdoslavich, Blaine Sims, Aaron Schafer; Rome Braves - Matt Lipka, Chris Garcia; Danville - Brandon Drury, Lucas La Point.

Who's Not?

 

1. David Rohm, Rome Braves - 0-19, 1 BB, 2 K, - There weren't a whole lot of truly bad players in the Braves system this past week but it is difficult to be worse than Rohm was. He had been putting together his best month to date, but this week has turned it into his worst month of the year.
2. Caleb Brewer, Rome Braves - 8.1 IP, 10 H, 12 R(11 ER), 2 HR, 7 BB, 6 K -  Brewer was the best pitcher on this team for most of the first half of the season, but over his last seven starts he has been a runs geyser. I would expect more than doubling his career high in innings has probably had something to do with that.
3. David Filak, Danville Braves - 3.2 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 1 K -  For the year Filak has a combined 8.22 ERA between Rome and Danville and he has allowed 91 hits in 65.1 innings of work along with 41 walks and just 47 strikeouts. It just hasn't been a great year. 
4. Rome Braves -  After being the worst team in their division in the first half, Rome continues their (non)dominance in the second half with the worst record in the league. They sport the third worst OPS and ERA in the league which just makes them all around bad.