SB Nation User Blog: yondaime4

Baseball America's Midseason All Star Team

yondaime4 — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 22:05:34 -0000

Two Braves made the list and of course it is who you think:

Jason Heyward

Team: low Class A Rome (South Atlantic)
Age: 19
Heyward, the prototypical corner-outfield prospect, has delivered on the high hopes the Braves had for him when they took him 14th overall in 2007. He's emerged as the best prospect in the Sally League and is having a historically great season for a teenager. Showing the ability to hit for average and power with some speed mixed in, Heyward ranks among the Sally League's leaders in average, OBP and runs scored.

Tommy Hanson

Team: Double-A Mississippi (Southern) / high Class A Myrtle Beach (Carolina)
Age: 21
Hanson struck out 13 in five no-hit in his season debut, and then was promoted to Double-A after posting an 0.90 ERA in seven starts at high Class A. After a rocky May in Mississippi (2-2, 5.85), Hanson has settled into a groove, going 2-1, 3.27 in June with 31 strikeouts and 12 walks in 33 innings. Oh yeah, and he threw a no-hitter, while striking out 14, on June 25.

Freddie Freeman was also mentioned as an alternate which surprised me a little but then again he has had a very good season. Former Braves with appearances on the list were Mx Ramirez (I would be 100% ok with trading Tex if Ramirez were still with us) as the DH and Neftali Feliz was an alternate starting pitcher.

Minor League Recaps: 7/3

yondaime4 — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:25:20 -0000

Richmond 6, Norfolk 5

J. Anderson 3-4 2B
B. Jones 1-5 2B, 2 RBI, K
S. Thorman 2-5 3B, RBI, K
E. Cruz 2-4 HR(2), 2 RBI, K

Well the Braves scored their 6 runs in the 3rd and 4th and then the pitching staff held on for dear life. Enrique Cruz flashed some power with a 2 run homer. Josh Anderson is hitting .500 for July. Thats gotta be a record or something (actually didn't Barry Bonds hit over .500 for April a couple seasons ago? Secondbass should look that up).

Mississippi 7, Montgomery 5

J. Holt 2-5, RBI, K, SB(14)
J. Guzman 1-3 HR(2)
J. Boscan 2-3 2B, HR(1), 2 RBI, BB
J. Parr 6IP 1H 1R 4BB 4K

Another solid outing from Parr. He was 3-0 in June with a 2.49 ERA and he appears to be getting better. This team is playing well across the board though and are now 12-5 in the second half leading the South division of the Southern League.

Myrtle Beach 8, Potomac 3

W. Cabrera 3-5 2B, HR(8), 2 RBI
E. Campbell 1-4 2B, 2 RBI, K
T. Jones 1-5 HR(13)
J. Owings 2-3 3B, BB

You know I have to give a little love here to two guys that I probably at least should have given some acknowledgement to on the hotlist. Willie Cabrera hit .337 with a .904 OPS last month for The Beach. I don't know where he would fit in the future plans of the Braves because he doesn't seem to have a whole lot of speed and he doesn't hit for much power, but I think his bat could be decent for average. Either way he had a really good month. Jon Owings is having a great season for the Pelicans. He now has 13 homers to lead the team, his season OPS is .857 and he is on pace for just over 100 Ks in a 500 AB season, which isn't bad for a power hitter. In June he hit .320 with an OPS over 1.000. He's just 23 at this point and his bat could be useful in the coming seasons. Maybe he could play some first? Or give us a real bat in LF.

Rome 3, Asheville 4

No one really did anything special enough in this game to deserve any recognition from me. And we all know that is important. Cole Rohrbough gave up 3 runs in 2.2 innings and his command wasn't good at all. I wonder if there is something serious wrong or if he just has a nagging injury that he won't give in to. Jason Heyward sat out the game for some reason.

Burlington 7, Danville 6

G. Rodriguez 1-3 HR(7), 2 RBI, BB
M. Kennelly 2-3 2B, HR(2), 3 RBI, BB

Rodriguez just keeps on raking. He leads the league in homers at this point and has 7 in 14 games. Matt Kennelly is a catcher out of Australia. He is only 19 at this point and I'm sure hasn't played a ton of baseball coming out of the Down Under, but he has already matched his homer total from last year in the GCL. The Braves sure are mining the Prison Continent.

Braves 3, Blue Jays 5

D. Matra 2-4 2B
E. Cordier 3IP 2H 0R 0BB 3K

I think we might have someone good in Daniel Matra. Just a feeling and I could be overreaching because he is hitting well in limited PAs, but he was projected with lot of talent when he was a Jr in high school. Some other good news here is that Eric Cordier pitched 3 scoreless innings. Cordier is a guy we picked up from Kansas City for Tony Pena, Jr. Cordier needed arm surgery when we got him, but scouts have always said he has an excellent arm and if he can bounce back we might have gotten a steal.

Minor League Recaps: 7/2

yondaime4 — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 03:14:32 -0000

Richmond 4, Norfolk 8

J. Anderson 2-5
S. Thorman 2-4 2B, HR(15), K

Honestly, there wasn't a whole lot of good that came from this game. Thorman hit a meaningless homer and he appears to turned into somewhat an all or nothing type of guy. I guess we knew that. Damian Moss isn't going to help the team in the future either since he gave up 8 runs in less than 2 innings tonight. But we knew that too.

Mississippi 6, Montgomery 4

J. Schafer 1-4 2 K
R. Gorecki 1-3 HR(5)
G. Creek 2-4 2B, K
K. Kaaihue 2-4 RBI, K
K. Medlen 6IP 2H 1R 1BB 5K

Kris Medlen's transition from starter to reliever is still a success and he appears to be getting more and more comfortable as the season progresses. We have to remember this guy was a DOMINANT reliever in Rome and Myrlte Beach last year. I don't know why he struggled so much this year as a reliever but as a starter his ERA is now 2.63. Not bad at all.

Myrtle Beach 8, Potomac 0

G. Hernandez 2-5 2 SB(10)
B. Hicks 1-3 3B, 2 RBI, BB, 2 K
T. Jones 2-4 2B, HR(12), 2 RBI, K
C. Rodriguez 1-3 HR(6), 2 RBI, BB, K

This team really does have a ton of power. Four players have 10+ homers and another 4 have more than 5 long balls. All of that while playing half their games in an offensive vortex. It is also good to see Gorkys stealing some bases again. I guess that hamstring is fully healed.

Rome - Off

Burlington 5, Danville 1

L.V. Ware 1-4 2B, K
C. Shehan 1-3 BB, K

Moving on.

Tigers 2, Braves 5

J. Hanson 2-4 K
L. Hiller 2-3 HR(2), 2 RBI, K
A. Feliz 3-4 2B, RBI
B. Oberholtzer 5IP 5H 1R 0BB 6K

I spelled Oberholtzer right on the first try. Feliz is a 20 year old Dominican OF that showed some extra base power last year in the Dominican and so far has been hitting well for the GCL Braves. I can't figure out who this Hanson guy is. Baseball America says we drafter a guy named Jason Hanson, 3B in the 14th Rd. and then MinorLeagueBaseball.com has this guy listed as Jake Hanson, 3B but I can't really find anything about him. I don't think they are the same people, just a weird coincidence of some sort.

Monthly Minors Wrapup and HOTLIST

yondaime4 — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:41:40 -0000

Richmond 39-46 (11-19 MTD)

You've seen me say it a lot lately, but this Richmond team has fallen hard. You can't really blame them as they have lost JoJo Reyes, Charlie Morton, Brent Lillibridge, Brandon Jones, and others for partial periods. Those guys have been replaced with the likes of Brian Lawrence, Jerome Gamble and Chris Resop and nothing special could be sent up from Mississippi with the exception of AAAA slugger Jason Perry. Perry has been the lone bright spot on the offense with a .938 OPS since his callup. The only other player with an OPS over .800 is Barbaro Canizares who I think might be best served as a bench player as he appears to get a little overexposed. Chuck James has been good with a 1.69 ERA but I don't expect him to ever be a good major league pitcher. We'll see how much that shoulder healing helps I guess.

Mississippi 9-3 2nd Half (17-9 MTD)

This team has really turned itself around in the past month and a half. They still aren't over .500 for the season but they are only like 6 games under. They have picked up help from everywhere from promotions (Tommy Hanson, Deunte Heath, Carlos Sencion) to injury/suspension (Jordan Schafer, Van Pope), to free agent signings (Jason Perry, Reid Gorecki). Jordan Schafer is hitting well since his return, Kala Kaaihue has become a dominant hitter in the last month and Kris Medlen has become an effective starter for the team. I wouldn't be surprised to see them carry this on to the end of the season. There is a chance these guys could see some more help come from Myrtle Beach in the form of Gorkys Hernandez.

Myrtle Beach 6-5 2nd Half (16-10 MTD)

Losing two pitchers with ERAs below 2.00 will always hurt a team, but The Beach is weathering the storm pretty well. The return of Gorkys Hernandez helped spark the offense, though this offense is pretty damn good no matter how you slice it. They are tied for the league lead in OPS, lead in HRs, 2nd in AVG, 1st in Runs, and 1st in OBP. Not bad. On the pitching side they still lead the league with a 3.31 ERA and 629 Ks. This team still has a lot of talent and will probably get a reinforcement or two from Rome (Heyward? Freeman? Locke?).

Rome 6-6 2nd Half (10-18 MTD)

This team was supposedly the most talented team we had in the minors coming into the season. The pitching staff alone was loaded with guys like Locke, Rodgers, Rohrbough and Barrett but for the most part that staff just hasn't been very good. Locke and Rodgers have been up and down which is probably just youth and learning to adjust to a full schedule. Most everyone else has been pretty bad. The offense has been even worse with only Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman being consistent sources of production, and even Heyward is slipping some this month hitting his only homer tonight.. Cody Johnson was good for most of the month and his numbers indicate he is making some strides. I don't think any other team is as happy to see the second half of the season as Rome.

Danville 11-3

After 14 games the Braves are 4 games up in the Appy League. Not bad I guess. It seems like the Braves short-season teams are always very good. Gerrardo Rodriguez has been the offensive star with 6 homers in 11 games. Some guys to keep an eye on in the upcoming weeks: Craig Kimbrel (bullpen arm from the draft will move fast), Jon Gilmore (supposedly the second best hitter we took last year seems to have found his stroke finally), L. V. Ware (Toolsy guy drafted out of a community college a couple years ago), Julio Teheran and Steve Kent (young pitchers with solid upside).

GCL Braves 6-4

So far this team has some of our younger draftees and a wave of rehabbing players. Mike Hampton, Anthony Lerew (remember him?), Cory Rasmus (possibly one of the most live arms in the system if he can stay healthy) Erik Cordier and Lee Hyde have all been here to rehab. The biggest prospect on the team is probably catcher Daniel Matra. He was supposedly a first round talent coming into his Sr season of high school but I believe he was hurt that season and really underperformed. The Braves got him in the 26th round and he only hit .143 in the GCL last year. He is hitting .452 in his first 10 games so far this season. A couple of pitchers to keep an eye on are Zeke Spruill (our second rd draft choice this year) and Dimaster Delgado (a 19 year old Panamanian lefty pitcher).

HOTLIST

Kris Medlen - I'm doing a monthly thing here but Medlen converted a starter after his first appearance of the month (June 1) so I'm just going to count his starters stats. His line: 2.63ERA 24IP 19H 6BB 22K. Not bad and deserving of the top spot simply for the difficulty in switching roles midseason.
Kala Kaaihue - A .338 AVG, a .646 SLG and an OBP approaching .500 he has been fairly dominant over the last month. I wonder if he is becoming a good prospect again? He took his time adjusting to AA but he always has had an adjustment period to new levels.
Tyler Flowers - Tyler turned his best month fo the season with a .970 OPS and an impressive 21/15 BB/K ratio. His stats have improved gradually every month as the season has worn on.
Tommy Hanson - Several Mississippi players here. He makes is solely because he threw a no-hitter. His ERA for the Month was 3.30, but that is moot.
Gerrardo Rodriguez - I know Danville has only played about half the month but when a guy blasts 6 homers in his first 11 games he gets put on here. He is slugging .830 so far and has an OPS nearing 1.200. Move him up and see if he can boost the Rome team at all.
Cody Johnson - Johnson gets a mention here because he had his best month so far this season and appears to have found some sort of middle ground. He only struck out 28 times in 93 ABs this month whereas he K'd 44 times in 93 ABs last month and 40+ the month before. So hitting .280 with an .817 OPS this month is a bit of an improvement.

Minor League Recap 6/29

yondaime4 — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:50:21 -0000

Durham 5, Richmond 1

J. Anderson 2-4 2B, K
M. Jurich 1-4 HR(1), 2 K

You know there is just so little in this game to write about. Chris Resop started the game and pitched 2 innings striking out 4 and not allowing a run. Thats pretty impressive for him. Josh Anderson did get two hits but then he got picked off first by the pitcher (Cummings). I think it is going to get worse for Richmond before it gets better.

Birmingham 5, Mississippi 2

M. Prado 2-4
R. Gorecki 2-4
V. Pope 1-4 HR(3)

You know what is amazing about this Mississippi team? They were one of the worst teams in organized baseball after the first month of the season and now they lead their division (though they play a split season in the Southern League so technically they are 9-2 right now but on the season they have risen to 39-43 after being 15 games under .500 at one point). All of a sudden this team has some of our best prospects on it with Hanson, Schafer and Heath all playing here. Martin Prado played LF in this game.

Myrtle Beach 4, Frederick 1

G. Hernandez 1-4 BB
E. Campbell 2-4 2B, RBI, K
J. Owings 3-4 HR(11)
K. Cofield 6IP 3H 1R 1BB 5K

Another well pitched game from Kyle Cofield. Right about now is when we start to see if some of these young pitchers will start to tire or not. Cofield slipped a little in June after having a great May. Eric Campbell continues to mystify me. The only bad part about his stats is his batting average. He isn't striking out a ton, he is walking in about 10% of his PAs, and he has shown good power so far. So why can't he put more balls through the infield? Baffling?

Rome 2, Columbus 11

C. Johnson 3-4 2B, RBI, K

The only real news here is that Jason Heyward didn't play. I don't know why, if he got promoted, injured or just a scheduled day off. Cody Johnson has actually been hot lately hitting .410 over his last 10 games. His K rate was down quite a bit in June. He dropped from striking out 40+ times to less than 30 (granted 10 less ABs) so that is some improvement. I'm not convinced until i see it last for a half a season at least.

Danville 12, Johnson City 2

L. V. Ware 2-5 2 RBI, 2 K
G. Rodriguez 1-4 HR(6), 3 RBI, BB, K
J. Gilmore 3-5 K
T. Ladd 4.2IP 4H 0R 2BB 5K

I'm glad to see Jon Gilmore finally hitting. I was starting to really worry when he didn't hit at all in Rome and then struggled the first couple weeks in Danville. Him, Heyward and Freeman have enough talent to anchor the middle of our lineup in a few years. Granted he isn't even 20 yet. This Rodriguez kid needs to get sent somewhere a little tougher.

GCL - off

Minor League Recap 6/25: Someone Threw a NO HITTER!!!!

yondaime4 — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 02:39:35 -0000

Sorry for the no posting, I finally did the move to West Virginia and I have been getting settled in. I'll have to take a couple days off again at the beginning of August because I am staying in a hotel currently. Anyways read on to find out who threw a No Hitter.

Richmond 1, Pawktucket 10

C. Loadenthal - 2-3 BB
B. Canizares - 2-4 HR(9)

Well nothing too exciting here. Canizares is still hitting well, though his AVG is down to .312. Richmond is now 4 games out of first place and 3 games under .500 which is amazing considering at one time they had a 6 game lead (I think). Can't be helped I guess.

Birmingham 0, Mississippi 10

T. Hanson - 9IP 0H 0R 3BB 14K
M. Kotsay - 2-3
R. Gorecki - 2-3 BB
J. Schafer - 2-4 3B, 3 RBI, 2 K

Well Tommy Hanson went and threw himself a no-freakin-hitter. His stuff must have been nasty tonight. Is there any doubt now that he is our best pitching prospect? His ERA at AA is currently 4.23. If you look at his starts in Mississippi he really has only had two bad starts where he went a total of 7.2 innings and gave up 14 runs. In the other 42.1 innings he has pitched he has allowed only 10 earned runs. Very, very impressive. Jordan Scafer's triple brings his XBH/H ratio to 12/23. When more than 50% of your hits go for extra bases you are doing alright.

Myrtle Beach - Off

Rome 5, Savannah 5 - In Progress

Danville 7, Princeton 1

S. Moody - 2-4
G. Rodriguez - 2-4 HR(5), K
C. Hodges - 6IP 5H 1R 0BB 4K

I think they should probably go ahead and send Rodriguez up. He is killing the ball. Hodges (23rd Rd.) pitched another solid game. Moody is hitting .417 so far.

Braves 5, Indians 0

T. Adair - 2-4
J. Hanson - 2-3
O. Marval - 2-3 2 RBI
M. Hampton - 2.2IP 3H 0R 0BB 2K

I would trade Mike Hampton for a stick of 100 year old bubble gum.

Minor League Recaps: 6/22

yondaime4 — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 04:30:45 -0000

Richmond 7, Syracuse 5

J. Anderson - 3-5
S. Thorman - 1-4 HR(10), 3 RBI, 2 K
C. James - 5IP 6H 5R 4BB 4K

Not a great start from Chuck James though he didn't allow a run in his last three starts so I'll grant him this. The offense scored all 7 runs in the 2nd inning. After I praised Scott Thorman so much last month he has come down to earth a bit in June hitting only .224 with an OPS under .700. Zach Schreiber was a guy on our radar at the end of last season and he currently has a 2.92 ERA out of the bullpen. He has a horrible flyball ratio and he walks more men than he strikes out but he keeps the hits low. We'll have to see if he can keep that up.

Mississippi 9, Montgomery 8 (11 Innings)

R. Gorecki - 3-5 2 RBI, BB, K, 2 SB
G. Creek - 1-3 HR(4), 3 RBI, 2 BB
K. Kaaihue - 1-5 HR(8), BB, K
J. Schafer - 1-5 2B, RBI, BB, 2 K
K. Medlen - 7IP 5H 2R 0BB 5K

The M-Braves tried to give this one away. They had the lead for most of the game and then Kevin Gunderson and Luis Valdez both gave up their first runs of the month (Valdez actually hasn't allowed a run since April) to send it to extras. Kala Kaaihue has been dominant in the month of June with an OPS over 1.000 and batting nearly .350. Jordan Schafer is still having problems making consistent contact, but 11 of his 19 hits so far have been for extra bases. The big news here is that Kris Medlen finally made the full transition into starter and did great. He started the conversion around the first of the month and his walks have been up until tonight but his ERA has been more than half a run lower as a starter. For those that don't remember he was our top reliever prospect heading into the season. He could a valuable starter.

Myrtle Beach 4, Lynchburg 5

E. Campbell - 1-3 HR(6), 3 RBI, BB, K
B. Hicks - 1-4 2B

Nothing really exciting to report here. Eric Campbell is essentially doing what he did last season. Hitting for power with a low average and good peripherals. I still like his talent but he may not have many more chances.

Savannah 3, Rome 2

J. Heyward - 2-4 RBI
A. Coe - 2-4 2B
E. Osuna - 7IP 9H 3R 1BB 9K

When Edgar Osuna starts for this Rome team he has been the best starter out of them all. His 3.27 ERA is the best among guys who have started a game and he has 64 Ks in 52.1 IP. I'm impressed and he is someone we should keep an eye on.

Danville 5, Greeneville 4

C. Fuller - 3-5 2B
C. Shehan - 3-5 HR(1), 3 RBI
M. Elkerson - 2-3 2B
R. Sullivan - 3.2IP 2H 1R 0BB 5K
C. Kimbrel - 2IP 1H 0R 1BB 2K

Craig Kimbrel was taken by the Braves in the 3rd round out of Wallace State College. He is closer with a high K Rate (he struck out nearly 13 men per 9 IP in 2007). Shehan hits the ball real hard. Richard Sullivan was our 11th round pick out of Savannah College of Art and Design (I KNOW PEOPLE THERE!!!).

Blue Jays 5, Braves 7

C. Parra - 4-5 2B, RBI
D. Matra - 2-3 2 RBI
C. Maddox - 1-4 HR(1), 4 RBI, K
M. Hampton - 3IP 1H 0R 0BB 2K

Seriously what the hell is Mike Hampton doing? I mean he is taking away innings that some of our young draft picks could be using to develop themselves yet here he is ruining that for them too. WE ALL KNOW YOU AREN'T GOING TO EVER PITCH AGAIN. Mac was right.

Mariners @ Atlanta

yondaime4 — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:40:29 -0000

Well the only positive thing I have to say here is that Jarrod Washburn is pitching for the M's and he has been horrible. So thats good. Jair Jurrjens is throwing for us and he has been great. So we'll see how that pans out.

NL East Standings

	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK
Philadelphia	42	33	.560	0	Lost 3
Florida	39	34	.534	2	Lost 1
New York	36	36	.500	4.5	Won 2
Atlanta	36	39	.480	6	Lost 2
Washington	30	45	.400	12	Won 1

(updated 6.21.2008 at 11:46 AM EDT)

Minor League Recaps: 6/20

yondaime4 — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 03:04:30 -0000

Richmond 1, Syracuse 4

Lillibridge - 3-4 3B
J. Perry - 2-4 RBI, K

The AAA club is 8-11 this month and is second in their division and a game under .500 after having the division lead for most of the first two months. With all the promotions recently it was bound to happen so we really can't blame them for it. They are still within striking distance and it is feasible they could get some help from the lower elvels depending how aggressive the Braves promote some kids from AA (though there isn't much in AA to promote).

Mississippi 9, Montgomery 2

G. Creek - 2-4 BB, K
J. Schafer - 3-5 2 2B, 2 RBI, K
J. Carmena - 2-4 HR(2), 2 RBI, BB, K
C. Sencion - 5.2IP 2H 2R 5BB 4K

You know it has gone largely unnoticed but Carlos Sencion is 3-1 with a 2.84 ERA since joining Mississippi. This is the first time he has really had a control problem this season but he does have Tommy Hanson Syndrome with his flyball tendencies. But if he has stuff that stays as unhittable as Hanson it is all good.

Myrtle Beach 22. Lynchburg 3

G. Hernandez - 3-6 2 2B, RBI, BB
E. Campbell - 2-5 HR(5), 5 RBI, BB
E. Mejia - 4-6 2B, RBI, K
T. Flowers - 3-4 2B, 2 HR(9), 7 RBI, 2 BB

The Pelicans just want everyone to know that they are a bunch of bad asses. They had 21 hits and nearly everyone had an XBH. I'm glad to see Flowers hitting for some power. Campbell has these bursts and then he dies off, his average is still just .208. Ernesto Mejia already has 40+ XBH on the season with two months remaining. I like him even though he is a little old and he doesn't walk much. It didn't help much for Lynchburg that Scott Diamond pitched really well again.

Savannah 1, Rome 10

J. Heyward - 2-4
F. Freeman - 2-5 2 2B, HR(9), 3 RBI
S. Shults - 3-4 2 RBI
J. Locke - 5.2 IP 5H 1R 2B 2K

A good game from the Rome boys tonight. The regular offensive guys did their thing and the recent callup from the Appy League, Stephen Shults, contributed as well. Shults flashed some power last year at Danville and is still 21, so if he can put some stuff together fast he could make an impact. Jeff Locke pitched another game and seems to be settling into full season ball finally. His monthly splits thus far:

April: 5.63 ERA 24IP 28H 5BB 22K

May: 4.13 ERA 32.2IP 40H 13BB 32K

June: 2.49 ERA 25.1IP 20H 8BB 14K

Those splits are a little puzzling but his groundball ratio shot up after the first month and I think hitters got a little lucky against him the first couple of months. But he seems to have improved a bit.

Danville 3, Greenville 4

C. Shehan - 3-3 2B, 3 RBI
C. Hodges - 4.2IP 4H 4R 0BB 6K

Shehan is an OF the Braves took out of Georgia Southern in the 30th RD. He was second in the nation in OBP, 3rd in SLG, 2nd in OPS, 2nd in BA and tied for 10th with 22 HRs and was selected to Baseball America's first team All America team. He is definitely a polished college hitter but I don't know what his upside is. Casey Hodges didn't allow any earned runs tonight. He is a RHP pitcher from Mount Olive College in NC and was taken in the 23rd Rd. The funny thing about him is that his dad was a catcher for the Mets and they were hoping the Mets would take him. HAH.

You know out of 50 Rounds the Braves took 13 players not from the southeast. That is amazing.

*Note: The GCL Braves played the Tigers today but, as they are apt to do, the scores were not posted for the games. This happens fairly often with the GCL teams. If it starts happening too often I'll just post a weekly roundup when the scores are posted for the week.

M's @ Braves: Sink or Swim

yondaime4 — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 16:58:56 -0000

The Mariners are 4 games worse than the second worst team in baseball (the Nats) so we really need to just sweep this series at home.

We get to miss Felix Hernandez in the series which, to me, is good and bad. On the good side he is one of the best pitchers in the American League right now. On the bad side is I would love to watch him pitch, I guess I'll just have to MLB TV again so I can keep up with exploits.

Campillo was great in his last start for the Braves and has been a bit of a revelation as a starter. His 2.17 ERA is the best on the team for anyone with over 5 starts. What is impressive to me is he has 45 Ks in 54 IP. The guy throws all kinds of slow stuff but he is smart enough to strike men out. I love it.

Anyways I don't have anything else, so I leave you with the MANtage: