SB Nation User Blog: yondaime4

Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap: 7/3

yondaime4 — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 02:48:31 -0000

Gwinnett 0, Norfolk 5

J. Schafer 0-3 K
S. Marek 1IP 1H 0R 0BB 1K

So the Gwinnett Braves just can't muster any offense without Brooks Conrad. He must have been holding them afloat. Jordan Schafer has fallen off a bit and I wonder if he is still not fully healthy, or just not as good as we thought he was. I didn't know Stephen Marek had been promoted, but after some serious struggles in Mississippi early this season he calmed down a bit in his last few outings.

Mississippi 3, West Tenn 4

M. Young 2-4 RBI
C. Rodriguez 2-4 RBI

No Frederick Freeman or Jason Heyward yet in this game. I am sure we will see them tomorrow. I am also a little disappointed that with all the shuffling going on Matt Young didn't get the call up to Gwinnett. The guy has paid his dues and has been very solid for two season now in AA. Give the guy a chance.

Salem 10, Myrtle Beach 0

L. Sumoza 2-4 K
G. Rodriguez 1-3 K

Maybe the Pelican's really felt the hole that losing both Heyward and Freeman left in their lineup. The two new guys, Gerrardo Rodriguez and Luis Sumoza, appeared to handle it well in their first game at least. Sumoza is a guy we need to keep our eye on. He has just started to do it, but I would love to see him really tap into the wealth of tools he has.

Bowling Green 2, Rome 0

JJ Hoover 7IP 4H 1R 1BB 8K

Wow, another shutout? Hoover has just been getting better and better and he is making a case for himself being our top pitching prospect when the season is done. That is a race which is wide open at the moment and JJ Hoover has been the most consistent pitcher the Braves have run out there (apologies to Scott Diamond who has been solid and consistent as well).Also RSF did not get the promotion to Rome.

Princeton 3, Danville 2

RSF 2-4 HR(4)
J. Teheran 7IP 8H 2R 1BB 5K

You have to imagine that Teheran was incredibly efficient in this game to have been allowed to pitch 7 innings. He has been pretty impressive so far this season and if he keeps this up he might be the guy at year's end. I don't really understand why RSF didn't get the call. He is hitting a smooth .538 right now. Granted it is only 10 games, but most people don't usually do that through 10 games even when they are hot.

GCL Braves 2, GCL Yankees 5

K. Rose 3-4 RBI
E. Mejia 1-2 BB, K

Finally, one of my favorite players from last season gets back on the field. Ernesto Meji hit 73 XBH last season for Myrtle Beach but has been on the DL all season after what I think was a leg injury of some sort? (Little help on that one if anyone knows). Anyways, he doesn't walk a ton and he strikes out a lot, but the guy hits everywhere he goes. He is 24 at this point so he needs to get back playing if he wants to make an impact in the organization. I could see him having some useful major league seasons but not making any lasting impact unless he really turns around his plate discipline.

Hanson named top NL rookie for June

yondaime4 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:00:45 -0000

Hanson named top NL rookie for June

First month in the majors? Best rookie in the league.

Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap: 7/2

yondaime4 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:21:47 -0000

Gwinnett 5, Norfolk 4

J. Schafer 0-3 K
JC Holt 2-5 2 SB(9)
B. Jones 2-4 2B, RBI

Another solid start for the young gun John Halama. I guess he has been a solid pick up for Gwinnett so far this season as they desperately needed some pitching depth after the trades and promotions. Gwinnett is sitting 2.5 ames back in the standings behind Norfolk and Durham.

Mississippi 0, West Tenn 1

S. Diamond 8IP 2H 0R 3BB 8K

Scott Diamond was freaking phenomenal as he no hit West Tenn through the first three innings, struck out the side in the 4th inning, and then faced the minimum amount of batter from the 4th to the 8th (he allowed a single that was erased on a double play). And then Jerome Gamble came in for the 9th inning and lost the game.

Salem 1, Myrtle Beach 8

J. Heyward 2-4 2 RBI, K
C. Johnson 2-3 2B, HR(21), 5 RBI
J. Thompson 7IP 3H 1R 2BB 6K

John Sickels talked a little bit about Jason Heyward today over at Minor League Ball today. What he has to say is not anything new, but Heywards power has been down since he returned, even though he is on a 9 game hitting streak currently. Hopefully Cody Johnson's power is returning a little bit with his new tempered approach. He has been hitting .361 over his last 10 games and this was his first homer since June 20 when he hit 2. Jacob Thompson actually pitched 7 innings out of the bullpen in relief of Jose Otegano. I don't know why, but Thompson has looked really good in Myrtle Beach after he posted a 5.20 ERA in Rome.

Bowling Green 5, Rome 0

I won't even get into the individual stuff. Rome only managed 2 hits for the game and Zeke Spruill gave up 5 runs in 5 innings. Only 3 were earned but he gave up another home run in this game and he allowed 7 flyouts vs 4 groundouts.

Princeton 4, Danville 5

RSF 2-4 RBI, 2K
T. Harris 3IP 1H 0R 0BB 4K

Danville scrapped together 4 conectuive baserunners to start the 6th innings and took the lead for good. Tyrelle Harris is another pitcher we took from Tennessee (Duente Heath is another one) and he came in and shut the door for the last 3 innings of the game. Maybe someone to keep an eye on.

GCL Yankees, GCL Braves

R. Odreman 1-2 HR(5), 2 RBI
C. Bethancourt 3-4 2B, HR(1), 2 RBI
C.Perez 3IP 2H 0R 1BB 4K

There were a lot of good performances in this game. Odreman now has 5 homers in 5 games and 7 hits which have all gone for more than 1 base. I picture him in my head beating anthropomorphic baseballs on their big round heads with a baseball bat and then dragging them back to his cave. What I am most excited about in this game is seeing the two 17 year old player, Christian Bethancourt and Carlos Perez, both doing very well so far. CB has 3 XBH and a 3/3 BB/K in his first few games in pro ball. Carlos Perez has just been solid all around in his two appearances with more K than IP. We really have a TON of depth in the low minors. The problem is we really need some of that talent at the top right now.

What are you reading, watching, listening to or playing right now?

yondaime4 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:07:23 -0000

Alright time for us all to get to know each other a little bit better. I do one of these things every month or so and it is really just a way for the TC community to talk about something other than baseball for a minute and learn a little more about each other.

Now the premise is just tell everyone what movie's you are watching, what books you are reading, what games you are playing and what music you have discovered recently. A few times in the past people have used this to exhange Xbox Live and PSN IDs. Feel free to post without having to back yourself up with statistics.

Reading: Chasm City by Alastair Reynolds - It is the second book in the Revelation Space series and has been excellent so far. If you like Sci Fi these books are all good reads.

Playing: Still stuck on MLB 09: The Show and loving it. In my second season with the Braves and my lineup is:

Jordan Schafer CF

Kelly Johnson/ Gordon Beckham 2B

Chipper 3B

Hanley Ramirez SS

Ty Wigginton 1B

Brian McCann C

Ferggie Wiggins LF (Rookie from the previous draft)

Jason Heyward RF

I love the game. Also I am playing Sacred 2 on the 360 with some friends. Excellent game if you ever got into Diablo style RPGs.

Watching: I just watched Babylon A.D. last night and it was pretty good. Next on my Netflix is an anime series called When They Cry

Alright, now it is everyone else's turn! Let me hear what you are up to.

Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap: 7/1

yondaime4 — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:01:08 -0000

Gwinnett - Off

Mississippi 6, West Tenn 5

M. Young 3-4 2B, 3B, BB, K
W. Cabrera 2-4 2B, RBI, BB, K
C. Rodriguez 1-3 3B, RBI, 2 BB

Mat Young fell a homer short of the cycle in this game and continues to be a spark plug at the top of the order for Mississippi. His OPS is up over .800 for the season now and is coming off a month where he hit .323 with a .455 OBP. Willie Cabrera quietly had an excellent month of June posting a .290/.387/.450 line for the month. I wouldn't be surprised to see him start to come on in the second half of the season.

Myrtle Beach 6, Kinston 5, - 10 Innings

D. Linares 2-5 RBI, K
J. Sucre 2-5 2B
C. Rohrbough 5.2IP 9H 5R 3BB 6K

Cole Rohrbough just doesn't want to be the Braves top pitching prospect. He keeps flashing some of that ability we know is in there somewhere but he is walking too many guys and giving up too many hits. Frederick Freeman and Jason Heyward combined for 1 hit. Heyward is actually in the middle of an 8 game hitting streak right now, but it has been mostly singles. He hasn't really flashed a whole lot of power since he came back to the team, but I'm not supa worried. Jesus Sucre has also hit pretty well since he got called up from Rome.

Bowling Green 6, Rome 1

D. Delgado 7IP 4H 6R 2BB 6K

Consecutive bad starts for the Delgado boys. Delgado gave up all of his runs in the 4th inning and made a mistake that ended up being a grand slam. He induced a ton of groundballs (11 vs 4 fly outs) and was victimized by an error and a passed ball in the 4th as well. He really did pitch better than his numbers would indicate. And even those look good without the runs (which are of course the most important).

Kingsport 2, Danville 4

A. Milligan 2-4 BB
RSF 4-4 2RBI
T. Stovall 4.1IP 1H 0R 5BB 7K

Do you love or hate this outing by Tyler Stovall? I guess I am ok since all total he only allowed 6 baserunners, and those Ks do look really nice. But 5 walks will always raise a miature red flag. Some people think that Stovall will be the best pitcher we took last year because of his projectability. RSF is hitting .538 in his first 8 games of the season. Thats stupid, even if it is just 8 games.

GCL Phillies @ GCL Braves - Postponed due to Rain

Rain rain, go away.

Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap: 6/29

yondaime4 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 04:20:59 -0000

We get some news from the international signing front as Baseball America is reporting that the Braves are heavily interested in Dominican LHP Edgar Ferreira. BA says that he throws up to 93-94 which is excellent from a teenage LHP. He would be a nice pairing to go with last year's signing of Carlos Perez.

Louisville 8, Gwinnett 2

J. Schafer 0-5 2K
B. Jones 3-4 RBI

Brandon Jones is still hitting over .300 for the season but he has literally no power. He has 0 homers for the season and only 12 doubles. This is sad for me because he has really developed his plater discipline and if he could gain some semblence of the power he once had he could turn out to be a solid player. Unfortunately this is the second straight year he has taken a step back in the power department. Also of note is that he played RF tonight. I don't know how often he has been in RF this year so I won't speculate on anything concerning it.

Mississippi 4, West Tenn 5 - 13 Innings

C. Rodriguez 2-6 2 2B
W. Cabrera 1-6 HR(5)

Six hits and one walk in 13 innings is just not getting it done offensively. Travis Jones, Kala Kaaihue and Kody Kirkland struck out a combined 9 times. Kyle Cofield had his first bad start in about 6 outings. Still his ERA is sitting at 3.08 on the season.

Myrtle Beach 6, Kinston 5

F. Freeman 1-3 2BB, K
J. Heyward 1-5
C. Johnson 2-4 2 RBI, 2K

David Francis started the game tonight for Myrtle Beach. The poor guy has been jerked back and forth between Rome and The Beach 3 or 4 times this season. He has been used mostly in long relief in Rome and has started every time out for the Pelicans. He hasn't been great at any point this season but the guy can strike out some guys and has pretty solid control most of the time. John Sickels picked him as a sleeper candidate in his prospect handbook and I've like him since his 16K game last year. Keep an eye on him and maybe we can have someone to replace Locke.

Augusta 1, Rome 2

G. Rodriguez 1-3 HR(11), 2 RBI
S. Shults 1-1 2B, 2BB
P. Clemens 8IP 4H 1R 1BB 2K

I don't know if any of your were watching Sportscenter tonight but apparently Rome's manager Randy Ingle went fairly nuts on a call that disallowed a home run by Matt Kennelly. Remember Mississippi manager Philip Wellman went nuts last year (maybe the season before?) in one of the most ridiculous managerial rants ever. Ingle's wasn't as bad, but it did involve some meticulous base realignment. Paul Clemens put together his best start of the season and what is really nice about it is the single walk allowed. He has walked 19 batters in his 33 innings as a starter this year. Maybe he is figuring something out.

Kingsport 2, Danville 5

R. Hefflinger 2-4 K
RSF 1-3 HR(3)
B. Oberholtzer 5IP 3H 2R 1BB 4K

More offense from the Danville team with RSF still slugging over 1.000 for the season. Thats just dumb.

GCL Braves @ GCL Pirates - Postponed

Several games were affected by heavy rain in Florida.

My Trip to the Sally League All Star Game

yondaime4 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:24:09 -0000

I got the chance to go to the Sally League All Star game last week where the Rome Braves had four players representing the organization: Ezekiel Spruill was the starting pitcher for the South team, JJ Hoover, Luis Sumoza and Jesus Sucre were also elected to the team as reserves.

I arrived at the ball park early enough to see the home run derby before the game. Calvin Anderson (a home town player from the West Virginia Power) won the derby and put on a hell of a show. He hit several balls off the 40 fort batters eye in CF and 5 or 6 balls over the score board in left which is similar to the one in Myrtle Beach, for those that have been there.

I didn't get to stay for the whole game because I had to meet some people so I didn't get to see Luiz Sumoza or Jesus Sucre get into the game. I wasn't really there for them anyways. I did get some solid pictures of Spruill and Hoover though.

Spruill topped out at 91 during his inning of work and sat at 90. I can see why people are excited about him other than the great control he flashes. The guy is RAIL thin. He has a supremely projectable body and will most likely add velocity as he puts on some weight. The fact that he already has solid control will only help his career path.

Zeke struck out the first batter he face on what appeared to be a change or maybe his sinker. He did give up a walk but was bailed out by the catcher. He looked pretty good though a little more wild than I had expected even on the guys he got out.

Hoover looked great with at least one sexy looking breaking pitch. I honestly don't know what it was but it was dropping straight out of the strike zone. Maybe a splitter or a very hard curve. Either way it was just Nasty. He struck out two batters and only allowed a man to get on due to a Tim Beckham error. He topped out at 92 but sat there most of the time and it really looked harder than that. No one made solid contact on him and he really just looked filthy. I don't know if he is going to add much more velocity just because his body is compact, but I definitely came away impressed. The only thing that worried me was this:

Now I won't pretend to know a whole lot about pitching mechanics, but that looks like some serious bend in his elbow. I am sure he is throwing a breaking ball in the picture, but still. Lots of bend.

Anyways, that is all I have for now. I have a total of about 200 pictures that I might post here or on my photobucket. One last picture just because I liked this one.

Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap: 6/29

yondaime4 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:34:47 -0000

Louisville 6, Gwinnett 4

J. Schafer 2-5 SB(2), 2K
C. Burke 2-5 2B, RBI
B. Canizares 1-5 HR(9), K

Alright when did we sign Bobby Brownlie? Whatever, he started for the Braves tonight and gave up 6 runs in 4.1 innings. I know our depth has been thin since trades, injuries and promotions have gone through, but man, Bobby Brownlie?

Mississippi 6, West Tenn 3

W. Cabrera 2-4 RBI
JC Boscan 2-5 2 2B, 2 RBI, K
E. Campbell 2-3 3B, 2 RBI, BB
R. Reynoso 7.2IP 6H 2R 2BB 6K

You know I have to wonder what happened to Eric Campbell's power. Say what you want about his attitude, but he has always been able to hit a baseball a long way. Not this year however. Ryne Reynoso just continues to plug along and have a solid season starting to Mississippi. I don't know what kind of future the guy has with the organization but he has pitched well pretty much every where he has been.

Myrtle Beach 4, Kinston 7

F. Freeman 2-5 RBI
J. Heyward 1-3 2B, RBI, BB, K
C. Kimbrel 1.1IP 3H 2R 1BB

Well that didn't last long for Kimbrel. After being utterly dominant for nearly 2 months with Rome he came back to Myrtle Beach and had a solid first outing. This was not solid however, giving up his first runs in almost a month. Frederick Freeman just keeps on hitting and Jason Heyward hasn't been bad in his last few games either. Cody Johnson on the other hand cut his strike outs for the month of June in half from the previous two months but his OPS dropped by nearly 200 points. So what do you do? Find a happy middle ground. He did this last year in the second half and put up great numbers, so lets hope that is what we are seeing here.

Augusta 5, Rome 6

B. Schlehuber 2-5
G. Rodriguez 2-5 2 RBI
M. Kennelly 2-5 RBI
JJ Hoover 6IP 7H 5R 1BB 8K

JJ Hoover came unhinged a little bit in the 3rd inning when his defense allowed a couple runs to score and he hit a batter. Otherwise he was pretty solid. Only 2 of his runs were earned and he is quickly becoming the best pitcher on this roster. I will say that he was absolutely filthy in the All Star game with no one being able to make good contact against him and his breaking pitches just falling out of the zone. He was probably the most impressive pitcher there.

Danville 3, Greenville 4

LV Ware 2-5 K, SB(2)
A. Milligan 2-5 2B, HR(2), 2K
R. Hefflinger 1-4 HR(4), 2K
RSF 2-4 HR(2)
J. Teheran 5IP 2H 3R 1BB 3K

They still put up 11 hits in this game. The Braves have a history of guys in the Appy league putting up big power numbers with Eric Campbell and Cody Johnson being the most recent guys coming to mind, but they have two or three guys here who could crack 10 homers I think. Julio Teheran is looking more like the hyped up pitcher we have been hearing about and he is still only 18 years old (only one of his runs was earned). He did have a wild pitch, a hit batter and a throwing error in this game so we know he is still raw, but his arm is looking good so far. Chris Masters has 14 strike outs in 6.2 innings so far. Those are Kimbrel type numbers.

GCL Braves - Off

Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap: 6/27

yondaime4 — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 03:21:07 -0000

Louisville 3, Gwinnett 4

B. Canizares 2-4 K
C. Burke 1-3 HR(1), 3 RBI, BB, K

Gwinnet is now 42-35 and sits just a half game out of first place in their division with Norfolk and Durham both in a virtual tie at the top. Should be an interesting race to the finish for the G-Braves who have played really well on the road but are a game under .500 at home.

Birmingham 3, Mississippi 1 - Suspended in the 3rd

Myrtle Beach 3, Lynchburg 6

F. Freeman 0-2 3 BB
J. Heyward 2-5 BB, K
C. Johnson 1-3 2B, RBI, BB

The good thing about playing in the low minors is your team gets a reset at the halfway point of the season. After an abysmal first half of the season the Pelicans are off to a 2-1 start to the second half of the season. This team has tons of talent with Jason Heyward, Frederick Freeman and Cody Johnson ancoring the lineup. The problem is the back half of the lineup is a vacuum. The hit like 3 consecutive FYF's. Actually they are much worse. A bullpen implosion lost the game for Eric Cordier in this one.

Augusta 7, Rome 3

L. Sumoza 2-4
M. Kennelly 3-4 HR(1), 2 RBI
E. Spruill 6IP 8H 6R 2BB 5K

Zeke Spruill was absolutely dealing in this game until the 6th ininng. Only one of the runs he allowed in this game was earned. In the 6th he intentionally walked the bases loaded with 1 out and got the double play ball to the shortstop who then promptly threw it away. He got another ground ball on the next play and they got the man at home, but he gave up a grand slam to the next batter. His defense really has killed him this season. Zeke looked great in the All Star game the otherr night and I will probably get my pictures up tomorrow or Monday. I still have some editing to do. Also I am happy to see Matt Kennelly demoted to Rome. I couldn't fathom why they had skipped him to Myrtle Beach to start the season when he only had 10 game in Rome last year. I know they are high on him, and we have some serious depth at catcher right now, but starting him in the Carolina League seemed like an out of the ordinary move for the Braves. I think he can really succeed in Rome and build his confidence for next season to maybe move quickly.

Danville 6, Greenville 12

LV Ware 2-4 BB
R. Hefflinger 2-5 2 RBI, K
R. Spanjer-F 2-4 2B, 2 RBI

The Danville Braves finally lost a game though not because they finally stopped hitting. The offense put up another 14 hits and LV Ware is hitting .500 through his first 5 games and Riaan Spanjer-Furstenburg is hitting .600. I have to say I am impressed so far considering he has never played any baseball outside of South Africa. He is 21 so I would think he will get a call up pretty quick if he keeps even half this pace. Ware was demoted from Rome earlier in the season after not hitting at all, but he has come back with a vengeance since the Appy Season has started.

GCL Pirates 8, GCL Braves 9

J. Linger 2-5 2B, 3B
R. Odreman 2-5 2B, HR(4), 2 RBI, K
M. Kramer 3-4 HR(1)

More offense from the Braves rookie clubs. Robert Odreman has been unconscious so far this season. He has 6 hits in 17 at bats so far and they have all been for extra bases. He is slugging 1.235 so far, but he does have 6 strike outs in his 17 ABs. I have looked all the way back to 1991 and I can't find any GCL Braves player who ever hit more than 8 homers. Another key Odreman has going for him is that he is only 20 years old which isn't crazy old for the GCL, especially when his hitting like this. If Riaan Spanjer gets moved up to Rome expect to see Odreman to immediately take his place. Or maybe they both get moved to Rome. Who knows, we are only 4-5 games in.

Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap: 6/25

yondaime4 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 03:03:02 -0000

Buffalo 5, Gwinnett 1

B. Barton 2-4 2B, K
J. Lyman 3IP 4H 3R 7BB 2K

That was just a bad start in AAA for Jeff Lyman. Honestly I am impressed that he only gave up 3 runs when he walked 7 guys. Other than that there wasn't a whole lot going on in this game for Gwinnett. Brooks Conrad made 2 errors which gives him a total of 15 on the season. I guess his glove is as bad as his bat is good.

Birmingham 5, Missisisppi5 - In the 11th Inning

E. Campbell 2-3 BB, K
B. Hicks 2-4 K
K. Kirkland 1-2 HR(3), 2 RBI, BB
R. Sullivan 6IP 11H 4R 2BB 4K

Richard Sullivan has now been at three different levels of ball this season. I don't know if he will be in Mississippi very long, but I think we have a pretty good idea of what kind of pitcher he is. He has been pretty solid at each level he has been to and I think he will adjust pretty well. I don't really have any basis for that, but I believe he could be a solid 4-5 type in a major league rotation one day.

Myrtle Beach 6, Lynchburg 0

F. Freeman 3-5 2 2B, RBI
J. Heyward 2-4 HR(10), BB
D. Linares 2-5 2 2B, 3 RBI
C. Rohrbough 5.1IP 1H 0R 5BB 5K

This looks like a good all around game for the Pelicans. The middle order guys of Frederick Freeman, Jason Heyward and Donell Linares were all of the offense that Myrtle Beach would need. I am glad to see Heyward still hitting for power after coming off of that injury. Cole Rohrbough had an interesting game that was a little reminiscent of Tommy Hanson's major league outings with a lot of walks but not many hits.

Rome 6, Augusta 7 - 11 Innings

L. Sumoza 2-5 2 2B
B. Schlehuber 1-3 2B, RBI
R. Delgado 6IP 7H 4R 1BB 6K

Randall Delgado pitched alright in this game, he just feel victim to the long ball giving up two 2-run homers in consecutive innings. I like the progress he is making this season. Hopefully playing in the All Star game will turn around Luis Sumoza, who has been in a bit of a funk over the last month or so.

Danville 12, Pulaski 3

LV Ware 5-6 2 3B, RBI, SB(2)
A. Milligan 3-5 HR(1), 5 RBI, K
R. Hefflinger 2-5 HR(1), 4 RBI, 2K
C. Rasmus 3.2IP 3H 1R 2BB 5K

Holy crap a Cory Rasmus sighting! Rasmus may have the best arm in the system outside of Julio Teheran but he has been injured for most of the last 2 seasons. Adam Milligan has just been abusing baseballs and showing why the Braves have drafted him so many times. I will love watching this team put up runs all season.

GCL Blue Jays 4, GCL Braves 6

K. Rose 3-3 RBI, BB, CS
A. Oderman 2-4 2 HR(3), 5 RBI, 2K
L. Niekro 4IP 6H 2R 2BB 4K

There were some big offensive days from Braves farmhands. Oderman apparently hates baseballs as much as Cody Johnson. He flashed power last year too so it might be fun watching him this summer. Also, as you can see, Lance Niekro debuted today with his patented knuckleball. I have no clue how that will pan out, but it will be interesting.