When Herick Hernandez is good he is a force to be reckoned with, and he was on his best game Thursday evening. Hernandez allowed just a lone hit over seven innings and forced an impressive nine strikeouts and 20 whiffs, by far the best game in what has been a solid season for him so far. The Columbus offense also had a great game in the double header, but unfortunately for Hernandez it wasn’t the one he was pitching. In game two they slugged four home runs, including the eighth from David McCabe,
in the most impressive showing of the day on the farm for the hitters.
(19-11) Gwinnett Stripers 9, (14-16) Charlotte Knights 5
- Nacho Alvarez, Jr., 3B: 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI, .224/.299/.294
- Rowdy Tellez, 1B: 2-4, 2B, BB, .218/.349/.471
- Sean Murphy, C: 2-5, .250/.300/.321
- Victor Mederos, SP: 2.1 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 2.13 ERA
- Hayden Harris, RP: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K, 6.75 ERA
The day was a strong one for the Gwinnett Stripers offense as a whole, but it was a particularly promising outing from Sean Murphy and Nacho Alvarez Jr., who each had two hits. Murphy doesn’t seem to have it quite dialed in yet at the plate but he is getting closer with each game, and his two outs were perhaps his most impressive swings in the game. Murphy did just miss on two deep fly balls late in the game, but seeing him hit fly balls hard is a great sign for him and bodes well for him turning in more impactful performances moving into his time in Atlanta. Alvarez hit all four of his batted balls in the air, immediately quelling any concerns after a first inning fastball plunked off of his elbow by making as good of contact as we have seen all season from him. In the fourth inning he smoked a high fastball into the right center field gap at 103 off of the bat, bringing home the first run off the inning for Gwinnett in answer to a scoring inning from Charlotte. In his final at bat Alvarez hooked a sharp line drive down the left field line for his second double of the game for another RBI, and his first game this season with multiple extra base hits. Brett Wisely was the player of the game for the Stripers out of the six hole, notching four hits and five RBIs including a third inning grand slam that broke the game open early for Gwinnett.
The move to the bullpen for Victor Mederos has been at least temporarily reversed with the Stripers need for starting pitching and in this one he had suboptimal results due to his difficulties landing his fastball in the strike zone. Mederos was wildly inefficient and only really survived by laying his slider across the middle of the strike zone, and though he wasn’t able to get consistent whiffs with the pitch he did get a high number of ground balls which kept him afloat despite traffic on the basepaths. In the past three games Mederos’s slider usage has jumped significantly, and though it’s a bit early to consider if that’s going to be a long term trend it certainly falls within the development pattern the Braves utilize on guys with short, hard sliders like Mederos. Hayden Harris had troubles of his own throwing strikes in this game as his fastball was sailing high for most of his outing, and it led to a rough one as he walked three batters and allowed a run in two innings of work. Harris has been having uncharacteristic struggles with his controll all season with now 14 walks in 12 innings of work, so despite having plenty of success getting whiffs he just hasn’t been consistent out of the bullpen this season and is living on the edge even as he has been preventing runs in April.
Swing and Misses
Victor Mederos – 6
Hayden Harris – 4
(12-11) Columbus Clingstones 0, (11-12) Montgomery Biscuits 1
- Lizandro Espinoza, SS: 1-3, .269/.393/.522
- Ha Seong Kim, DH: 0-2, BB, .250/.400/.250
- Herick Hernandez, SP: 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 9 K, 1.83 ERA
- Luis Vargas, RP: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 2.35 ERA
(13-11) Columbus Clingstones 8, (11-13) Montgomery Biscuits 3
- Patrick Clohisy, CF: 2-3, BB, RBI, .264/.304/.358
- David McCabe, DH: 2-4, HR, .273/.385/.610
- Jack Dashwood, SP: 4 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 5.74 ERA
Herick Hernandez gave us an early candidate for the best game of the season with a dominant performance against the Bicuits in the opener of the season. Strikeouts have been flowing consistently for Hernandez all season as hitters have been having loads of trouble making any contact with him, but for the first time so far Hernandez was able to keep himself together even when he got into deep counts, and as a result he avoided issuing walks. He located his fastball well at the top of the zone and was as effective as always with his slider and tallied nine strikeouts and 20 swing-and-misses in this outing. Hernandez’s capability of carrying his fastball above bats and burying his slider gives him some of the most impressive single outings of any Braves pitcher, and despite his walk rates only taking a marginal dip so far this season his command has felt just a tick better in these early outings. It’s not yet at the point that it gives any more confidence that he can stick as a starter, but these steps in the right direction, and specifically his ability to locate his fastball more often, are going to make a huge impact for him. With the insane carry on his fastball Hernandez tends to allow a ton of fly balls, and for guys with carry and poor command home runs tend to become a real issue at this level and especially into Triple-A. Hernandez was prone to home runs even with a friendly home confines, but with more consistent location at the top of the zone he has been able to turn more of those fly balls into fly outs and pop ups early in the season this year.
Despite Hernandez’s terrific outing the Clingstones still took a big loss in game one as the offense had nothing going. Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. had two hits, including a double, but that was basically the only bright spot for them. It doesn’t help that Kilpatrick was caught trying to advance to third on a grounder to shortstop and two Clingstones were caught stealing, outs which erased what little life Columbus did have. In the top of the eighth inning Luis Vargas coughed up a double that scored the extra runner, and Columbus failed to score in the eighth inning ending the game 1-0. In game two the Clingstones were much more active with the wood, launching four long balls and scoring eight runs to split the double header. The first inning was marked by a massive home run from David McCabe, who shot a low fly ball out to the power alley in left center field for his eighth home run of the year. Tristin English followed with a no doubter just a few feet left of McCabe’s, and English was perhaps robbed of a cycle chance by the game being a double header. English had a bases loaded RBI single in the second inning to break the game open, giving Columbus a four run inning and lead, and in the fourth inning hit a sinking liner that skittered past the center fielder and allowed English to motor around with a triple. He had one chance in the bottom of the sixth inning to come away with a double but grounded out to shortstop to end the inning. Ambioris Tavarez capped off the scoring with an opposite field home run in the sixth inning, helping to extend Columbus’s Southern League lead in team home runs and slugging percentage.
Swing and Misses
Herick Hernandez – 20
Jack Dashwood – 8
Blayne Abeyta – 4
Luis Vargas – 2
(13-11) Rome Emperors 2, (15-9) Bowling Green Hot Rods 0
- Eric Hartman, LF: 2-4, RBI, .259/.333/.481
- John Gil, SS: 1-3, BB, .208/.269/.292
- Cade Kuehler, SP: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 4 BB, 2 K, 7.45 ERA
- Jacob Kroeger, RP: 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 2.08 ERA
In another tightly contested battle the Rome Emperors were able to fend off any scoring from Bowling Green and shut them out, and the offense came through with just enough help to get the win. John Gil have the Emperors a chance to score right out of the gate when he snuck a grounder up the middle for a base hit and immediately stole second base with ease. A bloop into no man’s land behind third base pittered off of the glove of the third baseman and fell harmlessly for a Dixon Williams single, and though Gil had to hold up he still advanced to third to put runners on the corners with one out. Unfortunately for Rome, Cody Miller’s nightmare season continued as he was carved up for a three pitch strikeout and Williams was thrown out trying to steal to waste the promising start. Both sides traded quiet innings, but in the fifth Rome broke through thanks to Eric Hartman’s second hit of the game. He roped a liner through the right side of the infield to score Colin Burgess, and overtake Gil for the team lead in RBI. Gil followed with a walk that loaded the bases for Williams, but Williams chopped one straight towards the shortstop who was holding the runner at second base and was able to step on two and throw out Williams for an easy inning-ending double play. Rome extended the lead with the help of Cody Miller, who drew a leadoff walk in the sixth inning. He advanced on a wild pitch and stole third base, putting him in place to score on Logan Braunschweig’s swinging bunt single and double the lead the Rome bullpen had to work with.
Speaking of the Rome bullpen they were terrific, but first Cade Kuehler took the ball and he had an interesting outing. The positive takeaway for Kuehler in a rough season has been his ability to avoid walks, but he had a rough day with his control on Thursday. Kuehler walked four hitters, and once again he was not making high quality pitches and couldn’t get whiffs, but defensively the Emperors made all of the plays and supported Kuehler who was able to limit contact to mostly weak ground balls. A fly out to center field in the first inning came at the perfect time as the runner was attempting to steal third base, and the double play in that spot prevented what could have been an early run for the Hot Rods. Kuehler was then able to work around his poor command thanks to a host of those ground balls, and it was only the fifth inning when the poor pitches turned to walks that he started to sweat. A leadoff single and two walks had the middle of the Bowling Green lineup at the dish with one out and the bases loaded, but Kuehler got the perfect ground ball. Colby Jones made the play and the tag at second base to help start a double play, and Kuehler walked away unscathed. The rest of the bullpen made it easy. Jacob Kroeger allowed only one baserunner over 2 2/3 innings of work and so far this season he is continuing his trend of success from last season with a 2.08 ERA in 13 innings. Isaac Gallegos then closed it out by striking out the side in order, continuing his dominant season. Gallegos has always been slider-heavy as a pitcher, but this season he is really dipping into that well and pitching off of the slider and it has led to a season in which he has a whiff rate over 40% and 13 strikeouts in eight innings.
Swing and Misses
Cade Kuehler – 4
Jacob Kroeger – 4
Isaac Gallegos – 3
(13-11) Augusta GreenJackets 6, (8-16) Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 11
- Tate Southisene, DH: 0-3, 2 BB, RBI, .271/.442/.494
- Alex Lodise, SS: 0-3, 2 BB, .260/.336/.410
- Luis Guanipa, CF: 0-3, BB, RBI, .314/.351/.522
- Landon Biedelschies, SP: 0.2 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 10.22 ERA
- Luis Arestigueta, RP: 3.1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 6.57 ERA
The GreenJackets had a rare evening in which the top three in the order didn’t record a hit, and as a result despite drawing 10 walks in the game they only had three hits and fell to Kannapolis 11-6. Of course it’s hard to blame the offense in a game they score six runs, and it certainly wasn’t on then with Landon Beidelschies and Luis Arestigueta both having stinky outings. Beidelschies just didn’t have anything working at all. He couldn’t land a breaking ball to save his life and it hurt him in a big way. The Cannon Ballers were able to get Beidelschies into bad counts and force walks, or more often waited out breaking balls over the middle of the plate and crushed them. The killing pitch for him was a slider that spun right in the middle of the plate and got hammered for a grand slam to put Augusta in a huge hole early. Beidelschies was pulled after a two out walk, ending his worst outing as a professional, but Mathieu Curtis was terrific in relief. He covered 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief of Beidelschies, and if Augusta could have gotten a bit more of that their fifth inning success may have made a much bigger difference.
In the bottom of the fifth inning Augusta just waited out a terrible sequence of pitching from Kannapolis. The GreenJackets only had one hit in the inning, a single from Yamvier Carrero, but had five runs thanks to a hit batter and six walks, five coming with the bases loaded. It was an absolute nightmare of a frame for Kannapolis, and it didn’t matter one bit. Luis Arestigueta came in to pitch in the top of the fifth inning and like Beidelschies could not settle in for the first inning. He issued two walks and hit a batter, and the Cannon Ballers brought home four runs to open up an 8-0 lead against the GreenJackets. Fortunately Arestigueta did settle down and was able to give Augusta a bit of length to save a bullpen arm or two, but his command this season has been concerning. His significant increases in velocity and whiffs are positive signs, but the command that comes with it has nullified all of the advantages thus far. Arestigueta is likely still transitioning to this new look and that’s going to come with speed bumps, but since that incredible second outing of the year he has been less than impressive and command is the primary reason why.
Swing and Misses
Luis Arestigueta – 9
Landon Biedelschies – 7
Adiel Melendez – 7
Cristobal Abreu – 3
