The attention the Braves have given to position player prospects has paid huge dividends so far this season with a number of impressive performances already in the first month. First round pick Tate Southisene led off for Augusta with his third long ball of the season, and his .917 OPS on the season has been a huge plus for the GreenJackets. After a poor stretch of play John Gil is back to playing great in Rome, notching another three hit game as part of another big offensive day for the Emperors.
(15-8) Gwinnett Stripers 11, (11-12) Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 9
- Jim Jarvis, SS: 0-3, 2 BB, .366/.490/.512
- Nacho Alvarez Jr., 3B: 1-5, .203/.304/.237
- Aaron Schunk, 1B: 5-5, 2B, HR, 5 RBI, .338/.393/.575
- Austin Pope, SP: 1 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, 4.32 ERA
- Hayden Harris, RP: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, 2.08 ERA
Gwinnett and Jacksonville played in a barn burner, and it was a late push by the Stripers and Aaron Schunk’s huge day at the plate that pushed them over the edge in the end. On the run preventation side of the ball the Stripers relied on a host of pitchers in a bullpen game and in the early innings struggled to get any sort of consistent success. The pitching staff led by spot starter Austin Pope and reliever Tayler Scott had trouble throwing strikes consistently, and they weren’t helped at all by an abysmal defensive performance. The Stripers pitching staff allowed six walks and the defense coughed up five errors, leading to five unearned runs charged against them. They allowed eight runs through the first four innings of play and trailed 8-4 heading into the latter half of the game. Finally Anderson Pilar gave them a small bit of good work over 2 2/3 innings with no earned runs allowed, and the offense woke up enough to make a late comeback.
Throughout the Stripers lineup they were able to find offensive impact in this game, but nobody was more successful than Aaron Schunk. Schunk had hits in all five of his at-bats in the game, and in the early innings his offensive output carried the team and kept the game close. He led off in the second inning with a double that sparked a rally, eventually scoring a run as part of Gwinnett’s effort to put two on the board. The next inning he went deep with the biggest swing of the game, smashing his fifth home run of the season to make the game 6-4. Schunk’s one out single in the sixth inning led to another scoring chance and his third run scored of the game, but it wasn’t until the seventh that Gwinnett really had their chance to break out. Brewer Hicklen was hit by a pitch and Jim Jarvis drew a walk, setting up the middle of the lineup with two outs. Chadwick Tromp loaded the bases for Schunk, who responded with a clutch single for his fourth hit of the game, driving in two and cutting the deficit to 9-7. Brett Wisely followed that up with a bloop double to bring the game within one, but with two runners in scoring position Jose Azocar struck out to end the inning. Hicklen would be the hero of the evening with his next at bat, cracking a two-run home run that put the Stripers ahead for good in the eighth inning. Schunk capped off his day with another RBI single, his fifth of the game, and in total Schunk scored or drove in seven of the Stripers 11 runs.
Swing and Misses
Anderson Pilar – 8
Tayler Scott – 7
(9-8) Columbus Clingstones 0, (8-9) Birmingham Barons 11
- Patrick Clohisy, CF: 0-4, .296/.345/.481
- David McCabe, 1B: 1-4, .264/.409/.623
- Ambioris Tavarez, 2B: 1-2, BB, .194/.356/.306
- Garrett Baumann, SP: 3 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 7.27 ERA
It was a forgettable day for the Clingstones all around as they struggled in every facet of the game. They were stifled on offense despite making plenty of contact throughout the game, with a large majority of their outs coming on weak ground balls and early count outs. The Birmingham staff filled up the strike zone and Columbus went after their pitches, and the only player with a notably good day was Ambioris Tavarez. Tavarez had an early walk for the first Clingstone baserunner of the game and later on had the game’s second hit, though in both cases his time on the basepaths was short-lived. David McCabe had a single early on in this game that pushed his hitting streak up to five games, accounting for the Clingstones’s only other hit, and thus far this season he has reached base safely in all but one of his games played.
Garrett Baumann had two solid games to work himself back after a poor opening start, but came back down a bit in this outing as he struggled to elevate his fastball. It was one of those days where despite throwing a lot of strikes he struggled to land pitches in locations that would him swings and misses, and hitters were able to rack up hits and extend at bats until he made mistakes. All three of his walks came in at bats that he could not finish the hitter off, losing the plate appearance to a walk in a full count. He landed neither of his secondary offerings well at all and had to rely on his fastball to get many of his outs, a tall task for him when he isn’t able to keep the pitch on the edges. Most of his issues came down to his mechanics being a bit off as he was falling off to his glove side a bit and pulling most of his pitches down and in that direction, though in the second inning he did a much better job of locking in his mechanics. In particular his strikeout to end the second inning was a great example of him getting his body downhill and towards home plate, and he located pitches nicely there including a deep slider for a whiff to finish the at bat. Ultimately though he never got a great feel for a consistent secondary, and got tagged for a home run in the next inning when he left his changeup up in the strike zone. Until this point he had managed to avoid allowing any runs, but Birmingham had him dialed in at this point and he only had two whiffs on 17 swings in the inning.
Swing and Misses
Blayne Abeyta – 7
Garrett Baumann – 6
LJ McDonough – 5
(8-9) Rome Emperors 9, (11-6) Greensboro Grasshoppers 5
- Isaiah Drake, LF-RF: 1-5, .231/.315/.385
- John Gil, SS: 3-4, 2B, BB, RBI, .246/.353/.421
- Eric Hartman, CF: 1-4, .306/.368/.694
- Logan Braunschweig, DH: 2-4, 2B, HR, .282/.417/.436
- Cam Caminiti, SP: 4.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 4.26 ERA
There are few things more certain than the Rome Emperors giving prospect fans something to like on any given day, and even with the early wake up call the offense was rolling. A six run fifth inning was the key to a win to bring the team within a win of .500, and John Gil had a second big day in a row to start this series. The first six Emperors of the game went down in order, but Logan Braunschweig made his first impact of the game by smoking a double to lead off the third inning, and he came around to score on a Jake Steels groundout to give Rome an early lead. A rough couple of innings from Cam Caminiti did give the game over to the Grasshoppers briefly, though not before Gil made his first mark on the game. Gil scorched a line drive over to third base that deflected off of the defender, and he motored in for a leadoff double though he was stranded there. In the fifth inning Braunschweig made another impact on the game, going down to get a sinker down and in and lifting it for a solo home run. Rome started rolling after this, with a walk to Colin Burgess and hits from Austin Machado and Isaiah Drake loading the bases up for Gil. Gil drew a walk to move everyone up a spot, forcing home a run, and bringing the deficit down to 4-3. Eric Hartman then took a hit by pitch to tie the game, and Cody Miller gave Rome a lead with a sacrifice ground out. Mason Guerra, who led off the inning, netted the hit that gave Rome a little breathing room, sneaking a single up the middle to drive home two runs and push the lead to 7-4. Braunschweig had a chance for a second hit of the inning and gave a liner the other way a good ride, but it was right at the left fielder for the final out and ended Braunschweig’s perfect day at the plate. Gil had leadoff singles in both the seventh and ninth inning, getting him a second straight three hit day. Gil also stole a base to move into the South Atlantic League lead with 11 on the season.
Cam Caminiti started this season off with three terrific performances, but his Wednesday was fraught with inconsistency and a command performance that fell a bit short of the standards he has set in the first month of 2026. Caminiti had reasonable command of his fastball in the early going, keeping the pitch in the upper third of the zone and escaping some mistake sliders to work through two scoreless innings, however the signs of trouble were there. Caminiti missed with his fastball way out of the zone high, and could not get his slider down at all and got lucky leadoff man Wyatt Sanford was too far ahead and yanked one a long way foul. In the second inning they made some adjustments to correct the high misses, but he started leaving the fastball over the plate and at all points was not able to make many swing-and-miss pitches. In the third inning his arm slot started to dip and pitches sailed on him again, and this time Sanford took advantage of a mistake slider. The first pitch of the at bat was a slider up in the zone and Sanford turned it around and smacked it down the line for an RBI double, tying the game. In his second trip through the order Caminiti’s command started to show even more holes and the Grasshoppers put a three spot on him in the fourth inning. It’s close to as bad as you’ll see Caminiti pitch all around as none of his pitches worked throughout the outing, though he was ultimately able to salvage the start and keep Rome in the game until they broke through in the next half inning.
Swing and Misses
Cam Caminiti – 6
Riley Frey – 5
Ian Mejia – 3
(10-7) Augusta GreenJackets 2, (9-8) Columbia Fireflies 6
- Tate Southisene, 2B: 1-4, HR, .246/.425/.492
- Alex Lodise, SS: 2-4, .268/.358/.394
- Luis Guanipa, DH: 0-4, .333/.348/.500
- Derek Vartanian, SP: 5 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 5.40 ERA
This game got off to an exciting start for GreenJackets fans, though excitement in the game probably peaked after the second hitter. On pitch number two Tate Southisene got a slider out over the plate, and he was waiting back on it. He crushed a leadoff home run up onto the berm in left center field, and the GreenJackets had the early lead to work with. Alex Lodise followed up by turning and crushing an inside fastball, and though he fell short of a home run by hitting it into the deepest part of the ballpark he was able to sprint around for a triple and give Augusta an early opportunity to put up a crooked number. With the way Luis Guanipa has been hitting he seemed like the man for the task, but he rolled over a fat slider on the first pitch and was retired without Lodise being able to advance. Nick Montgomery then got carved up by a steady diet of sliders low and away and struck out for the second out, and the scoring opportunity was officially closed when Junior Garcia popped out to the shortstop. Augusta gave up the lead but retook it on a Cooper McMurray single in the top of the second inning, then went the rest of the game without scoring a run. Lodise and Guanipa each had a couple of good moments in the rest of the game, with Lodise going the other way for a single to lead off the third inning. Guanipa followed by putting a charge into a fly ball into the right center field gap, but it died at the base of the wall for a fly out and Augusta didn’t have a lot left in the tank after that point.
Derek Vartanian had two pretty interesting starts to open his season, but had his worst on Wednesday as his command of his slider and splitter were not good enough to help him find consistent success. From the very early portions of the game Vartanian was clearly struggling to keep his slider close, and the Fireflies hitters were able to lay off of it and force him into using his fastball and splitter in the zone. His splitter had a few moments where he laid some nasty pitches fading off the plate to get whiffs, but he also pulled way too many up over the plate and had to dance around trouble throughout the game. It was one of those splitters staying at the top of the strike zone that got tagged for a home run in the third inning, his third home run allowed so far in two games. Vartanian’s mix of pitches is solid enough to be worth a continued eye over the remainder of the season, especially given how sharp he looks despite not pitching competitively all last season due to injury. His velocity looks good and though the command was spotty in this one it’s well in line with the inconsistency you would expect from someone who has missed so much time, and though his fastball is fringy right now he has enough life on it to survive upper level hitters.
Swing and Misses
Derek Vartanian – 19
Carter Lovasz – 6
