It was a strong set of games on Tuesday for the Atlanta Braves system, with three of four teams winning and Columbus only losing to some late pitching struggles. The position player depth at the lower levels was at full display with some important performances down in Augusta and Rome, especially the games from Alex Lodise and Conor Essenburg. The top pitching performance of the day came from the top prospect. JR Ritchie took a no hitter in the sixth inning, striking out seven batters over one inning of work
and only allowing one run.
(6-4) Gwinnett Stripers 4, (5-4) Nashville Sounds 1
- Jim Jarvis, SS: 2-3, BB, 4 SB, RBI, .368/.478/.474
- Rowdy Tellez, 1B: 0-2, BB, RBI, .200/.286/.467
- JR Ritchie, SP: 7 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 1.72 ERA
The scorching start to the month of April gave the Stripers another win, with JR Ritchie’s dominant performance leading the way in their series-opener with Nashville. For the first five innings Ritchie was unhittable, mowing through the Sounds order with no hard-hit balls allowed despite some on-and-off command issues. Ritchie mostly kept the ball in the edges of the zone, and his tendency to not make mistakes over the middle did help in him going five hitless innings, but he had a few cases of nasty misses on his fastball. While a line of seven innings, one walk, and seven strikeouts looks incredible, adding in the three batters he plunked sort of dims the final line and shows where he was getting himself into trouble. The final of those hit batters led directly to the only run Ritchie allowed, as a stolen base and a single plated the lone Nashville score for this contest. Ritchie finished off with another hitless inning in the seventh, though, and wrapped a promising start. He held his velocity well throughout the game and was terrific with his curveball, keeping the pitch down and just below the zone consistently to force strikeouts. Six of his seven strikeouts came on that pitch and he got five whiffs on seven swings, and that deeper breaking ball has been the more consistent pitch to both handed batters over the past season.
Gwinnett jumped on Nashville starter Carlos Rodriguez in the early part of the game, taking advantage of Rodriguez’s wildness to put up four runs which they rode to the win despite struggling against the Sounds bullpen. The Stripers just ran all over the Sounds with 10 stolen bases in the game — seven with Rodriguez on the mound. Jim Jarvis alone had four stolen bases, and the pressure he put on Rodriguez offensively helped contribute to three of the Stripers runs. Jarvis’s single and two stolen bases in the first inning didn’t amount to anything, but in the second inning he came up with a two-out walk with a runner on third base. Jarvis broke for second drawing a throw, and on the double steal DaShawn Keirsey Jr. took home and pushed the Stripers lead to 2-0. Two innings later Jarvis reached yet again on a base hit, driving in another run, and after stealing third base he was able to score Gwinnett’s final run on a sacrifice fly. While the sample size is exceedingly small and batted ball luck has a major influence, Jarvis has really shined since coming over to Atlanta last season. In 34 combined games between Columbus and Gwinnett Jarvis has put up a .389 on base percentage, and the Braves have kept him aggressive stealing bases. Jarvis is a perfect 14-14 on stolen bases in those 34 games after only stealing eight bases in 77 Double-A games with the Tigers. The lack of power potential that limits his ceiling hasn’t made any shifts, but if Jarvis can add more value on the basepaths and draw more walks (which he has done in a very small sample this season) it would really help him in trying to carve out a bench role at the next level.
Swing and Misses
JR Ritchie – 11
(0-4) Columbus Clingstones 4, (3-0) Montgomery Biscuits 5
- Luke Waddell, SS: 2-4, .250/.357/.250
- David McCabe, 1B: 1-3, HR, BB, 2 RBI, .400/.571/1.000
- Drue Hackenberg, SP: 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 0.00 ERA
- Luis Vargas, RP: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 2.70 ERA
Behind a less-than-exciting group of position players it’s been a terrible start to this young season for the Clingstones, though in this one it was the late collapse of the bullpen that lead to their fourth straight loss. Columbus went an ugly 0-5 as a team with runners in scoring position, but thanks to the star of this offense they still held the lead for much of this game. With the game still scoreless heading into the third inning Columbus had an opportunity to strike first with the too of the order, and Luke Waddell managed to reach on a squibber up the middle that turned into a tough play for the second baseman. This brought up David McCabe, who has been the most dangerous threat in this lineup by a large margin. McCabe got a breaking ball that hung up in the strike zone on the first pitch, and there was no doubt when it left his bat that he had hit his second home run of the season and given Columbus a 2-0 lead. McCabe would have another opportunity with a runner on base two innings later, but his fly ball died shied of the warning track in left center field for an out. The game remained quiet until the eighth inning, when the Lizandro Espinoza and the wildness of the Montgomery bullpen allowed Columbus to extend their lead. Espinoza chopped a ball down the line that the third baseman was able to make a good snag on, but the third baseman’s backpedal to get there had him off balance and Espinoza was able to beat out the throw. Espinoza then advanced on a wild pitch and a ground out before a wild pitch on a David McCabe walk brought him in to extend the lead. Montgomery would tie it in the bottom of the eighth inning, but the Clingstones struck back in the ninth after Jordan Groshans reached on a strike three passed ball. Adam Zebrowski’s single the other way was the clutch play of the inning, and with a runner on third and just one out Columbus had a chance to put a lot of pressure on Montgomery’s bats. The next two hitters struck out, though a wild pitch was enough to bring home the runner from third and send the game to the bottom of the ninth with Columbus clinging to the narrowest of margins.
The numbers for Drue Hackenberg’s season debut look impressive despite him throwing too many balls, but unfortunately there isn’t a lot that can be gleaned from this start. The five strikeouts and seven whiffs over two innings open eyes, but due to technical difficulties the first three innings of this game are lost to history and we’ll just have to wait another week to see Hackenberg in a Columbus uniform again. The person we can evaluate is Luis Vargas, who has been dominant after injury prematurely ended his 2025 season. We had hoped last season would be his breakout campaign, but he has new life in 2026 and is taking full advantage of it. Vargas was efficient with his fastball in his first inning of work and struck out the side, though the only couple of times the slider came into play it missed badly. He started off the next inning by leaving a slider over the plate that got smacked for a solo home run, after which he settled down and started to make quality pitches with that slider. Still he left one in the zone that got hit for a double in a later at bat, and it was the clear weak point for him in this game. He was pretty much just spamming sliders over and over again in the second inning, a sequence that wouldn’t really be the strategy in a typical scenario, so it appears as if that was a point of emphasis for him to work on this game and it led to some struggles in the second inning. In the eighth inning Columbus turned to Blane Abeyta to protect a two run lead, a decision that last season would have been a great one. Abeyta was strong in 2025, but 2026 didn’t get the best start as he allowed a two run home run that tied up the game. In the ninth inning Blayne Enlow didn’t even record an out. He allowed a leadoff home run that tied the game right back up, then after a walk gave up a double that walked the game off for the Biscuits.
Swing and Misses
Drue Hackenberg – 7
LJ McDonough – 6
Luis Vargas – 6
(3-1) Rome Emperors 6, (2-2) Bowling Green Hot Rods 2
- Isaiah Drake, CF: 1-5, BB, RBI, .294/.400/.647
- John Gil, SS: 1-4, 2 BB, 3 SB, .286/.444/.500
- Eric Hartman, CF: 1-4, HR, BB, 2 RBI, .200/.294/.600
- Colin Daniel, SP: 4 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 4 K, 4.50 ERA
- Owen Hackman, RP: 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 0.00 ERA
It was another exciting game for the Rome offense, with every batter in the order recording at least one hit and the team combining for 10 hits and nine walks in their win. The first scoring inning for them kicked off with a defensive miscue, however. Owen Carey led off with a great swing to send the ball hard the other way, but it was within the range of the left fielder. The defender took a terrible route and overran the ball, and was unable to recover with the ball sailing over his head for a leadoff double. Carey would end up scoring on a single from Colby Jones, and after a catcher interference call the lineup flipped and Isaiah Drake came up with a two-out RBI single. It was still a close game later on in the eighth inning, and the top of the lineup was looking for a chance for some key insurance runs. Isaiah Drake led off and drew a walk, but with two outs the chance to score came down to Eric Hartman, who had already struck out three times this game. Hartman fell down 0-1 in the count, then got a slider that stayed up and on the inner half of the plate where he likes pitches. Hartman turned and launched one down the right field line, launching a no-doubter that broke the game open and put Rome up 5-2. Elsewhere John Gil had another great game, extending his opening hitting streak to four games. He had a hard hit line drive single in the first inning and also reached twice with two more walks. So far Gil has stolen eight bases in four games, has more walks than strikeouts, and is hitting the ball much harder than he was last season.
11th round pick Colin Daniel made his debut for Rome, and the Hot Rods struggled to do much with him at the plate. His sinker was forcing the hitters to roll over and make weak contact, and Bowling Green couldn’t plate a single run before Daniel left the game, despite Daniel struggling to command the ball. Daniel was able to hold it together in the early stages of the game, but as his outing went on the walks started to pile up though he also began to miss more bats. As he integrated his sweeper into his approach the second time through the order the Hot Rods began to whiff more and Daniel struck out three batters in the fourth inning. He came out for the fifth inning but walked the first two batters and was immediately yanked in favor of Owen Hackman. Hackman allowed both inherited runners to score before getting out the inning, and that was all that Bowling Green would get in the game. Hackman and Rodriguez both locked down over the final four innings, combining for seven strikeouts and only one more baserunner allowed.
Swing and Misses
Colin Daniel – 6
David Rodriguez – 5
(1-3) Augusta GreenJackets 10, (1-3) Delmarva Shorebirds 7
- Tate Southisene, 2B: 2-3, BB, .267/.476/.267
- Conor Essenburg, CF: 3-4, 2B, 2 BB, 2 RBI, .333/.524/.600
- Alex Lodise, SS: 3-6, 2B, 3 RBI, .421/.450/.526
- Luis Guanipa, RF: 1-5, RBI, .357/.400/.500
- Aiven Cabral, SP: 3 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 3.00 ERA
The top of the Augusta lineup went off in this game, combining for eight hits and three walks, finally earning the first win of the season for the GreenJackets. Tate Southisene had trouble in his first series last week, but made a huge impact in this game despite not making solid contact. He struggled with six strikeouts in the three games this week, but made contact and was able to grab two hits and reach base a total of five times. Southisene drew a walk and was also hit by pitches twice, and his three runs scored led the way for Augusta. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Conor Essenburg, who hasn’t slowed down at all this season as he has reached safely multiple times in every single game. On the second pitch he saw in this game he rocketed a grounder down the third base line and cruised in for a double, igniting a scoring chance for the GreenJackets. Alex Lodise followed with a with an inside out line drive that sunk in front of the right fielder, pushing Essenburg 90 feet forward, and Luis Guanipa slapped a line drive the opposite way for an RBI to put Augusta up early. That lead lasted until a four run outburst from Delmarva in the third inning, and Essenburg popped up with another impactful plate appearance. With the bases loaded Essenburg worked a 3-2 count and then got a pitch in the zone, and shot a hard liner through the left sign of the infield to drive in a run and cut a bit into the lead. Lodise followed again with a huge swing, bashing a fastball off of the right field wall for a double, erasing that lead and scoring two runs. Augusta had a huge opportunity to extend the lead with one out and two runners in scoring position, but Luis Guanipa and Nick Montgomery struck out back to back to end the inning.
Delmarva retook the lead in the fifth inning, and once again the top of the order was needed to pull the GreenJackets ahead. Southisene led the inning off with a swinging bunt single, and Essenburg exploded his bat but came through with a soft single, and the middle of the order had no outs and two runners to work with in a hurry. Lodise again came through in a big spot, lacing a single up the middle to score Southisene and tie the game right back up. Caden Merritt would finally let Augusta retake the league, beating out a soft roller down the line with two outs that the third baseman misplayed. The lead did not last. Delmarva scored a run to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth inning. In the top of the seventh inning the Shorebirds let up four consecutive walks, the final of which was issued to Essenburg and gave Augusta a lead they would not relinquish this time around. Lodise finally failed to come through in the clutch as he struck out swinging, but an error on a Luis Guanipa grounded scored two runs and ballooned the lead to three runs. Merritt once again knocked in a run on a slow grounder over to the third baseman that the defender dropped, accounting for the final run of the game for Augusta.
Swing and Misses
Aiven Cabral – 8
Mathieu Curtis – 6
Lewis Sifontes – 6
