With three games dashed by the weather the Augusta GreenJackets had to do something big to save the day on Thursday, and even with a delay dampening spirits they found their footing early and put up a big offensive showing. Alex Lodise kept up one of his best streaks of the season with three RBIs, including a massive home run to reach double digits on the year, and offense cobbled together 10 runs to skate to a win to end the first half of the season.
(36-34) Gwinnett Stripers, (37-32) Louisville Bats POSTPONED
(29-32) Columbus Clingstones, (32-30) Biloxi Shuckers POSTPONED
(33-31) Rome Emperors, (30-34) Hudson Valley Renegades CANCELLED
(35-31) Augusta GreenJackets 10, (31-35) Hill City Howlers 3
- Conor Essenburg, CF: 2-4, BB, .267/.408/.495
- Alex Lodise, SS: 1-2, HR, 3 RBI, .244/.333/.406
- Luis Guanipa, RF: 1-4, .310/.364/.483
- Kendy Richard, SP: 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 6.47 ERA
- Derek Vartanian, RP: 5 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 3.72 ERA
After an hour of delays the Augusta GreenJackets
managed to find a window to sneak in the only full season action of the night, and even that came to an abrupt end in the seventh inning when rain chased away the rest of the game. The GreenJackets didn’t waste a breath in running away with a commanding early lead, ensuring that regardless of the time this game got called they would have a win on the docket. Conor Essenburg got another strong night started off with a first inning hit, and after two wild pitches found himself 90 feet away from tying the game, a fate that would come to pass quickly when Alex Lodise stung a liner out to left field that was tracked down for a sacrifice fly. Augusta stayed hot with two outs thanks to Luis Guanipa ripping one the opposite way for a single on the first pitch he saw, then Juan Mateo extended the lead on an odd play. Mateo lined one sharply right up the middle, and though the pitcher got a glove up it pinged off towards second base and gave the defense no chance to get Mateo. Guanipa was aggressive running the bases and would have been dead to rights trying to score from second base on the play, but the throw in to home skipped to the backstop for an E4. Mateo advanced to third on the play and later scored on a balk.
The next inning started off hot again for the GreenJackets, with the first three batters of the inning drawing walks to load the bases. Lodise popped out in foul ground and Guanipa struck out, a series of events that gave Hill City a chance to escape, but once again two outs proved to be the breeding ground for GreenJackets scoring. The starter walked two more Augusta batters, giving him seven walks allowed in 1 2/3 innings, before he was lifted from the game for a reliever. Austin Machado greeted the new pitcher rudely, slicing a double the opposite way for a bases-clearing double, breaking the game wide open and putting Augusta up 8-1. This pretty much put the game in the bag, though we’ve seen much crazier things happen in Single-A than a seven run comeback, and Derek Vartanian’s good work in long relief closed what little window there was left. The offense was not done for the GreenJackets. Essenburg reached on an infield single in the third inning to put he and Cody Miller (BB) in position to score even more runs, and Alex Lodise’s second sacrifice fly extended the lead a bit more. Augusta wasted three straight walks to open up the forth inning, but Lodise finally lined one up in the fifth inning. Lodise got a fastball he could extend his hands on and absolutely demolished the pitch, hitting his tenth home run of the year through the pouring rain and long into the night. Mateo added to his good night when he pulled a liner into the gap and beat out a triple, and he finished the night 2-2 with a couple of walks. Looking at that middle infield, both Lodise and Mateo are in the midst of interesting stretches at the plate. Lodise now has home runs in back-to-back games, but beyond that he has been successful over the last two series at drawing walks but importantly making contact while still maintaining impact. His swing-and-miss so far this season has provided significant reason for concern, but he now has only one strikeout in his last five games while keeping up the power production that has been the major high for him this season. Mateo has drawn nine walks in his past six games, a significant increase over the 10 he drew in his first 41. Some of this is just Hill City and Myrtle Beach not being particularly good pitching staffs, and there is still a major question of whether Mateo has the frame to grow into enough power to be a big league hitter, but it’s still pretty clear Mateo is on the long road to acclimating himself to full season ball. His hit tool is legitimate and he has been able to consistently provide line drive contact, though he’s obviously in a league of prospects below the guys ahead of him in the order.
It was a tough assignment for Kendy Richard and Derek Vartanian to pitch in these conditions and with this sort of delay to start the evening, and both did remarkably well for the circumstances. Vartanian had the bulk of the innings in this one even though he came out of the bullpen, as the rain delay to start the evening disrupted his routine and they decided it better for him to come in after an opener. Whether a result of weather, routine, or just being off he didn’t have the best control of his pitches throughout the outing, which only was made worse once it started raining later in the game. He had some trouble getting his fastball near the zone and was elevating his secondaries, though the Howler didn’t do a great job taking advantage. I can’t remember how much of a chance I have had to talk about Richard this season — a guy who is a one trick pony but that one pitch is really good. Richard lacks the velocity to be a real threat as a bullpen prospects, but has a terrific changeup that is really the source of any success he does have. Hill City is a great matchup for him given the number of left-handed (or switch-hitting) prospects they have and the results proved themselves in the final line. Richard doesn’t seem to have much room to grow into velocity, though his slider has a good enough shape that it could be a major league quality pitch if he could throw it harder. Richard doesn’t have good command either and there are too many holes in his game to project him to a major league career, but it’s also not that easy to find guys who have a true above average changeup at this level.
Swing and Misses
Derek Vartanian – 9
Kendy Richard – 7
(10-24) FCL Braves 2, (18-16) FCL Orioles 13
- Diego Tornes, CF: 0-2, BB, .179/.271/.253
- Manuel Campos, SS: 1-2, 2 BB, .282/.391/.436
Manuel Campos had another impressive game for the FCL Braves, extending his hitting streak to eight games and reaching base three times. We’re dealing with markedly small samples here but one note to watch for him is his splits. He only has 21 at bats vs LHP against 96 vs RHP, and from the left side of the plate he has 21 strikeouts to 19 walks and a .167 isolated power, while from the right he has six strikeouts, two walks, and a .095 isolated power. This is not nearly enough to draw any conclusions on without seeing him swing first hand, and it’s important to note his success was flipped in the DSL last season, significant swing differences are common for young switch-hitters and it will be one of the things worth tracking in a mostly lackluster FCL team. It’s sort of grasping at straws to find interesting pitching performances on this team, with this game’s starter being one of the somewhat notable players on the team. Luisberth Valdez has horrible walk rates but at both the DSL and FCL level has put up high strike rates while being young for those respective leagues. That’s something to take heart in, but the 20 walks in 19 1/3 innings dashes a lot of the hope that his strikeout numbers have provided.
(2-11) DSL Braves 1, (8-5) DSL Royals Fortuna 6
- Starlyn De La Cruz, DH: 1-3, .324/.490/.541
- Jose Manon, 3B: 1-2, BB, .286/.435/.457
This was a disappointing game by Starlyn De La Cruz’s standards so far this season, which says a lot because he managed to go 1-3 and avoid striking out. He led off the game with a single which was followed up by Jose Manon’s only hit of the day, though he failed to help the Braves get an early lead when he was gunned down trying to score from second on the next base hit. Manon had a hit and a walk in this game to extend his career-opening on base streak to 11 games, and he hadded in a stolen base. Both of these players are going to be fun to watch when they hopefully make their stateside debuts next season, and the big hope for the rest of this year is that they don’t fall victim to the injury bug that has been so prevalent among the top international prospects of recent years.
