This week has seen huge shake ups in the minor league rosters and the Braves shuffled many of their top prospects and added some of the draftees to Augusta’s roster. Tuesday featured five top prospects debuting at new levels and the professional debut of 26th overall pick Carter Beck, but the player of the day was AJ Smith-Shawver in Triple-A. He looked great early in his start as part of a Gwinnett win, and continues to grow stronger with each start he makes.
(56-52) Gwinnett Stripers 5, (54-53) Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 2
- Patrick Clohisy, CF: 2-3, BB, .431/.500/.708
- Carlos Santana, 1B: 1-4, .271/.386/.390
- AJ Smith-Shawver, SP: 5.2 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 4 BB, 6 K, 2.20 ERA
- James Karinchak, RP: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 2.45 ERA
There was a steep fall
off for AJ Smith-Shawver late into his latest Gwinnett outing, but overall this represented another step forward for him as he tries to prove he is ready for his next shot at locking down a long term rotation spot. Smith-Shawver’s stumbling block in returning from Tommy John surgery has been the distinct lack of stamina and late-outing slips, and that was present again for him in this one. His velocity dropped off in the fifth inning and by the sixth he was too gassed to be effective and coughed up two walks and two runs, but prior to that he looked in complete control of the game. He had a couple of early walks — one on a deep count and the other where he narrowly missed on relatively well-spotted fastballs up — and that was the only real blemish on his resume. This was as well as Smith-Shawver has located his fastball and slider in any outing to this point, and nearly all of the solid contact against him came after he started showing signs of fatigue later on. If there has been any major knock against Smith-Shawver it’s been his splitter location, and that was still a hole in his game throughout yesterday’s work and something that has to be improved before he’ll be ready to pitch effectively at the next level. He is consistently leaving that pitch above the target and often right over the middle of the plate, and the success he’s had at Triple-A on the pure quality of the pitch will not carry over against major league hitters. Feel for changeups are one of those things that often take awhile for a player to regain after a long injury rehab so it’s not a surprising outcome, and most of the other markers are exactly where they need to be. His stamina is slowly slotting back into place and his velocity has stayed at the level expected of him, while his command of his fastball seems to be improving start-over-start.
Patrick Clohisy has definitely cooled off at the plate with no extra base hits in his past seven games, but even without maintaining his absurd early pace he has kept being a productive and consistent member of this lineup. Clohisy had another hard-hit base hit in the second inning of this game, driving in two runs on the play, and then stole his 11th base in only 19 Triple-A games. Pitchers at this level may be adjusting to Clohisy, though it could also be a case of a small sample size playing tricks. Clohisy has kept swinging out of the strike zone at a high rate, even if he is making contact below the strike zone, but even with his high chase rates has started to draw more walks because he just isn’t seeing as many strikes over the past couple of series. Whether a trend or just noise Clohisy’s chase rates have been a detriment to him at every level and in this game had a weak ground out and a poorly hit single on at bats that ended with him swinging outside of the strike zone. He does a great job of not getting greedy on fastballs that stay up, but secondaries below the strike zone are a challenge for him to lay off and primarily where pitchers have been able to go to get him to whiff or hit the ball weakly. Clohisy has undoubtedly been terrific, but for a guy with a limited power ceiling who really relies on hitting and speed to build value, the lack of patience is not a service to him at all.
Swing and Misses
AJ Smith-Shawver – 10
Hayden Harris – 1
(45-53) Columbus Clingstones 9, (55-44) Biloxi Shuckers 11
- Eric Hartman, LF: 1-5, BB, .200/.333/.200
- John Gil, SS: 2-5, .400/.500/.400
- Owen Carey, RF: 1-4, RBI, .250/.400/.250
- Ian Mejia, SP: 5 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 7.98 ERA
- Luis Vargas, RP: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 3.97 ERA
With a remade lineup the Clingstones immediately put up one of their best offensive days of the season. They started with a three-run first inning and never looked back, but the pitching folded late in this game. John Gil was hit by a pitch in the first inning to spark their rally, and the first Columbus run came from Owen Carey serving a liner into center field for his first Double-A hit and RBI. Jordan Groshans cleared the bases with a two-run double to put Columbus on top, and at one point the Clingstones opened up a 9-3 lead. Most of that came from the seventh inning. Dalton McIntyre flipped the lineup with a leadoff single, and Eric Hartman reached for the second time in the game by drawing a walk. John Gil didn’t get very good contact, but his speed forced a poor throw to first and his swinging bunt turned into a hit and two runs with him ending up on third base. Carson Taylor hit a monster home run to give Columbus four runs in the inning and Columbus opened the lead to five runs. Carey was then hit by a pitch and scored the final Columbus run on an Adam Zebrowski double to cap the scoring effort. Each of the top prospects for the Stripers came away with at least one hit in their Double-A debut. Hartman’s came in the fifth inning. He got a sinker up in the strike zone and chopped it to the right side, squeezing it between two defenders for the hit. John Gil then sliced a single into right field for his first Double-A hit, and with no outs the duo pulled off a double steal to put them both in scoring position. Columbus only got one run in the inning — Hartman’s first run scored — but had the lead headed into the ninth inning.
This has been an awful season for Ian Mejia, and this was finally the best start he has really had all year. He started out pretty rough with three runs allowed in the first two innings (one unearned), but after allowing a home run in the top of the second settled in and pitched the best he has all year. Mejia faced a bit of traffic but kept working out of it and making pitches when it counted, and got through the fifth inning with no further damage. Luis Vargas then had an incredible relief outing and looked the best he has all season, striking out five of the seven batters he faced in the game. In the ninth inning Isaac Gallegos was coming on to close out the game, and with a six run lead the game felt safe in his hands. Coming into the outing Gallegos had only allowed more than three earned runs in an outing once in his career, and never more than five, but history didn’t help Gallegos. He got the first batter out, but that was the end of the any good feelings for Gallegos. The next hitter drew a walk on a 3-2 count, and the next player lined one that pinged off of the glove of the first baseman and settled in shallow right field for a hit. He gave up a deep single to the next hitter, and the next hitter followed that with another single on a fastball left over the plate. He walked the next hitter to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate, but a ground ball over to Gil at shortstop had a chance to erase the comeback opportunity. Gil ranged and made a good feed to second, but Luke Waddell’s throw to first went wide and pulled Taylor off of the bag, extending the inning where the next better tied it up with a three-run shot. Tyler LaPorte allowed a leadoff home run in the 10th inning and Columbus failed to score anyone and lost a gimme.
Swing and Misses
Ian Mejia – 11
Luis Vargas – 8
Blane Abeyta – 3
(49-50) Rome Emperors 4, (62-41) Greensboro Grasshoppers 6
- Luis Guanipa, CF:0-4, .000/.000/.000
- Conor Essenburg, RF: 0-3, .000/.250/.000
- Alex Lodise, SS: 0-3, BB, .217/.357/.217
- Dixon Williams, DH: 2-4, HR, .217/.323/.410
- Cody Miller, 2B: 1-3, HR, BB, 3 RBI, .194/.297/.347
- Aiven Cabral, SP: 5 IP, 10 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 3.93 ERA
Where the new faces in Columbus made a splash their replacements in Rome came up short, with Luis Guanipa, Conor Essenburg, and Alex Lodise combining to go 0-11 at the top of the Emperors order. In addition Aiven Cabral pitched an awful game, but Rome was still in it despite both of those things working against them. Cabral allowed double digit hits in this game and was once again not as crisp as early in the season, though he had his sinker working in his favor. Sure, lots of balls found holes and he gave up plenty of hits, but he didn’t give up much impact contact and that allowed him to limit the damage early in this game. His luck would run out in the fourth inning when he allowed three runs, and that ensured that from the top of the fourth inning on the Emperors trailed in the game.
Rome stayed in this game by sending balls over the fence, and it was two of the team’s disappointing hitters that brought the impact. Trailing 4-0 in the fourth inning the Emperors really needed an offensive spark, and it started with Alex Lodise drawing a walk followed by a Dixon Williams base hit. That brought up Cody Miller, who is looking to redeem himself after a rough first stint in Rome, and he got that effort off to a blazing start. Miller got a fastball over the plate and blasted it into the bullpen, scoring three runs to claw Rome back into the game. Archer Brookman followed with a double to put the tying run on base, but after a pitching change the bottom of the order went pop up, strikeout, strikeout to end the chances of a comeback in the fourth. Dixon Williams was the next to make his mark on the game. In the 8th inning he went the opposite way for a home run, his 14th of the season, which extended his power surge. Williams has six home runs in 25 games since the start of July, though that has also come with 39 strikeouts in 106 plate appearances.
As for the prospects on the team, although none had a good game they all found their way on the bases at least once. Luis Guanipa led off the game with a grounder in front of home plate, and used his speed to force an error. Conor Essenburg was hit by a pitch to open up a chance for an early scoring rally, but Lodise grounded into a double play and Williams struck out swinging to end the threat. In the third Guanipa swung over an inside sinker and grounded into a force out, and Essenburg grounded out to second base on a sinker in a hittable location. Guanipa had two more ground outs in his next two at bats, and Essenburg finished his day with a routine fly out on a ball that tied him up a bit inside and then got dominated in the 8th inning with a three-pitch strikeout and two whiffs on sliders out of the strike zone.
Swing and Misses
Aiven Cabral – 7
(55-46) Augusta GreenJackets 7, (61-39) Hickory Crawdads 8
- Carter Beck, CF: 2-5, .400/.400/.400
- Manuel Campos: 0-5, .100/.100/.200
- Juan Mateo, 2B: 1-3, HR, 2 BB, .249/.328/.339
- Derek Vartanian, SP: 3.2 IP, 2 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 4.13 ERA
It was not a great first first impression for Carter Beck, though he ended up having a solid game at the plate. Beck had a tough lefty-lefty matchup for his first professional at-bat, and it took three pitches for him to walk back to the dugout with a three pitch strikeout after swinging through a slider. The lineup got one pitch away from having an immaculate inning thrown against them before Juan Mateo took some pitches out of the strike zone, though he ultimate went down swinging as well to end a three-K opening. Not a great look, but that was the low point of the game offensively. Beck went down 0-2 in the next plate appearance before an unlucky foul ball on a fastball that ran up and found his bat, then he got a slider in the strike zone and hit a hard grounder but aimed it right at the shortstop. Beck got to see a right-handed pitcher in his next at bat, and he responded by ripping a fastball right back up the middle for a base hit. He stole second base right after, but was stranded there. Augusta went into the ninth inning with the game tied up, and Beck had one last shot to make an impact in the game. Beck cracked one the other way and through the infield for his second hit of the game, but was thrown out trying to steal when an errant pitch ended up being an impromptu pitch out. Augusta would take the lead a couple of batters later on a rocket home run from Juan Mateo, and I’m going to be honest I didn’t know Mateo had that in him. He absolutely crushed that ball and it is the hardest I’ve ever seen him hit a ball. Augusta scored two in the inning to take the lead, though they would not hold it for long.
It was a tough start and a tough end for the GreenJackets pitching staff. Derek Vartanian couldn’t throw strikes and coughed up four runs in the fourth inning to put Augusta in a deep hole. They came back up to take the lead in the ninth inning, but Carter Lovasz had little better in the way of fortune. Lovasz gave up a game-tying home run the next half-inning, then in the tenth inning got to two outs but gave up an infield single that was too away from Manuel Campos for him to get up and make a throw after a diving effort. It’s going to take a lot more watching from Carter Beck to get a good feel for him, but one game in and he is already matching what the college reports showed. Beck was super aggressive at the plate in this game, and while he has the ability to move his barrel vertically and make solid contact throughout the strike zone he has to be a lot more selective than what he showed in this game and in his amateur career. His contact ability is going to set a much higher floor for Beck than the guys that came in last draft with approach concerns, but that’s not going to last forever. I don’t want to be harsh on Beck too early, though, as not a lot of guys have the ability to hit the ball the way he does and that’s a highly coveted skill.
Swing and Misses
Derek Vartanian – 10
