There were some impressive performances from two of the Braves pitching prospects on Tuesday night, even if some of the results didn’t match up in the end. Drue Hackenberg looked as good as he has in a long time for the first five innings of his outing, showing a combination of command and stuff that has only come in flashes the last two seasons Cedric De Grandpre crossed the 100 strikeout mark with another strong performance for Columbus, and he has fully situated himself in the names to watch category
for the second half as he continues to put up impressive whiff numbers.
(42-44) Gwinnett Stripers 6, (53-35) Memphis Redbirds 11
- DaShawn Kiersey Jr., CF: 2-5, 3B, 2 RBI, .259/.311/.372
- Drue Hackenberg, SP: 5.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 7 K, 5.68 ERA
- Blake Burkhalter, RP: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K, 0.00 ERA
Drue Hackenberg delivered one of his best starts of the season, and though it fell apart late in the game there was still plenty to take away from the first five innings of this outing. Hackenberg’s command slipped severely in the sixth inning and it led to him allowing three walks and runs prior to being pulled from the game, but going into that frame he had limited the Redbirds to one run and walk while striking out seven batters. One of the major issues that Hackenberg has faced throughout his career is his inability to consistently locate his curveball — the pitch with the most strikeout potential in his arsenal. This game was an example of how effective that pitch can be when he can keep it around the strike zone, with 10 of the 14 whiffs he produced on the day coming form his curveball alone. He kept going back to the well and used the 42% of the time overall without allowing a hard hit ball. In addition to his command woes Hackenberg also lost some steam on his fastball late in that outing, but this is also the deepest Hackenberg has pitched into a game by innings this season and his second-highest pitch total. Working on his stamina will be critical for him, but given the injuries he’s faced it’s not hard to see how that’s hurting his ability to be effective late in starts. His cutter and curveball are his two best pitches and he located those both well, and this outing is an example of the potential he does flash as a pitcher to be effective. His injury troubles have taken a lot of steam out of the momentum from two seasons ago, but Hackenberg is clearly a capable prospect if he can stay on the field for the rest of the season.
To no one’s surprise the Stripers weren’t lighting up the ball in this game, but they found a lot of batted ball luck throughout the evening and managed to string those hits into early runs. The first four hitters of the second inning reached base with the best hit ball being a hard single from Brewer Hicklen, and the Stripers continued to capitalize and put up three runs. Adam Zebrowksi missed a home run but was able to get the second run home on a sacrifice fly and Cal Conley capped the scored in the inning off by shooting a ball through the right side of the infield for an RBI single. Another RBI single from Conley in the fourth inning extended the Stripers lead to 4-1, and the DaShawn Kiersey Jr. followed with the lone extra base hit to keep the rally moving and bring Conley home. Much of that lead was chiseled off by the three run home run Hackenberg allowed in the sixth inning, but going into the ninth inning the Stripers had Rolddy Munoz and a one-run lead to work with. Munoz was as nasty as always but wild out of the strike zone, allowing a leadoff walk and a wild pitch to put the tying run into scoring position with no outs yet recorded. Munoz then missed with a hanging slider that got smacked for a go-ahead home run. Munoz continued walking hitters but escaped further damage, and the Stripers had their chance in the ninth inning. Adam Zebrowski drew a walk to lead off and was lifted for Luke Williams, who advanced on a sac bunt and a balk before Keirsey sent the game into extra with a base hit. Unfortunately in the 10th inning it was shown to not be meant for a Stripers win. Hayden Harris got chipped to death, allowing four singles and hitting a batter before Gwinnett waved the white flag and inserted Conley to pitch with one out
Swing and Misses
Drue Hackenberg – 14
Hayden Harris – 4
Rolddy Munoz – 4
(36-41) Columbus Clingstones 4, (31-51) Birmingham Barons 3
- Patrick Clohisy, CF: 1-4, HR, BB, .260/.341/.445
- Dalton McIntyre, RP: 2-3, HR, BB, RBI, .240/.424/.360
- Cedric De Grandpre, SP: 5 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, 5.00 ERA
- Luis Vargas, RP: 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, 4.97 ERA
Cedric De Grandpre is on a great run since his promotion to Columbus. That first outing is putting a damper on his numbers, but in his last three outings De Grandpre has managed 22 strikeouts and only three runs allowed in 16 2/3 innings, with this marking his high at the level in strikeouts and whiffs in a game. De Grandpre allowed a home run to the second batter of the game to put the Clingstones in a small early hole, but that was all of the trouble he had in the game. He whiffed the next two guys and though his own command issues did work him into a jam in the third inning the Barons never found an answer for his terrific pair of breaking balls. The Barons just couldn’t lay off his curveball when it tumbled out of the strike zone, and the high chase rate on his pitches helped mitigate that this was not an outing where he was even throwing his fastball in particularly good locations. It’s great to see De Grandpre fully healthy and already at his high in innings since 2023, and it’s already worth considering this season a success for him even if he takes a dive at some point in the second half due to fatigue. De Grandpre has established himself as a guy with multiple MLB-quality pitches, and though his command is still holding him back there is progress being made on his ability to land those two breaking balls effectively. That’s really the key to his arsenal, with his sinker mostly serving to try to get him ground balls, and he’s asserting himself as one of the guys to watch on a weekly basis. With these eight strikeouts De Grandpre is the first Braves prospect to cross the 100 strikeout mark, and with Owen Murphy in Atlanta for the time being and the next highest guy nearly 30 strikeouts behind he has a high likelihood of finishing the season as the system’s K leader.
Patrick Clohisy made sure the offense would answer back in support of De Grandpre. He led off in the bottom of the first inning with a home run out to center field, which extended his on base streak to seven games. Clohisy has been racking up walks in recent weeks despite not quite having the same success with getting hits as he was during his hot streak, with an even strikeout-to-walk ratio over his past 13 games. One of those walks came at a key time for the Clingstones. With two men on base in a one run game in the ninth inning the Barons were not playing around with Clohisy, giving him little to hit and allowing him to work a walk that loaded the bases with one out. Luke Waddell put a charge in a fly ball, and though it fell short it was plenty deep to score the speedy Dalton McIntyre from third base and tie the game. With two outs the Barons had a chance to send the game into extra innings, but Archer Brookman made sure to win the game in regulation. He hit a shot out to right center field that burned the gap, winning the series opener in walkoff fashion to ease the sting of two other games in this system that were lost late. McIntyre has been a real list to the Columbus lineup in his few games thus far, drawing a ton of walks and running a .424 OBP. He was the catalyst of that two run ninth inning with a leadoff walk, but also had a big hit in the fifth inning. McIntyre faced a left-on-left matchup but got a fastball he liked on the inner half of the plate and smoked a go-ahead home run.
Swing and Misses
Cedric De Grandpre – 17
LJ McDonough – 7
Luis Vargas – 6
Shay Schanaman – 5
(40-39) Rome Emperors 2, (38-42) Hudson Valley Renegades 3
- Tate Southisene, SS: 2-4, BB, RBI, .209/.357/.352
- John Gil, 2B: 0-4, BB, .254/.351/.403
- Eric Hartman, CF: 0-5, .285/.360/.547
- Owen Carey, RF: 0-4, BB, .258/.331/.453
- Aiven Cabral, SP: 5 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K, 0.82 ERA
Aiven Cabral just keeps getting outs for the Emperors, and though a late comeback from Hudson Valley took away his chance for another win it was still another promising outing. Few pitchers at this level have command of multiple pitches good enough to consistently sequence up batters, but Cabral was relying on his deception and nipping corners to get his six strikeouts in this game. Cabral wasn’t even at his best early on and allowed a couple of walks, but the deeper the game went the more he locked in and the Renegades were off balance often throughout the late innings of his start. Thus far Cabral’s approach has translated well to his promotion to Rome, with hitters still falling behind him early and not having the approach to really key in on his fastball that could be a vulnerability at upper levels. Cabral executes better than most anyone High-A hitters are going to face and that’s taking him a long way so far, and though the Double-A jump could be a steep one for him he has done enough to prove himself at the lower levels that he shouldn’t be long before being ready for the challenge.
It was a bit of a stinker on the offensive end for Rome. The top of the lineup had a lot of 0-fers, with Tate Southisene being the only one of the top prospects to make a serious contribution at the plate. Southisene shot an opposite field single to lead off the game, and with John Gil drawing a walk behind him the Emperors had a chance to open up a good lead before Hudson Valley even got a swing in. Unfortunately they didn’t have the clutch hit at their disposal. Owen Carey drew a walk and Southisene was able to score on a balk, but the bats fell short and one run felt a little weak for such a big chance. In the next inning the Emperors had two men on base with one out and the top of the order, and Southisene did come through. He lined a single into left field for the lone Rome RBI in the game, though that was all Rome got in the game. John Gil struck out and though Hartman hit it hard the right fielder had him shaded well and was able to track the line drive down. After the fourth inning Rome’s lineup didn’t manage another hit. A leadoff home run in the bottom of the eighth inning tied the game and in extra innings and error at first base gifted Hudson Valley the win.
Swing and Misses
Brody Fowler – 9
Aiven Cabral – 7
David Rodriguez – 4
(46-36) Augusta GreenJackets 6, (46-34) Hickory Crawdads 3
- Luis Guanipa, CF: 0-3, BB, .304/.365/.460
- Alex Lodise, SS: 0-3, BB, .252/.338/.467
- Michael Martinez, LF: 1-3, HR, BB, 2 RBI, .240/.325/.452
- Kendy Richard, SP: 2.2 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 1 K, 6.33 ERA
It was a huge power day for the team, and the bottom of the order was the driving force with six RBI, six hits, three walks, and three extra base hits coming out of the six through nine spots in the order. Michael Martinez got it started with a home run in the second inning, crushing a long home run to give Augusta an early lead. Martinez’s contact and defensive home are significant questions to evaluation his profile, but there can be no doubt that the man can absolutely crush a baseball. Across two levels he now has 10 home runs in his first 40 games this season. Four of those have come in his last eight games, and over his last two seasons he has 32 extra base hits in 67 games. The next big hit was in the next inning when Junior Garcia smacked a two-run double into the right field corner to score Alex Lodise and Tanner Smith. Cooper McMurray capped off the scoring with a two-run bomb in the sixth inning, narrowly clearing the high wall in right field to ice the game in favor of Augusta. Despite an 0-3 performance from Luis Guanipa and a rough patch at the plate so far in July I have been impressed with some of the at-bats he is putting up. Guanipa has shown more patience on breaking balls in recent weeks and worked a great walk in this game, and though taking more pitches has led to an increase in strikeouts it’s a necessary adjustment in the long run. Guanipa is still too much of a free-swinger, but even if it’s slow this is progress that has to happen for him to catch up and get to Rome successfully. In the middle of that walk he had a great swing where he jumped on a pitch inside and hit it hard in the air, though he was just a bit ahead of it and yanked it foul. That’s the exact swing that was unlocking more success early in the season and one I’ve been longing to see more often, and if he can combine a bit more patience with that ability to jump on anything on the inner part of the plate he could unlock a new level in the later months of the year.
It was not a particularly impressive pitching day for anyone in the Augusta greens, and they should consider themselves lucky to have only allowed three runs as a team. The committee approach can be tough when the entire committee can’t throw strikes, though somehow Luis Arestigueta managed to get away with it for 3 2/3 innings. Despite only throwing a tick over half his pitches for strikes Arestigueta got the Crawdads to make bad swings in hitter-friendly counts and left with only one run allowed and one walk allowed. Styven Paez looked fine, and his walks were at least competitive deep count plate appearances, though he did make the game a lot tighter in the ninth inning than it needed to be. Paez’s velocity/low release combo along with his tight slider does make for an interesting combination in terms of getting whiffs, and that’s made him one of the most reliable relief arms the GreenJackets have, but the command needs to improve drastically for him to be an MLB arm. There is something to like there without a doubt, and he’s better than the strikeout numbers suggest, but a 16% walk rate for a 21 year old at this level isn’t the most promising thing.
Swing and Missesa
Luis Arestigueta – 6
Kendy Richard – 4
Styven Paez – 4
