Tuesday was a fascinating evening for those fans of the Atlanta Braves minor league system. There were a couple of big returns — Drue Hackenberg off of the injured list and Blake Burkhalter to rehab in Rome. Then there were prospects making a huge impact at the dish, notably John Gil’s home run and the combination of Tate Southisene and Conor Essenburg in Augusta. Then you can’t forget Owen Murphy, who continues to impress in Gwinnett and had a fine outing despite not having his peak stuff.
(30-28) Gwinnett Stripers 6, (22-36) Norfolk Tides 4
Box Score
- Jim Jarvis, SS: 3-5, 2B, RBI, .307/.408/.449
- Rowdy Tellez, 1B: 3-4, BB, RBI, .272/.371/.506
- Owen Murphy, SP: 5 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 4.55ERA
The full season teams swept their way through the first game of their series, and with three of them facing weaker opponents it could be a fun one for fans over the rest of this week. Gwinnett and Norfolk traded early runs with half of the game’s total coming in the first inning, but Gwinnett didn’t trail after taking the lead in the bottom of the first inning and rode a solid performance from Owen Murphy. Gwinnett didn’t really light the world on fire in the first inning, but starting with a leadoff double from Jim Jarvis everything they made contact with found it’s way into space, and the Stripers totaled up three quick runs despite zero hard-hit balls. Over the coming innings they would slowly add to that lead. Jim Jarvis slapped a sharp single the other way for an RBI in the second inning, which was the second of his three hits on the day. Jarvis’s numbers slipped quite a bit throughout May and the call up to Atlanta did seem to throw him a bit off of his rhythm, but his last few he has been on fire. This was his third three-hit game out of his past four contests, and in those games he has four extra base hits and only two strikeouts. Rowdy Tellez had a three hit game as well, and of course he is doing exactly what we expected after a surprisingly slow start to this season. On May 6th Tellez bottomed out with a .782 OPS, but the next day had three hits and hasn’t slowed down since then. He missed some games in the Nashville series that may have cost him a little momentum, but over his past 13 games he has an OPS of 1.036 and is the guy on the team who is hitting the ball hardest by far.
Owen Murphy had a bit of trouble locking into this game in the first inning, as his fastball command was off and he walked the first batter. He made some mistakes over the plate that would result in two hits and two runs against him, but he showed great resilience and turned it around to have a solid outing. It was far from his best look as his curveball was largely ineffectual due to issues with his release and his command came and went on his other pitches, but he had his fastball fairly well dialed in and was able to to produce good results even having to use his four seam or sinker 2/3 of the time. Murphy had a bit of a tick down in velocity across just a few pitches in his final inning but held his velocity well prior to that, with this being his second-highest average fastball velocity in a game. Murphy’s velo and command have been terrific for the past three outings and he has looked more like the player we expected compared to early in the season, though it’s still been a major struggle to lock down a consistent breaking ball. This was, especially after the first inning, the best he has done at avoiding the middle of the plate, which is almost as vital for him as throwing strikes. This was his first outing at Triple-A without allowing a home run, and the first such game for him since April 9th, and it boils down to him being able to elevate without those fastballs occasionally drifting into dangerous areas. It wasn’t his best game due to a largely ineffectual curveball, but it was his best fastball this season and his steady improvement in that realm is promising for a breakout summer.
Swing and Misses
Owen Murphy – 12
Anderson Pilar – 7
Ian Hamilton – 6
(24-26) Columbus Clingstones 11, (26-25) Rocket City Trash Pandas 3
- Logan Braunschweig, RF: 3-5, RBI, .333/.385/.333
- David McCabe, 1B: 2-5, 2 2B, BB, RBI, .253/.360/.521
- Patrick Clohisy, CF: 3-5, 2 2B, BB, 3 RBI, .253/.320/.429
- Drue Hackenberg, SP: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 0.00 ERA
- Owen Hackman, RP: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 3.55 ERA
The Clingstones are looking to shake off a terrible May in which they were the worst run-scoring team in the league and the home runs that drove them to a good April evaporated. I’d say 11 runs with seven extra-base hits is a good way to get started on that goal. It was a poor final series for Patrick Clohisy, but overall he was one of the lineup’s top performers in May and continued in this game with a three-hit, two-double evening to set the tone for the entire offensive explosion. Clohisy had a mere .102 isolated power on May 7th. Now, that number is at .176 with this making 12 extra base hits in 20 games. He has sacrificed some swing-and-miss to make that sort of impact happen, but it’s easy to argue that it’s worth it for Clohisy to be hitting the ball hard, especially since he is a guy who is going to take good at bats and work a fair share of walks. His swing and approach this season indicate there is some level of sustainability to his power surge as well. He is hitting the ball in the air more often and pulling the ball far more often, getting him more chances to hit gaps for doubles and hit hard line drives. Clohisy doesn’t have the natural power to be a consistent home run threat, but if he continues to be a double-digit sort of guy that’s going to be easy to take from someone who can run the bases and play defense as well as he does. David McCabe being bad in May was one of the big drivers of Columbus’s downfall, so a big opening to the month is already going to turn a few heads. McCabe’s streakiness over the past two seasons has been holding him back from really making a big splash and push for Triple-A, but he has gotten his timing back locked in and stopped posting the egregious strikeout rates from the early weeks of May. It’s not encouraging to see his contact rate fall off of a cliff this season, though the increase in power in the early part of the season definitely helps mitigate that weakness, and it seems McCabe has just hit a wall that he cannot consistently get past.
Drue Hackenberg is finally back on the mound for Columbus after that early exit in April, and he was definitely a bit rusty. Hackenberg’s sinker command was fine — he threw a lot of early strikes and got a ton of ground balls — but much of the rest of his arsenal lacked the same level of feel. His cutter was his best other offering, however he did not have enough finesse with his curveball, slider, or changeup to get whiffs later in at bats. His success was largely predicated upon him moving that cutter and sinker combo east-to-west and forcing weak contact, and it served him fairly well in this game. His unearned runs came following a hit batter and a wild pitch, then a bad mistake with his slider up that got tattooed for a home run. Above all else Hackenberg has just got to be consistently healthy before we can really start to evaluate his development compared to last year and two seasons ago, though his command has looked solid in the two short glimpses we have had of him. Out of the bullpen this has been a dream start to the season for Owen Hackman. Outside of a singular blow up outing in his Double-A debut he has been lights out in a shortened role, and is quickly proving that his fastball is lively enough to miss bats at the upper levels of the minor leagues. This wasn’t his peak performance as he had some trouble locating his slider this game, but it didn’t matter much because he was throwing his four seamer through the Trash Panda’s bats.
Swing and Misses
Owen Hackman – 6
Drue Hackenberg – 4
(28-24) Rome Emperors 8, (20-30) Greenville Drive 2
- Isaiah Drake, LF: 1-5, .265/.345/.426
- John Gil, SS: 1-4, HR, 4 RBI, .266/.378/.429
- Eric Hartman, CF: 2-5, .298/.373/.576
- Jeremy Reyes, SP: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 3 K, 4.59 ERA
- Blake Burkhalter, RP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 0.00 ERA
John Gil delivered a huge hit late in the game, and the Rome offense exploded in the seventh to drive a win that was far less comfortable than the final score would suggest. It was bad, bad bad out there for Jeremy Reyes. He’s had a few up-and-down starts in a row but this one was all downs. His control was non-existent from the first pitch and it stayed that way throughout the game, though in a way it kind of worked. Reyes was so wild the Drive had a hard time really sitting on anything or being able to make hard contact, so despite his five walks and a hit batter he managed to hold them to just two runs. This is not a bad offensive unit for the Drive, either — they’re above league average as a team. They just could not find success against Reyes despite his self-inflicted wounds, and that carried over as the bullpen shut them down late in the game. The most notable appearance there was Blake Burkhalter, who is with the Emperors this week to make his rehab appearances. Burkhalter made quick work of Greenville, throwing nine of his 12 pitches for strikes and whiffing the first batter he faced. With his move to the bullpen full time he is going to get some real looks at promotion if he goes to Gwinnett and excels, though his performance there to end last season wasn’t a good first step for that.
It was a great start for Greenville pitcher and recent Boston draftee Marcus Phillips, who took out the frustration of a rough May on Rome. He shut them down into the fifth inning, protecting the two runs his offense got early and holding the Emperors to just Cody Miller’s second inning single. Unfortunately for Greenville their weakness is their poor pitching staff, and it didn’t take long into the bullpen before Rome started feasting. Two errors put Gil and Hartman on base for the middle of the lineup, and Dixon Williams come through in the first scoring chance to drive home Gil with a base hit. Will Verdung soon after tied the game with a hit, resetting the system headed into the seventh. Then, the Emperors went crazy. A walk and two singles brought up John Gil, who to this point had no hits in the game, with the bases loaded and no outs. Gil got a fat one on the first pitch and he was aggressive, and blew the game wide open with one swing. He crushed a grand slam out to center field, giving Rome a 6-2 lead. Eric Hartman followed by doing Eric Hartman things, smacking a base hit then stealing second base, third base, and scoring on a single from Cody Miller. Miller followed suit by stealing his way around to third, then capped the six run inning off by coming home on a sacrifice fly. Despite his early season struggled Miller has quietly done a lot of good, especially on the bases as he is 20 of 23 on stolen base attempts this season. His contact rates are starting to normalize and while they’re still below average overall he has been much better the past could of weeks, with solid numbers in his past 13 games and quite a bit of power. Miller’s approach needs a ton of work but he’s come a long way just in the season to date, and as long as he is actually making contact he should continue to put up good numbers based on his other attributes.
Swing and Misses
Jeremy Reyes – 13
Trent Buchanan – 3
(30-22) Augusta GreenJackets 2, (17-35) Delmarva Shorebirds 1
- Tate Southisene, 2B: 1-4, 2B, .298/.432/.512
- Conor Essenburg, CF: 2-3, 2B, BB, RBI, .264/.400/.509
- Alex Lodise, SS: 0-4, .245/.329/.392
- Aiven Cabral, SP: 5.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 2.36 ERA
- Logan Forsythe, RP: 2.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 3.92 ERA
Delmarva is both the worst pitching and hitting team in the Carolina League this season, so the Augusta GreenJackets have a real chance to create a lead in the South division if they can take care of business. They did so in this game, but it was a taut affair after Augusta seemed to be on their way to great things after the first inning. Tate Southisene started the game off with a bang, slicing a line drive into the right center field corner for a leadoff double to extend his hitting streak to seven games and his extra-base hit streak to four games. Conor Essenburg followed up by poking a ball down the line and motoring in for a double of his own, and within two batters Augusta already had a lead to play with. Juan Mateo then came in and hit a ball high off of the right field wall for a double of his own, and with two runs and three doubles in the first inning things were looking up for the GreenJackets. That slow start would fade, though, and over the next eighth innings the GreenJackets failed to add any insurance runs on the board. Essenburg had a hit later in the game to keep his hot play going, and he drew a walk, but excitement was hard to find on the offensive end through most of the game and the pitching staff would have their hands full protecting that lead. Essenburg has needed zero time to re-orient himself after coming off of the disabled list, and his strikeouts are already coming back down to earth. In his past four games he only has three total strikeouts, and I have a feeling that given his bat speed and pitch recognition he is going to have no problems eventually adjusting to Single-A pitching. He just does not seem fazed at the plate and finds a way to make hard contact in every game.
A two-run lead and a Single-A pitching staff is not a safe bet at all, but there is no one on Augusta’s roster right now they would trust more than Aiven Cabral to hold it down. Cabral did his thing again with 5 1/3 impressive innings, allowing only one run and keeping Delmarva off balance throughout the game. Some of the success is attributable to Delmarva just not being very good. Cabral didn’t miss a lot of bats and was heavily reliant on his sinker to do the work in this outing, but Cabral’s consistency with commanding a full arsenal continues to be impressive. I typically expect to see Cabral relying more on his sweeper to have success — it’s his only pitch I would grade at an MLB average level — but it wasn’t the go-to for him in this outing and he still found success. The other pitchers on Cabral days have always been then the shakier ones, but Logan Forsythe had by far his most effective outing as a professional and even outshined Cabral in this one. Forsythe’s command has been abysmal this season, and when he started out with a walk and then two straight balls it looked like it could be the same old story for him. His command never quite got to good in this game, but for the first time it really felt like he found something with locating his fastball and he went on to strike out six of his next seven batters and got the game into the ninth inning before allowing a double that ended his day. When he is able to throw enough strikes it’s fairly easy to see why Forsythe was interesting enough for the Braves to pick up in the 13th round. His slider is still largely a non-factor because he can’t locate it well enough to take advantage of it even if it does have good traits, but it doesn’t always matter given how good his fastball is. His velocity isn’t the mid-90’s that was in some reports following the draft, but it plays well above that velocity given Forsythe’s low release and the carry on the pitch. The ball just continues to ride above the hands of hitters and produce whiffs at the top of the strike zone, so it’s really just a matter of him actually being able to land that pitch there. If I were working on Forsythe’s arsenal I would love to see a change in his slider. It has a ton of movement but it’s fairly slow sitting in the low 80’s, and a harder, shorter shape might serve him better when paired with that fastball movement. In addition the extra velocity could give him a bit more leeway given how often he misses over the plate, taking some of these hits where guys can just adjust, wait back on 80 and turn on it, and turn those into foul balls or whiffs.
Swing and Misses
Logan Forsythe – 8
Aiven Cabral – 5
Styven Paez – 4
(7-16) FCL Braves 1, (11-11) FCL Orioles 4
- Diego Tornes, CF: 0-3, BB, RBI .185/.279/.204
- Owen Carey, DH: 1-3, .167/.231/.167
- Carter Holton, SP: 3.1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 1.13 ERA
It was another disappointing day for Diego Tornes and the FCL Braves lineup, which collectively combined to generate just two hits on the day. The silver lining to that would be Owen Carey, who picked up the second hit of his rehab stint down in Florida and has hope to return to the Emperors soon. It’s been a pretty massive breakout season for a number of Emperors hitters and giving Carey the opportunity to put his name back in the hat brings even more excitement for the looming summer. Carter Holton’s third rehab appearance was his best as he dominated and faced the most batters he has in a game. Holton is going to be in a very interesting spot once he does return to the rotation this season, given his age and how many red flags he had in his profile even before his injury. I had quite a critical view of his starting potential and mechanics after his sole game in Augusta two seasons ago and I’m going to watch closely when he does get back onto video feeds to see what changes they have made during his rehab.
