4/16 Minor League Update: Poll Included at No Extra Charge!!!

by yondaime4 on Apr 16, 2008 10:57 PM EDT in Minor League Recaps

An odd coincidence tonight in the world of Braves baseball: every single Braves team - Major and Minor - played a one run game. Odd. On to the games!

Richmond 5, Rochester 4

J. Anderson - 2-5 2B, RBI
B. Jones - 2-5 RBI, K
B. Canizares - 3-4 HR (3), 2 RBI, BB, K
S. Thorman - 2-4 , 2B, BB, K

Some solid offense tonight from Richmond, especially from the top guys. Anderson is still hitting really well making us all wonder if his surge after his promotion last year was legit. Canizares continues to play whiffle ball with the league and is discovering some power that he didn't know he had. His homer tonight was the go ahead shot in the 9th inning. Pretty damn clutch.

Mississippi 1, Birmingham 2 (13 Inn.)

G. Creek - 2-5 2 K
D. Hernandez - 2-5 2b, K
K. Kaaihue - 0-5 3 K
T. Redmond - 7IP 4H 1R 0BB 4K

Wow. Both teams score in the first and then proceed to protect the tie for next 12 innings. Mississippi's run came unearned in the first due to a shortstop error. Redmond pitched really well and appears to have found some way to use the smoke and mirrors on AA hitters. He is actually striking out a fair amount of hitters as well. Maybe we will get a decent return on Yates.

Winston-Salem 4, Myrtle Beach 3

G. Hernandez - 2-5 2B, 3B, SB (5)
Y. Silva - 2-4 - RBI, 2 K
K. Cofield - 6IP 4H 2R 3BB 5K
C. Sencion - 3IP 3H 2R 2BB 4K

The Pelicans tried to come back in the ninth but fell short leaving Gorkys stranded at third. Speaking of the man, he had a couple more XBH tonight. This was his second game with a double and a triple and he is holding a very respectable 5/8 K/BB ratio through his first 55 AB. His performance of late has been superlative and now I know why our trade of Renteria was looked upon so favorably by most. Also of note was a solid start from Kyle Cofield. Carlos Sencion also allowed his first runs of the year. I am intrigued to see where they go with these two because they almost always pitch together and both seem to have valuable arms. I wouldn't think they would slip Sencion into a bullpen only role, but I also don't work for the Braves.

Rome 1, Columbus 2 (10 Inn.)

M. Fisher - 2-5
J. Heyward - 1-4 2B, BB, 3 K
C. Johnson - 0-3 2 BB, 3 K
F. Freeman - 1-4 2B, RBI
A, Coe - 2-4 2B
E. Barrett - 6IP 2H 1R 1BB 5K

A very good game turned in by the starter Barrett (and Michael Broadway who went 3 scoreless) who now sports a 1.84 ERA on the season. Just another one of the solid lefties on this team. Most teams will find it very difficult to win if three players combine for nine of your teams ten strikeouts (Concepcion Rodriguez was the other hat-trick).

Ok now for the Poll. I know we are only a half month into the season, but lets just wonder for a second here. At this point, considering what you know and have seen of Gorkys Hernandez and the problems we have seen with Jordan Schafer and what we know of his past skills, does Gorkys leapfrog Schafer as the CF of the future?

Poll

Who do you take?

0 recs | Comment 9 comments

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Comments

CF

I’ve yet to hear Gorkys described defensively in the same breath as Schafer so that carries my vote. Gorkys could probably end up as a reasonably valuable center fielder with little power, good speed, maybe Willy Tavares with better defense. I’m still a believer in Schafer being a .300/20/20 guy and the best defensive center fielder in baseball.

by 17843 on Apr 16, 2008 11:35 PM EDT 0 recs

Barrett against Columbus

The dude was solid…...he threw 5 innings of no hit ball, then gave up a cheap infield single that was due to the shortstop (Fisher) not being able to get it out of his glove. No harm done, but next inning he gave up a homerun, but stilll kept it together to get out of the inning. Good solid pitching – Barrett needs to be on the radar (if he wasn’t already….)

by secondbass on Apr 17, 2008 12:19 AM EDT 0 recs

He actually gave up a hit to lead off the 4th, but still an impressive performance. I might put up a Watch list soon of some guys that aren’t on our community list that we could jump on the bandwagon with. I’ll wait a couple more weeks before getting to that I think.

by yondaime4 on Apr 17, 2008 12:25 AM EDT up 0 recs

My bad

it was the 4th, but it was still a hit that shouldn’t have been….

by secondbass on Apr 17, 2008 10:12 AM EDT up 0 recs

I think I agree with you on this one and I stand by my belief that the only thing Schafer is going to lose is his 50 games. Lets assume that HGH does do something for your performance. OK, the difference between it and steroids is once you go off of HGH you don’t lose the benefits. That is why you never hear about guys taking HGH for years. They get their 6 month shipment and then they are done and through routine workouts and exercise the supposed benefits hold true. He’ll come back with very little pressure on him and be able to perform well.

The interesting thing will be to see if Hernandez gets the bump up to Miss before Schafer gets the call. I’m sure Schafer gets CF because his def is so amazing, but that gives me bumps just thinking about those two in an OF.

by yondaime4 on Apr 17, 2008 12:23 AM EDT 0 recs

Not even close.

Gorkys is a great ballplayer and definitely stood out when I saw him in the spring, but Schafer is just about as impressive as any player I’ve seen play at his age and at his level. Either way, having a future outfiled of Gorkys in left, Jordan in center and Francoeur in right is a pretty impressive idea.

by cbwilk on Apr 17, 2008 1:31 AM EDT 0 recs

Crawford

I think Gorkys will be the NEXT Carl Crawford. Schafer in CF is best because I have heard so much about his Defense but now that he has been suspended I think the Braves front office will DEFINATELY keep Gorkys for the long haul instead of potentially trading him. Because they may want to see how Schafer does when he comes back. If Schafer was still playing now the Braves might have panicked and traded Gorkys but I dont see them trading Gorkys now.

I just think that IF Gorkys stays healthy he has a GREAT chance to be the NEXT Carl Crawford. Hernandez in LF, Schafer in CF, and Frenchy in RF. Wow what an Awesome defensive and offensive outfield and YOUNG outfield. We are loaded. And we STILL have Heyward AND Cody Johnson also. Which Heyward might be getting groomed to play First if we dont resign Tex. But dont sleep on Johnson. He has ALOT of potential. He could still be a star, I know he sometimes has a hole in his swing but he is still young, plenty of time to figure it out. I really believe as long as Wren does not trade the farm that we will be an Awesome young team in 5 years from now.

braves#1

by rockybull on Apr 17, 2008 3:00 AM EDT 0 recs

Richmond at Rochester

I was at this game last night. Some notes:

-The HR by Barbaro was not only clutch, it was impressive: when he hit it, I didn’t think he got all of it, but it carryed beyond the stands in LF. The wind was blowing left to right, so it hurt the carry if anything.

-Sammons didn’t impress me. Not only did he whiff 4 times in 5 PA’s, but at least 1 WP should have been a passed ball, and he didn’t show any kind of hustle.

-Lillbridge didn’t do too much for me either, especially his last AB when he whiffed on three straight down and away curveballs, swinging at all of them and missing by at least a foot.

-Thorman was solid, especially with the glove. Two innings ended with hm making nice plays on throws to first in the dirt. His single late in the game was just roped – it even sounded good.

-Anderson had a solid day, but either his speed isn’t as good as advertised, or he has some kind of minor, nagging leg injury. HIs double was in the left center gap, and the play was much closer than it should have been. Plus it looked like he had a little hitch in his gait when he was running to first during his first AB.

-JC Holt might be my new favorite minor league Brave. He hustles all the time, and isn’t afraid to get dirty.

-Line of the night: we just might have the most babyfaced middle infield of all time right now. As Lilli and Holt were running off the field after the first inning, a 7 year old sitting in front of me looked at his dad and said “I thought they didn’t let kids play on this team.”

by VegasAces on Apr 17, 2008 7:18 AM EDT 0 recs