2009 Mississippi Braves Season Preview

by yondaime4 on Apr 9, 2009 8:00 AM EDT in Braves Minor League Recaps

The Mississippi Braves are coming off a an amazing season that culminated in them winning the 2008 Southern League Championship. Last year's team was attrocious in the first half of the season finishing last. In the second half they were infused with the return of Jordan Schafer and Tommy Hanson's promotion and subsequent adjustment to the league. Todd Redmond was the SL Most Valuable Pitcher but he has moved on to AAA.

Last year's rotation was a huge strength for the Braves featuring Redmond, Tommy Hanson, Kris Medlen and James Parr. This year's staff is not quite as loaded as last season but it does carry some of the good arms from the juggernaut Myrtle Beach squad. Starters will most likely be Scott Diamond (this year's Todd Remond), Ryne Reynoso, Deunte Heath, Kyle Cofield and and Jerome Gamble. Heath and Gamble pitched for Miss. last year though Heath was roughed up a bit and Gamble was inconsistent. Diamond is underrated in my opinion and Cofield has some potential but he walks a ton of people and doesn't strike out many. Heath is similar in that respect.

The bullpen doesn't really have any known commodities outside of Stephen Marek (the only guy in Miss. on the 40 man). Jeff Lyman can start a little and Jonny Venters has been hurt a lot in his career but has a great arm. He might start in Gamble's spot but I don't know with his injury history. Ncik Fellman, Bryan Dumasnil, Rudy Darrow, Rafael Cruz (the old man on the team) and Brett Butts fill out the bullpen. Moises Hernandez (King Felix's older brother; crazy no?) Dustin Evans and Kevin Gunderson all start the season on the DL.

The catching should be solid with Phillip Britton (still one of my organizational favorites) and Jose Carmenaa. Britton won't kill the team with the bat and his defense had made strides in recent seasons. I honestly don't know a whole lot about Carmena other than he has been around a while. He is probably the typical defensive minded backup that the Braves are so fond of.

I think the infield for the M-Braves could crash or soar this year. 1B Kala Kaaihue returns with 2B Travis Jones, SS Brandon Hicks, 3B Eric Campbell, and 1B Ernesto Mejia will have the starting duties while Greg Creek, Javier Guzman and Kody Kirkland fill out the bench. Kaaihue was horrible to start the year in '08 but his final line showed an .874 OPS. He is a true 3 outcome player and his brother broke out last year in AA at the same age. Ernesto Mejia is an XBH machine but doesn't walk much and Ks a TON. Travis Jones has a lot of power for a 2B (and for someone 5' 9") and he can take a walk but he also Ks a bunch. Brandon Hicks has a ton of power and plays great defense but also Ks a bunch (do we see a theme yet?). Campbell is the best overall hitter on this team. I love the guy's bat but if he can't keep his shit together it won't matter. Long term he is our answer at 3B, but I don't have much faith in his ability to keep it together till he gets to the show.The infield has a crap ton of power and any of these guys could hit 20 homers this year but they are going to K 500 times.

The Mississippi OF is going to be incredibly underrated going into the season. The only guy that wows you is Hernandez and he does have several great skills. Matt Young was last year's team MVP in Mississippi and I am more than a little surprised to see him back. He hits for a decent AVG, can take a walk and steal a base. Jon Owings has a bunch of power and put together a solid season in a power drain of a park at the Beach last season. Willie Cabrera and Concepcion Rodriguez are similar players as both have some solid power and contact abilities and on base skills and neither one Ks a whole bunch. I would say that Cabrera is better in most areas and could have a break out type year this season.

The offense for the M-Braves is going to hit for a bunch of power and I think you could see a couple of guys surprise on this team but the pitching staff worries me just a little bit. Hopefully the offense will be good enough to keep them in games where the staff fails.

Tweet Comment 6 comments | 0 recs |

Do you like this story?

Comments

Thanks for the Excellent Preview!

I have a question:

Who do ya’ll believe comes off this team and makes significant contributions at the MLB level in the next 2 or 3 years; and why?

Wild ass guessing, I say maybe Marek, Diamond and/or Hicks, but actually have no clue.

by fandave on Apr 9, 2009 9:03 AM EDT reply actions

Also, Hernandez, of course.

by fandave on Apr 9, 2009 9:26 AM EDT up reply actions

Good minor league team

but I don’t see a lot of major league talent here

Gorkys, Marek, and Hicks seem like the best bets. Gorkys has great tools, so long as his hitting keeps up he’ll be a starter on some team eventually (not sure if for us, his bat doesn’t profile well for a corner and Schafer should have CF locked down by end of year). Marek has great stuff, he’ll get his shot (maybe sooner than later). Hicks has as much potential as anyone, he could be an all-star caliber short-stop if he cuts down on the K’s (try to name a number of SS who hit 20-25 hrs with plus defense), regardless his glove and power should give him a good shot (think Bobby Crosby as his outcome if he doesn’t improve on the Ks). Hicks could also move to 3rd as his bat profiles well there too.

After that, Eric Campbell certainly could be but he’s pretty hard to predict. Gunderson and Fellman might get a shot eventually. Kaaihue strikes me as a AL type player (do the royals need more 1B/DH types?) but if he can put together a full season like his second half last year he’ll draw trade interest at least. Everyone else, nobody jumps out as having impact potential.

by abravesfan on Apr 9, 2009 11:10 AM EDT up reply actions