Mississippi at Carolina 9/5

Well, unfortunately, the Minor League season has to end at some point, but, on the bright side, the last game I went to this year involved a Braves' affiliate, as I made the trek down to Zebulon, North Carolina to watch the Mississippi Braves take on the Carolina Mudcats.

As everyone knows, the big draw for Mississippi at the end of the year was The Dynamic Duo, Salt and Pepper themselves, Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman. Well, it turned out that the Braves decided this was the day to promote Heyward up to AAA Gwinnett. Yep, the day I travel two and a half hours to see the AA team. They couldn't have made the move any of the three previous days when Gwinnett was playing in Norfolk, you know, where I live. Nope, that would have been to convenient for me. So, even without Heyward, Freddie was still there, but, of course, he was on the disabled list, so he wasn't much more than a spectator:

Actually, it turns out Freddie was fully healed, but the organization didn't want to risk him reinjuring himself, instead choosing to let him rest up for a bit before heading out to the Arizona Fall League. As much as I like seeing him play, I'd rather he was healthy and ready to go for the AFL. It also turned out that he's a lot more than a spectator, as he decided it was a fine Saturday for pranks. 2009 is JC Boscan's 13th professional season. He's played a ton of places, seen a ton of things, and is definitely what you would call a savvy vet. But, a 20 year old kid got the better of him, as Freddie victimized JC for one of the classic baseball pranks, the bubblegum on top of the hat gag:

So the kid is talented in all aspects of the game. He also managed to get new teammate Jon Mark Owings by filling the first base coach helmet full of shaving cream. As JMO was walking out to coach first base, a healty "splat" was heard followed by an eruption of laugher from the dugout. JMO shook his head, smiling wryly and looked to Freddie, whose only defense was "It wasn't me. I swear":

Needless to say, JMO didn't buy it.

Speaking of Jon Mark Owings, he's the guy who was called up to replace Heyward on the roster, which was a nice surprise:

 

Micah Owings' younger brother is one of my favorite guys in the Braves system and just an all around great person. He had a rough season, playing in just 65 games and barely hitting above the Mendoza line. He hurt his rotator cuff diving in the outfield during the Carolina League Championship last Septemember and said he didn't feel fully healed from that injury until this August. JMO has a ton of power and had a great season for Myrtle Beach last year, so hopefully he can have a great 2010 with Mississippi. He started his AA career off well with a pinch hit double in this game.

The game was started for the M-Braves by 22 year old lefty Jose Ortegano:

I had seen Ortegano pitch twice before this season, in Spring Training and with Myrtle Beach, and the development he made just over the course of the season is phenomenal. Looking at his stats, you can see he improved as the season went on, pitching better in AA than he did in High A, and it showed in his perfomance. When pitchers "get it" you can just tell, and Ortegano had that look in this game. He was in control, working off his fastbal, which was still hitting 93 in the 8th inning, and mixing in an effective changeup and an outstanding slider (that could have been more of a slurve, I'm not sure). I've always been very impressed with him, but he rose a lot higher in my eyes after this game. I included the picture him batting because I really don't get to see a lot of games where pitchers hit. They only use the DH below AA and my home park is an American League affiliate, so they only use the DH. He got on base on a botched force play and was very excited about it.

In addition to Ortegano, Mississippi had a ton of interesting pitchers, including the members of the bullpen; Michael Broadway, Steve Marek, Kevin Gunderson, Brett Butts, Lee Hyde, Tommy Palica, and Cory Gearrin:

Gearrin was Myrtle Beach's Pitcher of the Year, even though he probably should have spent most of the year with Mississippi. Behind Craig Kimbrel, I think he's the best relief prospect in the organization. Marek, who pitched well after coming to the organization last year in the other Mark Texiera trade, did not throw as well this season. Butts had an outstanding year, racking up 7 wins out of the pen and a low 2.58 ERA. Broadway spent most of the year with Myrtle Beach, but finished strong in AA, racking up 9 scoreless innings. Both are very projectable righties. The rest of the guys are lefties, with both Hyde and Gustafson making strides after missing huge chunks of time with injuries. Hyde still missed half of this year, but he'll make up for it, and try to continue his great work, in the AFL. Gunderson, who had a fantastic season, actually picked up the loss in this game, but he seems to be slowly working himself into Atlanta's plans. And Palica, who rocks the old Peter Moylan glasses, adds to the stable, putting up a fine season. Of course, Mississippi had a bunch of interesting relievers last year, guys who we though would be a big part of the organization, and a few of them ended up getting cut in Spring Training this year. 

Another pitcher who I'm a big fan of is lefty Scott Diamond:

After racking up an amazing 15 wins in his first professional season last year, Scott managed just 5 wins this season, compared to 10 losses, as the Mississippi offense struggled. The Canadian missed some starts at the end of the season with a minor leg injury, but will be fully healed for Spring Training next season. He's the typical sof tossing lefty, getting by on smarts, craft, and deception. The guy loves basseball and is very thoughtful about the game. He's really a pleasure to talk to and is another in the long list of possible future Atlanta starting pitchers.

In addition to all the interesting pitchers, the team had a number of intriguing position players, starting with shortstop Brandon Hicks:

We all know Hicks had a poor season, as all of his numbers dropped dramatically, except his average, which actually raised from last year's .235 to this year's .237. Frankly, I think he was rushed to Myrtle Beach last year and rushed even further to Mississippi this year. He's a talented player, with a strong, powerful stroke, and a great defense, but he needs to refine his game with another year of AA. And he needs to figure out the strike zone better. Every time I've seen him play he spends a lot of time arguing with the umpire over obvious strikes. He did his best work toward the end of the season, so hopefully he'll have a good AFL and be able to take that confidence into next season.

Hicks' parter at the key, Travis Jones, also had some trouble this season:

Jones saw a healthy drop in all of his numbers as well, again with the odd exception of his average, which gained a point from last year, and he was actually able to steal more bases this year despite getting on less. He's a very interesting player, short and compact with a nice line drive swing. He's got some pop, though I wouldn't expect him to hit any more than 15 homers in even his best season. He's a solid defender, even if he lacks some range. Essentially, Jones is the quintessential second baseman, and hopefully he can rebound next year as he repeats AA as well.

Continuing the string of guys turning in down season, here's Concepcion Rodriguez:

Concho's numbers didn't just drop, they fell off. His OPS dropped .151 points and he hit just 3 homers compared to 14 last year. He played in the World Baseball Classic this year, so maybe he's more fodder for the argument that the whole process wears players out. Either way, he'll still only be 23 next year, he's got potential as a hitter, and is a good enough defender to play all three outfield positions with a strong arm, so a rebound season in a repeat of AA could be very likely.

Another rebound candidate is Willie Cabrera:

Willie actually managed to rebound this year with strong showings in July and August and end up with some respectable numbers, by far the best of this group of guys. He's also just going to be 23 next season and has shown as much potential as anyone at the upper levels of the Braves system. But, he doesn't have the arm to play right field, or the speed to play center, so he's fairly limited to left field. And since he's never been a true power hitter, there is a reason to question his future. But, he's a gritty player, a team leader, and the kind of guy who's going to run through a wall, so I think next year is going to be a lot better for him.

And while Cody Johnson had a rough time in August after an oblique injury slowed him down, he did have a fine season spent mostly with Myrtle Beach, setting the team's single season home run record with 32:

We all know what's Cody's about, power and strikeouts. Yes, he struck out 180 times this season in 511 plate appearances, which means 35% of his trips to the plate end up in a K, which is a standard nobody is going to be very successful with. But, he struck out with the exact same percentage last year and managed to raise his OPS by .056 points while jumping levels. I know people want to doubt him, but personally, I'm maintaining my faith in the kid until he proves me wrong. Maybe next year at AA it will all come unraveled (and don't look into the 6 games at the end of the year, they mean nothing), but a guy with this much power and who has improved every year of his career is worth keeping some hope in. And heck, going into next year, he's only 21. He could spend 2 years at Mississippi and 2 at Gwinnett and still only be 25 going into a rookie year in Atlanta.

As always, I had a blast at this game, even though Mississippi lost. I've known a lot of thses guys for three or four years now, and it really is fun to go to a game and have the guys coming up and saying hi and making sure they see me before they leave at the end of the game. As I always point out, the Braves do a phenomenal job of aquiring high class people and if you spend any time around their minor league players you can't help but see that. I'm looking forward to a great offseason of depression and crying, waiting for March to roll around so I can go to my favorite place on the planet, the Minor League fields in Orlando.