Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap: 5/12
by yondaime4 on May 12, 2010 11:02 PM EDT
in Braves Minor League Recaps
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PrintGwinnett 0, Pawtucket 6
- C. Gearrin 2IP 1H 0R 1BB 0K 3.24ERA
You know the game is bad when the only top performer I have is a reliever. The offense managed just 4 hits (none by Freddie Freeman) and Todd Redmond got hit like he was filled with candy and hanging from a tree. Also of note, Brent Clevlen, who was the best hitter on this team the first month of the season, is now batting .259 and has just 6 hits in his last 34 ABs.
Mississippi 4, Chattanooga 5
- J. Schafer 1-3 BB, CS(1), .375 Avg
- W. Cabrera 2-4 2B, .304 Avg
- E. Duncan 2-4 3B, RBI, K, CS(3), .302 Avg
- M. Gomez 1-3 HR(4), 3 RBI, 2K, .200 Avg
Jacob Thompson gave up 4 runs in less that 6 innings of work and the offense couldn't produce enough runs to take the lead. Thompson did generate 9 groundballs vs just 2 flyball so we know that sinker is working well. Willie Cabrera has hit safely in 9 of his last 10 games and in 8 of those he has multiple hits and he has 8 doubles in that span as well. All that bears out to a .439 Avg and 1.185 OPS making him the hottest hitter in the Braves system right now.
Kinston 3, Myrtle Beach 4
- C. Culver 2-3 2B, 2 RBI, .283 Avg
- J. Sucre 2-4 HR(3), 2 RBI, .223 Avg
- JJ Hoover 6IP 1H 0R 1BB 7K 5.24ERA
Hoover turned in his best start of the season - by far - and earned his first win of the year. Hoover did a fantastic job of limiting hits and getting Ks, two things he has had real issues doing since the season began. Coming into this game he had given up 44 hits in just 28 innings of work and he had only recorded 18 Ks. Hopefully this game is a step in the right direction.
Rome 2, Savannah 3 - 10 Innings
- M. Jones 2-5 HR(3), K, .182 Avg
- C. Bethancourt 2-4 K, .214 Avg
- J. Teheran 6IP 6H 2R 1BB 5K 1.14ERA
- R. Lopez 3IP 4H 1R 2BB 8K 2.61ERA
Julio Teheran had what I would say was his worst start of the year and it was still one I would take every time a pitcher stepped on the mound for my team. Robinson Lopez had an interesting night. He struck out the first four batters he faced then struck out the side in the 8th leaving men on 2nd & 3rd after a wild pitch, a walk and a passed ball. In the ninth Savannah tried bunting against (I think they saw something) but he made the play and then struck out the next two guys. In the 10th Lopez allowed a bunt single, advanced the runner with another wild pitch, gave up another bunt single, intentionally walked the bases loaded and then gave up the game winning single. The box score shows a guy that was completely dominant but was undone by a series of unfortunate events.
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oh boy
"(Jason Heyward) is like the Grim Reaper -- you know he's going to get you, you just don't know where or when."
by Scott Coleman on May 12, 2010 11:12 PM EDT up reply actions
Does anyone (well, i know a few of you will) have a scouting report on Robinson Lopez?
Pitch types? Projections?
"(Jason Heyward) is like the Grim Reaper -- you know he's going to get you, you just don't know where or when."
Funny you should ask because....
BA did a write up on him and Paul Stevens today and they talked about his offerings.
Lopez has been overpowering Sally League hitters, throwing his fastball at 94-95 mph with good downward plane from his 6-foot-2 frame, striking out 19 and limiting opponents to a .194 average. The fastball been enough for him to succeed thus far, but he’s shown a plus curveball and an average changeup in the past, and his outings have been long enough that he’s been given the opportunity to work on all three offerings.
Happier sir?
Didn’t see this. Sorry, didn’t mean to step on your toes, there.
Beyond the Box Score / Capitol Avenue Club / shwitter: @CapitolAvenue
thanks
yeah, exactly what I was looking for. Mmmm…Teheran, Delgado, Vizzy, Lopez, etc. All these hard throwing guys have me excited.
Maybe if the right deal comes along, we trade one of them. But i really would like to avoid a Mark Teixeira trade 2.0
"(Jason Heyward) is like the Grim Reaper -- you know he's going to get you, you just don't know where or when."
by Scott Coleman on May 12, 2010 11:34 PM EDT up reply actions
I’ve never seen him. What I’ve heard, though.
Extremely live arm. 92-96 MPH fastball with good sink and some fade. Throws a plus slurve and a developing change.
Mike Newman of Scouting the Sally saw him tonight and tweeted about him, the summary is here.
He’s basically a lottery ticket at this point, but if all goes well he’s a front line starter. Similar ceiling to Teheran/Vizcaino/Delgado. He’s probably the most under rated prospect in our system.
Beyond the Box Score / Capitol Avenue Club / shwitter: @CapitolAvenue
Some great bits in the tweet link...
3 balls have gotten by Bethancourt since Lopez took the hill. Some communication issues.
If I said Bethancourt’s last pop time my tweeps wouldn’t believe me. (1.89)
Just clocked a legit 1.93 from Bethancourt between innings.
His worst throw has been 2.03. Had a 1.8+, but I had a quick trigger.
I’ve seen 4-guys hit 96 MPH in 3-years. Two have been tonight. (Lopez/Teheran)
Robinson Lopez:
When asked about Lopez vs. Teheran: Age is a factor. In seeing both at 18, I could make an argument for dead heat at the same age.
Robinson Lopez throws his first 2 FB’s 89-90, then proceeds to work 93-95 the rest of the inning. Yikes!
Would prospect fans believe me if I said Robinson Lopez threw as hard as Julio Teheran?
Funny moment of the night: Lopez using his best move on Flores w/Bethancourt behind the dish.
When asked if Lopez was a closer or on an innings limit: Kid gloves for Lopez. FB/slurve already plenty good.
When asked about Teheran’s stuff: The stuff was unhittable at times. Still gets hurt with the CB and CH up.
Teheran getting beat with his 3rd best pitch. 2, CH’s for a double and RBI single.
Teheran with a BB and 2 hits allowed with 2 outs.
Teheran working 94-95 in the 3rd
When asked whether Teheran is worth taking in a fantasy minors draft: Yes, entirely different guy than I saw last August. Could be top-20 overall by season’s end.
Teheran: 81 MPH CH followed by a 96 MPH FB. – Things that should be illegal.
When asked about an ETA for Teheran: I’d say sometime in 2012.
Teheran 92-94 in the first, touching 96 MPH. CB much improved from last August.
He pointed out right there why Teheran should still be well ahead of Lopez at this point, the pitch limit this season. At the same age Teheran has basically free reign to go as long as he can while Lopez is on a very strict pitch count. He’s not even really a reliever because he knows exactly what day he’s going to pitch. This isn’t to say Lopez isn’t a great prospect, because he definitely is, but he’s not in Teheran’s class yet.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it: https://www.createspace.com/3407939
www.dropoutproductions.com
Exactly. If he can keep this up he’ll be right there as one of the better pitching prospects in baseball at this point next year. He’s obviously got the stuff. It’s just insane to have this many incredibly high upside arms in one system and that’s not even including the MILB strikeouts leader in Minor. The future is bright indeed.
Damn quick trigger...
should say more fully, is that not partly attributable to how long we’ve had them? I can’t recall either’s origins as far as signing and extended spring/dominan league work. But Lopez doesn’t have any DSL stats on his baseball reference page, and had fewer than 50 innings last year, which was his first one in our system. All of the innings for the Gulf league team. Teheran, conversely, had 2008 as his first year, albeit somewhat injury shortened if my memory is correct, followed by last year where he was able to have over 80 innings combined between Danville and Rome.
I know Teheran is more advanced than Lopez at this stage, in both ability to pitch and stamina, but if we swapped them, letting Lopez start in 08 while Teheran didn’t have any more experience than last year in the GCL, would their roles also be reversed?
by Mr. Sanchez on May 13, 2010 12:31 PM EDT up reply actions
You can’t really switch them around because that’s half the point. Teheran is only a couple of months older than Lopez, but he’s two years ahead of him as far as development because he was more advanced at a younger age. The reason he’s better now is because he was better then. It may even out at some point, but you can’t just switch them and say it would be different. Once you start down that path you could make the same supposition with any two players that are the same age who have developed differently.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it: https://www.createspace.com/3407939
www.dropoutproductions.com
When did we sign Lopez?...
that is kind of my point. If we signed him at a younger age, and were able to let him say, start in the DSL in 08, then pitch 60-80+ innings last year, would he be in the same role? I’m with you on the comparison between the two, and that’s why I was trying to shy away from their individual abilities and focus on time in our system.
I agree that Teheran is just much more advanced as a pitcher right now than Lopez is, but in the specific context of pitch counts and innings limits, if Lopez had more time in our system instead of under 50 innings in GCL last year, he likely wouldn’t be as restricted.
Either way, it’s a good thing we’ve got them, both of them. Curious, how would you compare Robinson Lopez with Randall Delgado from a year or so ago?
And also, while we’re on the subject of innings, I’m curious to see how we handle Vizcaino going forward. He’s been at this longer with 2008 experience, but like Lopez, he was under 50 innings last year. He had 44 in 08, and 42.1 last year, with 31 so far. I wouldn’t be surprised if we started scaling him back some to make sure he doesn’t go over 75-100 for the year.
I thought at one point I found when they signed Lopez, but I can’t find it now. Regardless, they’re 2 months apart. Even if Lopez fell into the the later signing date because of his age he’s still a couple years behind development wise, which seems like too much. Teheran was on a limit in 08 with Danville, which was already a higher level than where Lopez started in his first year, but that was taken off in his second year and he had the ability, within reason, to pitch deep into games his second season. Even if we ignore they’re not at the same place right now, we can’t ignore that Lopez is, at least in this one regard, behind Teheran at the same same point in their pro careers, their second seasons.
Personally I’d take Delgado of last year over Lopez of last year, again because of the innings restriction. Last year Delgado was in his 3rd season and had averaged 5 innings a game the year before (which he continued to do in 09). Coming into this year with Rome Lopez had just 1 year of pro experience, where he averaged 4 innings a year (he’s down to 2.5 this year). Delgado was just in a much better position to take off, something Lopez won’t really be able to do until next year. And long term I still like Delgado over Lopez. Lopez is pretty stocky, while Delgado is taller and leaner. It’s easy to imagine Delgado adding something and getting stronger, but you can’t really see that happening with Lopez. He kind of is where he’s going to be, which is great, but it’s all about building secondary pitches and knowledge with him, something Delgado was already better at at the same point.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it: https://www.createspace.com/3407939
www.dropoutproductions.com
Thanks...
Had kind of figured that looking at Delgado’s #s over his career, but appreciate the well written response. I think Delgado gets the short end of the stick right now, and should be on that next step below Teheran (if not even) and above Vizcaino, Lopez.
Also, I’m very intrigued to see the development of their younger, lefty counterparts Otero and Carlos Perez, who I assume will begin the year in GCL and Danville respectively.
Lopez signed in 08 as a 17 y.o.
Here’s what Johnny Almaraz had to say about him March 09:
“Robinson Lopez – RHP – Another 17-year-old from the Dominican, Lopez is already 6’1” and weighs in at 185 pounds. He’ll be spending this summer in the Gulf Coast League. “At such a young age, Robinson is kind of similar to (Julio) Teheran in that he commands all of his pitches,” Almaraz explained. “He throws strikes with quality stuff. He’s got a fastball that is 92 to 96 mph. Robinson is pretty advanced, so he’s got the ability to compete at this level (GCL).”
Tonight the Savannah announcers said his FB was a tick better than Teheran's
Which they said Teheran’s FB ranged from 90-97 but was sitting around 91-92 but they also said their gun was not working properly tonight.
Mike said he mostly sat 93-96.
Beyond the Box Score / Capitol Avenue Club / shwitter: @CapitolAvenue
Like I said below
These were Mets announcers I was listening to.
But also keep in mind
These were Mets announcers who also said his slider looked ultra flat. And as the gentleman from PW’s tweet just started it was a plus offering.
Nice to see JJ get back on track. Hopefully he got those mechanics right and will get right back to being the pitcher he was last year. I think long term he’s a back of the bullpen guy, but it’d be nice to see him be able to pile some innings on.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it: https://www.createspace.com/3407939
www.dropoutproductions.com
RSF
Any word on when he will be back? Or how rehab is going?
Don’t think he’s doing any rehab activities yet. Probably 3-4 more weeks.
Beyond the Box Score / Capitol Avenue Club / shwitter: @CapitolAvenue
So I'm guessing it's Clevlan that goes down when...
Schafer comes up? At least his struggles would make him seem the likely one to come down.
And, J. Schafer CS(1)—you can take the player outta Rome, but you can’t take Rome out the player.
And, J. Schafer CS(1)—you can take the player outta Rome, but you can’t take Rome out the player.
I laughed out loud at that.
Beyond the Box Score / Capitol Avenue Club / shwitter: @CapitolAvenue
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