Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap: 5/21

by cbwilk on May 22, 2010 1:49 AM EDT in Braves Minor League Recaps

Myke Jones has raised his average 68 points in the month of May.

Gwinnett 1, Columbus 8

G. Blanco 2-3, 2B, BB, OF Assist, .287 AVG

M. Young 1-3, 2B, .257 AVG

B. Hicks 1-3, HR (2), RBI, .170 AVG

J. Parr 4 IP, 5 ER, 9 H, 2 BB, 1 K, 5.16 ERA

James Parr didn't take the news of being removed from the Braves' 40 man roster well, picking up his 5th loss of the season while allowing 11 baserunners. Matt Young got on base again, with a double, and played second base again. I guess they're serious about getting him some playing time there. Just think how good of a second baseman he'd be if they hadn't moved him off the position years ago.

Mississippi 2, Huntsville 4

E. Duncan 2-5, HR (3), RBI, .297 AVG

M. Gomez 3-4, 2B, .243 AVG

W. Cabrera 3-5, SB (2), .311 AVG

C. Johnson 1-3, 2 BB, .239 AVG

M. Minor 5 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 7 K, 3.44 ERA

B. Beachy 3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 K, 1.03 ERA

Mike Minor fans another 7, and he's averaging a cool 13 per 9 for the season. This guy is good, folks. Brandon Beachy has been one of the best surprises of the season, as he piles up another 3 scoreless innings, which gives him 6 conseccutive scoreless over his last 3 appearances. Willie Cabrera has done great in his return to AA, rocking the .311 average and .825 OPS for the season, and in his last 9 games he's hitting .412 with a 1.003 OPS. The Braves have signed infielder Alejandro Machado and assigned him to Mississippi. Machado, who played 10 games with Boston in 2005, was orignally signed by the Braves as a free agent in 1998 before being traded to the Royals in 2001 for shortstop Rey Sanchez. This season he had been playing with the Marlins' AAA team New Orleans.

Myrtle Beach 1, Wilmington 4

C. Miles 1-4, RBI, .262 AVG

M. Crim 8 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 3.86 ERA

The Pelicans have been having trouble with offense all year and tonight was no different. Things will probably only get worse with the suspensions of their starting first and second basemen. The team has added first baseman Mike Jones, who played for Salem in the Carolina League last year, and second baseman Dan Nelson, who played for Potomac earlier this season. Hopefully these two older High A vets can infuse some thump into the lineup. Of course, they were 0-7 tonight, so maybe not. Matt Crim picked up the loss in a complete game effort.

Rome 3, Hickory 5

R. Hefflinger 2-4, 2B, RBI, .308 AVG

J. Kreke 2-3, 2B, RBI, BB, .270 AVG

M. Jones 2-4, .209 AVG

C. Masters 6 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 B, 6 K, 1.34 ERA

Is anybody getting tired of hearing about how good Robby Hefflinger has been? No? Me either. Myke Jones has raised his average from .141 to .209 this month. That's doing work. He's hitting .333 with a .934 OPS in May and showing himself to be the player that the Braves thought he would be. Chris Masters continues to dominate the Sally League. He's striking out just over a batter an inning, and his WHIP for the year is a miniscule 0.83 for the year.

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Comments

Mike Minor is an animal.

"Batting 4th and doing the catching, says here this guy weighs 210 pounds...I'm not buyin it! It's Brian McCann."

by Scott Coleman on May 22, 2010 4:37 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

He was lights out while pitching here at Vandy.

I would like to see him moved up to Gwinnett soon. With his college experience coming in the SEC, he has the equivelent of a couple of minor league seasons under his belt. In fact, I could see him getting the call right now in an emergency, over Jo-Jo, who is being stretched out in AAA.

by DawgB on May 22, 2010 10:01 AM EDT up reply actions

Woah there, the SEC is good, but it’s not the equivalent of a Minor League level. The worst team in the Appy League would woop the best team in the SEC over any length series.

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by cbwilk on May 22, 2010 2:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Maybe yes, maybe no. But he did start this season in AA , with just a few rookie league and AFL games under his belt, so that experience must be worth something.

by DawgB on May 22, 2010 2:28 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m not saying it’s not worth something. In fact, I’d argue that the highest level college players are the equivalent of High A players. But to say the league as a whole is the equivalent of a Minor League is just wrong. 95% of those college players (probably more) are going to be done with baseball when their college careers are over. 100% of those professional guys play professional baseball. There’s really little argument to be had over it.

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by cbwilk on May 22, 2010 4:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Instead of nitpicking over what level the SEC would compare with exactly, let’s just say the point is that playing against SEC competition for 3 years makes him an advanced prospect, just like any big time prospect coming out of college. Look at Mike Leake. He pitched in a weaker conference and hasn’t needed any minor league time to be successful in the majors.

by ajones2522 on May 22, 2010 6:05 PM EDT up reply actions

Well that I agree with. It wasn’t nitpicking, it was having a conversation about something that a lot of folks don’t realize isn’t as obvious at it is.

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by cbwilk on May 23, 2010 12:44 AM EDT up reply actions

Its the same as some people saying a dominate college football team could beat the worst NFL team…not happening…

Brandon W: "What's up Heyward?"
Jason H: "Hangin with Freddie, What you up to Brandon?"
Brandon W: "nothing much."

by bwellnjonesco on May 23, 2010 10:32 AM EDT up reply actions

Not what I was saying at all. I was not comparing the SEC or any college baseball program to the major leagues. I was making the point that playing in a quality college program can help a player progress as if he was in A ball for those years.

by DawgB on May 23, 2010 10:44 AM EDT up reply actions

No, it isn't...

a college football team is composed of 18-23 year olds. NFL is 23-33, and composed of all great college players.

Low minor teams are of similar age, some maybe younger, some older, than college teams, but there is no significant age discrepancy like NFL vs. college football. And while the minor teams probably have more quality players per team, there are some really bad organizations, really bad coaches, and some teams just draft bad players, so that I don’t think it’s a stretch to say if you took the 8 teams in the College World Series, and matched them up with some of the worst short season minor league teams, they’d be competitive if not better in some cases.

by Mr. Sanchez on May 23, 2010 11:26 AM EDT up reply actions

I think it’s a huge stretch. Every guy on every minor league team was the best at some point, in high school, in college, possibly even in the Minors. That’s just not the case with college, a bunch of those guys weren’t even the best on their HS team. No, give it a series of any length and the worst minor league teams would make the best college teams look like what they are, a bunch of kids who happen to play baseball sometimes.

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by cbwilk on May 23, 2010 7:26 PM EDT up reply actions

You've seen more than me, so I'll defer to the expert

by Mr. Sanchez on May 23, 2010 7:41 PM EDT up reply actions

I don’t know, maybe. But a lot of rookie league teams have a bunch of extremely young and raw international kids too. Obviously these kids are going to be extremely talented too but college teams are also going to have some juniors who are legit prospects and a lot more polished. I really don’t have an opinion on which teams are better but I do know those factors should be considered.

by ajones2522 on May 23, 2010 10:01 PM EDT up reply actions

All I’m saying is that the Sunday starter, and I don’t care which team you’re talking about, isn’t getting drafted, not even late in the draft. That means that no matter what team you’re talking about the third best starter isn’t good enough to go pro. International guys may be raw, but they were good enough to be offered contracts.

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by cbwilk on May 23, 2010 11:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Maybe other teams are different and I’m using Vandy as an example just because I see them all the time, but they had Mike Minor starting on Sundays as a freshman and their Sunday starter this year is Jack Armstrong, a sophomore who was taken in the draft out of high school and is a pretty good prospect in his own right so I’m not sure a blanket statement like that works.

by ajones2522 on May 24, 2010 8:56 AM EDT up reply actions

So he (Minor) progressed up the chain, kind of like a prospect who starts in short season, then goes to low A, High A, AA, etc. Again, showing that the college programs can turn out some pretty good players, not just the low minors. Oh, yeah, there is also this fellow named Strasburg.

by DawgB on May 24, 2010 9:20 AM EDT up reply actions

Great, you’ve pointed out 1 of maybe 4 schools in the nation who validate your point. Yes, you might not be aware, but the vast majority of colleges are nothing like Vanderbilt or Rice or Texas or North Carolina.

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by cbwilk on May 24, 2010 10:52 AM EDT up reply actions

Or....

….Virginia, Arizona State, Florida, Florida State,S. Carolina, UCLA, TCU, Louisville, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Auburn, et al. I did note that 5 SEC teams are in the top 25 this week.

Maybe we can both agree that the low minors and good college programs are incubators for future major leaguers. Each has their stregnths and weaknesses.

Can we now officially declare this horse dead?

by DawgB on May 24, 2010 11:17 AM EDT up reply actions

I don’t really have a point to validate other than to be sure we are dealing with facts. You said Sunday starters don’t get drafted. That’s false. And probably by more than you’re admitting. Vandy is an excellent program but the SEC has 7 or 8 other programs who are just as good if not better than Vandy. it’s that deep, so it’s not a stretch to say there are probably 4 teams with pitching depth comparable to Vandy in the SEC alone. I think that’s the whole point of the original post. The SEC can provide some really tough competition and shouldn’t be discounted as just a bunch of kids who can’t make it in pro ball.

by ajones2522 on May 24, 2010 11:47 AM EDT up reply actions

How many guys have their career end in A ball?

I could see major conference ball being at or near a level of rookie ball, perhaps some A ball teams. While the SEC isn’t a league full of legit prospects, neither are rookie ball and other leagues.

by Mr. Sanchez on May 23, 2010 8:57 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah, but if you put that non-prospect A Ball guy in the SEC, or any other college league, he’d make them look foolish. Plenty of guys have their careers end in A ball, but the point is that they got to A ball while those college kids got to college.

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by cbwilk on May 23, 2010 11:13 AM EDT up reply actions

Many college kids have been drafted and would be playing A ball if they had chosen to do so. I think it’s fair to say that some of the better college players are better than some of the A Ball players.

Again, my original point was that a player’s college experience, especially in a competitive conference, gives him quality experience which can justify skipping low levels of the minor leagues.

by DawgB on May 23, 2010 12:24 PM EDT up reply actions

Not that many college kids have been drafted. Or, anyway, being drafted in the 30th round and after doesn’t mean much.

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by cbwilk on May 23, 2010 7:27 PM EDT up reply actions

A lot of college players don’t get drafted or get drafted late because teams already know they are planning on going to college.

by ajones2522 on May 23, 2010 9:53 PM EDT up reply actions

I guess that’s a factor, but if a guy is good they’ll usually draft him anyway, even if it’s late, just to take a chance. The Braves draft HS guys all the time, knowing they won’t sign him, just to let the guy know they like him.

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by cbwilk on May 23, 2010 11:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Mike Piazza might disagree.

by DawgB on May 24, 2010 8:22 AM EDT up reply actions

So might the other 6 guys who’ve actually been successful out of later rounds. Pointing out the handful of guys who’ve done it in the 40+ year history of the draft really only reinforces my point about how impossible it is.

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by cbwilk on May 24, 2010 10:53 AM EDT up reply actions

And many first round picks don’t pan out. It’s all a crap shoot.

by DawgB on May 24, 2010 11:19 AM EDT up reply actions

Apparently, that’s an understatement. He’s proving people out there that he is a legit pitcher. I know this has been said before but what does this guy throw and at what speed?

by romone_braves91 on May 22, 2010 11:51 AM EDT up reply actions

Fastball ranging from 88-92 but bas been pumping it up to 95 this year. Very good changeup that’s a good 10 MPH slower than his fastball along with a curve and slider.

by ajones2522 on May 22, 2010 6:06 PM EDT up reply actions

thanks a lot.

by romone_braves91 on May 23, 2010 12:18 AM EDT up reply actions

When will Masters get the call to MB?

by chopc on May 22, 2010 5:23 AM EDT reply actions

Jordan Schafer

Is there anything wrong with Jordan Schafer? I noticed that he was 0 for 4 yesterday with three strike outs. I just hope he is healthy because I look forward to him playing center in Atlanta in the future.

by JimH on May 22, 2010 6:57 AM EDT reply actions

I think he is relatively healthy. He just needs to get some at bats. I’d like to see him stay at AAA for the rest of the year and hopefully regain some confidence. If he does well then bring him up in September.

by chopc on May 22, 2010 7:32 AM EDT up reply actions

This is becoming a more likely scenario and it’s probably better for his future.

by mdhenshaw on May 22, 2010 9:19 AM EDT up reply actions

Love that line by Cody Johnson...

and I thought Gerardo Rodriguez was playing a corner OF spot for Myrtle, not 1B.

by Mr. Sanchez on May 22, 2010 9:35 AM EDT reply actions

Well now he’s not playing anywhere. He had 13 games in LF, 11 at 1B, 9 in RF and 8 as DH.

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by timmy3 on May 22, 2010 11:14 AM EDT up reply actions

Rodriguez

Suspended for 50 games now

by BlueVol03 on May 22, 2010 2:09 PM EDT up reply actions

Eh, whatever.

I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it: https://www.createspace.com/3407939
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by cbwilk on May 22, 2010 2:19 PM EDT up reply actions

Future braves

Am I the only one that thinks Myke Jones is the SS of the future and Salcedo is the 3B of future.

by atlbraveschamps on May 22, 2010 4:37 PM EDT reply actions

I think a lot of people here have Myke down as a 2nd baseman in MLB.

and it’s more of a hope for Salcedo as no one knows hardly anything about him..

Brandon W: "What's up Heyward?"
Jason H: "Hangin with Freddie, What you up to Brandon?"
Brandon W: "nothing much."

by bwellnjonesco on May 22, 2010 4:42 PM EDT up reply actions

I think its really a “hope” for both these guys to be MLB players. Not saying they won’t be but Jones is 22 or 23 already and hitting around .200 in low A ball though he’s making progress recently. Salcedo though full of potential has yet to get an at bat in the minors. Really hope they both pan out though.

by chopc on May 22, 2010 7:50 PM EDT up reply actions