Atlanta Braves Minor League Hot Sheet: 7/12-7/18

by cbwilk on Jul 19, 2010 3:26 AM EDT in Braves Minor League Hot Sheet

Brandon Beachy was one of the top performers in the Braves organization this week.

This week Gwinnett was 1-3 (13.5 GB, last), Mississippi was 1-3 (1.5 GB, second), Myrtle Beach was 4-2 (2.5 GB, third), Rome was 2-4 (4 GB, fifth), Danville was 3-2 (1 GB, second), GCL was 6-0 (2 games ahead, first), and DSL was 3-1(1 game ahead, first).

Who's Hot?

Matt Lipka - 10-17, 2 2B, 3B, 4 RBI, 2 BB, 3 SB - Atlanta's first selection in this year's draft, the 18 year old Lipka had a fantastic week as well, hitting a robust.588 with a .632 on base percentage and a .941 slugging percentage good for an unheard of 1.573 OPS. He's been everything the Braves could have hoped for, wreaking havoc at the top of the GCL order.

David Rohm - 13-25, 3 2B, 3B, HR, 9 RBI, 2 BB, SB - This year's 9th round selection had one of the best weeks of any Braves prospect all season, so good that the 20 year old earned a mid-week promotion from the GCL to Danville. The 20 year old hit .520 with a .556 on base percentage and a .840 slugging percentage good for an amazing 1.396 OPS.

Brandon Beachy - 5 IP, 2 R, 1 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 13 K - After striking out a career high 11 in his last start, with a scoreless relief appearance and a scoreless appearance in the All-Star game between, Beachy topped that by fanning 13 in his lone start this week. The Braves seem to have unearthed a diamond in the rough, as the undrafted Beachy has been spectacular this year and has only improved since moving into the rotation.

Phil Gosselin and Joe Leonard - 17-47, 4 2B, 4 3B, 2 HR, 10 RBI - This year's 3rd and 5th round selections respectively, Leonard and Gosselin were dominant for Rome this week. Leonard, the 21 year old third baseman, played 1 game for Danville before his promotion to Rome; for the week he hit .333 with a 1.333 OPS. Gosselin, the 21 year old second baseman, hit .385 with a 1.000 OPS, giving the pair a combined .362 average and 1.107 OPS.

Honorable Mention: Freddie Freeman, Diory Hernandez, Mitch Jones, Matt Young, Cory Gearrin, Lee Hyde, Steve Marek, Gwinnett; Jesus Sucre, Tyler Pastornicky, Tim Collins, Erik Cordier, Richard Sullivan, Mississippi; Myke Jones, Jordan Kreke, Cory Harrilchak, LV Ware, Luis Avilan, Matt Crim, JJ Hoover, Angelo Paulino, Chad Rodgers, Myrtle Beach; David Hale, Steve Kent, Christian Bethancourt, Jace Whitmer, Matt Weaver, Rome; Ryan Delgado, Barrett Kleinknecht, Elmer Reyes, Bobby Rauh, Joey Terdoslavich, Tyler Stovall, Aaron Northcraft, Carlos Perez, Willie Kempf, Danville

Who's Not?

Brandon Hicks - 1-13, HR, 2 RBI, 7 K - Hicks' lone hit this week was a homer, but he also struck out in 54% of his at bats. For the year he's striking out in 25% of his at bats, which is double his career rate of 12%.Spending large chunks of the year on Atlanta's bench rarely getting an at bat hasn't allowed him the opportunity to get into a groove this year, but he's also only hit .227 with a .656 OPS in the Minors since the start of last season.

Robinson Lopez - 0-1, 2.2 IP, 6 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 2 K - Lopez is one of the most promising arms in the organization, but he was rocked this week, allowing a 20.22 ERA and a 3.37 WHIP in his shortest outing of the year. The summer hasn't been kind to him, as he's put up a 5.74 ERA and 1.44 WHIP in 42.1 June and July innings.

Jake Hanson - 2-20, 3B, 10 K, SB - Many had high hopes for Hanson after he hit .279 with a .842 OPS in the GCL last year, but he hasn't been able to repeat that success this year, hitting only .243 with a .654 OPS in 52 games for Rome. This week things hit a new low, as he hit just .100 and struck out in half of his at bats. He's striking out in 34% of his at bats on the year, which isn't that surprising since he struck out 30% of the time last year.

Riaan Spanjer-Furstenburg - 4-23, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 2 BB, 5 K - After dominating the Appy League last year, RSF's season hasn't gone as hope, mostly due to missing several months with a broken hand, but overall he's been solid, hitting .294 with a .753 OPS in the 29 games he's played for Rome. But this week he laid an egg, hitting just .174 with a woeful .501 OPS.

Dishonorable Mention: Jordan Schafer, Craig Kimbrel, Gwinnett; Willie Cabrera, Tim Gustafson, Mississippi; Juan Abreu, Tommy Palica, Sammy Sime, Cole Miles, Luis Sumoza, Myrtle Beach; Todd Cunningham, Ramon Flores, Caleb Brewer, Brett DeVall, Rome; Ryan Weber, Danville

Braves Fan Confidence Poll

Last tallied on 06/29.

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Comments

Joe Thurston

Where is he?

"Sharks have a week dedicated to Jason Heyward."
METS: My Entire Team Sucks.
Phillies Baseball: Established - 2008

by Scott Coleman on Jul 19, 2010 4:15 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

Honestly, I didn’t even look at his stats. I have to look at just about every player in the organization and figure out how they did for the week, if I can save a little time by not looking at a journeyman (who typically sucks) then I’m going to. He’d have to hit .900 with a 2.250 OPS to get on this list over a younger guy.

I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it: https://www.createspace.com/3407939
www.dropoutproductions.com

by cbwilk on Jul 19, 2010 10:52 AM EDT up reply actions

Just a thought...

since I don’t know how you and yonda split up the recaps. But it might make things easier to trade off week to week, and let whoever did that week do the hot sheet making it likely a bit easier to compile a hot/not list since you’d have been following them for that week inputting together recaps. That is if y’all aren’t too lazy to remember who was mentioned in the recaps that often.

by Mr. Sanchez on Jul 19, 2010 11:18 AM EDT up reply actions

That’s exactly how we do it. But I still have to look through and see what they’ve actually done and find the stats. And since I don’t put 0fers on the list, I have to look through and find out who wasn’t hot. I’m sure there are better ways to do it, but without a quick took that gives me the stats for the guys just for the week, I don’t know.

I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it: https://www.createspace.com/3407939
www.dropoutproductions.com

by cbwilk on Jul 19, 2010 11:23 AM EDT up reply actions

Maybe compiling those numbers throughout the week,...

but again, laziness (and that really would be a LOT of work considering the compensation). But I see what you’re saying. It’d be real nice if say baseball reference or the team’s own webpages could give you a sort stats for the last week/month option. Without that though, it’d definitely be a pain in the rump to deal with and compile #s.

by Mr. Sanchez on Jul 19, 2010 11:39 AM EDT up reply actions

I thought about doing it during the week but it takes way over an hour just to do the writeups each night. I figure sucking it up every other Sunday isn’t that bit of a deal. If the end result is that Joe Thurston’s hot streak is ignored, that’s fine by me, he’s a total dick anyway.

I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it: https://www.createspace.com/3407939
www.dropoutproductions.com

by cbwilk on Jul 19, 2010 12:37 PM EDT up reply actions

I was just asking...

"Sharks have a week dedicated to Jason Heyward."
METS: My Entire Team Sucks.
Phillies Baseball: Established - 2008

by Scott Coleman on Jul 19, 2010 3:02 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions

I will end you! We’re not even related, I have no problem sticking you man!

I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it: https://www.createspace.com/3407939
www.dropoutproductions.com

by cbwilk on Jul 19, 2010 3:15 PM EDT up reply actions

I’m excited to see Matt Lipka excell. I really liked this pick… can’t wait to see how he does at the higher levels.

Kawakami - 1, Halladay - 0

by BigG1392 on Jul 19, 2010 8:35 AM EDT reply actions

It's still early in their careers of course...

but our draft picks have had some hot starts—Leonard is blasting it, Gossellin making great contact, Lipka looking strong, Rohm looking strong, Cunningham, Filak, Kempf, it’s shaping up like a solid draft.

by Mr. Sanchez on Jul 19, 2010 9:17 AM EDT up reply actions

Yeah

We really needed a boost in our farm system as far as IF/OF prospects go, and I think we addressed that nicely. It will be interesting to see how these guys develop.

Kawakami - 1, Halladay - 0

by BigG1392 on Jul 19, 2010 9:49 AM EDT up reply actions