Atlanta Braves Top-30 Prospects Monthy Recap: July

Again, we update you on the past month's performances by the Braves' top prospects, this month with the updated Talking Chop Top-30 prospects.

1. Julio Teheran, RHP, Myrtle Beach, Mississippi - 1-3, 4.56 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, 2.5 K/BB, 10.3 K/9, 4.2 BB/9 - Teheran's overall numbers for the month don't look that great, mostly because his final start of the month, his lone one with Mississippi, tanked his numbers. In 19 innings for Myrtle Beach, he had a 3.32 ERA and a 0.94 WHIP. His K/BB rate with the Pelicans was 4.8, which is much closere to the 4.1 rate he's put up for the whole season.

2. Freddie Freeman, 1B, Gwinnett - .333 AVG, .944 OPS, 4 2B, 6 HR, 22 RBI, 2 SB - As good as he was in June, a .318 average and a .923 OPS, Freeman was even better in July. In June and July he combined for a .326 average and a .928 OPS. For a player who won't turn 21 until a week after the AAA season has ended, he's been nothing short of spectacular.

3. Randall Delgado, RHP, Myrtle Beach, Mississppi - 3.69 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 2.3 K/BB, 9.7 K/9, 4.3 BB/9 - After putting up a 2.78 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP in 22.2 innings for Myrtle Beach, Delgado was promoted to Mississippi where he had a 6.00 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP in 9 innings. After putting up a 2.1 BB/9 rate from April to June with the Pelicans, he upped that to 4.3 for the month of July, perhaps an indication of some fatigue.

4. Arodys Vizcaino, RHP, Myrtle Beach - Vizcaino didn't play in July after succumbing to an elbow strain that may keep him out for the remainder of the season.

5. Mike Minor, LHP, Mississippi, Gwinnett - 4-1, 1.99 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 3.5 K/BB, 9.9 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 - Minor flat out dominated in his first month of AAA, improving every one of his numbers except his K/9 rate, which is still above 9, an insanely high number for a guy who was supposed to be a "soft-tossing" lefty. If he can continue this kind of production through the end of the season there's little reason to believe that he coudln't contribute at the Major League level in 2011.

6. Christian Bethancourt, C, Rome - .250 AVG, .666 OPS, 5 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 7 RBI - Bethancourt hasn't show much pop or the ability to take a walk all year, and that trend continued in July. He's one of the youngest players in full season ball and the kind of developments he making aren't the kind that often show up in the box scores.

7. Edward Salcedo, SS, Rome - .214 AVG, .633 OPS, 5 2B, 4 3B, 8 RBI, 4 SB - It was a rough first month in America for Salcedo, as he wasn't able to have the same level of success he had displayed in 23 games in the DSL. It's encouraging that half of his hits went for extra bases, but he also struck out 29% of the time.

8. Matt Lipka, SS, GCL - .340 AVG, .834 OPS, 3 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 18 RBI, 12 SB - Being a team's first pick in the draft holds a lot of expectations, and Lipka exceeded them all in his first full month as a professional. He did about everything you could hope for as a leadoff hitter, with a .390 OBP and 12 steals, and was only caught stealing twice. He even showed himself a slugger, driving in 18.

9. Craig Kimbrel, RHP, Gwinnett - 1-1, 5 SV, 3.21 ERA, 1.71 WHIP, 1.3 K/BB, 12.2 K/9, 9.6 BB/9 - Kimbrel's worst month of the season can be directly attributed to the huge jump in his walk rate. In the season's first 3 months he allowed 3.8 BB/9, and he more than tripled that in July.

10. Robinson Lopez, RHP, Rome - 0-3, 6.55 ERA, 1.64 WHIP,0.8 K/BB, 3.7 K/9, 4.5 BB/9 - Lopez has had trouble adjusting to the full season schedule, with his stats getting a bit worse each month, and that trend continued in July, as he allowed too many baserunners, mainly due to a high walk total. In April and May he averaged 3 strikeouts per walk, but in June and July that number has gone all the way down to 1.1 K/BB.

The rest of the list after the jump:

11. Myke Jones, SS, Myrtle Beach - .227 AVG, .651 OPS, 6 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI, 11 BB, 4 SB - After a torrid June, that saw him dominate both before and after a promotion from Rome to Myrtle Beach, Jones cooled considerably in July. Still, his numbers for the year are solid.

12. JJ Hoover, RHP, Myrtle Beach - 5-0, 1.22 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 4.6 K/BB, 9.2 K/9, 1.9 BB/9 - You think it would be hard for a Carolina League All-Star to get better, but Hoover was dominant in July, averaging 6.1 innings per start and winning all of his decisions. More than anything, he was able to keep runners off the basepaths, a sure way of keeping them from crossing home.

13. Adam Milligan, OF, Myrtle Beach - Milligan hasn't played since early May, succumbing to a shoulder injury he incurred in mid April. He is likely out for the rest of the season.

14. Brett Oberholtzer, LHP, Myrtle Beach - 1-1, 4.88 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 5.8 K/BB, 8.6 K/9, 1.5 BB/9 - Oberholtzer is slowly getting the hang of High A and he's done it by keeping his walks to a minimum. The lefty has been good at getting hitters to strike out as well, and there's plenty of indication that he'll get better as the year progresses.

15. Jose Ortegano, LHP, Gwinnett - 0-4, 10.13 ERA, 1.83 WHIP, 3.4 K/BB, 10.1 K/9, 3.0 BB/9 - Ortegano has gotten progressively worse as the season's gone on and you have to wonder if he ever actually recovered from teh seemingly minor injury that forced him to start the season a little late. He's still striking out a ton of batters, but he's allowing 11.6 hits per 9 innings on the year, and incredibly high number.

16. Zeke Spruill, LHP, GCL, Myrtle Beach -1-1,  2.79 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 4.3 K/BB, 6.1 K/9, 1.4 BB/9 - After finishing rehabbing from a broken hand with a final tuneup for the GCL Braves on July 1st, Spruill put up a 2.60 ERA and a 1.04 WHIP in 17.1 innings for the Pelicans. This was a strong comeback for a player who needed it.

17. Kyle Rose, OF, Rome - 2-3, 2B, BB - Rose spent the majority of the month on the DL, starting on it, coming off and playing a pair of games, then going back on it. It's a shame because after a rough May, with a .200 average and .506 OPS, he had rebounded well in June, with a .271 average and a .623 OPS.

18. Carlos Perez, LHP, Danville, Rome - 2-1, 1.88 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 2.5 K/BB, 7.5 K/9, 3 BB/9 - Perez didn't have much luck in his lone start for Rome, allowing 2 earned runs in just 2 innings, but his dominance for Danville, a 1.23 ERA and a 0.86 WHIP in 22 innings, made the month look outstanding. The 18 year old lefty is making a name for himself this year.

19. Joe Leonard, 3B, Danville, Rome - .260 AVG, .745 OPS, 5 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 14 RBI - Leonard got his career off to a solid start by putting up a .278 average and .750 OPS in 10 games for Danville and followed it up with a .250 average and .741 OPS in 15 games for Rome. His OBP was a bit low, at .297, but overall it was a good first month.

20. Andy Otero, LHP, GCL - Otero has yet to appear in a game this season.

21. Cory Harrilchak, OF, Myrtle Beach - .324 AVG, .901 OPS, 11 2B, 3 3B, 1 HR, 14 RBI, 14 BB, 3 SB - Harrilchack really caught fire in July, putting up one of the best months of his short career. He's a toolsy player, who excells in a lot of areas but dominates in none, and that's exactly the stat line he put up for the month.

22. Caleb Brewer, RHP, Rome - 1-2, 8.05 ERA, 2.21 WHIP, 0.9 K/BB, 6.6 K/9, 7.1 BB/9 - Brewer dominated in June but was just awful in July, allowing a ton of hits, 12.8 per 9 innings for the month, and walking more than he struck out, 15 to 14.

23. Cody Johnson, OF, GCL, Mississippi - 5-27, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 13 K - Johnson sevely injured his hamstring in early June and has hardly played since, with just 78 at bats in June and July. He spent a week rehabbing with the GCL team in July, hitting .250 with a .868 OPS in 20 at bats, but did little after returning to Mississippi, going hitless in 7 July at bats, striking out in 5 of them.

24. Brett DeVall, LHP, Rome - 2-2, 3.81 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, 3.7 K/BB, 7 K/9, 1.9 BB/9 - You wouldn't expect a player returning from off season surgery to be so consistent, but DeVall has put up very similar stats each month. The only real knock on his numbers is that he's given up a ton of hits, 11.1 per 9 in July, 10.6 per 9 on the season, but he hasn't walked many, 1.9 per 9 in July, 2.2 for the season, so all that really says it that's he's got good control and pitches around the plate.

25. Paul Clemens, RHP, Myrtle Beach - 0-1, 2.20 ERA, 1.71 WHIP, 2 K/BB, 6.6 K/9, 3.3 BB/9 - Clemens put up another solid month with Myrtle Beach, with a solid ERA, but he allowed too many hits, giving up 12.1 per 9 innings. This hasn't been a problem for him most of the year, so hopefully he can fix it in August.

26. Todd Cunningham, OF, Rome - .284 AVG, .770 OPS, 4 2B, 2 3B, 1 HR, 6 RBI, 4 SB - Cunningham got off to a slow start in June but he came on fine in July, ending his first full month in professional baseball with a solid month. He's shown himself as an all-around hitter capable of hitting near the top of Rome's lineup.

27. Riaan Spanjer-Furstenburg, 1B, Rome - .282 AVG, .674 OPS, . 5 2B, 1 HR, 10 RBI - RSF returned from his broken hand with a thunderous final week of June, but traled off a lot in July, as his power seems to have left him completely, which isn't that surprising given the injury.

28. Mike Dunn, LHP, Gwinnett -1 SV, 4.15 ERA, 1.84 WHIP, 0.7 K/BB, 8.3 K/9, 12.5 BB/9 - Dunn pitched just 4.1 innings over 5 appearances for Gwinnett, including his July 6th appearance which was probably his worst of the year, allowing 2 earned runs in just 0.1 innings. He also pitched in 6 games for Atlanta, tossing 4.1 scoreless innings while allowing just 3 hits, walking 7 and striking out 5.

29. Cory Gearrin, RHP, Gwinnett -1-1, 4.70 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 2.3 K/BB, 5.3 K/9, 2.3 BB/9 - Gearrin has been an every other month pitcher, with a very good April and June, and a so-so May and July. He struck out fewer batters than he had in any other month, but he also walked fewer. The main thing that hurt him was he allowed 3 homers, as many as he had given up in the season's first 3 months.

30. Robby Hefflinger, 1B-OF, Rome - 2-16, K - Hefflinger played in just 4 games at the very beginning of the month before landing on the DL. It's been a rough year for the big outfielder, who's learning how to play first base, as he missed most of April recovering from the effects of mononucleosis. He's lplayed just 57 games all year.