Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap: 4/08

Teheran and Oberholtzer had solid outings. Pastornicky is on fire and hopefully Salcedo is starting to wake up.

But i was wondering if underneath each recap, if someone could hyperlink the MiLB box score for each game. I wind up having to go there after i read the recaps anyhow.

YES I AM THAT LAZY!!!! :)

Went to the game last night and figured I’d throw out some thoughts:

Impressive:
- Teheran is and will be a stud. Honestly, I thought he was off last night and all he allowed was a manufactured run by Jennings (1B, SB, WP which should have been a PB, SF) in the 6th. His control was off early (2 BB in the 1st), but he settled down and dominated from there out with basically 1 pitch working. The FB was elite – he was sitting in the mid-90’s (touched 98 in the 1st) all night with some nice arm side run – even took a little off once and allowed it to run a little more. Curve and Change were off though. I think only one Change wasn’t bounced and the hitter (Chris Carter) looked foolish on that one. Didn’t throw the Curve much, but it looked good in between innings. I think the hitters saw it when he did throw it though – not sure why. Could have been tipping it or maybe it looks different out of his hand. I’ll put the off-speed pitches into the “1st start of the year” bucket, but the 5.2 IPs of 2 hit ball are squarely in the stud category.
- Ramirez impressed me as well. Crushed the 3B where he ended up scoring the tying run and made a great diving play in the OF to stop the bleeding of Proctor. If he could figure out how to get his OBP into the mid-.300’s, he’ll be a major leaguer.
- Lucas’ #s looked bad (0-4, 3K), but I think he’ll play. The 1 BIP was a line drive to the WT and at least 2 of the Ks seemed like he was being overly patience. Was more steady than spectacular @ SS, but that’ll do.
-Varvaro was hitting mid-90’s in his 1st inning of work and looked good (painted the outside corner 2-3x), then was barely breaking 90 in the 2nd. Shocked they brought him out for a 3rd inning of work.

Not impressed:
- Proctor: FB was too straight. Was throwing in the mid-90’s, but when the other hitters are used to seeing Teheran, you need more than velo.
- Marek: Good CB, average FB. The Curve was very good with both movement and depth, but I don’t think you can get by with only that to get out MLB hitters consistently.
- Mather: Long swing, can get fooled. Don’t see his skills translating without some overhauling.
- Schafer: ELITE D. Almost threw out Jennings @ the plate before Teheran was pulled from around 250-300’ out. Also, made a nice play going back to the wall. OTOH, every time he made contact @ the plate (except once when he skied a ball to mid CF), I thought he broke his bat – the sound isn’t there. Dunno, if it was the wrist or simply a confidence issue, but there is definitely something amiss. It’s a shame too, with his D, he could be an AS CF with an .800 OPS.

Other impressions:
- Hernandez made a good diving play @ 2B and turned a couple of DPs with guys bearing down on him.
- Willie Cabrera is a little guy. I wasn’t expecting a giant, but I was still surprised by how little he was. I figured he was a 2nd baseman until his name was called. Was thrown out @ the plate when he went on a FB to very shallow RF.
- There aren’t any bats with the G-Braves. Lucas and Ramirez were the only ones who impressed me, and I doubt that Ramirez will keep it up all year. Mather and Gomez are all or nothing type guys, while Constanza and Nelson don’t figure to offer much except “steady” play either. Considering the number of little guys we had throughout the lineup, we flied out waaay too often. I’m expecting a call to Mississippi (Pastornicky? Harrilchak? Mejia?!?) this month and wouldn’t be surprised if someone currently in Lynchburg gets a call mid-season. No one currently in Gwinnett will be blocking a bat right now.