Atlanta Braves Minor League HotSheet: Pastornicky Stays Hot and Hale Pitches Continues to Deal as a Starter

Sorry for the late post on this one, had a lot of stuff going on with work and moving this week. For once it was much easier to fine good players than bad players over the last week. It was also a weird week with our top two starters having one excellent game and one not so excellent one. Delgado brought prospect purgatory back with his performance but Teheran didn't make either list. 

Who's Hot?

1. Tyler Pastornicky, Gwinnett Braves - 11-26, 2B, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 SB, 1 CS - Since his promotion to Gwinnett, Pastornicky has gone hitless in just one game and has recorded multiple hits in nine of his twelve games. His hot start at AAA has been fairly empty (just one extra base hit) but any time you hit .423 no one is going to complain.
2. David Hale, Lynchburg Hillcats - 13 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 4 BB, 10 K - If you read our recaps with any regularity you know the story with Hale who has jumped back and forth from the rotation to bullpen ever since he was drafted. The consensus on him coming out of college was that he would be a bullpen arm, but the Braves being the stubbor organization they are decided they would try him in the rotation. That failed so they moved him to the bullpen and he did well. Then back in the bullpen this year he struggled so the Braves gave him another shot in the rotation and lo and behold he has excelled since the move. 
3. Chase Larsson, Danville Braves - 9-22, 2 2B, 3 HR, 10 RBI, 2 BB, 1 K - Larsson is still too old for the league at 22, but week's like this are nice no matter how old you are. His OPS over the last 10 games is north of 1.200 and appears to indicate a need for his promotion.
4. Brandon Drury, Danville Braves - 8-21, 3 2B, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 7 K - Drury is tied for third in the Appy League in batting average and is in the top ten in OPS. He is sporting a .401 wOBA for the season and has gotten better as the season has worn on with a .440 wOBA in July after a meager .262 mark in June. The only chink in his armor so far is his inability to take a walk, but I don't think I would take any walks either if I could hit everything thrown to me. 
5. Joey Terdoslavich, Lynchburg Hillcats - 11-25, 4 2B, HR, 8 RBI, 4 BB, 3 K - It is easy to fall into the belief that Terdoslavich has fallen off since the start of the season, especially after he hit 11 homers in the first two months and has added just three in the last two months. But in 128 ABs since his All Star game he has posted a .320/.385/.500 line (that slugging is just 12 points under what he did in the first two months).

Honorable Mention: Gwinnett -Yohan, Flande, Arodys Vizcaino, Julio Teheran, Jairo Asencio, Todd Redmond, Brandon Hicks, Mauro Gomez; Mississippi Braves - Ernesto Mejia; Lynchburg Hillcats - Chris Masters, L.V Ware; Rome Braves - Chris Garcia, David Rohm, Robby Hefflinger, Caleb Brewer; Danville Braves - Edison Sanchez, Lucas La Point, Daniel Lopez, J. R. Graham, Adam Holland.

Who's Not?

1. Eric Cordier, Gwinnett Braves - 5 IP, 8 H, 8 R(4 ER), 2 BB, 2 K - Cordier started the season well enough, even if he did start it late, but July was a nightmare for him as he posted an 8.06 ERA with as many walks as strikeouts (17 in 22.1 innings). The Braves even game him an extra five days rest this past week but it didn't prove to be any help. 
2. Mycal Jones, Mississippi Braves - 4-21, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 8 K, SB - Jones has had his ups and downs this season and he has been pushed faster than normal because of how old he was when he was drafted. Unfortunately the one thing he was doing really well he has been take walks, but he hasn't been doing that well at all. In June he walked 22 times in 92 ABs. In July he walked just seven times in 100 ABs. 
3. Matt Crim, Lynchburg Hillcats - 1.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 0 K - What makes this week especially bad for Crim is that all of the runs and hits came in an appearance on Saturday where he didn't record an out. Crim is another guy that has switched roles this season but he has been pretty bad as a reliever, posting a 7.01 ERA in 16 games in the role. 
4. Phil Gosselin, Lynchburg Hillcats - 5-26, 4 RBI, 3 BB, 5 K -  Gosselin has put together a nice season and was hitting well coming into July, but the last two weeks have not been kind to the keystone sacker. He has just one extra base hit in his last ten games and his batting average is 40 points lower than his season average for the month of July. 
5. Aaron Northcraft, Rome Braves - 4 IP, 6 H, 5 R(4 ER), 2 BB, 3 K - When Northcraft was promoted he spent a month as the best pitcher in the Rome Rotation but he has come crashing down in the last two months.  Northcraft has an excellent sinker but his stuff is just mediocre, and his second time through the league has caught up with him.

Dishonorable Mention: Gwinnett Braves - NONE!; Mississippi Braves - Willie Cabrera, Marcus Lemon; Lynchburg Hillcats - Christian Bethancourt, Blaine Sims, Dimaster Delgado; Rome Braves - Matt Lipka, Edward Salcedo, Kyle Rose, Ronan Pacheco, Tony Mueller; Danville Braves - Kurt Fleming, William Beckwith.