La Stella and Kubitza Keep on Hitting While Spruill, Lafreniere and Briceno Pitch Their Teams to Victory in Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap
by yondaime4 on Aug 22, 2011 11:50 PM EDT
in Braves Minor League Recaps
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PrintThe Braves farmhands put together the super rare organizational sweep tonight (though two teams were off). Good pitching reared its head throughout the farm tonight after some serious offensive outbursts over the last week. Julio Teheran had an OK start but his ability to control his pitchcount is still an issue. Zeke Spruill put together a gem as well while Frank Lafreniere helped flirt with a no hitter. Also today is my birthday! Happy Birthday me!
Charlotte Knights 2, Gwinnett Braves 3
- Stefan Gartrell, RF 2-4, 2 2B, RBI, K, .262 Avg
- Brandon Hicks, SS 2-4, RBI, 2 K, .264 Avg
- Peter Moylan 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K
- Julio Teheran 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 4 K, 2.19 ERA
With just two weeks left in the season the G-Braves have dropped to 5.5 games out of the division race and 3.5 out of the wild card. All of their remaining games are against Charlotte, Norfolk and the Division leader Durham. Moylan's rehab appears to be coming along perfectly just in time for roster expansion in September. Julio Teheran threw 101 pitches in just five innings tonight demonstrating that while he is awesome he still has some things he needs to work on.
Mississippi Braves 8, Montgomery Biscuits 5
- Dan Nelson, 3B 3-5, 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, BB, .329 Avg
- Ernesto Mejia, 1B 2-6, HR(21), 3 RBI, K, .299 Avg
- Sean Henry, LF 2-5, 2 2B, .216 Avg
- Zeke Spruill 7 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K, 4.20 ERA
- Kenshin Kawakami 1 IP , 3 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 0 K, 7.58 ERA
Zeke Spruill put together his first really good start for the M-Braves tonight and Dan Nelson lead the offense and fell a homer shy of the cycle. Srpuill has put together a nice season between Lynchburg and Mississippi after a tumultuous 2010 season and has put some of the shine back on his star.
Lynchburg Hillcats
Off Day
Savanah Sand Gnats 3, Rome Braves 4
- Matt Lipka, SS 2-4, 2 K, CS(13), .237 Avg
- Tommy La Stella, 2B 2-4, 2B, K, .326 Avg
- Chris Garcia, 1B 1-1, 3 BB, .324 Avg
- David Rohm, RF 2-4, K, .271 Avg
- Carlos Perez 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K, 4.86 ERA
The R-Braves didn't score ten runs tonight but they did enough to get the win and Carlos Perez put together a nice relief outing. The Braves are easing off on his workload late in the season and the extra rest appeared to give him some extra life tonight. Tommy La Stella cracked out two more hits which gives him seven straight games with at least two hits and nine of his last ten games. That is pretty ridiculous.
Danville Braves 11, Kingsport Mets 2
- Kyle Kubitza, 3B 2-4, 2B, RBI, K, .321 Avg
- Chase Larsson, LF 3-5, HR(8), 2 RBI, K, .235 Avg
- Fernando De Los Santos, 2B 2-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI, BB, .324 Avg
- Rafael Briceno 7 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 8 K, 3.14 ERA
The Danville just keeps rolling along and tonight the two big boys (Beckwith and Drury) went just 1-10, but the team still scored eleven runs. Kyle Kubitza is my favorite 2011 draftee so far and he is my darkhorse candidate to take over third from Chipper. Granted I say this after less than 200 pro at bats from him. Fernando De Los Santos is another guy who has come out swinging a good bat this season. His profile reminds me a little of Martin Prado at this point. He is showing some doubles pop and has played all over the diamond. He could be one whose bat develops slowly over and never wows us but ends up being productive anyways. Or I could be full of it.
GCL Pirates 1, GCL Braves 11
- Carlos Franco, 3B 3-3, 2B, 2 RBI, SB(8), .239 Avg
- Will Skinner, 2-5, 2B, RBI, K, .288 Avg
- Aris Alcantara, 1B 1-4, HR(4), 5 RBI, .269 Avg
- Felix Marte, RF 3-5, 2B, 2 K, .281 Avg
- Seth Moranda, SS 2-4,2B, RBI, BB, .208 Avg
- Frank Lafreniere 7 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 2 K, 3.79 ERA
The Braves almost pulled off the combined no hitter Yaliar Castro pitched a hitless first inning in rehab and then Frank Lafreniere threw six innings of hitless baseball (he did hit one batter) before giving up a lead off homer in the eighth inning to lose both the no hitter and shutout. Felix Marte is still my favorite hitter on this team but he needs to cut down on the strikeouts a bit.
DSL Braves
Off Day.
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Why do they even bother letting Kawakami pitch anymore?
Freeman isn’t on Heyward’s level in terms of tools, skills, or baseball IQ–but it’s fair to say Freeman has failed to meet the modest expectations in place for him - Capitol Avenue Club (May 28th, 2011)
It’s weird; I thought KK just “wasn’t given a chance” by the Braves. Turns out he was just awful.
Gotta be FW’s biggest mistake so far, right? Bigger than FUGA… Maybe not as bad as DLowe.
You'd think I was Travis Tritt struttin my FINE ASS on down to Florida
Kenshin has turned out light years worse than Derek Lowe
Yeah, we may be overpaying Lowe, but he actually adds value to the team. We’re paying KK about 1/2 as much and getting absolutely nothing of value in return.
While in the majors, he provided value equal to what they were paying him. It was when they banished him that we started to not get value in return.
My dad taught me how to make meat for sloppy joes and my mom let me turn over hot dogs on the grill.
by ChopMaster on Jun 25, 2011 7:25 PM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Aug 23, 2011 6:10 PM EDT up reply actions
My goodness, Kenshin. Have yourself a game, good sir!
My dad taught me how to make meat for sloppy joes and my mom let me turn over hot dogs on the grill.
by ChopMaster on Jun 25, 2011 7:25 PM CDT
by justincredubil02 on Aug 23, 2011 12:08 AM EDT reply actions
Kubitza....
So you think a 21 year old tearing up short season A is the heir apparent to Chipper?
Long odds my friend.
I don’t think any of the 2011 positional draftees is very projectable, but we should be keeping our eyes on Moranda and Laumann….since they were underdrafts and will reap the benefits of our system for more of their developmental years.
I do like the draft for the relief arms….Graham, Lamm, Moore, and Schlosser….all could be quick risers.
Kubitza though….are you thinking Drury’s glove isn’t up to snuff? He’s certainly the more impressive hitter at a younger age….
drury doesn’t have a defensive home yet and I honestly don’t know anything about his defense but I just like what Kubitza’s bat brings to the plate right now. I like Drury’s bat as well obviously but the reports on Kubitza coming out were positive. I like this draft better than last year’s personally
William Beckwith is a sleeper prospect in our organization. - yondaime4
I just have a hard time accepting college draftees going straight to Appy League….i’d prefer if they were ready to play high A, or AA….
For instance, I’d have preferred seeing Kubitza go to Lynchburg with a late season promotion for Leonard up to Mississippi where he’d have supplanted Linares….
Obv, Leonard has struggled with the injuries/heart concern, and inconsistency, which is a disappointment in it’s own right, since you’d like to see a 21 year old with his track record in the Big East be a little more of a presence…
As is, we’ll have Kubitza turning 22 in Rome next July, and he won’t be able to pass Salcedo who will be at Lynchburg, and Leonard will be in Miss…this was Kubitzas opportunity to make a move, but he obv isn’t ready….
I mean, even if Chipper doesn’t come back for 2013, we’d be moving Prado in or signing a new 3B as a stopgap IMO…probably waiting for Salcedo…so Kubitza’s probably going to have to find a new position.
I mean it isn’t just the long odds of being a 21 years old in a less competitive league, but it’s the blockage as well.
Your expectations of college players coming into pro ball are way out of whack. At best some guys can handle Low A, but very few are ready for High A and even fewer could handle AA. You’re talking about first or second round picks from elite college leagues, not just any old college guy.
I personally don’t like the older players, or drafting so many college players, but that’s a different discussion. I don’t think much of anything a guy does in his first year of pro ball should be taken too seriously, so where the college guys play that first year isn’t that big of a deal. What’s more important is what they do in that second season, when they’ve had the experience of pro ball and a Spring Training of competition.
But again, if you think the average college player should be in High A coming straight to the pros, well, that’s just not what happens. Sure, you could name a few guys, but they’re the rare exception.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it:
http://www.amazon.com/Four-C-B-Wilkins/dp/1449578454/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257720610&sr=1-1
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Last year i have my college guys coming out and playing in Rome…
I was just illustrating that if Kubitza really had a chance to replace Chip, the slot to come in would have been Rome, with Salcedo advancing (but he isn’t ready), or High A with Leonard advancing….the first level of the org we have with a non-prospect playing is AA, where Leonard could have gone had he had a better year.
Sorry if it came across as me expecting any old college guy to advance right from the draft, because i do not…i expect my 2nd and 3rd rounders with 3 years experience however, to start higher (even Cunningham and Leonard started at Rome, and they are fairly unimpressive).
Actually Leonard started at Danville. Cunningham and Gosselin were the only ones who started with Rome, even though Leonard, Kleinknecht, Terdoslavich, Fouch, Jurik, Kempf, Mertins, and Northcraft all ended up there for a bit.
This year, La Stella started there, and Mueller, Gilmartin, Martin, Miller, and Schlosser ended up there after starting with Danville. Mark Lamm started with Danville before moving up to Lynchburg.
So really, the guys this year are moving at the same pace as the guys last year.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it:
http://www.amazon.com/Four-C-B-Wilkins/dp/1449578454/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257720610&sr=1-1
www.dropoutproductions.com
All your reasons for him not moving up have nothing to do with whether or not he will produce. Most college players don’t start in High A unless they are pretty advanced. Hell Matt Wieters started in High A and spent about half a season there in 2008 and he was one of the most advanced college hitters to come out. Probably most of the reason Kubitza didn’t start in Rome is because of the amount of people in his way and there is no reason to push him in when you can spend a half season getting their feet wet with a rookie ball team. Maybe the Braves start him in High A next year or even Rome and he hits well enough that he moves up to Mississippi by the end of the year. Then he is a 22 year old in AA. Just because a guy isn’t in the majors at 23 doesn’t mean he isn’t a prospect.
Also I’ve said in the past I don’t take too much of what a guy does in his first season, performance or level too seriously. But I liked the scouting reports on Kubitza and he has adjusted well to the level throughout the season. And also what part of DARKHORSE candidate means i think he is the sure fire thing to take over at third
William Beckwith is a sleeper prospect in our organization. - yondaime4
Not sure where the confusion about Drury’s position comes from. He’s played a handful of games at SS and 2B as a pro, but most all of his games have been at 3B and he actually has a better fielding percentage at 3B this year than Kubitza. From what I saw, they were pretty even at the position.
Personally, of the 2 Danville third basemen, I like the guy 2 years younger who’s playing better. Drury didn’t get to play much in HS, but that means he didn’t pick up any bad habits and has nothing but room to grow. Of course, liking him over Kubitza probably says more about my fondness for the old Braves philosophy of drafting nearly exclusively high school guys.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it:
http://www.amazon.com/Four-C-B-Wilkins/dp/1449578454/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257720610&sr=1-1
www.dropoutproductions.com
I never said I liked Kubitza over Drury, I don’t think there is a case to be made for Kubitza over Drury based on performance or age, just that I do like Kubitza a s a darkhorse guy. Like i said I haven’t seen drury play defense, but he is apparently more versatile and if they both make it I’d figure drury moves off unless he is drastically better defensively.
William Beckwith is a sleeper prospect in our organization. - yondaime4
And I don't think you meant supplanting Chipper after 2012.
I think you meant who’s going to be our next fixture at 3B…whenever he’s ready. Kubitza isn’t old at all for a college player, and we still have to get out of the mindset that the ascensions of Heyward, Freeman, and Minor to the Majors in 2-3 years is a normal progression…
by TBuzz on Aug 23, 2011 7:04 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
He didn’t say 2012 but i have a hard time believing with our hopes for Salcedo, our 3rd round pay slot investment in Leonard, that he will be our next fixture at 3rd….
If he were able to advance quickly though, he might get a look before those guys which would increase his chances…which just appears unlikely due to the natural order of things.
And no i don’t have to get out of the mindset that drafting 18 year olds with high upside is the way to go over drafting highly signable college kids…..
I really only hold my top few draft picks to the higher expectations…i expect them to be ready to play, if everyone out there is comparing the highest level D1 programs to High A/Double A competition then i expect our prospects (our most expensive ones per bonuses) to be able to mirror that.
if everyone out there is comparing the highest level D1 programs to High A/Double A competition
Anyone who’s doing that doesn’t know anything about the quality of play at AA or at D1.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it:
http://www.amazon.com/Four-C-B-Wilkins/dp/1449578454/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257720610&sr=1-1
www.dropoutproductions.com
Okay, I’ll bite (‘cuz I’d like you to expand on that thought): once upon a time (like: 20+ years ago) the good college programs were generically compared to the AA minor-league level. I’d like to think that the collegiate ball has dropped off a lot as the Latin players have come in big-time.
But the thing that skews the comparison in my book is the metal bat problem: pitchers are throwing a completely different game in trying to avoid contact. So I frankly have trouble comparing the two at all since it feels like an apples/oranges comparison. It seems that you have to break it down to individual talents and how well they would project to the pro level.
"Forget Roy Halladay or Clayton Kershaw or Cliff Lee, the NL Cy Young Award should go to O’Ventrel." - David Schoenfield, ESPN.com, 8/19/11
Did you keep up with college baseball this year?
With the new BBCOR bats its pretty close to an apples to apples comparison at this point. If you can’t hit for power with wood, its just about impossible to do so with a BBCOR bat. They have more pop when the ball catches the sweet spot, but its close and sweet spot is a similar size now.
Nope – college baseball hasn’t captured my attention in the past couple of years (family issues have meant some things get set aside)… I do know they have been changing the bat standards recently, but I hadn’t bothered to keep up with it. Hope that works better… I actually wouldn’t mind using a synthetic bat at the pro levels for the sake of the safety issues of shattered wood bat…. but of course we know that will be a difficult sell.
"Forget Roy Halladay or Clayton Kershaw or Cliff Lee, the NL Cy Young Award should go to O’Ventrel." - David Schoenfield, ESPN.com, 8/19/11
The difference in the bats this year was huge. All the guys I talked to, hitters and pitchers both, couldn’t stop going on about the huge difference. There weren’t a lot of cheap hits happening this year, and you could really see the vast difference in abilities between the more talented and less talented teams.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it:
http://www.amazon.com/Four-C-B-Wilkins/dp/1449578454/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257720610&sr=1-1
www.dropoutproductions.com
My stance would be that anyone who thought AA and D1 were the same 20 years ago was wrong then too. There have always been special players who could do special things, so there have been some college guys who could go straight out of school to AA, there have been guys go straight out of school to the Majors, but to make the leap that just because a small handful of guys can do that to thinking that D1 is equal to AA is a jump in logic that’s just uncalled for. It’s like looking at Albert Pujols over the last few years and expecting every other first baseman to produce like he does.
The other point I would bring up is that even on the best D1 teams, you’re only going to have 5 or so, maybe as many as 8 or 10, guys who will actually end up playing professional baseball. Just playing pro ball, not necessarily even getting up to AA. But, in AA, every guy is playing professional baseball, they’ve all made it to AA, some to AAA, and some to the Majors. From just a logical standpoint, if 100% of the guys in AA are good enough to play AA, and at a very generous estimate, only 40% of the guys on a good D1 team are good enough to get a shot to play AA, doesn’t that inherently mean the level of play at AA is much, much better?
And for anyone who still might think D1 and AA are equal, go to some games, it’s obvious.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it:
http://www.amazon.com/Four-C-B-Wilkins/dp/1449578454/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257720610&sr=1-1
www.dropoutproductions.com
How do you think Drury compares to former farmhand Jon Gilmore?
Daffy Duck goes to bed at 10:00 every night, except on New Year's Eve, he goes to bed at 8:30.
by bwellnjonesco on Aug 23, 2011 8:06 AM EDT up reply actions
I actually think they’re a good comparison. Gilmore didn’t play much HS ball in Iowa either, he actually only played 6 games his senior year before signing with the Braves because their season doesn’t start until June. Gilmore was a bit more physically impressive, at the same age Drury’s body has a little more baby fat, but you can look at both and see them adding 30 pounds of muscle. Gilmore is a great example of why we’ll need to be patient with Drury. It took him a few years, but Gilmore finally had a very nice season in High A last year as a 21 year old. It looks like he got hurt this year, but he was hitting even better before that. Still hasn’t developed power, but if I were the White Sox I’d still have expectations for him to do well. Of course, even though Gilly played really well at Danville as a 19 year old, he wasn’t close to as good as Drury’s been this year as an 18 year old.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it:
http://www.amazon.com/Four-C-B-Wilkins/dp/1449578454/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257720610&sr=1-1
www.dropoutproductions.com
he should be as a 24 year old in Rome
by apoxonbothyourhouses on Aug 23, 2011 11:20 AM EDT up reply actions
We went from having a couple talented infield prospects...
…to having many. Things are looking up. Hopefully they all keep raking next season at a higher level. The race to replace Chipper is on. if Jones plays two more seasons, we should have either Salcedo or Kubitza ready by then. Heck, even Drury could be the guy by then. It’s not like we haven’t started the season with talented 21 year olds before.
Unless thing change suddenly Salcedo is going to need more than 2 years
Kubitza’s reasonable ceiling is basically an MLB starter and he’s still a college guy in rookie league ball with a line being boosted by a .416 BABIP, so let’s wait until next year before we start thinking he’s anywhere close to big league ready
If Moylan
Doesn’t come back until Sept expansion, is he eligible for the postseason due to his DL status prior to Sept?
"I wasn’t thinking about it. That’s the worst celebration of all time. I didn’t know what to do. I got lost in the moment." - Brian McCann
by HansonManCrush on Aug 23, 2011 7:28 AM EDT via mobile reply actions
Not sure if this has been posted at all. But I was curious on how the guys that we recently traded have been doing so far and figured I would go ahead and post a comment on their results. SSS haters beware.
Acquired Michael Bourn
Paul Clemens(AA)-4GS-25.2IP-19H-22K-11BB-1.05ERA
Brett Oberholtzer(AA)-3GS-13IP-15H-13K-6BB-6.23ERA
Jordan Schafer(AAA)-20AB-10H-(2)2B-5K-2BB-0HR-.500/.545/.600
Juan Abreu(AAA)-7G-9.2IP-8H-9K-7BB(3IBB)-1.86ERA
Acquired Billy Bullock
Scott Diamond(AAA)-23GS-123IP-158H-90K-36BB-5.56ERA
Acquired Scott Linebrink
Kyle Cofield(AA)-15G-28IP-26H-23K-13BB-2.89ERA
Daffy Duck goes to bed at 10:00 every night, except on New Year's Eve, he goes to bed at 8:30.
I got a chance to hang out with Diamond a few weeks ago and he’s really happy with the Twins. He loved the Braves and didn’t want to leave, but he’s thankful for how they prepared him to be a professional and glad that he got to go somewhere that would offer him a chance to make it. He knows he never would have pitched in the Majors for the Braves. Scott is a great guy and I hope he has a lot of success. Actually, all those guys on the list are great guys and I hope they have success.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it:
http://www.amazon.com/Four-C-B-Wilkins/dp/1449578454/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257720610&sr=1-1
www.dropoutproductions.com
I realize he's 27, so he's not really a prospect
but everytime I see Gwinnett play on TV, Stefan Gartrell always hits the ball hard. I know he’s not on the 40 man as of now, but I wonder if he’ll get a call-up in September
DFA Heyward. I'm dead serious
by wpf3211 on Aug 6, 2011 9:11 PM EDT
I really like Stefan, he’s a fantastic human being and he’s a fun player to watch. I definitely hope he gets a shot in the Majors with someone. He does have flaws, he takes huge, wild hacks and he’s kind of a butcher in the field, but the power is real, playing half of his games in Gwinnett’s expansive stadium proves that, so you’d have to think there’s at least a big league pinch hitting spot out there for him.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it:
http://www.amazon.com/Four-C-B-Wilkins/dp/1449578454/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257720610&sr=1-1
www.dropoutproductions.com
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