Harrilchak, La Stella, Lucas, And Mejia Power Their Way To The Top Of The Final Atlanta Braves Minor League Hot Sheet
by cbwilk on Sep 7, 2011 2:07 AM EDT
in Braves Minor League Hot Sheet
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Cory Harrilchak finished his year by excelling near his hometown, teammates Ed Lucas and Ernesto Mejia dominated as well, and Tommy La Stella finished off his fine debut season.
Who's Hot?
Cory Harrilchak RF, Mississippi Braves -7-18, 4 2B, 3B, HR, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 2 HBP - Harrilchak finished his season with an away series against the Carolina Mudcats, playing just minutes from his hometown of Cary, NC. The 22 year old didn't disappoint his friends and family, putting up a slash line of .389/.522/.889/1.411 en route to his best week of the season. After a weak first half, he turned his season around, finishing with respectable numbers, a .266 average, a .737 OPS, 26 doubles, 5 triples, 7 homers, 56 RBI, and 10 stolen bases.
Tommy La Stella 2B, Rome Braves -9-21, 3 2B, 3B, HR, 7 RBI, 4 BB - La Stella had another monster week, putting up a .429/.520/.810/1.330 slash line. From August 1st until the end of the season he had a .386/.443/.646/1.089 slash line, helping him to have the best season of any Braves 2011 draftee, finishing with a .328 average, a .944 OPS, 13 doubles, 5 triples, 9 homers, and 40 RBI in 63 games played.
Ed Lucas SS, Mississippi Braves - 10-23, 2B, 4 HR, 11 RBI, 2 BB - After hitting just .218 with a .606 OPS in the first half for Gwinnett, Lucas was demoted to Mississippi, and he ended up playing well there, hitting .270 with a .785 OPS. Those numbers were greatly aided by the last week of the season, when he slugged .815 and put up a gaudy 1.194 OPS, rapping out 4 homers, including 2 in last Friday's game.
Ernesto Mejia 1B, Mississippi Braves - 9-27, 2 2B, 4 HR, 10 RBI, 11 K - Mejia's monster season included setting new Mississippi single season records for hits (148), homers (26), and RBI (99), so it's no surprise that he finished with a great week, slugging .852 with a 1.185 OPS in his last 6 contests. The only downside of the week was that he struck out in 41% of his at bats for the week, which was much worst than the 31% rate he struck out at all year.
Honorable Mention: Gwinnett: Mauro Gomez, Wil Nieves, JJ Hoover, Wilkin Ramirez, Matt Young, Ben Swaggerty; Mississippi: Jose Lugo, Yeliar Castro, Zeke Spruill, Matt Kennelly, Chris Masters, Jordan Kreke, Sean Henry; Lynchburg: Ryan Buchter, David Hale, Mark Lamm, Shawn McGill, Andrelton Simmons, Joey Terdoslavich; Rome: Gus Schlosser, Tyler Stovall, Sean Gilmartin, Aaron Northcraft, Ryan Delgado, Matt Lipka, David Rohm
Who's Not?
Joe Leonard 3B, Lynchburg Hillcats - 1-26, RBI, 3 BB, SB, 7 K - Leonard had a tough year, hitting just .247 with a .689 OPS, and it ended with his worst week of the season, as he hit .038 with a .176 OPS in the year's final contests. When the Braves drafted him last year, they thought they were getting a power prospect, but he only had 36 extra base hits all year, slugging only .378.
Brett Butts RHP, Mississippi Braves -2 G, 0-1, 1.1 IP, 5 ER, 3 H, 3 BB, 0 K - Butts is less than 14 months removed from Tommy John surgery, and he'd be the first to tell you he's not back to 100% yet, so it's no surprise that he's struggled in the few games he pitched this year. In his final appearance of the season he allowed 5 earned runs while only recording 1 out, and in his final 4 appearances he allowed 14 earned runs in only 3 innings, good for a 42.00 ERA and a 5.00 WHIP. He'll be back to full strength at the beginning of next season, and games like this will be a distant, awful memory.
Chris Garcia 1B, Rome Braves -3-26, 3 RBI, BB, 5 K - Garcia had a great year as Rome's cleanup hitter, with a .305 average, a .917 OPS, 24 doubles, 16 homers, and 67 RBI in 348 at bats, but the last week of his season was abysmal, as he hit just .115 with a .263 OPS.
Ronan Pacheco LHP, Rome Braves - 2 G, 0-2, 9.1 IP, 11 R, 10 ER, 16 H, 5 BB, 6 K - Pacheco lost both of his starts this week, putting up a 9.64 ERA and a 2.25 WHIP. The huge 23 year old lefty had a rough season overall, with a 5-9 record, a 5.00 ERA, and a 1.48 WHIP in 95.1 innings.
Dishonorable Mention: Gwinnett: Brandon Hicks, Jairo Asencio, Dustin Richardson; Mississippi: Luis Avilan, Myke Jones; Lynchburg Hillcats: Barrett Kleinknecht, Todd Cunningham, LV Ware; Rome Braves: Edward Salcedo, Robby Hefflinger
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It was a very exciting year for the Braves minor league system with literally dozens of promising young prospects on their way up. In particular, the organization finally seems to have some real depth of rising talent in the power bat and infield position departments to match with the absurd over-abundance of quality arms, and that even with all of the top five guys (including Beachy) being ready or almost ready to produce in Atlanta, the organizational pitching depth – as a whole – may still be more impressive than ever.
The future looks extremely bright.
AND: Thanks again! for all the awesome work.
Programming Question
1st, Agree with several posters over the last few days in wanting to thank the talkingchop staff for their efforts in Braves’ prospect/MiL affiliates coverage. Thank you.
2nd, Any thoughts on what you guys want to do with the prospect coverage between now and the AFL? Any thoughts on a season long risers/fallers? Just wondering…
gondeee usually likes for us to chill out on the prospect stuff after the Minor League season ends, so we’re not taking away from the big team getting to the playoffs. It also gives us a good chance to get some distance and take a more objective look at the guys as we try to figure out our top 25 and rank the players at each position. There will be a ton of stuff coming around in November and December, including the Weekly Winter Ball Wrapup.
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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Joey T has moved up the list. He had a helluva season. I am also excited about Simmons. I believe he has moved into the top 10. Nice season.
God has to bruise you before he use you. So you'll be sensitive to his touch.
I really liked Simmons
and thought that the D and speed where there. Building on the success with the bat from last year, he put together a great season. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s top-8 next year and second position player behind Salcedo.
by apoxonbothyourhouses on Sep 7, 2011 3:22 PM EDT up reply actions
I’d be very surprised by that last part. There are several guys who should probably be ahead of Simmons. Bethancourt is a catcher, which is a premium position, and he’ll play most of next year at High A as a 20 year old. Tyler Pastornicky is the same age as Simmons and he’s already proven he can hit at AA and AAA, you could make a lot of arguments about how much better a fielder Simmons is, but the fact that we already know Pastornicky can hit better competition is a huge plus. Brandon Drury is only going to be 19 next year, and he won his league’s MVP award, so he’s got to be ahead of Simmons. Even though he’s older, you could make an argument for Myke Jones, and even though he played poorly this year, you could make an argument for Matt Lipka based on his potential. Even Terdoslavich has an argument based off his huge power potential.
I’m not sure where Simmons will end up on my personal list or the larger TC list, but I don’t think he’s the team’s second best positional prospect.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it:
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And until next year
Delgado and Teheran are still technically “prospects”.
http://sportsandgrits.com/
I was surprised Simmons didn’t get promoted towards end of the season after the year he had and disappointed he didn’t make AZL roster. I’m excited about the power potential of Terdoslavich and Drury. They’ve had outstanding years and it will be exciting to watch them progress through the system. Lipka was 18 when Romes season started so he’s still very young, Salcedo hit .198 in Rome last year as a 19 yr old in his first low A ball appearance, Lipka hit .247 this year and played great SS and leads Braves minor league in SB’s.(28) Was happy for Bethancourt(20) to hold his own in high A later in the season after repeating Rome, and really improve behind the dish. LaStella should make everyones top prospect list due to his unbelievable first pro season. He’s an advanced college bat and knows how to play 2B. He turns 23 when season begins next year so he might skip L’burg altogether.
Same here
I expected Simmons to get a month, or at least a week or two, in AA.
http://sportsandgrits.com/
You have to place him slightly higher than in most circumstances because he has 2 plus pitches (fastball/slider if I recall the scouting report when he was drafted) to fall back on if his hitting dries up in AA and beyond?
by TBuzz on Sep 7, 2011 6:29 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Was that meant to be a question? No, I don’t give Simmons anything extra for having pitching to fall back on, cause it has nothing to do with his current prospects. I wouldn’t rate a pitcher higher just cause he could hit at the plate.
I wrote a novel, it's about baseball, you should buy it:
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www.dropoutproductions.com
Drury ahead of Simmons ...
I don’t think so – Simmons, by all accounts, was the best defensive shortstop in the draft of 2010 – and he has enhanced his status with his bat this year. Drury, let’s not forget, hit .198 in the GCL last year and yes, had a great year this year but has not yet played full season level minor league ball – I think we need to hold off annointing him a top prospect until he gets a full season level under his belt – plus defensively, he does not stand out anywhere.
Terdo should get some props – offensively, he has pop but again, defensively not sure where he ends up. Lipka – did not have a “poor” year – the kid played in the SALLY beginning the year at age 18 – here is a FACT – the average batting average in 2010 for the SAL was .256 – so he was only nine points off of that. By all accounts, his defense was superb and his late season surge has me excited – his power does not worry me as his game is about speed and line drives – he is a prototypical leadoff hitter.
Bethancourt, by far, is the best positional prospect we have. He excelled in Rome this year and did very good in Lynchburg. He has a howitzer for an arm and his defensive skills are getting better but his bat has awesome potential. He is a stud !!. My top fiive ranking of positional prospects : 1. Bethancourt 2. Pastornicky 3. Lipka 4. Salcedo 5. Simmons
by bravesfaninchitown on Sep 7, 2011 9:07 PM EDT up reply actions
Drury hit .198 in the GCL least year…as a 17 year old. This year he led the Appy League in hitting and was the MVP…as an 18 year old. Looking at prospects is all about projection, Simmons is 3 years older than Drury. When you think about how great Drury was this year you can only imagine how much better he’ll be in 3 years.
Who cares about Matt Lipka’s batting average? You say he’s a prototypical leadoff hitter, and I agree, but he had a .305 OBP. That’s horrendous for a leadoff hitter. He had a poor year, there’s nothing wrong with that. He’ll go back to Rome next year as a 20 year old (yeah, his birthday is April 15, so he played a week of this season at 18 so that’s hardly worth bringing up) and he’ll probably be great.
I certainly agree that Bethancourt is the best positional prospect.
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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Simmons is a more complete player(the most tools) and has a proven history of performance so he will be high on my list. I don’t understand why the Braves put the younger players in low A ball. They always seem to have to repeat, wouldn’t they be better served on a more appropriate age level getting their confidence up? It seems counter productive to their development, Elmer Reyes was a victim of it this season and he’s a damn good player.
Elmer Reyes was 20 this year. That’s the age you’d like a guy to be in Low A ball. He couldn’t have been more age appropriate for that level. The guys you really consider prospects are 19/20 in Low A, 20/21 in High A, 21/22 in AA, and 22/23 in AAA. The Braves do a fantastic job developing talent because they push guys and keep them on that age appropriate track.
So what if a guy has to repeat a level? As long as he stay on that track he’s still fine. Look at Bethancourt, 18 last year in Low, had to come back this year at 19, ended up spending half the year in High A, will go back to High A next year as a 20 year old, right on track. Salcedo, 18 last year in Low A, 19 this year in Low A, will be 20 next year in High A, right on track. Lipka, 19 this year in Low A, will be 20 next year repeating the level, then hopefully in High A in 2013 at 21, right on track.
So who are all the guys getting messed up by having to repeat levels?
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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