BRAVES NEWS
Braves trade Mallex Smith and Shae Simmons to Seattle Mariners
The Braves made an interesting move on Wednesday afternoon, trading outfielder Mallex Smith to the Mariners for two left-handed pitching prospects, Luiz Gohara and Thomas Burrows. The Braves also included reliever Shae Simmons in the deal, thinning out their stable of potential bullpen arms in 2017. Talking Chop’s Eric Cole has a breakdown of the deal:
The prize of the deal for the Braves is Gohara although Burrows is no slouch either. Luiz struck out 81 batters in 69.2 innings and features a low to mid 90s fastball with reports that he can go even higher that that , a slider that is improving but he has had trouble locating early on in his career, and a changeup that could be above average to plus. He also lost a bunch of weight this past season and many saw 2016 as a breakout campaign for him. He was #5 on the Mariners prospect list according to MLB Pipeline. Others have had him even higher than that.
Luiz Gohara and Thomas Burrows Scouting Reports
The two left-handers acquired by Atlanta on Wednesday each have an opportunity to be significant major league contributors in the future. Gohara currently projects as a starter with impressive size and stuff, while Burrows is a pure relief prospect with high strikeout totals to this point in his professional career. It is tough to say goodbye to Mallex Smith, who quickly became a fan-favorite with the Braves, but the players coming back are very exciting in their own right. Matt Powers of Talking Chop wrote up scouting reports for each of the two lefties following the trade, but here is a sneak peek at the report on Gohara and the high ceiling possessed by the 20-year-old:
Gohara is still very raw and far away. Despite his success in Low A in 2016, that rawness along with the Braves other talented arms may keep him in Rome to start 2017- though starting the year in High A isn't out of the question either. He's the kind of prospect who will move one level a year to help him develop properly and at a comfortable pace, so his most realistic big league ETA is likely 2019. However he’s worth the wait as he's got the pure stuff to be a #2 starter if he can develop anywhere close to his full potential. Even if that doesn't happen, him becoming a late inning reliever is a possibility. While he's definitely not anywhere near as advanced as the arms the Braves had in Rome last year, he's got the same level of upside as any one of them other than maybe Touki Toussaint.
Jim Callis’ report on Gohara, Burrows
MLB NEWS
Biggest Statcast surprises of 2016
In its second year of existence, Statcast provided a number of interesting statistics in 2016 with regards to all the intricate details of each individual play over the course of a season. Naturally with all of that information at hand there are some statistics that really get your attention, and the Braves’ own Mauricio Cabrera was one of the players who became a Statcast sensation this past season with his blazing fastball. There are four other “surprising” statistical feats mentioned in the article, though Braves fans are not likely to be surprised by the inclusion of Cabrera for his volume of 100-plus MPH fastballs:
When it comes to velocity, Chapman is so far ahead of the rest of the league that MLB.com's Statcast™ leaderboard features a "Chapman Filter" to weed out his fastest pitches. With that function engaged, the man responsible for each of the 37 highest pitch velocities of the season was a Braves rookie right-hander who made 41 relief appearances and turned 23 in September.
Cabrera, signed out of the Dominican Republic by Atlanta in '10, topped out at 103.8 mph and reached the 103 mark eight other times. His 344 pitches of 100-plus mph trailed only Chapman (538) and dwarfed the total of the next closest pitcher, Noah Syndergaard (94). Yet for all that heat, Cabrera struck out a modest 7.5 batters per nine innings, ranking 150th among relievers with at least 35 innings.