It’s finally happening. By it, I mean Kevin Maitan’s impressive power is starting to make an appearance in games as the 17 year old Venezuelan super prospect hit his first career professional home run last night in Johnson City. Not only did Maitan homer, but he really hit a long shot which made a loud sound off the bat in the video.
Here it is. pic.twitter.com/qHxBjsgTK1
— robwnelson (@robwnelson) July 23, 2017
As if that homer wasn’t enough, Maitan had another couple of hits on the day going three for five on the evening. Video of the other hits is below and as you can see/hear, the ball just sounds different coming off his bat.
Kevin Maitan 1-1 with single tonight. @Braves #braves pic.twitter.com/aZBGOdVBgT
— robwnelson (@robwnelson) July 22, 2017
Maitan now has hits in every one of the six games he has played since his promotion to Danville, and his numbers after six games in the Appalachian League are actually better than the numbers Vladimir Guerrero Jr. posted at the same age and level last year through six games.
Vladdy Jr 4-21, 2 HR, 1 BB, 5 K, .190 AVG, .737 OPS
Maitan 8-26, 1 HR, 1 BB, 10 K, .308 AVG, .760 OPS
Kevin Maitan 3-3. This is 3rd single. @DOBrienAJC @Braves pic.twitter.com/d0cQCs2HwW
— robwnelson (@robwnelson) July 23, 2017
As if that’s not enough for you, Luiz Gohara, Lucas Sims, and Ricardo Sanchez all threw gems, Ozzie Albies homered, Brett Cumberland may have figured out High A pitching, and first round pick Kyle Wright was dominant in his short stint. Saturday was a great day to follow the Braves farm system.
Gwinnett Braves 2, Indianapolis Indians 1
- Ozzie Albies, 2B: 1-4, HR
- Ronald Acuna, LF: 0-3, BB, K, SB
- Lucas Sims, SP: 7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 9 K
Lucas Sims was excellent here, pitching seven scoreless innings while only allowing three hits and one walk against a Kevin Newman-led Indianapolis lineup. Not only did Sims have his stuff going to rack up six grounders against four fly outs and throw 71 of his 104 pitches for strikes, but he also struck out nine hitters in the process. David Peterson came in and pitched two innings to record the save, but he allowed three hits which in turn resulted in the run that broke up the shutout.
Offensively the story is Ozzie Albies, who homered for the second time in three days here. The homer was Ozzie’s ninth on the season in just 90 games, which is now two more than his career total entering this season. Albies could be starting to use his hit tool to produce some unexpected power, similar to the way Jose Altuve does it. Ronald Acuna didn’t get a hit in his three at bats, but he took a walk and managed to steal his first base since being promoted to Triple A.
Next Game: Sunday 7/23 vs Indianapolis @ 1:05 PM. Probable Starter-Matt Wisler
Mississippi Braves 8, Biloxi Shuckers 0
- Jared James, LF: 3-4. R, 3B, 2 RBI
- Travis Demeritte, PH: 1-1, HR, 2 RBI
- Luiz Gohara, SP: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 11 K
Lucas Sims wasn’t the only Braves prospect to throw a scoreless outing, as Luiz Gohara bested him in going six scoreless with no walks and 11 strikeouts. Gohara did allow five hits, but completely dominated the Biloxi lineup. This follows his previous outing where he gave up just one free pass while coming one out shy of six innings, showing that his command may be taking a big step forward this year. Corbin Clouse followed with two innings where he allowed just one base runner and Jacob Webb struck out the side in the ninth to preserve the shutout with 14 strikeouts and no walks between the three pitchers combined.
Jared James had the big game for Mississippi, going three of four with a triple and two runs batted in. Travis Demeritte came off the bench to pinch hit and hit a two run homer, snapping a 17 game streak without one for him. Tyler Neslony doubled, as did Dylan Moore, who also walked twice in the win. Austin Riley added a hit of his own as well.
Next Game: Sunday 7/23 vs Biloxi @ 6:00 PM. Probable Starter-Kolby Allard
Florida Fire Frogs 5, St. Lucie Mets 4 - 15 innings
- Brett Cumberland, C: 4-6, 2B, HBP, R, 2 RBI
- Ray-Patrick Didder, SS: 2-5, HBP, RBI, SB
- Ricardo Sanchez, SP: 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K
This was an odd game for sure. First off Tim Tebow did not play after the Fire Frogs heavily marketed him. Then Ricardo Sanchez hurled one of his best starts of the year, tossing five scoreless innings while striking out nine batters. Then the game went a total of 15 innings. Finally the sequence in which the Fire Frogs won was absolutely bizarre- down a run in the bottom of the 15th, there was a hit by pitch, single where both runners moved up on a throwing error, hit by pitch to the head which forced Carlos Castro out of the game, hit by pitch to tie the game, and finally a walk off sac fly by Anfernee Seymour. You didn’t read that one wrong as an error and three hit by pitches in a span of four batters, including one to tie the game, and a sac fly resulted in a walk off win.
Brett Cumberland went four of six with a hit by pitch, double, and pair of RBI in the winning effort. This continues his little hot streak where he is seven of his last 15 over his last four games. Ray-Patrick Didder had a pair of singles, stole a base, and took the hit by pitch that tied the game. Alay Lago finished a homer short of the cycle, and Alex Jackson added a double.
Next Game: Sunday 7/23 vs St. Lucie @ 5:05 PM. Probable Starter-Enderson Franco
Delmarva Shorebirds 8, Rome Braves 4
- Lucas Herbert, C: 1-4, 2B, 2 RBI
- Jordan Rodgers, 3B: 3-4, RBI
- Bryse Wilson, SP: 5.2 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 7 K
Bryse Wilson struggled a bit here, giving up a season high of five earned runs. This game was the first time since 6/16 where he has given up more than three earned runs in a start, and it’s only the second time in his last 10 starts where he’s done so.
At the plate both Jordan Rodgers and Marcus Mooney had three hit games, each scoring a run and Rodgers also picking up an RBI. Lucas Herbert added a two run double as well, and Randy Ventura, Cristian Pache, and Austin Bush had a single apiece in the losing effort.
Next Game: Sunday 7/23 vs Delmarva @ 2:00 PM. Probable Starter-Jeremy Walker
Johnson City Cardinals 9, Danville Braves 8
- Kevin Maitan, SS: 3-5, HR, 2 RBI
- Drew Lugbauer, C: 1-5, HR, 2 RBI
- Derian Cruz, 2B: 1-4, R, RBI, SB
Jaret Hellinger was not good here, giving up nine runs in just under four innings, but he’s been so good with Danville that his ERA only jumped to 4.13 after this clunker. The relief was actually strong, as Cutter Dyals, Landon Hughes, and Kelvin Rodriguez combined to strike out seven in four and a third scoreless innings. However the damage was already done and the offense couldn’t overcome the rough effort from Hellinger.
We’ve already touched on Kevin Maitan a bit, but this kid is special and hitting his first career homer is a great milestone for him. Drew Lugbauer hit a two run homer, which is already his eighth on the season, and he is looking like a potential promotion candidate the way he’s been slugging against the Appy League. Derian Cruz had a single, run scored, sac fly, and steal on the day while Garrison Schwartz added two hits.
Next Game: Sunday 7/23 visiting Johnson City @ 6:00 PM. Probable Starter-TBD
GCL Blue Jays 13, GCL Braves 6 - continuation from 7/21
- Ricardo Rodriguez, C: 3-4, 2B, 3 RBI
- Jeffrey Ramos, LF: 1-4, HR, 3 RBI
- Yunior Severino, DH: 2-4, 2B
This is the third and final game that the Talking Chop minor league team made it to for the GCL club, and after a few innings the game was suspended due to rain. Freddy Tarnok pitched the first and while we missed that inning, we were told that he pitched better than his stat line(1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K) would indicate as the defense didn’t do him any favors. Alger Hodgson followed him and got hit hard as well as Zach Becherer and Gilbert Suarez.
The offense was helped by a late three run homer by Jeffrey Ramos- a player who will be talked about more later this week. Ricardo Rodriguez struggled a bit defensively here, but did have three hits in four at bats, including a double. Yunior Severino went two for four with a walk and a double, as he continues to impress with his approach. Braulio Vasquez had a hit in his two at bats, but also walked three times.
GCL Braves 1, GCL Blue Jays 0 - 8 innings
- Kyle Wright, SP: 2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K
- Yefri Del Rosario, RP: 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
- Troy Conyers, RP: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K
This one only went eight innings but the Braves pitching dominated the Blue Jays, pitching a shutout as the three pitchers combined to allow just four hits without any walks, as they struck out nine. Kyle Wright made his second career start and as good as he looked in his first start, he was even better here. Wright didn’t walk anyone, and the only hit he allowed was an infield hit that was deflected by the third baseman to the shortstop. Wright had three strikeouts, each one of them came on the opposing batter swinging, and only had one ball leave the infield off of him. Yefri Del Rosario came in to replace Wright, as he continued to piggyback with Wright from Monday- but this time had better results as he gave up three hits and no runs or walks over his three innings. Troy Conyers finished this one off with three perfect innings.
There wasn’t much offense in this one as pinch runner Braulio Vasquez scored the only run of the game in the top of the eighth inning on a Jose Bermudez single. Abraham Gutierrez had a single, as did Livan Soto. Yunior Severino had a game to forget as he struck out in all three at bats.
Next Game: Monday 7/24 visiting GCL Tigers West @ 12:00 PM. Probable Starter-TBD