Minors thread 802: Hursh Continues Debut Streak; Two Gems Thrown In GCL

[rico43]

Streaking pitchers are in the spotlight Friday night.

Rome's Jeremy Hursh, yet to allow a run in his brief professional career (18 innings, eight hits), is still seeking his first professional win, but has a decent chance since was allowed to work five innings tonight against visiting Lexington and exited with a 2-0 lead.

Dominican lefty Michael Flores, earlier named Appalachian League Pitcher of the Week and coming off six shutout innings in his last start. Got the ball against Pulaski Friday, but was KO'd as part of Pulaski's seven-run fourth inning.

A special tip of the hat goes to the Gulf Coast League staff Friday. In a doubleheader against one of the two GCL Yankees clubs, the GCL Braves had a combination one-hitter followed by a tandem two-hitter while splitting the two games. Game one saw Venezuelan right-hander Daniel Cordero work six superb innings, allowing only one hit while striking out five before handing off to Gulf Coast closer Tyler Vail. The first-year pro worked a hitless seventh for his third save.

In game two, struggling knuckleballer Blaine Sims allowed only two hits over four innings, but walked three and allowed three runs in a 3-1 defeat. Another 2013 draftee, Alex Grosser, worked two shutout innings in the game, and has now allowed only one earned run over his last 10 innings.
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Jose Lugo, who has missed all of the 2013 season with an injury, has been activated and assigned to Rome. He'll take the roster spot of Cole Nelson, who has been put on the DL.
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Remember former Gwinnett (and, briefly, Atlanta Braves first baseman Barbaro Canizares? Well, he's hardly gone out to pasture, as he's playing for Oaxaca in the Mexican League. Through 110 games, he's batting .374 with 29 home runs and 111 RBIs. The latter number is all the more remarkable because he has not driven in a run over the last five games -- his longest slump of the year,
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FRIDAY;S SCORES

CLASS AAA

Charlottte 4, Gwinnett (48-64) 0 (6th)

SP: Poveda 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 7 K.
Upton 0-3, 2 K; Gosselin 2-3; Boggs 1-2.

CLASS AA

Mississippi (58-50) 3, Huntsville 0 (3rd)

SP: Northcraft 2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K.
La Stella 1-1, HR (2nd), RBI; Marrero 1-1, HR (7th), 2 RBI; Salcedo 1-1, R.

ADVANCED CLASS A

Salem @ Lynchburg (51-54), 7:05

SP: Holland 3 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K.
Kubitza 1-1, HR (10th), RBI; Elander 1-2, 2B, RBI; Rohm 1-2, R.

CLASS A

Rome (53-56) 2, Lexington 0 (6th)

SP: Hursh 5 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.
Wren 3-3, R, 2B, RBI, 3 SB (21) (.320); E. Garcia 2-3, RBI; Meneses 2-2, R.

SHORT-SEASON

DSL Cardinals @ DSL Braves

SP: TBA.

Pulaski 9, Danville (19-19) 0 (6th)

SP: Flores 3.1 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 3 K.
Kimbrel 1.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. (10.53)

Game One
GCL Braves 2, GCL Yankees 0 (7)

WP: Cordero (1-2) 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K. Vail (Save, 3) 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 Llllllllls?
Sears 1-3, RBI; Reed Harper 1-3, 2B, R; V. Reyes 0-3, R, SB.

Game Two
GCL Yankees 3, GCL Braves 1 (7)

LP: B . Sims (0-1) 4 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 3 K.
Grosser 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 K.
Livesay 2-3, SB; Reed Harper 2-3; McKenzie 1-3, RBI.

[thethe]

Wren with a double and 2 SB today. Pitcher they are going against has had a great year as well, Binford.

Hursh with 4 scoreless.

[thethe]

LaStella with a homer in the first tongiht.

[skidlee]

gondee on twitter wants LaStella to be a september call up

[thethe]

gondee on twitter wants LaStella to be a september call up

I wouldn't. Let him finish the in the minor leagues and then bring him up.

[skidlee]

Could go into thinking he might be ready for next year to take over 2nd

I don't think the braves will give 2B to Pena or Pastor if Uggla is traded

[thethe]

Could go into thinking he might be ready for next year to take over 2nd

I don't think the braves will give 2B to Pena or Pastor if Uggla is traded

I don't think hitting in September in the majors means as much as some might. Braves either know if they would trust LaStella now or if they don't. Just my opinion.

[thethe]

LaStella is 2 for 2 with a homer a double and a walk.

At least get this guy to AAA soon.

[Heyward]

Any chance Hurst could be called up for the bullpen in September.

Regards to LaStella, when is he projected to be ready. I don't get on Uggla as most do but I wish we could trade him, need more contact hitters in the lineup. Hopefully he has a good 2nd half.

[thethe]

Hursh is in Rome which is the Braves single A affiliate. So no, he will not be available this year.

[nsacpi]

Bethancourt turning into a walking machine

[skillet]

I think it is possible that we can trade Uggla this offseason since his remaining contract will be down to 2 years, $26M. He is on track to hit 31 homers which should be enough to attract some attention. And yes, La Stella is ready for the big leagues.

[nsacpi]

return of Jose Lugo

[zitothebrave]

La Stella 2-4 with a walk, double and homer. Kid is awesome.

[thethe]

Most important thing that happened with the Braves minor league system this year?

A - LaStella emerging as a legitimate long term second base option
B - Bethancourt showing he can hit a baseball with power
C - The pitching at Rome
D - More pitching on the way at AA and up (Martin/Northcraft/Hale/Gilmartin)

I vote B just because I could see Bethancourt having a Yadier Molina like career and I don't think it would hurt him all that much to give him a full year in AAA and then let him be Macs backup for 2-3 years.

[zitothebrave]

La Stella. He is almost certainly gonna be starting next year JMO. Either at 2B or 3B.

[thethe]

I was going to with LaStella but I just think there is so much upside with Bethancourt that he just needed the one breakout offensive year.

I know you don't think being the best defensive player at a position in the minors leagues mean anything but from what I have read he would already be one of the best defensive catchers in the major leagues. At this point it seems like a no-brainer to sign Mac. I would love to give him more money at a 3 year deal so CB can take over after. Then Mac can go to a AL team to finish his career as a DH.

[Heyward]

La Stella. He is almost certainly gonna be starting next year JMO. Either at 2B or 3B.

Barring an injury, he's not starting over Johnson.

I hope we can trade Uggla this winter and let La Stella be the everyday 2B.

[zitothebrave]

Barring an injury, he's not starting over Johnson.

I hope we can trade Uggla this winter and let La Stella be the everyday 2B.

If we don't trade Johnson this offseason we're dumb. I'm being 100% serious. Johnson is a classic sell high.

[thethe]

Lets keep this a minor league thread please!!!

[zitothebrave]

Lets keep this a minor league thread please!!!

We'd trade JOhnson for minor leaguers :icwudt:

[Heyward]

If we don't trade Johnson this offseason we're dumb. I'm being 100% serious. Johnson is a classic sell high.

I'll respond to this in the Johnson thread.

[Heyward]

Regards to Bethancourt.

If he can hold his own at the dish, hard to not have him up.

From all reports, his defense is Yadi-like.

I hope we can keep Mac but assuming not, a Gattis/Bethancourt isn't awful.

[Pugfan]

Can la Stella play 3rd? I wouldn't mind calling him up in September. Uggla can use a few days off.

[nsacpi]

Most important thing that happened with the Braves minor league system this year?

A - LaStella emerging as a legitimate long term second base option
B - Bethancourt showing he can hit a baseball with power
C - The pitching at Rome
D - More pitching on the way at AA and up (Martin/Northcraft/Hale/Gilmartin)

I vote B just because I could see Bethancourt having a Yadier Molina like career and I don't think it would hurt him all that much to give him a full year in AAA and then let him be Macs backup for 2-3 years.

A. The most important development involving the minors this year was the matriculation of three players (Teheran, Gattis, Wood) to the major league team who have shown All-Star potential.

B. The second most important is a negative one--the injury to JR Graham. We could lump in injuries to a couple younger pitching prospects-Nelson Leon and Luis Merejo-into this item.

C. Joey T hasn't had enough major league playing time to be lumped in with Teheran, Gattis, and Wood, but his performances in spring training, AAA and now the majors have really pushed up my estimation of his ceiling as a player. Joey T is the same age as La Stella but his OPS in AAA was 95 points higher than La Stella's in AA.

D. Peraza has upped his prospect status with a strong year in Low A at age 19. He was already a Top 10 prospect for us coming into the season. For me he is now #1.

E. Bethancourt showing more power and in the past month drawing some walks. The possibility remains that he could be something special.

F. Two third base prospects-Salcedo and Kubitza-have also improved their prospect status quite a bit. Salcedo by less but that reflects the fact he was already a high ranking prospect coming into this season. As for Kubitza, his chances of a major league career have probably gone up by more than any position player in our system.

G. Sims and Cabrera are a long way off from the majors, but both enhanced their already high prospect status.

H. Cody Martin and Wes Parsons are probably the pitchers who have improved their prospect status the most. They don't have quite the pedigree or prior track record of some of our other pitching prospects, but have been very impressive in 2013.

I. With every draft, I look for a couple players outside the first two or three rounds who make an immediate case that they are much better than the round they were taken in. This year Kyle Wren is the early standout. Because he is a little older, I think the big test for him will be in 2014 when he will start playing better competition. There are also some college pitchers taken in later rounds who show some early promise--Waszak, Dill, Gunther, Dettmann, Marksberry, Swanner, Sechler. If one or two of those pans out, it will be a good draft. As with Wren, we will find out a lot more about these guys next year. But the early returns are good.

J. I almost forgot Ian Thomas. Older ex-indy league guy. Hard not to be impressed by what he is doing in AA. There is another pitcher with a similar background in AA, James Hoyt, who should also be mentioned.

[thethe]

I was mostly referencing what was actually happening in the farm this year. I would say (A) on your list is the major development for the major league team.

With all that being said, I still think Bethancourt is the most important development on the farm. From the reports you read he has all the potential to be an average to above average bat with the absolute best defense in baseball sans Yadi.

[The Chosen One]

I wonder if we signed McCann to an extension, if we traded Freeman in a few years and put Bethancourt at C and moved Mac to 1st how would that fare.

Mac may not hit as many singles as Freeman, but he has as much if not more power.

[PawPawMaxwell]

If we don't trade Johnson this offseason we're dumb. I'm being 100% serious. Johnson is a classic sell high.
What if wrong with CJs career norms? Even if he regressed to norm he would still be very valuable to us as a bottom of lineup batter and is hardly Cabrera high.
Bigger question IMO is what to do with Kimbrel if in sell high mode. If he goes to arbitration asking for 10M what would Wren do.

[PawPawMaxwell]

I wonder if we signed McCann to an extension, if we traded Freeman in a few years and put Bethancourt at C and moved Mac to 1st how would that fare.

Mac may not hit as many singles as Freeman, but he has as much if not more power.
I can foresee Mac making Prince look fleet of foot in a couple years. Then too, Macs skills with the bat would be example of 1b. Question is will Atlanta ever be able to pay that kind of money for a less critical position player.

[nsacpi]

I wonder if we signed McCann to an extension, if we traded Freeman in a few years and put Bethancourt at C and moved Mac to 1st how would that fare.

Mac may not hit as many singles as Freeman, but he has as much if not more power.

A big part of Mac's value is what he brings as a catcher. He's like a security blanket for our pitchers and one of the best pitch framers in the game. You don't see them shaking him off nearly as much you do with Laird and Gattis. I think we have to keep him behind the plate as long as he can endure it physically.

[thethe]

Trading Freeman would be a BIG mistake. Just my opinion. Give him a 10 year deal yesterday!

[The Chosen One]

A big part of Mac's value is what he brings as a catcher. He's like a security blanket for our pitchers and one of the best pitch framers in the game. You don't see them shaking him off nearly as much you do with Laird and Gattis. I think we have to keep him behind the plate as long as he can endure it physically.

Indeed. So what better for Bethancourt than to learn from the best?

You could have Mac-Gattis alternating C and 1B, with Bethancourt as the 2nd catcher and Gattis as the 3rd. When Mac plays first you could have either Bethan or Gattis behind the dish.

I don't know how demanding it would be on Mac to play 1st AND C throughout the season.

[thethe]

LaStella is 1 for 1 with a double and a walk so far today.

Guy is angling for a promotion.

[thethe]

Sims with an odd day. 5 1/3 with 10 baserunners allowed but with 8 strikeouts and one run in.

Wren with another two hits; one being a triple.