7/26/2015 MINORS SUNDAY FINAL: Sims, Perez brilliant, Toussaint not so much

Are we finally seeing Bryan De La Rosa showing his potential. At or below .200 most of the year at Rome, in the last four games he has had a homer, four doubles and five runs scored. Heard little about his catching skills, so I don't know if he is still considered a backstop or merely a hitter with potential.

MOVES GALORE:
The farm system is getting a shakeup
Newly acquired John Gant has been assigned to Mississippi
Andrew Robinson (4-1, 2.91, 2 saves and a team-high 34 apperances) has inexplicably been released. In two partial seasons for the M-Braves, he was 9-1 with three saves and a sub-3.00 ERA.
Kyle Kinman has been promoted to Miss., which is where he's needed to be all along
SS Emerson Landoni has gone on the DL
Just-acquired Rob Whalen assigned to Carolina
Newly signed FA Clayton Cook assigned to Carolina. RHP, 24 years old, signed with Cleveland at age 17.
Wes Parsons returns to the DL at Carolina (dammit)
FA signing Steve Borkowski assigned to Danville. One of the top RHP in NAIA, out of St. Catherine's College.




SUNDAY SCHEDULE

ALL TIMES EDT

CLASS AAA

Gwinnett 5, Charlotte 3

WP: W. Perez (3-1) 5.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K.
Brigham 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 K.
Moylan (Save, 2) 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K.
Kazmar 2-4, R, RBI, SB; Cunningham 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI, BB; M. Smith 1-4, SB; Kleinknecht 2-4, HR (4th), RBI; Hunter 2-3, 2 R, SB, BB.

CLASS AA

Mobile 3, Mississippi 0

LP: Sims (0-1) 5.2 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 5 BB, 8 K.
Cervenka 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K.
Godfrey 3-4, 2B; Hyams 1-4, 3B.

ADVANCED CLASS A

Myrtle Beach 3, Carolina 1

LP: Whalen (0-1) 5.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 1 K. (Braves debut)
Lien 1-4, 3B; D. Peterson 2-3, R, BB; Schrader 0-4, 3 K.

CLASS A

Asheville 16, Rome 4

Toussaint allowed two homers in first before retiring a batter; Asheville scored in every (8) inning.
LP: Toussaint (2-2) 3.1 IP, 10 H, 9 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 4 HR.
De La Rosa 2-5, 2 2B, 2 R; Tellor 1-4, 2 RBI; Murphy 2-3, 2B, R, RBI; Albies 0-5; Davidson 1-1, 2B (PH).

SHORT-SEASON

Danville 8, Bluefield 6

SP: Belicek 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K.
WP: Dill (1-1) 2 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 K.
Johnson-Mullins (Save, 3) 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.
Morel 2-5, 2B, R, 2 RBI; Dykstra 2-5, RBI; Manwaring 2-4, 2B, 2 R; Campbell 2-5, 2B, RBI; Castro 2-4, 2B, 2 R, RBI (.350).

GCL, DSL idle.

Baby Harang gonne be huge today

Toussaint will be digging out from under that start for a while. He must have had nothing out there

@MBravesRadio: Lucas Sims dominant in his @MBraves home debut: 5.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 8 K, 5 BB. Walks still high, but untouchable when in the zone. #Braves

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Originally Posted by nsacpi

Baby Harang gonne be huge today

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Perez was very good today. Sims has been very good too despite the walks, he had 8K's but isn't getting the close calls at all today. Plus some strikes at key times have been called balls. He has given up 1 hit through 5.2 innings but that one hit was an RBI single after the umpire missed a strike three call (and the play before Sims got a DP ball but Mississippi only got the force as second baseman had an issue getting it out of his glove with runner coming hard). That led to the only run he allowed but the walks to start the inning didn't help, but again ump didn't either. Further, Sims hit 96 mph quite a bit according to the announcers. Plus they said it was a slow gun off 2-3 mph meaning 96 mph was at least 98 mph and his 94 mph on the gun was 96-97 mph.

That said, Toussaint obviously had a terrible day and Whalen at last check was struggling in the 5th inning for Carolina despite some good defense helping him out. I watched him some today switching back and forth from the Mississippi game. I wasn't impressed with Whalen and hope he was just rusty. He didn't come close to striking out anyone when I was watching. I don't think he had a single strikeout.

PS: I see Sims was just charged with a second run after Trepagnier came in to give up a walk and hit with two outs in the 6th.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rico43

Andrew Robinson (4-1, 2.91, 2 saves and a team-high 34 apperances) has inexplicably been released. In two partial seasons for the M-Braves, he was 9-1 with three saves and a sub-3.00 ERA.

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Why release a Georgia native doing well for the last two years? I know he was nothing special and 27 but there are better ways to make room for other players.

If Sims can get just a little more consistent control and cut down on the walks, he could become one of the best pitching prospects in the game real fast. If only he hadn't gotten hurt he might be there. I could see him breaking out next season big time.

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Originally Posted by striker42

If Sims can get just a little more consistent control and cut down on the walks, he could become one of the best pitching prospects in the game real fast. If only he hadn't gotten hurt he might be there. I could see him breaking out next season big time.

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I agree, the kid has great stuff and some great potential and is still young enough to get there. I am still very high on him personally. The accident did set him and a lot of players hurt in it back IMO. Further, I am afraid we'll trade him off soon (and selling low) just before he breaks out and regret it big time. If that happens I'll be pissed.

Perez was probably thought of as having no value at one time I bet.

He and Sims were dealing today

I hope Ron Gant's cousin (yes I know this Gant is white lol) impresses me more than Whalen did today. I think he pitches for Mississippi in a few days.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Braves1976

I agree, the kid has great stuff and some great potential and is still young enough to get there. I am still very high on him personally. The accident did set him and a lot of players hurt in it back IMO. Further, I am afraid we'll trade him off soon (and selling low) just before he breaks out and regret it big time. If that happens I'll be pissed.

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The Braves have been very aggressive with Sims. They've not let him sit at any level and dominate the competition. Instead they've kept challenging him. They continued that this season by moving him up to AA.

So even though the leadership has changed, I think they're still high on Sims. If they wanted to create a trade commodity they would leave him at a level and let him pad his stats. He's still young enough that dominating at high A would be impressive.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tapate50

Perez was probably thought of as having no value at one time I bet.

He and Sims were dealing today

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Baby Harang is a huge part of the Braves future. We need to extent him.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Braves1976

I hope Ron Gant's cousin (yes I know this Gant is white lol) impresses me more than Whalen did today. I think he pitches for Mississippi in a few days.

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I've been the biggest voice against the guys we got in the trade but they're Braves now. I hope they prove me wrong and break out big!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by striker42

I've been the biggest voice against the guys we got in the trade but they're Braves now. I hope they prove me wrong and break out big!

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Me too, but I cannot say this scouting report on Gant from Jeffrey Paternostro, Amazin' Avenue impressed me:

"Gant is the better pitching prospect of the two. He is currently spending his second stint of the 2015 season with the Binghamton Mets. The Mets aggressively skipped the 22-year-old over St. Lucie after a strong 2014 campaign in Savannah. Gant struggled in his first exposure to Double-A baseball, and was sent down to St. Luice at the end of May where he dominated the level to the tune of a 1.79 ERA and a 48:10 K:BB ratio in 40.1 innings. He was promoted back to Binghamton earlier this month and has fared better this time around, although he is still more hittable than you would like.

I have seen Gant live a couple times and he showed some year-over-year improvements when I saw him this April for Binghamton. The fastball, which previously lived in the high-80s, was 90-91, and there were reports of even more velocity after his demotion to St. Lucie. That is still only a fringe-average to average major league fastball for a right-hander, and Gant's command isn't anything special, but when he is going well he is able to use the fastball to get ahead of hitters and set up his split-change, which is his best secondary offering. It projects as a solid-average major league pitch for me. He is throwing his breaking ball(s) more this year. He's tightened up his mid-70s curve some this year and he can spot it for strike one or bury it when he's ahead in the count, but I don't see it as a true swing-and-miss offering yet. It looked like he threw a slider or two in my April look as well.

You can squint and see a fifth starter profile here, but Gant struggles when he has to challenge guys with his fastball behind in counts, which is a pretty big red flag for me. Still, I have always liked the arm and do think he will pitch in the majors at some point. He was in consideration for the back end of my midseason top 20 prospect list, and if I went to 25 names he probably makes it. He was also a prep pick out of Georgia, so I have little doubt that the Braves scouted him heavily as an amateur, and maybe even specifically targeted him in this deal, given their predilection for acquiring talent from their home state."

Connor Lien with another outfield assist today. That brings his total to 15 outfield assists on the year.

Sean Godfrey (AA) 3-4 with a 2b

I've seen him a couple of times in pearl and the ball seems to come off his bat hard. Is he thought of as a prospect?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tapate50

Perez was probably thought of as having no value at one time I bet.

He and Sims were dealing today

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I certainly had dismissed Perez as a prospect. He has forever impressed me when he pitched in that extra innings game between his starts and didnt miss a beat that game or his next start.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by striker42

Toussaint will be digging out from under that start for a while. He must have had nothing out there

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Part of the reason I always caution against putting much stock in numbers when players are in Rome - several launching pads and hitter-friendly parks in the SALLY League (the PCL of the east).

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Originally Posted by clvclv

Part of the reason I always caution against putting much stock in numbers when players are in Rome - several launching pads and hitter-friendly parks in the SALLY League (the PCL of the east).

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Just not for Braves hitters

So Perez is healthy but the revolving door of the 4-5 spots is closed to him now? I thought he was the best of those 3 guys. (Perez, Wisler, Banuelos)