MINORS FINAL 8/30: Final Danville stats, playoff preview

This has been a hugely promising June draft for the Braves. But there was Pat Dorrian's homesickness/whatever and the injuries to Chris Diaz, Tanner Krietemeier and Keith Curcio to provide major bummers.

But the Danville Braves are in the Appy League playoffs thanks in part to 2014 draftees.

GAMES: Jordan Edgerton (59).
AT-BATS: Edgerton (218).
RUNS: Edgerton (31).
HITS: Edgerton (60).
DOUBLES: Edgerton (13).
TRIPLES: Ozhaino Albies (3).
HOME RUNS: Tanner Murphy (5).
RBIs: Edgerton (43).
AVERAGE: Albies (non-qualifier) (.356).
Omar Obregon (qualifier) (.297)
STOLEN BASES: Albies (15).
SLUGGING: Albies (.452).
ON-BASE PCT.: Albies (.429).
GAMES PITCHED: Kyle Kinman (19).
WINS: Five with four (4).
SAVES: Kinman, Luis Miranda (4)
INNINGS: Andrew Waszak (73).
STRIKEOUTS: Alec Grosser (63).
ERA: Grosser (3.68)

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Princeton Rays (40-28, East Division champion) vs.
Danville Braves (38-30, East Division runner-up)

Princeton won the season series, 7-3

Game 1 at Danville, Aug. 31 at TBD
Game 2 at Princeton, Sept. 1 at TBD
Game 3 at Princeton (if necessary), Sept. 2 at TBD

The Rays haven't been to the playoffs in 16 years, so most of its players were just toddlers the last time there were postseason games in Princeton. Princeton won eight of nine games during an August stretch to storm into playoff position, then prevailed in a tight race with the Danville Braves and Pulaski Mariners.

Princeton's opponent Danville has a balanced squad that boasted both the highest batting average (.266) and allowed the fewest hits (7.8 per nine) in the circuit. On offense, the sparkplug is Ozhaino Albies, a 17-year-old shortstop from Curacao who hit .356 with as many walks (17) as strikeouts at the top of the Braves' lineup. He also led the team with 15 steals.

On the mound, Danville's ace is probably Alec Grosser, who tied for second in the league with 63 strikeouts. The 2013 11th-round pick is lined up to start either Game 1 or Game 2 of the series, and he's trying to bounce back from a three-start stretch in which he's allowed 10 earned runs in 14 innings.

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SATURDAY BOXES THREAD

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CLASS AAA

Gwinnett 3, Charlotte 2

SP: Texiera 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 4 K.
WP: Fisher (3-1) 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K.
Jaime (Save, 18) 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K.
Bethancourt 3-4, R. (.284)
Terdoslavich 1-3, 2B (18th).
E. Reyes 2-4, 2 R.
Salcedo 1-2, 2B.

CLASS AA

Mississippi @ Huntsville, ppd.

ADVANCED CLASS A

Myrtle Beach 5, Lynchburg 2

SP: Parsons 6 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K.
LP: A. Wilson (BS, 4-3) 0.1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 0 K, HR.
Godfrey 1-4, 2B.
Camargo 2-3.
Brown 1-3, R, RBI.
Bello 0-3. (.300)

CLASS A

Rome 4, Savannah 3

SP: Janas 6 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K.
WP: Tate (BS, 5-5) 2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K.
Meneses 2-4, R, SB.
Lien 1-4.
Livesay 2-4, RBI, SB.
C. Franco 1-3, R.
Schrader 1-3, R.

SHORT-SEASON

Regular season completed

MOVES: Gwinnett activates Severino, send Hoyt back to Mississippi to help pen. Miss puts barely there 1B Eric Castro onto DL. Injured Tanner Krietemeier sent back to Danville from Rome. Cole Brocker moved up from GCL for Danville bullpen. Cody Fassrold goes on DL.
ANOTHER indy guy signed, big (6-3, 230) hard-throwing Daniel Carela (f39 Ks in 28 IP) was with Windy City team in the Frontier League; orginally drafted by Mets.

Good for Danville. They had a bunch of guys (Godfrey, Dirks, Barker, Curcio, Kreitemeier, and Matt Sims among them) who were there to only get their feet wet before moving on so I think it says a lot that they put together a playoff team.