Minor League Thread

Soroka has always had a plan to execute, but putting him up against major league hitters before he regains the feels for the pitches he needs to execute that plan could do lasting damage to an arm that is all of the sudden (in the prolonged absences of Fried and Wright) very important for this team to have right when the playoffs roll around. I'd rather he take his lumps in AAA and get himself right without the pressure to perform.

Give Shuster and Dodd chances to prove ST wasn't a fluke. If nothing else it ups their potential trade value which can't be much right now.
 
OcalaBrave said:
Soroka has always had a plan to execute, but putting him up against major league hitters before he regains the feels for the pitches he needs to execute that plan could do lasting damage to an arm that is all of the sudden (in the prolonged absences of Fried and Wright) very important for this team to have right when the playoffs roll around. I'd rather he take his lumps in AAA and get himself right without the pressure to perform.

Give Shuster and Dodd chances to prove ST wasn't a fluke. If nothing else it ups their potential trade value which can't be much right now.
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I am not sure I get this take. Soroka throwing 80 to 100 pitches to Quad A hitters versus MLB hitters will hurt his arm? I can buy that he is not where he wants to be yet so he might get hit some... But I don't see how that will hurt him in anyway. He is not going to get rattled if he gets shelled.

Again, I am fine wth Shuster and/or Dodd pitching for the big club if the evaluators and coaches think they have a better shot at giving the team a chance to win versus slightly rusty Soroka. But I don't agree with him just throwing in AAA because they are worried about it setting Soroka back on his journey.
 
Smith-Shawver with a good start for Mississippi. 5 IP with 7 strikeouts and no runs allowed. He could be in Atlanta later this year.
 
CJ9 said:
Baseball America had AJ Smith-Shawver on a list of prospects that just missed their top 100. Some interesting notes on him in it:

There’s a lot to like about Smith-Shawver, whom the Braves chose with their seventh-round pick in 2021. After a dominant run in the High-A South Atlantic League, he was bumped to Double-A, where he’s now one of the youngest pitchers on the circuit and will pitch all season at 20 years old. He’s also got some filthy stuff. His four-seam fastball and slider each grade out extremely well on Stuff+ models, and his changeup is OK as well. Each of Smith-Shawver’s three pitches has garnered chase rates of better than 23%. The righthander’s fastball is particularly nasty. The pitch sits in the mid 90s and has touched 97 mph. More than pure velocity, the fastball has an outstanding 20 inches of induced vertical break. That figure should jump in the Southern League, which is using a ball that has shown early signs of amplifying pitchers’ IVBs.
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Braves just going to continue pulling these out of the hat?
 
Shawver looked pretty good. The dude is legit. Crazy how the Braves keep finding these guys. If he has a few more good starts in a row he will probably skip AAA
 
If he keeps up solid work at AA, it’s not as far off as I once thought about him possibly getting a shot this year.
 
Hudson2 said:
If he has 2 or 3 more really good starts in AA he could skip AAA and come right up.
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You guys may be joking around, but he’s that good - and why not…. It’s not like we have a lot of options ….might as well win another ROY just to piss the Mets fans off even more.
 
bravesfanMatt said:
I am not sure I get this take. Soroka throwing 80 to 100 pitches to Quad A hitters versus MLB hitters will hurt his arm? I can buy that he is not where he wants to be yet so he might get hit some... But I don't see how that will hurt him in anyway. He is not going to get rattled if he gets shelled.

Again, I am fine wth Shuster and/or Dodd pitching for the big club if the evaluators and coaches think they have a better shot at giving the team a chance to win versus slightly rusty Soroka. But I don't agree with him just throwing in AAA because they are worried about it setting Soroka back on his journey.
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Its not about the number of pitches on his arm, but the stress of those pitches. If he is in AAA with knowledge he is working on getting right, there is little stress. If he is in Atlanta trying to be effective without his best stuff, there will be stress.
 
Hudson2 said:
If he has 2 or 3 more really good starts in AA he could skip AAA and come right up.
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He started concentrating on pitching two years ago (he mostly played 3B prior to that and the Braves had to buy him out of a scholarship offer to play QB at Texas Tech) when he was still in high school, so he's pretty much raw stuff (and obviously good raw stuff) right now. I'm not saying it can't be done with Smith-Shawver, but he's a different case than Strider, who was a college-level pitcher when he came into the system.
 
OcalaBrave said:
Its not about the number of pitches on his arm, but the stress of those pitches. If he is in AAA with knowledge he is working on getting right, there is little stress. If he is in Atlanta trying to be effective without his best stuff, there will be stress.
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One can't tell from the two-dimensional stats, but his control has been good and in his last start, his GO/AO was where it should be for him. Maybe he's coming around. I agree that he needs to have everything right before being tossed into the rotation and having folks expect him to be what he was before he went down with the Achilles.
 
Hulavol said:
You guys may be joking around, but he’s that good - and why not…. It’s not like we have a lot of options ….might as well win another ROY just to piss the Mets fans off even more.
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I wasn’t joking around. Some people have it and he definitely looks the part. AA always says the player will dictate when he’s ready and he’s definitely showing them he’s on the way. We could see him in another month even if it’s like Strider did and come up and pitch out of the bullpen some.
 
The bullpen sure could use him…. I hope you are right - my thoughts have always been that these arms only have so many pitches in them, and we may as well get as many of the younger “pure heat” pitches out of them in MLB as we can…of course if they are actually mostly ready
 
Hulavol said:
The bullpen sure could use him…. I hope you are right - my thoughts have always been that these arms only have so many pitches in them, and we may as well get as many of the younger “pure heat” pitches out of them in MLB as we can…of course if they are actually mostly ready
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Eh...it's a double edge sword to call up young pitchers versus young hitters although they both could have the same outcome I guess. I've never liked the yo-yo method with pitchers and if they do call up AJSS, I hope that if he struggles, they are patient. There is no discounting his talent, but it wouldn't hurt to let him marinate a full go around at AA. Problem is..the Braves don't have the luxury of a plethora of pitching we once thought.
 
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