4/6 Minors thread

[OcalaBrave]

Stripers v. Tides Box Score Link

Stripers got 2 hit. Grissom had one of them. He now has 4 BBs and 0 Ks in 30 PA this year. That's some good action right there.

Rome plays Greenville at 7PM.

Augusta plays Columbia at 4PM.

 

[50PoundHead]

Semi-highlight of the Stripers' game was performance of LHP Domingo Robles who hasn't pitched above AA and was slated to pitch for Mississippi this season. 24-year-old making his AAA debut is probably nothing to get too excited about and he gave up 7 hits in 4 IP, but only 1 R (Earned) with 7 Ks and no BBs. Not a big ray of sunshine, but about the only thing of interest beyond Grissom extending his hitting streak.

 

[jpx7]

Nice to see Schwellenbach finally take the mound. Augusta had a nice game, in general, with a lot of of the organization's position player hopefuls swinging hot bats.

I do wonder what the longterm plan for Grissom is, especially if Arcía continues to show he can be a 2+ fwar player. He's obviously not going to keep hitting this well, but the underlying metrics last year were fairly encouraging that the change-in-approach the Braves coached might allow him to be a 100+ wrc+ player. Meanwhile, Grissom #keep****ting.

Looks like Tyler Owens is a full-on relief prospect now. He was drafted with a lot of promise, but also a lot of reliever risk; nevertheless, he does have the stuff to perhaps become a real relief prospect. Nacho Alvarez is probably the most exciting guy at Rome, though—I think he could have a real shoot-up-the-prospect-boards year with the bat, and thus far the team seems committed to seeing if his plus-glove at 3B can play at SS. If he sticks there, he could be a really valuable prospect commodity.

Mississippi starts tomorrow. They're probably the least interesting of the organization's minor league rosters, at this point. Either way, it'll be nice to have a full slate of MiLB games to follow.

 

[50PoundHead]

Nice to see Schwellenbach finally take the mound. Augusta had a nice game, in general, with a lot of of the organization's position player hopefuls swinging hot bats.

I do wonder what the longterm plan for Grissom is, especially if Arcía continues to show he can be a 2+ fwar player. He's obviously not going to keep hitting this well, but the underlying metrics last year were fairly encouraging that the change-in-approach the Braves coached might allow him to be a 100+ wrc+ player. Meanwhile, Grissom #keep****ting.

Looks like Tyler Owens is a full-on relief prospect now. He was drafted with a lot of promise, but also a lot of reliever risk; nevertheless, he does have the stuff to perhaps become a real relief prospect. Nacho Alvarez is probably the most exciting guy at Rome, though—I think he could have a real shoot-up-the-prospect-boards year with the bat, and thus far the team seems committed to seeing if his plus-glove at 3B can play at SS. If he sticks there, he could be a really valuable prospect commodity.

Mississippi starts tomorrow. They're probably the least interesting of the organization's minor league rosters, at this point. Either way, it'll be nice to have a full slate of MiLB games to follow.

When I looked at the Rome box score, I had to do a double-take when I saw Alvarez playing shortstop. He really came out of nowhere prior to the draft. I pored over every site looking for information about him, but all I could find was the two-dimensional stats from the California Community College League page. Kudos to the scouting staff.

I think I'm going to enjoy watching Augusta. A lot of off-the-radar guys with some of the more heralded prospects. Ambioris Tavarez had an interesting night. Struck out his first four ABs and followed that up with two hits (one of them a key hit in extra innings). Celedonio, Workinger, and Exposito all with HRs.

Owens has had some arm issues, but he got the highest bonus of all the post-Round 10 guys in 2019 (Bonuses for Grissom, Backstrom, Johnson, Morton, Estes, and Ball all exceeded the $125,000 cap) and was hailed by some in the prospect watch community as a great signing by the Braves. Given his size, he was probably slated for the bullpen at some point and he will be someone to watch if he's 100%.

 

[CJ9]

Semi-highlight of the Stripers' game was performance of LHP Domingo Robles who hasn't pitched above AA and was slated to pitch for Mississippi this season. 24-year-old making his AAA debut is probably nothing to get too excited about and he gave up 7 hits in 4 IP, but only 1 R (Earned) with 7 Ks and no BBs. Not a big ray of sunshine, but about the only thing of interest beyond Grissom extending his hitting streak.

Second most in Triple A with 13 swings and misses yesterday.

 

[50PoundHead]

Second most in Triple A with 13 swings and misses yesterday.

I have no idea on whether or not Robles is going to be someone who helps at the major league level, but it seems that this set of front office folks do a better job identifying guys who haven't done particularly well in other systems to become contributors. I obviously don't have the data and maybe it just seems that way. Outside of the DeMacio interregnum, I think the amateur draft scouting has enjoyed comparable success.

 

[CJ9]

Some weird things with the minors schedule getting back to action tomorrow.

Augusta will start Didier Fuentes, the only 17-year-old in full season ball. Really interested to see that one. The weird thing is Owen Murphy and JR Ritchie were scheduled to go Saturday and Sunday but were rained out. They list Adam Shoemaker and Spencer Schwellenbach (who threw Thursday) as the Wednesday and Thursday starters. I’m guessing Murphy and Ritchie threw some extended pens or something to stay in their routines and they’ll start Friday and Saturday. Still kind of strange.

Same with Rome. They’ve announced their Tuesday-Thursday starters, and still no mention of AJ Smith-Shawver. He’s still active on the roster, maybe he starts Friday or this weekend.

Soroka starting tomorrow in Gwinnett.