It was actually a very good day for the Atlanta Braves affiliates. They took only one loss, and even the FCL squad got in on the winning action in a 4-1 day. That said, outside of Drue Hackenberg the pitching was light on prospects, and we only had MiLB.tv for two of the games.
(21-21) Gwinnett Stripers 4, (21-21) Memphis RedBirds 2
- Forrest Wall, LF: 3-5, HR, RBI, .308/.426/.513
- JP Martinez, CF: 2-4, 2B, .291/.365/.440
- Taylor Widener, SP: 4 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 4.15 ERA
- Daysbel Hernandez, RP: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K, 1.65 ERA
With only two streamed games going on Thursday it was a bit of a light day on the farm, but the Stripers took advantage of being front and center by stealing a win with late runs. Gwinnett’s offense has been heavily carried in recent weeks by the production from Forrest Wall, and it was yet another big day for him as he is having a fantastic month. Wall keyed an early rally for the Stripers to take the lead, then two innings got a fastball he liked inner half and crushed it for his fourth home run this season. Wall has been a hilarious example of small sample sizes in his 22 games with Gwinnett, producing the best power numbers of his career on a rate basis yet only being 4 out of 7 on stolen base attempts.
JP Martinez doesn’t have much claim to hard contact in this game — his hardest hit ball was 84 mph off of the bat — yet managed to come up with two hits including the biggest for the Stripers. The bullpens for both sides had battled to take this game into the eighth inning with it tied at two runs apiece, but Gwinnett had a huge opportunity to do damage with the top of the lineup up to bat in the 8th inning. David Fletcher provided even bigger opportunity by slapping a single into left field with one out in the inning. This brought up Martinez, facing a left on left matchup which this season he has produced just a .644 OPS against. Martinez was able to get ahead in the count, but chased a bit and took a half hack at a slider outside. Still he managed to yank it into right field and hustle out a double, putting Gwinnett in position to take the lead. Eli White’s fly ball down the right field line couldn’t fall to break the game open as the defender made a great sliding catch, but it was deep enough to score Fletcher to give the Stripers the win.
The pitching matchups for this entire evening aren’t the best we’re going to get on the farm this year, but Gwinnett managed to cobble together nine innings behind three pitchers and Taylor Widener had a lot to do with that. Widener and Grant Holmes each covered four innings with one run allowed, turning the ball over to Daysbel Hernandez for the ninth inning. This was unfortunately one of Daysbel’s weaker games, as he missed the zone far too often and far too widely to really be able to coax swings out of the Redbirds. He ended up making the best of it with a strikeout and no runs allowed, but command-wise Hernandez just didn’t look particularly sharp.
(14-21) Mississippi Braves, (16-19) Biloxi Shuckers PPD
(19-15) Rome Emperors 6, (14-21) Asheville Tourists 1
- EJ Exposito, DH: 3-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI, .320/.385/.691
- Sabin Ceballos, 3B: 1-2, .255/.362/.327
- Ambioris Tavarez, SS: 1-2, BB, .180/.289/.288
- Drue Hackenberg, SP: 4.2 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 3.34 ERA
(19-16) Rome Emperors 1, (15-21) Asheville Tourists 12
- EJ Exposito, 1B-2B: 1-3, 2B, .320/.384/.690
- Kevin Kilpatrick Jr, CF: 0-3, .298/.346/.447
- Ambioris Tavarez, SS: 3-3, RBI, .202/.305/.307
- Landon Harper, SP: 0.2 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 1 K, 5.16 ERA
Double-headers are always fun, except when they come in games you can’t watch because they haven’t installed internet in Asheville yet apparently. It’s a shame to not have these games too, because EJ Exposito continued his torrid stretch with three extra base hits in the two games. Expo clubbed his ninth home run of the season, already setting a career high after just 27 games. Even more impressively Exposito has managed to do so while cutting his strikeout rate, dropping it to 25.9% on the season and 22.5% since he joined the lineup full time on April 24th. It’s been an insane run for Exposito, and it’s going to lead to decisions if he keeps performing this way as the Mississippi infield is full up but he may need a challenge against older competition in the near future. Another note from this game’s box score read comes from Sabin Ceballos, who left after a pop out in the fifth inning and did not return later in the double header. Game two’s bright spot was Ambioris Tavarez, who went 3-3 in game two after going 1-2 with a walk in the opener. That is all that I will talk about from that second game. You can read the score.
With all of the pitching talent and performances in the system it’s been hard for guys like Drue Hackenberg to really stand out, but once again Hackenberg put out a solid performance for the Rome squad to lower his ERA to 3.34. Hackenberg hasn’t had a flashy start this season, with no more than six strikeouts in any appearance, but it’s his consistent ability to get weak contact on the ground that has made him successful. Through three starts this month Hackenberg hasn’t allowed more than an earned run in any, totaling a 1.13 ERA in May.
(16-19) Augusta GreenJackets 5, (17-19) Salem Red Sox 4
- Jace Grady, RF: 1-3, BB, RBI, .292/.377/.442
- Luis Sanchez, 2B: 1-4, .259/.333/.302
- Robert Gonzalez, CF: 1-4, 2 RBI, .208/.246/.274
- Luis Vargas: RP: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K
Luis Vargas looked really good for the GreenJackets. He is typically not a player that stands out, with mostly mediocre traits and command that isn’t quite good enough to make it work, but he had solid location on Thursday evening and was able to get quite a lot of poor contact to get through five innings scoreless. He did ultimately run out of steam, and Miguel Bleis tagged him for a home run in the sixth inning, but he filled up innings nicely and had one of the best days I’ve seen from him.
Adel Dilone struggled after coming in to replace Vargas, but he too had a strong stretch and had 12 whiffs on just 57 pitches. Dilone’s background is a bit unclear, as he was signed in January 2020 already at age 19, then of course missed that season due to Covid but also missed all of 2021. He finally debuted in the DSL in 2022 as a 21 year old, and has steadily put up good strikeout numbers as an older player in every league. Dilone has a whiffle ball slider in the low 80’s that has been an absolute force in the lower minor leagues, though his fastball is sticking in the upper 80’s with not a ton of physical projection left.
Let’s not talk about the first 19 hitters of the game, okay? Jace Grady, who for me is the leadoff hitter in the entire game, drew a walk in the seventh inning to kick off a huge GreenJackets rally. It’s been tough times out there for Robert Gonzalez as his inability to recognize secondary stuff has been getting taken advantage of with ever-growing frequency. Today though he made a fantastic play, beating out a ground ball over to first base for a single, and Drew Compton made a great effort to score from second base to bring home two runs on an infield single. Gonzalez himself would score in the inning to tie the game. Grady would be the hero with a go-ahead single in the eighth inning, and Dilone struggled in the ninth but managed to close out the game.
(1-8) FCL Braves 7, (4-5) FCL Orioles 6
- Isaiah Drake, CF: 0-4, .000/.714/.000
- John Gil, SS: 2-3, BB, .200/.333/.200
- John Estevez, DH: 2-3, 2B, 3 RBI
- Luis Arestigueta, SP: 4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, 3.86 ERA
I am proud to announce that it finally over. It was such a satisfying feeling punching that “1” into the win column for the FCL Braves, and if we’re lucky they may even get to two by next Thursday. It took heroic effort late in the game from the boys, scoring two runs in extra innings for the win, but a win is a win. Leiker Figueroa, though, buddy three errors and an 0-4 is just not it. Nevertheless this was really a breakout game for many of the DSL guys from last year, with multi-hit games out of John Gil and John Estevez, along with a triple from Mario Baez. Unfortunately Baez left the game after scoring following that triple. Luis Arestigueta is an interesting arm on the mound with a fastball that sits around 93 and he had a fantastic game with four scoreless innings and six strikeouts.
