Braves Minor League Recap: Rain Interrupts Waldrep’s Rehab

Rain was a major factor in the outcomes of Tuesday’s games, and only two of the full season affiliates were able to finish their evenings. Hurston Waldrep had to pitch through messy conditions and struggled for Gwinnett before the weather forced an early end to that game. Only Augusta managed a win, and that came behind a huge output from their strong offense. Cody Miller led off the game with a home run, but it was arguably Conor Essenburg who stole the show. He had two doubles in the first two innings and finished 3-4 with a walk, continuing what has been an amazing debut season.

(35-33) Gwinnett Stripers 0, (36-31) Louisville Bats 0 SUSPENDED

Unfortunately the Stripers didn’t get a full taste of Hurston Waldrep in his return to them due to rain suspending this game after three innings, but it is a major question how much longer he would have lasted regardless. Waldrep was all over the place with his control and had a heavy dose of glove side misses, and beyond just the control issues his velocity did not hold up well at all. Waldrep sat close to his norms with his fastball velocity in the first inning but it dropped off of a cliff after that, and by the third inning he was only sitting around 92 mph. Waldrep’s typical inconsistency with his mechanics was magnified in this outing and a majority of his pitches were balls, but given that it was raining for the entirety of his outing it is hard to glean any useful information about his progress. He struggled with his footing and he struggled gripping the ball and honestly it’s a bit of a mystery why they started this game with it already raining and more on the way. Jim Jarvis almost gave Gwinnett a lead in the bottom of the third inning when he bashed a long fly ball the other way, but it hit off of the top of the wall and stayed in play and he settled for a triple. A walk followed that and the Stripers had something moving with two on and one out, but Brett Wisely bunted, unsuccessfully, popping the ball straight to the pitcher who was able to double off the runner at first and end the inning.

(28-32) Columbus Clingstones, (32-29) Biloxi Shuckers

(32-31) Rome Emperors 5, (30-33) Hudson Valley Renegades

Cade Kuehler’s rollercoaster season continued with a spectacular blow up that saw him struggle to manage anything substantial on the way to allowing five runs and recording one out. Kuehler started his day out with a fly out, but among the next five hitters he allowed three walks and two home runs. He stayed in the game after, but that didn’t last long as he coughed up that was all anyone needed to see to cll it quits. Kuehler had managed to really lock it in and go four straight great starts without allowing a home run, but already in June he has allowed four long balls in 8 2/3 innings. Even with that stretch of good play he is the system leader in home runs allowed and is fifth in all of minor league baseball in HR/9. If there was any solace to be had for Kuehler it’s that he is far from the only reason they lost the game because Hudson Valley just crushed everything they saw. The bullpen allowed five home runs throughout the remainder of the game, and this one was pretty much over before Rome saw any real scoring.

Rome’s offense didn’t have the greatest day themselves, managing six hits as a unit though they were able to turn that into five runs. Their big swing, if you can call anything from this game notable, was a no doubt shot from Dixon Williams in the seventh inning, who really needed a swing like that. Williams was terrific in the first month of the season but has fallen to ruin since his last home run. Between that home run on May 8th and the one today he struck out 33.6% of the time and had a 44 wRC+, with zero multi-hit games after May 10th. Tate Southisene has been scuffling a little bit since the start of last weekend, though it’s no surprise for someone being pushed as quickly as he is. He has struck out twice in each of his last four games, after having no instances of consecutive multi-K games since early April, but he was able to end this one on somewhat of a high note. He lifted one deep into the opposite gap that fell on the warning track for a double, which he already has four of in just eight games in Rome.

(34-30) Augusta GreenJackets 12, (30-34) Hill City Howlers 8

The singular win went to the GreenJackets, who fell behind by a four-run margin before even taking any at-bats, then immediately came back and went on to win the barn burner. Carter Holton didn’t really pitch as terribly as the four runs allowed in the first inning would suggest. Early in the inning he made some solid pitches and was racking up whiffs, though he walked the second batter on a long at bat where he may have gotten squeezed a bit on the zone. A two out single dribbled off of the glove of Juan Mateo at third base to extend the inning, and only then did Holton really make a poor pitch when he left a curveball over the plate that got smoked for a single. Even the fastball he allowed a home run on was elevated, though he left it out over the plate and the hitter was clearly sitting right on that pitch and crushed it. Holton’s command of his breaking balls was hit-or-miss throughout, but his fastball and slider both has solid movement and location. Holton held his 92-93 throughout the outing, and ended off the game with by far his best inning. He struck out the top of the order in order in the fourth inning, ending his night by running a 93 mph fastball up the ladder for a whiff. Holton’s command of his breaking balls is somewhat holding him back at the moment, and I haven’t really been a fan of his slow curveball. He locates it a bit better than the slider but it doesn’t have elite movement and it’s only in the mid-70’s, so hitters can time it up and make contact and he seems to give up a lot of hard hit balls on the pitch. His slider hasn’t been great either and I’m skeptical either of his breaking balls are going to be bat-missers at the upper levels, and given his mediocre fastball I’m struggling to see how the profile rounds out without his command getting shockingly better. His changeup has been a pleasant surprise and the highlight of the profile to this point, and that’s at least something to point to as he hopefully gets his slider back to where it was prior to surgery.

The pitching staff didn’t win this game, though, so it’s on to the offense who in all fairness had a bit of help. The Howlers issued nine walks and committed six errors, which makes it pretty hard to ever win a game. The offense struck back in a hurry in the bottom of the first inning, with Cody Miller leading off with a home run. Conor Essenburg followed that up by shooting a hard line drive the other way for a double, and the hits didn’t stop coming in the first. Alex Lodise was plunked and Juan Mateo cleared the bases with a fly ball that fell in harmlessly on the right field line for a double. Thanks to two throwing errors on the play Mateo was able to score himself and tie the game up. Dallas Macias then put August on top with a solo shot to cap off a five run first inning. Essenburg kicked off another rally the next inning, turning and ripping the first pitch he saw down the left field line for a double, and off to the races Augusta went again. A hit batter and two walks forced home a run, then Tanner Smith and Michael Martinez each came up with clutch singles to push the lead to 9-5. The game got spooky as Hill City pulled within a run headed into the bottom of the fifth, but walks to Miller and Essenburg brought the middle of the order up with none out and a big chance to extend the lead. They failed, however, as Miller was cut down trying to score on a tapper back to the pitcher and Essenburg was thrown out at home on a Luis Guanipa single into right field. The disappointment didn’t last long, though, and the Hill City defense broke in the sixth inning and committed two errors that put runners on the corner with none out. Michael Martinez ended a chance at a big rally by grounding into a double play, but Macias scored on the play for added insurance. Macias kept that train rolling by driving home a run in the eighth inning on a single and then scoring on a wild pitch for the game’s final run.

(10-23) FCL Braves 6, (18-15) FCL Pirates 11

An FCL loss, what a shocker. Diego Tornes broke a span of six games without a walk and didn’t strike out after a few games struggling in that department, but that’s all he had to report. He went 0-4 on the day and since May 29th he has a 40 wRC+ with a 26% strikeout rate. Manuel Campos is doing all of the heavy lifting on the offensive side of the ball, and hit his second home run of the season in the seventh inning. Campos has hit safely in seven straight games, and since his 2-26 start to the season has a 122 wRC+ and 10 extra base hits with 11 stolen bases across 22 games. Campos was quietly one of the top hitters in the DSL last season and he has been better so far in his trip stateside, with more extra base hits and stolen bases in 15 fewer games so far.

(2-10) DSL Braves 4, (7-5) DSL LAD Bautista

Even more good hitting came from Starlyn De La Cruz, who broke up his 1-11 end to last week with a huge day at the plate. In addition to reaching base five times he also stole three bases, and has been by far the best performer on this roster this season. The only real issue is a 26% strikeout rate that’s really not good for a top prospect at this level, though reports on his hit tool prior to signing were good and this is only a 12 game sample so I’m inclined to ignore that in expectation of the rest of the season. Jose Manon only drew a walk in this game, but there’s nothing to complain about in his game early this season. He has reached base in all ten games he has played and has more walks than strikeouts, which is what should be expected from a signing of his caliber.