Braves Minor League Update: Who’s hot, Who’s not

Introducing a new weekly series where we review what we’ve seen, and heart from the latest week of minor league action. This past weekend we saw all the full season teams start their yearly grind so let’s take a glance at what happened.

Ethan Bagwell – 6IP 0H 0R 1BB 6K, 16 whiffs

Ethan kicks off the series with an outstanding season debut for the Augusta GreenJackets against the Fredricksburg Nationals. Ethan utilized a four pitch mix: four seam, cutter, sweeper, changeup. His four seam fastball averaged around 94 MPH and maxed out at 96, a pitch he threw 21% of the time. His cutter had an average of 93 MPH, and he threw it 15% of the time. It was his sweeper that did a majority of the heavy lifting as he utilized it an astronomical 59% of the time. Finally, he showed four changeups. Ethan was in control from the very start of the game as he retired the first 12 batters that he saw. He commanded his pitches, pitched to weak contact, while also registering whiffs (16). It was a dominant start by every definition of the word.

JR Ritchie – 5IP 4H 0R 3BB 5K, 8 whiffs

While it was not on the same level as Ethan, JR Ritchie rebounded nicely after a bit of a disaster opening day (3.2IP 5H 2ER 3BB 3K). He was able to shutout the Round Rock Express across five innings of work. The command is still not quite there, as he still had an uncharacteristic three walks but did register 8 whiffs. JR utilized a five pitch mix of his four seam, two seam, curveball, changeup, and sweeper – getting whiffs on his changeup (1), four seam (1), curveball (3), cutter (1), two seam (2).

Didier Fuentes – 3.2IP 1H 0R 1BB 7K, 12 whiffs

Didier Fuentes continued his hot run of play with 3.2 fantastic innings against the Round Rock Express. He generated 12 whiffs, while primarily utilizing his four seam and slider. His four seam average 97 miles an hour, maxing out at 99 (multiple times), with -9.3” of horizontal break – which he used 57% of the time. His slider, averaged right around 86 miles an hour and moved a lot like the Lara slider/cutter, with just 4” of horizontal movement and 0.1” of vertical break. Fuentes also utilized his changeup (splitter), but he threw it just five times and it was not really a factor. That said, he got up to 72 pitches and looks to continue to build his arm strength until he is back in the starting rotation.

Owen Murphy – 5.2IP 3H 2ER 2BB 10K, 15 whiffs

It was a terrible start as Owen surrendered a homer and a triple to begin the game, but he settled in and turned in yet another very strong start while collecting 15 whiffs. Owen utilized a four pitch mix: four seam (91 MPH), slider (84 MPH), curveball (77 MPH), and a splitter (85 MPH). That said, he was still primarily 4s (54%), and slider (34%).

Alex Lodise – 13 AB, .385/.429/.462

Alex Lodise is off to a sizzling start as he’s hit the ball hard, registering a max EV of 109 on an opposite field hit. Keeping in mind that Lodise walked just fives times in 25 games last year, he’s picked up a walk and struck out just twice so far to start the season. The biggest thing to monitor is the lack of chasing especially at the top and bottom of the zones for Alex. While he has expanded a bit, he’s showing a much more promising approach at the plate and looks to be recognizing breaking pitches significantly better. While he still will go high in the zone, the fact that the chasing looks significantly better is very promising. Also of note, he hasn’t been chasing slider aways either – another very promising trend to monitor the rest of the year.

John Gil – 10 AB, .300/.417/.600

The promising 19 year old continue his strong play, collecting a 1.017 OPS through the first three games of the season. John also had five successful stolen bases often resulting in non-competitive throws. John also showed off the improved power as well, hitting a three run homer with an exit velocity of 104 MPH.

Isaiah Drake – 12 AB, .333/.429/.833

Isaiah Drake is off to an absolutely scorching start with a 1.262 OPS across the seasons first three games. Isaiah has continued his patience at the plate, not expanding the zone – with just two strikeouts while also walking a pair of times. Like Gil, Drake is also perfect on the base pads with 3 stolen bases and 0 caught stealings. He’s also collected two homers already, and has put up extremely strong exit velocity numbers. On April 3rd alone, he had exit velocities of 100, 103, 105, 97, and 101 MPH, going 2-for-5 in that game. There are a lot of positive trends to take from Isaiah’s opening weekend and if he continues to hit at a rate remotely close to this, there will be a lot of chatter about him being a Top 100 prospect.

Nick Montgomery – 5 AB, .600/.778/1.200

Nick appeared in just a pair of games for the GreenJackets but boy did he show out – with a 1.978 OPS during the opening weekend series. Nick showed patience at the plate, not expanding the zone and walking four times in the two games while striking out once. His homer was a barreled, coming in with a 99 MPH EV. The selectively at the plate was a welcome sign for the power hitting catcher as he really struggled at the plate last season. While it’s early, it’s a very positive trend that will hopefully continue through the season.

Who Has Struggled Out the Gate

As good as Nick was at the plate, it was a bit of a disaster behind the plate. In a single game he had a pair of throwing errors, as well as a passed ball that allowed a runner to score. High school catchers are notoriously some of the slowest developing players so it’s important to stay patient with Nick, however hopefully the play behind the plate improves to allow him to stay at the position where his power is on another level.

Cody Miller – 12 AB, .083/.083/.167

It’s been an odd start to the season for Cody who seems to be pressing quite a bit at the plate. Through the first three games of the season Cody has just one hit, and has struck out an uncharacteristic five times with zero walks. He’s expanded his zone as he’s pressed for more contact and the result has been poor quality at bats.

Jose Perdomo – 6 AB, .000/.000/.000

In a big year where health is of the highest interest to this writer, Jose Perdomo suffered an injury when he slipped running out of the box. He was down for a bit with trainers looking at his knee before he was able to get to his own feet and walk off the field. While there hasn’t been any concerning updates regarding the injury yet, it is yet another non-contact injury that has gotten in the way of his development. Hopefully Perdomo has avoided significant injury and will be back on the field sooner than later.