Follow me to Bravesbeat's No Pepper blog, the bestest site about the Braves' minor-league system. I'm a part-timer contributor there, but don't let that stop you...

 
Andy Marte sat down with Baseball Prospectus for an interesting pre-game interview (which may or may not be available for free... I can never tell).

One note: Marte has never played in the Florida State League despite what the good folks at BP will tell you...

 
Chris Waters has been designated for assignment (and removed from the 40-man roster) to make room for another below-average reliever, Armando Almanza.

 
Willie Collazo was taken by Anaheim with the ninth pick in the AAA phase. Adan Munoz was later drafted in the third round by Tampa Bay.

The Braves opted not to select any players.

 
According to Baseball America, Alec Zumwalt was selected third overall by Tampa Bay in today's Rule 5 Draft.

 
The last time the Braves traded away their incumbant #1 prospect was in July of 2000 as they dealt away Bruce Chen (and Jimmy Osting) to the Phillies for 32-year-old Andy Ashby. Ashby was only a Brave for three months before he was granted free agency, but it was a good three months. If this blog had been around at the time, you would've heard me bemoaning the deal and worrying about the future of the franchise. But since Chen and Osting never developed as they were predicted to, and Ashby's arrival coincided with a 3-game seep in the NCLS, I think it's safe to say that the trade will not be remembered through history.

Yesterday's trade might be different though. The Braves received J.D. Drew and "versatile" Eli Marrero for Jason Marquis, Ray King, and Adam Wainwright.

I'll try to do these in order. Drew is a potentially great player when he's healthy. Or maybe if he's healthy. If you ignore the 50+ games he misses every year, and you only count the ones that he's played while mostly healthy, well, he's a superstar. He showed flashes of that in 2001 when he hit .323/.414/.613. At the time that he broke his hand in June of that year, Drew was hitting .330/.426/.688 with 21 HRs and 34 BBs in 218 ABs. He's slipped a bit the last couple of season, but problems with your knees and obliques will do that to a hitter.

Here's his recent injury history:

8/16/03: 15 day DL (Strained right oblique) - Returned on 9/3/03
3/28/03: 15-day DL (Offseason knee surgery) - Returned on 4/20/03
6/30/02: 15-day DL (Tendinitis in right knee) - Retutrned on 7/13/02
6/18/01: 15-day DL (Broken right hand) - Returned on 7/31/01

There were rumors that the Cardinals were going to non-tender Drew in a few days. Obviously John Schuerholz didn't think he could wait that long to get a RF. Drew will be a free agent after 2004 and is predicted to earn about $4 million in arbitration - should things get that far.

Eli Marrero is always listed as "versatile." Really, that's the nicest thing you can say about him. Sure, he plays C, 1B, and OF, but that doesn't mean he plays any of them particularly well. He's supposedly a great defensive catcher, which is what the Braves were looking for to back up Johnny Estrada. And he has a bit of power, hitting a good number of both doubles and HRs. His OBP is just plain horrible. As long as he stays behind the plate, he shouldn't be a liability. He missed most of last year with ligament damage to his ankle.

There are two distinct camps on Jason Marquis - those who think he's an overhyped bum and those who believe he's simply been misused. Both groups should be happy that he's gone. I'm definitely a member of the latter group, and I'm thrilled that he's getting away from Braves and his role as a middle-reliever. The Cardinals, who made this deal because of their lack of pitching, will use Marquis as a starter. And with pitching guru, Dave Duncan, he couldn't be going to a better situation.

Since people love scapegoats, most fans believe that Ray King is a horrible RP. But he really had just one poor month last year. His ERA in July was 9.64 and even most of that was isolated to just three bad games. His cumulative ERA in April, May, June, August and September was just 1.99. I predict that by June, King will be putting up very good numbers for the Cards, and people will complain that he didn't do the same for the Braves...

The clincher for this deal was, of course, Adam Wainwright. It's possible that Baseball America will revise their prospect list for St. Louis and make Wainwright their #1 minor-leaguer. If that happens, that will be two #1s that Schuerholz & Co. have traded away in the past year. Merkin Valdez (aka Manuel Mateo) was just named as San Francisco's #1. Both are expected to be fixtures in the majors by 2005.

Couldn't the payroll-strapped Braves use a couple of cheap and potential star pitchers in the coming years? Sure, there's more talent in the system - a lot more - but no one who is as highly regarded or as ready to contribute as Wainwright.

The 40-man roster is now back to 37, including 18 pitchers. At the very least, this trade opens up the 5th spot in the rotation for one of Bubba Nelson, Andy Pratt or Jung Bong. That's assuming JS doesn't sign a Shane-esque veteran to waste space.

The Rule 5 Draft is tomorrow. I wouldn't be shocked to see the Braves grab someone to compete for a spot in the bullpen.

 
Baseball America just posted a mini-preview of Monday's Rule 5 Draft (although it's far less than what they usually usually put out). They have Alec Zumwalt, David Watkins, Matt Merricks, Bryan Digby all as possibilities to be taken from the Braves.

Most drafted players are returned, although it turns out that 7 of the 11 pitchers selected last year stuck in the majors for the full season.

 
A quick note: John Schuerholz is making sure we have less to talk about next June. After forgoing arbitration with Gary Sheffield and today's signing of John Thomson, the Braves have lost three draft picks in the last 48 hours.

The team could've had their scheduled pick (29th, which will now go to the Rangers), the Yankees' first-rounder (30th), and most likely, the top compensation pick (31st).

As it stands now, the Braves' first selection in the '04 draft will be somewhere around the 60th overall, depending on how the rest of the free agent compensation works out.

 
Regular readers (if there are any left) know that most of my schtick is breaking down the various stats of minor-leaguers with the hope that something useful - or at least interesting - turns up. That gets harder to do in the offseason when there aren't very many games going on - and probably none of them all that meaningful.

So I'm left with 'reporting' news that everyone already knows (Gary Matthews, Jr.?!) or trying to find something useful in 89 excellent ABs from Richie Lewis. There's that and getting married and having deaths (yes, multiple) in the family.

Anyway, October and November have been pretty slow here on the Blog. That might continue in the coming months when even the Winter Leagues wrap up. The good news is that we do have the Rule 5 Draft coming up in 3 weeks, and I HOPE (I'm eternally hopeful) that I can scare up some additional goodies to get you through those barren months until Spring Training.

In old news, the Braves added 10 players to the 40-man roster last week and thus protected them from being selected in the Rule 5: Blaine Boyer, Jose Capellan, Roman Colon, Kelly Johnson, Onil Joseph, Richie Lewis, Bubba Nelson, Tony Pena, Scott Thorman and Adam Wainwright. Let their service time clocks begin!

I'll be the 437th person to say: Tony Pena?!?!?!? Supposedly, the Royals were interested in taking Mr. Pena, so the Braves felt obliged to deny them that wonderful opportunity. There was a note in Baseball America a month or so ago that said that his bat was really opening the organization's collective eyes. There's a multitude of jokes there that I will pass on. For now.

Year   AVG  OBP  SLG  XB%   SB%  BB/AB
2002  .249 .282 .311 15.8  42.3  .03
2003  .259 .304 .328 18.1  58.6  .06

Well, he certainly improved. At his current rate, he'll be replacement-level talent in 2008.

Seriously, I hear he's an incredible defensive SS, and he certainly gets points for that. But being the next Cesar Izturis is not something the organization should be rewarding. And especially not when it costs them a player in the Rule 5 that might actually be able to help the team in the near-future.

Which brings me to the next item on today's agenda. The Braves moved a ton of players around earlier this week to hopefully keep them from being drafted. You all know the rules: if a player on a AAA roster is selected at the Rule 5, then the acquiring team has to find a spot for them on their 25-man roster for the entire season. There's also a minor-league phase where AA players have to stay in AAA for the year, although there are more ways to circumvent that one.

Some of the bigger names on the Braves' AAA roster that have a chance to be taken are: Dan Curtis, Ray Aguilar, Kevin Barry and Buddy Hernandez. I'd rather have any of those on the 40-man roster than Tony Pena.

Josh Tillery and Willie Collazo might be the best bets to be taken in the minor-league portion.

Meet the newest Brave, Gary Matthews, Jr. The team claimed him off of waivers from San Diego yesterday. First, the facts (or at least my version of them): He hit .248/.314/.361 in 468 ABs last year for both San Diego and Baltimore. And that's about average for his career of 4+ seasons. Which isn't very good. A third of his hits went for extra bases which is decent enough. His walk rate was also ok, although it was a bit lower than his career average. And if he is supposed to serve as a replacement for Darren Bragg, well, he can't do much worse than the '03 version, I guess. Those are your positives.

Then there's this from an MLB.com article: "If the Braves are unable to lure Sheffield back to Atlanta, Matthews will compete with Ryan Langerhans and other possible free agent acquisitions for a starting outfield spot." Ugh.

And Matthews will cost around $1 million. Which is entirely too much to pay for a replacement-level (0.7 Runs Against Replacement Player) centerfielder, let alone one that you plan on sticking in right. Oh, and his defense is nothing to write home about either. He accumulated a rousing 1.56 Fielding Win Shares per 1,000 innings, which means he was slightly worse than Pat Burrell. The Braves would've been much better off by waiting to see what corner OFs get non-tendered in December, and hopefully they will still go that route.

Baseball America unveiled their list of top 10 Braves' prospects two weeks ago.

1. Andy Marte
2. Jeff Francoeur
3. Adam Wainwright
4. Bubba Nelson
5. Dan Meyer
6. Adam LaRoche
7. Macay McBride
8. Brian McCann
9. Kyle Davies
10. Anthony Lerew

My only comments: Francoeur and McCann are both too high after having completed just one full season. But then again, BA tends to do that...

 
The AFL has been described as a "finishing school" for prospects, but that seems to imply that graduates are ready for the majors - which is usually not true. So I tend to think of it more as like a standardized test. If you perform well, then you may just get to skip a grade. But performing badly doesn't cause you to go back a level and in many cases, it doesn't even keep you from being promoted.

I also have the same theory about spring training and a player's first season in the minors. Which possibly demonstrates a lack of creativity on my part...

After having played in 6 games, Richard (sometimes Richie) Lewis is aceing his test so far. He's 2nd in the league in both average (.520) and OBP (.571), and he should be in the top 10 or so in SLG (.720).

Kelly Johnson is having similar success: .429/.500/.786 in his first 14 ABs.

Adam Stern, who's splitting time with some very talented OFs, is off to a slower (though maybe more realistic) start, batting .292/.346/.375.

Relievers Kevin Barry (0.00 ERA and 1.00 WHIP in 3 games) and Alec Zumwalt (1.35 ERA and 1.20 WHIP) are also cruising along.

Brett Evert has given up some runs (4.15 ERA), but he's struck out 12 batters in 8.2 innings and and issued just 2 walks.

Baseball America has ranked Andy Marte as the #1 3B prospect this year. Wilson Betemit came in at #19. And, as no surprise to regular readers, James Jurries was listed as a sleeper.

 
Day 2 of the AFL:

The Solar Sox got thrashed 11-5.

Brett Evert pitched 2.2 innings of relief and allowed one run on four hits with two strikeouts.

Kevin Barry faced the minimum in the 9th inning and walked one batter.

Today is an off-day.

 
Baseball America's top 20 International League prospects included just one Brave. Adam LaRoche, who was ranked 12th in the Southern League, came in 6th after his AAA duties. One manager noted that talent overall in the IL was down this year.

 
Does this thing still work? Hmm, I guess so.

I'm back. I got really tired of sitting in that hammock in the Florida sun and just couldn't want to get back to the blog...

Those pesky recaps are coming. Any month now.

I'd talk about the NLDS, but you'll get much better coverage at sites like Braves Journal and No Pepper. I'll let those experts fill you in.

The only minor-league action going on is the Arizona Fall League. (I'm trusting that MLB's website will eventually realize that the league has started.)

The Braves contingent (Kevin Barry, Brett Evert, Alec Zumwalt, Kelly Johnson, Richard Lewis and Adam Stern) are playing for the mighty Mesa Solar Sox. It's a balmy 102 degrees in Mesa today, so be glad you're wherever you are.

Baseball America will carry the previous day's boxscores, and I'll chime in every so often with a note on the progress of the youngsters.

Yesterday, Richard Lewis went 3-for-4 with a HR and a SB. Adam Stern and Kelly Johnson each went 1-for-5. Alec Zumwalt pitched 2 scoreless innings allowing 2 hits and striking out 3.

Since I've been away, BA has been publishing their top 20 prospects in each league as voted on by scouts and managers. Here's the rundown:

Gulf Coast League
2. Jake Stevens
3. Jarrod Saltalamacchia
10. Steve Doetsch
13. Jo Jo Reyes
19. Paul Bacot

Appalachian League
6. Chuck James
8. Matt Esquivel
14. Charlie Morton

South Atlantic League
4. Jeff Francoeur
17. Anthony Lerew
18. Dan Meyer
20. Brian McCann

Carolina League
3. Andy Marte
8. Dan Meyer
11. Macay McBride

Southern League
12. Adam LaRoche
13. Adam Wainwright
17. Bubba Nelson

The International League Top 20 comes out tomorrow.

 
Hmm, I knew there was something I was forgetting to do...

I apologize for the long absence. Most of us will at some point probably have to worry about their parents dying. That's just a fact of life. But at age 31, I've lost both of mine in the span of 13 months. And although neither deaths were exactly sudden or unexpected, it's still a bit of a shock. So anyway, my recent absence from the blog has been due to taking care of my mom and then attending her funeral last week. And there are some estate issues in the coming weeks? months? that I need to devote some time to as well.

And on the other side of the emotional rollercoaster, I'm getting married on Saturday. I'm trying to squeeze 'devotion to the minor leagues' into the vows, but I'm not sure that's going to work.

So those season-ending recaps I promised eons ago are still in a temporary hold pattern. The rest of September is pretty much shot, but as I mentioned to someone in a e-mail yesterday, I figure this way you'll at least have something to read during the off-season....

 
Blogger has been up and down today, so let's see if this goes through...

I don't have the data readily available to be able to compute park factors for each minor-league team because you need fairly detailed home/road splits for both the Braves AND their opponents. A very quick and dirty way (more dirtier than quick) is to just look at how the Braves' teams performed in their own stadia against what they did elsewhere. It's not nearly as accurate, but it's what I have.

So here's an interesting test of your park factor knowledge. If a team's pitchers compiled a 2.56 ERA at home and a 4.16 ERA on the road, you would generally say that their home park favors pitchers.

And if a team's batters hit 20 points higher at home than on the road, you might be inclined to say that said team plays in a hitter's park, although that's obviously not as conclusive.

But what if both of these groups were from the same team?

Welcome to Danville!

       AVG  OBP  SLG | 2B/G  3B/G  HR/G | ERA

Home  .253 .322 .344   1.75  0.25  0.22   2.56

Road  .232 .305 .327   1.48  0.18  0.42   4.16

As you can see, the difference in AVG is only part of the story. They also got on-base more often and hit for more power (although not HRs) while at home.

So what does that mean in the grand scheme of things?

Well, maybe that huge split for ERA is because of one or two guys' clunkers.

Here's a breakdown of Danville's primary starters:

Name    Home ERA   Road ERA

Collins   1.99      4.91

James     1.80      0.90

Morton    3.86      5.34

Nieves    3.60      5.40

Russell   1.96      7.36

White     3.00      2.63

So you've got two pitchers who were slightly better on the road, two whose road ERAs were less than 2 runs higher, and two others who were VASTLY better at home. Smells like a pitcher's park to me.

Do we need to discount the performances of some of their pitchers because of it? Should Danville's hitters get a slight bump in our evaluations? Who exactly am I asking these questions to?

 
I had planned to do a write-up on Rome's 8-2 victory last night in the first game of the playoffs. But David Dawson at the Rome News-Tribune not only beat me to it (as he of course should), but he did a fantastic job including every factoid available (Brian McCann's HR drought, Anthony Lerew's 7 innings of dominance). All of which leaves me feeling somewhat useless... [sniff]

Read the article - if only to see quotes like this from manager Rocket Wheeler: “Hickory knows we’re coming after their butts.”

Game 2 is Friday at Hickory.

 
I've kept you waiting long enough. Here are the MLBBies for the last four days of the season:

MLBBies for August 29
Ardley Jansen - 2-for-3, HR, BB
Anthony Lerew - 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 K

MLBBies for August 30
Donzell McDonald - 2-for-4, 2B, HR, BB
Matt Wright - 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 4 K

MLBBies for August 31
Wes Timmons - 2-for-5, HR
Adam Wainwright - 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K

MLBBies for September 1
Wilson Betemit - 2-for-4, 2 HRs
Dan Meyer - 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K

And that brings us to the moment that we've all been waiting for - the crowning of the MLBBiest players this year (well, since June 7th).

Jeff Francoeur and Keith Eichas finished tied with 4 awards. Darnit, that wasn't supposed to happen. Luckily, I had a tie-breaker system in place. Well, ok, I just thought it up, but here it goes. We'll look at their stats for those 4 MLBBie-winning performances and give the final award to the best line.

Name       AVG   OBP   SLG   2B  3B  HR  BB

Francoeur .643  .684  1.500   2   2   2   3

Eichas    .545  .545  1.273   4   0   4   0

Francouer, it is!

Matt Wright takes home the giant pitching trophy with his 6 titles.

Wright actually won the daily award in each of his last four starts which is pretty darn amazing. And none of them were flukes either. Here's his combined line for those four games: 27 IP, 15 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 6 BB, 33 K. Tally those numbers up and you get an 0.67 ERA, 0.78 WHIP, 11.0 K/9 and 5.5 K/BB.

Here's what I hope to do over the next 3-4 days:

An analysis of each team including fun little facts like... The team with the best walk-rate also had the lowest batting average;

Player Awards, such as "Best Performance by a Teenager" and "Pitcher with the Stinkiest Control" and

A very-early-and-probably-not-final 2004 Top Prospects List.

- Michael, 8:14 PM

 
Rosters expanded to 40 yesterday, so let me get all these transactions out of the way. Jesse Garcia and Damon Hollins were both added to the 40-man, requiring the removal of one player. Joe Dawley drew the short straw. Interestingly, Hollins was then placed on the major-league DL which makes me think he's probably not going to see any action this month, and he'll just be used as a pawn to circumvent the postseason roster rules.

Other call-ups include Johnny Estrada and Ryan Langerhans. Both Estrada and Garcia were actually added on Sunday due to some fancy version of musical chairs, and both will be available for the postseason.

Also, Roberto Hernandez and Julio Franco were activated from the DL, although neither of them might be ready for action just yet. Franco's hand is still bothering him, and Hernandez still sucks.

Some recaps of this weekend's action later...

 
Just what we needed - another pitcher who walks a lot of batters. The Braves claimed Jaret Wright off waivers today from San Diego. There were at least a couple of open spots on the 40-man roster, so no one will have to be outrighted. A demotion or mystery DL-trip is required however.

MLBBies for August 28
Ryan Langerhans - 2-for-3, 2 doubles
Jose Capellan - 4 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K

Langerhans is ending the season nicely. He currently has a six-game hitting streak. He's only spent a little over a month in AAA so there are obviously some sample-size issues, but here's a comparison to his early-season stats at Greenville:

Level  AVG   OBP   SLG  BB/AB  XBH%

AA    .253  .348  .387   .14   36.5

AAA   .286  .348  .487   .09   44.1

Atlanta or bust! (The last I guy I said that about was traded 5 days later. Sorry about that, Matt...)

Woohoo, a no-hitter! At least a four-inning one. Capellan has made four starts since coming off the DL (again), and the four innings is the longest they've let him go. Good for them. He should, once again, be eligible for the Rule 5 draft in December. Will teams look past his injuries and select him this time? For $50,000, it's probably worth a shot for someone to do just that.

Only three games yesterday, so this will be quick...

Donzell McDonald had hit first multi-hit game in over a month. On June 30th, McDonald was batting .272/.361/.351. Since then, he's hit just .224/.326/.292.

The much-maligned Wilson Betemit hit his 6th HR last night which gave him a hit in 9 of his last 10 games. He's hit .343/.410/.600 over that span.

Frank Castillo had a mediocre game, allowing 2 earned runs on 8 hits in 5 innings. His ERA is a much-lower-than-it-should-be 1.80. The K/BB ratio of 4.0 is nice though.

Bubba Nelson is showing that he's not quite as invincible as we were (unrealistically) hoping for. He's still doing well; he's just slightly more hittable recently. After not giving up a hit in his first six innings at AAA, he's been tagged for nine in the last 5.1 IP.

James Jurries went 2-for-4 with two doubles and ranks sixth in the league in hits and fifth in doubles.

Dan Curtis has a 1.71 ERA and a 0.76 WHIP over his last five starts.

Andy Marte is the Pelicans' only representative on the 2003 Carolina League All-Star Team.

Wes Timmons may not have a lot of power (yet), but his .401 OBP as Rome's #2 hitter sure is nice.

Ryan Ewin relieved Capellan and allowed two runs over the next three innings. That caused Ewin's ERA to skyrocket all the way to 2.45.

Former D-Brave, now Pelican, Mike Hanson was named to the Appy League's season-ending all-star team.

 
Pete Orr, who is hitting .233/.308/.314, was the only Greenville player named to the Southern League Postseason All-Star Team. He was voted in as "Best Hustler," although I don't really see a resemblance to Paul Newman.

 
Joe Dawley becomes the newest reliever in the in the Atlanta bullpen as the righthander replaces Kevin Gryboski who's been placed on the DL with a sore shoulder.

 
MLBBies for August 27
Brian McCann - 3-for-4, 2 doubles
Dan Smith - 6.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 10 K

McCann's hitting streak is up to 8 games, and he has had a hit in 14 of his last 16 games, hitting .344/.354/.516 in those games. I've talked at length about Jeff Francoeur's low walk rate, but McCann's is just about the same. Nevertheless, McCann leads the team in doubles and is second in both HRs and average, so I'm not going to complain about a low-ish (.06) BB/AB in his first full season.

Wow, what a way to close out the season. Orlando was down three runs in the championship game when Smith came on in relief and completely shut down the Pirates team for 6+ innings. That's more than twice as long as he had been asked to go before. In Orlando, Smith struck out 37.3% of the batters he faced and posted a 0.92 WHIP. And I still don't know a thing about him.

Adam LaRoche went 2-for-4 with a double and has a hit in 8 of his last 9 games. He's batting .333/.396/.524 in August and .289/.372/.488 for the season.

Do you think it's possible that Joe Dawley was upset when he didn't get the call-up yesterday after John Smoltz was placed on the DL? Regardless, he had his first horrible outing in well over a month, as he allowed 3 runs to score on 2 hits and 3 walks. Prior to that blow-up, his ERA as a reliever was 2.14.

Jung Bong, by the way, was the one who got the nod to go back to Atlanta. Bong made 3 starts for Richmond and struck out 15 batters in 11.1 IP. He's coming off a 1-hit, 6-K outing made on Sunday.

Cory Aldridge hit his 17th HR of the year.

My love for Ray Aguilar grows. He made his fifth start of the month and allowed 1 run on 6 hits in 7 innings. His ERA in those 5 starts? 0.60. His WHIP? 0.87. His K/BB? 5.0.

Who needs offense? Myrtle Beach got just 2 hits - both singles - but won last night, 1-0. In their last 6 games, the Pelicans have been outscored 15-4, but they've won 3 of those. They were shut out in all 3 losses.

Macay McBride and Manuel Acosta combined on last night's 6-hit shutout. Acosta has allowed just 1 ER in his last 8 innings.

Rome won but didn't make up any ground in the playoff race. They remain 1.5 games back with 5 to play.

Jeff Francoeur doubled and walked and is hitting .271/.364/.479 over his last 13 games.

Kyle Davies struck out 7 and allowed 1 run in 6 innings. Davies is tenth in the league with a 2.93 ERA and second in strikeouts (1546).

Sung Jung needed just 10 pitches to strike out all 3 batters he faced in the 9th inning. His ERA since June 1 is 0.96 with 52 K in 32.2 IP.

Congratulations to the GCL Braves on winning the league championship. I'm pretty sure there wasn't a playoff system set up until this year which is why I completely forgot about it. They finished with a record of 40-22 - best in the league. For comparison, Orlando won 28 games last year and 30 in 2001. In fairness, this team had many more college players than in years past, so some of their success can be attributed to their age and experience.

Steven Doetsch gets the MVP as far as I'm concerend. The 17th-rounder, who the Phillies treated so shabbily last year, hit .323/.402/.519 with 13 doubles, 9 HRs while playing in every game.

Among the pitchers, Paul Bacot, who was shut down in early August, posted a 0.95 ERA in 9 games with just 4 walks in 38 IP.

 
Things are busy around these parts. I'm swamped at work; there are some medical problems in my family that require me to be away for the weekends; plus I hear that I'm getting married in 3 weeks. Unfortunately, the blog gets pushed down on the list of priorities because of those things. That explains yesterday's absence of updates. Plus nothing really happened on Monday anyway. Well, I guess the 5 starters did combine to post a 1.16 ERA and 30 Ks in 31 IP. Other than that, nothing...nothing at all...

MLBBies for August 25
Yaron Peters - 2-for-4, 2B, HR
Matt Wright - 7 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K

Peters hit his 4th HR since returning to Rome, and all four have come in the last eight days. After Monday's game, he was hitting .308/.387/.585 during his second stint there.

I had a tough time with the pitching award. I went with Wright because mostly because of his strikeouts and control. Over his last 4 starts, he has notched 36 Ks and just 5 walks while allowing just 15 hits in 25.2 innings.

MLBBies for August 26
Steven Doetsch - 2-for-5, 2B, HR
Adam Wainwright - 7 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K

Doetsch hit his team-leading 9th HR (Ignore Baseball America's stats this morning. They seem to be having some problems.) He's cooled off a bit as he's only batting .276/.368/.460 this month. His season-long SLG sits at .515, and he has an on-base streak of 10 games.

I wrote last month that I wasn't completely sold on Wainwright's future - mainly because of his tiring down the stretch and the large number of innings he throws in a year. Well, here's what Wainwright has done before and after that fateful entry:

 IP    H  ER  BB   K   ERA  WHIP  K/9

95.2  97  42  29  85  3.95  1.32  8.0

48.0  34  14   7  36  2.63  0.85  6.8

Other than the K-rate (which I still think is somewhat worrisome), there's no evidence of a late-season slowdown this year. There was a stretch in June where he floundered a bit, but 2003 has been miles better stamina-wise for Wainwright. Kudos!

Mike Hessman hit a HR in his second major-league AB last night.

Chris Fussell allowed 2 runs on 4 hits in 6.1 innings (and homered!) in Richmond's 1-run loss. Bubba Nelson allowed his second AAA run of the year to score and picked up the loss. It's a very small sample size, but his K/9 has fallen from 5.8 as a starter in Greenville to 4.5 as a reliever.

Cory Aldridge hit his 15th HR of the year, the second-highest total of his career. Still, he has just 35 extra-base hits in 425 ABs.

Charles Thomas has been held without a hit just three times in the last 32 games and has hit .391/.451/.563 over that span.

Mike Hanson was promoted from Danville to Myrtle Beach after hitting .277/.329/.413 as the D-Braves' regular 2B. He had hit 11-for-29 (.379) in his last 6 games in rookie-ball.

Another shutout for Myrtle Beach. Makes you wonder how they're still averaging 3.8 runs per game for the season...

Dan Meyer lowered his Pelican ERA to 3.03 after allowing 1 earned run in 6 innings. Over his last 5 starts, he has an ERA of 2.12 and just 27 hits allowed in 29.2 IP.

Brian McCann went 2-for-5 with a double and a triple and extended his hitting streak to 7 games.

Luis Hernandez hit his first double since June 10. His SLG for the year is just .244.

Efie Peralta had 5 strikeouts in 3 innings yesterday and has struck out 23% of the batters he's faced since his promotion to Rome.

Danville finished the season with a record of 36-30 - 6.5 games out of first place.

Carlos Moreta went 3-for-4 - his fourth straight multi-hit game.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia homered for the third time this month. He's batting .310/.403/.603 in August.

On Monday, Jo Jo Reyes tossed 6 shutout innings, allowing 8 hits and 1 walk. He lowered his ERA to 2.26. And he's only had one poor start - 6 runs in 2.2 IP. Take that one out (I can do that; I'm a professional) and his ERA drops to 1.29. He's also struck out close to 30% of the batters he's faced.

Yesterday, Jake Stevens went a season-high 8 innings and gave up 1 run on 5 hits while striking out 5 batters. In August, his ERA is 1.35, and his WHIP is 0.86.

Jose Ascanio pitched a perfect 9th yesterday - his first appearance since July 21.

One more win against the Pirates today, and Orlando will be the GCL Champs.

Two leagues have announced their final All-Star selections. Johnny Estrada was the only representative for Richmond on the International League team. And Brian McCann and Jeff Francoeur were named to the Sally League team.

 
Baseball America's Josh Boyd talked with Dayton Moore about Jeff Francoeur's progress this year.

 
The Braves signed RHP Chris Vines, their 5th-round selection in this year's draft on Sunday - another major coup for Scouting Director Roy Clark. Here's what I wrote about Vines in June:

He's 6'5" and just 187 pounds and increased the speed on his fastball around 87 mph to 92 mph in his senior year. He also has an excellent curveball. He was ranked by Baseball America as the #2 prospect in Alabama (#113 overall) and has a committment to the University of Florida.

This means the Braves signed their top 14 (!!) picks and 23 of their first 29 selections. Wow!

Here's a update on the signings (in bold) and rejections (striked through):
updated 8/26
1s Luis Atilano, RHP
1s Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C
2 Jo Jo Reyes, LHP
2 Paul Bacot, RHP
3 Jacob Stevens, LHP
3 Matt Harrison, LHP
4 Jaime Romak, 3B
5 Chris Vines, RHP
6 Asher Demme, RHP
7 Ryan Basner, RHP
8 Sean White, RHP
9 Adam Stanley, LHP
10 Brad Nelson, RHP
11 Glenn Tucker, RHP
12 Casey Spanish, OF
13 Mark Jurich, OF
14 Steve Doetsch, OF
15 Ben Thomas, 3B
16 Cole Armstrong, C
17 Keith Eichas, 1B
18 Keith Weiser, LHP
19 Andy Barden, C
20 Kyle Bakker, LHP
21 Brooks Brown, OF
22 Jacob Blakeney, RHP
23 Jaime Hemingway, OF
24 Brandon Jones, OF
25 Quentin Berry, OF
26 C.J. Bressoud, C

 
I'm back. I'd like to say that this was the last time I'd miss a group of games. But since I'll be away next weekend, the final one of season, I guess I can't. It also doesn't look like any of the teams are going to the playoffs, so I'll get started on a series of season-ending recaps at some point next week.

MLBBies for August 22
Jesse Garcia - 4-for-5, HR
Kyle Davies - 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

MLBBies for August 23
Adam LaRoche - 2-for-4, HR, BB
Matt Merricks - 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 K

MLBBies for August 24
Martin Prado - 3-for-3, 2 triples
Luis Atilano - 7 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K

It's either a statistical oddity or a sign of a lot of speed, but Prado hit 3 triples this past week and no doubles. In fact, for the season, he has 6 three-baggers to just 2 doubles. Weird. His speed doesn't seem to translate to the basepaths too much though as he is just 9-for-18 in SB attempts. Prado's batting .560/.621/.800 over his current 6-game hitting streak.

I'm sure there were plenty of people questioning the Braves' draft strategy after Atilano, their first-overall selection, started the year with a 7.65 ERA through his first 6 games. Since then, he's posted a 1.59 ERA in his last 6 games with a 0.94 WHIP. For the season, he's walked just 7 batters in 54 innings for a lovely 1.2 BB/9.

Richmond went 2-1 over the weekend, despite the presence of Roberto Hernandez on the team. Hernandez allowed 6 runs in 1.1 IP on Friday. Let's see, the purpose of rehab for a pitcher is to get some innings under his belt to find out if he is healthy to re-join the major-league team. Well, since Roberto not only beaned a player, but then told everyone in the world that he did it on purpose, he'll mostly likely be spending the few days on the suspended list. With his 16.20 ERA, neither Richmond nor Atlanta will probably miss him.

Hernandez's foolhardy strategy came as a result of Johnny Estrada's plunking two days earlier. Estrada's done for the rest of Richmond's season, but he presumably still has a chance to get a few ABs for Atlanta in September and maybe even October. He'll most likely finish second for the batting title in the International League, and he concluded his Richmond season hitting .327/.389/.486.

Looks like I also a missed a brouhaha over at the FanHome board this weekend regarding the interpretation of "out for the season." Best I can tell, a regular contributor was banned because of some possibly hasty reporting on the Estrada situation. Or maybe it was something else entirely. Either way, it would be nice if I could get those banning rights over at the ESPN board, my usual hangout. There's no way would I abuse that power...

I don't think Jesse Garcia endeared himself to the organization this weekend when he blamed his being in Richmond all year on their roster goof this spring. He also said that he was now playing "for the other 29 teams." I hope every team that is looking for a 30-year-old slap-hitter who won't walk and can't hit for any kind of power is taking note of his availability for next year.

On to actual prospects... Adam LaRoche homered in back-to-back games and now has 20 HRs for the season. He's batting .291/.359/.460 since his promotion to Richmond and .325/.386/.507 in August.

Jung Bong was extremely impressive in his third start for Richmond. He struck out 6 and allowed a lone hit in 5.1 innings. That gives him 15 Ks in 11.1 IP.

I think Mike Romano probably already his bags packed for Atlanta and is just waiting on the ok before booking the flight. I say this not only because he has been very successful since his signing (5 hits and 3 walks in 9.1 scorless innings), but also because of the frequency that Romano is being trotted out there. He's appeared 5 times in the 8 days he's been with the club. Add his usage to his numbers, and you get a very clear tryout for the Atlanta bullpen.

Ray Aguilar gave up 7 runs, but just 1 earned in Greenville's high-scoring win on Saturday. (Aguilar contributed to the run-fest with a 2-run HR.) That was the first earned run allowed by the converted reliever in the last 30 innings.

Dan Curtis has a 2.30 ERA and a 1.05 WHIP over his last 7 starts.

Billy Sylvester pitched 2 innings for the first time this season and lowered his ERA to 1.47. More importantly, he's walked just 2 batters in his last 16 innings.

Eek, Myrtle Beach managed just one run in their three games this weekend and batted .156/.242/.171. Carlos Duran had the only extra-base hit, a double on Friday.

Matt Merricks and Dave Watkins combined on a shutout on Saturday for the Pelicans' lone win. Merricks is 1-6 as a starter for Myrtle Beach, but he has a 3.00 ERA.

Jeff Francoeur has a hit in 9 of his last 10 games and is batting .297/.381/.460 with 4 walks over that span.

Kyle Davies has an ERA of 1.82 over his last 5 starts.

Jose Capellan made his third start since returning from the DL and allowed one run in 4 innings.

Gonzalo Lopez seems to be persona-non-grata to the Braves.

Danny Ruiz was activated from the DL today, and Mike Mueller was re-disabled (my word) after pitching just 7 innings this month.

Sean White gave up an unearned run in 5 innings yesterday for Danville. His ERA over his last 7 games is just 1.06.

Carl Loadenthal and Martin Prado combined to go 10-for-13 as the top two batters in the Danville lineup this weekend. Carlos Moreta went 5-for-8 with a HR. And Jarrod Saltalamacchia walked four times in two games.

Matt McClendon made another rehab start on Friday, and walked 3 batters in 1.1 innings. I guess the good news is that he didn't allow a hit, but the number of walks is really the only thing to look for in his appearances.

Jake Stevens allowed no runs and just 2 hits in 3.2 innings of relief. He also struck out 4 and walked none. He lowered his ERA to 2.44, although it's just 1.65 if you overlook his first outing of the year.

 
Out of town for another weekend. Back on Monday...

 
MLBBies for August 21
Andy Marte - 2-for-4, HR, BB
Blaine Boyer - 5.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 8 K

Marte has hit .331/.415/.559 over the last 40 games and has a shot at finishing the year above .300. Take a look at the league leaderboard, and you'll see his name near the top of almost every category. And we thought last year's .281/.339/.492 was good...

Boyer's last seven starts look like this: 38.2 IP, 23 H, 7 R, 3 ER, 18 BB, 30 K... 0.70 ERA, 1.06 WHIP.

Richmond got just 2 hits last night and lost their third straight game. Over those three games, the team has hit .197/.310/.230 with just 3 extra-base hits.

Frank Castillo shutout Columbus for 6 innings in his second start with the Braves.

Jaime Emiliano had a 2.05 ERA on July 11. In the 14 games since then, it's 10.19 - including a current streak of 7 straight games where he has allowed a run.

Ramon Castro hit his 4th HR of the year. He's hit very well in August - .314/.397/.490 - and raised his overall numbers at Greenville to a respectable .277/.370/.380.

I'll keep posting Kelly Johnson's numbers until he slows down. Since his return from his DL stint, he's hit .381/.460/.619 in 13 games, including 2 singles last night.

The Adam Wainwright-Edwin Jackson duel didn't go as planned. Mother Nature interfered, and the game was halted for awhile in the 3rd inning. Wainwright had already given up 2 runs in 2 innings and was credited with the loss.

Derrick Lewis's Greenville debut was, well, much like his appearances at Richmond. He allowed 5 runs on 4 hits and a walk in 2.1 IP.

Even Bryon Jeffcoat got to pitch after all the relievers were tired from the marathon game the night before. He walked two, hit a batter and allowed a run in the 8th inning.

Brayan Pena, Tony Pena and Scott Thorman all had 3 hits in Myrtle Beach's win.

Dan Meyer tossed 7 shutout innings, walked 4 and struck out 3. He has a 2.19 ERA in his last 4 starts.

Wes Timmons has a hit in 19 of his last 24 games and has batted .337/.388/.472 over that time.

Mike Hanson had 3 hits for Danville and is now 8-for-17 in the last 4 games.

Orlando tallied 15 hits in their 15-inning game yesertday, including 3 each by Carl Loadenthal, Martin Prado and Keith Eichas. Eichas has had just one extra-base hit in his last 65 ABs.

Matt Harrison struck out 5 batters in 4 innings but also allowed 3 runs.

Jose Santiago pitched 4 scoreless innings of relief and lowered his ERA to 1.52. He now hasn't allowed a run in his last 15.2 IP.

 
A couple of things from Baseball America:

The Arizona Fall League rosters have been announced. The Mesa Solar Sox will have Pat Kelly managing Brett Evert, Kevin Barry, Alec Zumwalt, Kelly Johnson, Richard Lewis and Adam Stern. Play starts Sept. 30.

Last year's AFL provided a good jumping-off point for Jung Bong, Horacio Ramirez, Adam LaRoche and Ryan Langerhans.

And Director of Player Personnel Dayton Moore gave his views on Adam Wainwright in yesterday's Daily Dish, including this:

"He'll start [an intensive strength training and conditioning] program this winter and it should take his development to another altitude."

 
MLBBies for August 20
Angelo Burrows - 3-for-5, 2B, 3B
Matt Wright - 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 12 K

So Burrows hits .204/.255/.367 in 22 games for Rome, gets promoted, and is now batting .280/.314/.370 at Myrtle Beach. How does that work? I'm going with the trusty "small sample size" theory. His walk rate is better than in the past, but it's still pretty bad. And with little power and trouble making good contact, his award for Best Outfield Arm (and today's MLBBie, of course) might make up the highlights of his career.

Well, when Matt Wright has it going, he can really put up the Ks. Since his demotion to Rome, he's racked up 86 strikeouts in just 68 innings, a K/9 of 11.4. To put it another way, he's striking out a third of all the batters that he faces. That's phenomenal. He's also dropped his walk rate over his last 3 starts, but from this viewpoint, it's hard to tell if that's going to be permament. Oh and one more factoid: he's allowing fewer than 4 hits per start.

Roberto Hernandez made a rehab appearance last night for Richmond, and it looked eerily like his recent stints in Atlanta: 1 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 2 K. Maybe they should've let him rehab in Rome. No wait, Rome is in a playoff hunt. That wouldn't have helped.

Hernandez's outing combined with some bad offense, wasted some nice pitching by Chris Fussell. Fussell allowed just 2 hits and 4 walks in 8 innings. He's changed his delivery to something Guy Hansen is calling the Laredo, because "Laredo is the farthest city down in Texas before you get into Mexico." Someone should buy Hansen an atlas.

Bubba Nelson also gave up some hits for the very first time since he was promoted. He's now allowed 5 baserunners and no runs in 7 innings.

On the same night that Javy Lopez left the game against the Giants after fouling a ball of his leg, Johnny Estrada was hit on the hand by a pitch and left the park for x-rays. He hasn't been placed on the DL so far, so hopefully, it's not too bad.

Derrick Lewis has been demoted to Greenville, which had a open spot on their roster. Lewis had a 7.15 ERA for Richmond in 36 games. That's including 5 starts where his ERA ballooned to 16.07 and he posted a 2.57 WHIP. Eek!

Frank Castillo is maikng start #2 for Richmond tonight.

Chris Waters struck out 6 batters and didn't walk anyone, but he also allowed 4 runs on 7 hits in 7 innings. That gave him his 5th consecutive loss, and 8 out of his last 9 decisions have been L's. His ERA in those losses has been 5.27.

There's a doozy of a matchup tonight as Adam Wainwright goes against the Dodgers' best pitching prospect, Edwin Jackson. Jackson leads the league in strikeouts with 146 in 140.1 IP.

The MLBBie runner-up was 2B sleeper, Aaron Herr. Herr went 3-for-5 with a HR and is batting .435 with 2 HRs over his current 6-game hitting streak.

Matt Coenen did his best "Matt Coenen in April" impression and allowed 1 run on 4 hits in 6 innings. But he still let us know that was really just "Matt Coenen in June & July" in disguise by walking 6 batters.

Jeff Francouer went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and extended his hitting streak to 6 games. (.381/.458/.619 in case you wanted to know...)

Brian McCann has been stuck on 12 HRs for 32 games now. He's only hitting .246/.278/.341 over that span. But he's a catcher; give him a break.

Speaking of catchers, C.J. Bressoud has been working out with the Rome team this week. Don't get excited about the 26th-rounder joining the team just yet (or even next year). I'm sure it's more of just a proximity thing since he's from an Atlanta suburb.

Mike Mueller made a rare appearance last night. He's pitched just 5 innings this month.

Ben Thomas has gone 7 for his last 13 with multiple hits in his last 3 games.

Danny Collins allowed 4 runs on 8 hits in 5 innings yesterday. His strikeouts are way down in the last few starts. After whiffing 27 in his first 33 innings, he's struck out just 11 in his last 23.2 IP.

Brad Nelson always gives up runs in bunches. He's allowed a run to score in 9 games this year, and in 8 of those, it's been multiple runs. Perhaps, it's as easy as not letting him go 2 innings or more. In the 13 games when he has pitched less than 2 innings, he has an ERA of just 1.35. In games where he goes longer, it's 5.40.

Jo Jo Reyes bounced back from his poor start on the 15th and allowed 1 run in 6 innings. He's held opponents to a .205 average in 11 games.

 
Aaron Herr is listed as a "sleeper" in Baseball America's top 2B prospects. [Subscribers only]

Herr has a career OBP of .310.

Bill Shanks is reporting that John Ennis was claimed off waivers by Detroit. The Braves could've pulled him back but chose not to. Ennis posted a 5.56 ERA in 28 games for Richmond, was demoted, and made one good start in Greenville. His peripheral numbers were all similar to last year (although that wasn't a particularly great year anyway), except for his hits allowed which rose dramatically.

YEAR  ERA   WHIP   H/9  K/9  BB/9

2000  2.55  1.04   7.0  9.6  2.3

2001  3.58  1.13   7.2  9.4  2.9

2002  4.18  1.30   7.9  6.3  3.8

2003  5.45  1.58  10.8  6.8  3.4

Ennis was a 14th-round selection by the Braves in the 1998 draft. The Braves' 40-man roster now stands at 38.

 
This is more for the historical record than anything else, but here are your MLBBie winners for the last several days that I was away:

MLBBies for August 15
Tony Pena - 3-for-3, BB
Danny Collins - 6.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K

MLBBies for August 16
Kelly Johnson - 3-for-4, 2 doubles, HR
Adam Wainwright - 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K

MLBBies for August 17
Carlos Duran - 2-for-3, 3B
Macay McBride - 7 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K

MLBBies for August 18
Jarrod Saltalamacchia - 2-for-4, HR, BB
Ray Aguilar - 5 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K

And today's...

MLBBies for August 19
Scott Thorman - 1-for-2, HR, 3 BB
Anthony Lerew - 5.1 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 6 K

It's easy to forget that this is just Thorman's second full year of pro baseball. After missing all of 2001, Thorman hit .294/.367/.489 for Macon last year with a decent .11 BB/AB. This year, the average is down (.246), but the power, walk rate and strikeout rate are all about the same. And surprisingly he's actually showing more power at home in Myrtle Beach than on the road. Eight of his 12 HRs have come at Coastal Federal Field.

Lerew tossed yet another gem and lowered his ERA to 2.41 - tied for second-best in the league. Over his last 4 starts, he has a 1.52 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP. In what is I'm sure just a fluke of the scheduling, Lerew has started 15 games on the road and just 8 at home. Fortunately, he's proficient no matter where he plays. His has a 2.09 ERA in Rome and a 2.59 ERA on the road.

Ryan Langerhans went 2-for-4 last night and raised his AAA numbers to .302/.378/.523. I still believe the recent power is just a bit of a fluke. He's virtually tripled his HR rate since being promoted from Greenville. He now has accumulated 30 doubles and 10 HRs for the season which looks like it fits in with the rest of his career numbers. One more strikeout, and he'll set a career-high.

Wilson Betemit broke a 4-game, 0-for-13 streak by tripling in 2 runs. It was his 10th triple of the year (easily the best total in his career) and put him 2nd in the league in three-baggers.

Mike Romano has been a busy man. He's appeared in 3 of the last 4 games and has already totaled 5.2 IP in relief. He has yet to allow a run, although he was part of last night's walk-a-thon.

Buddy Hernandez allowed a run for the 3rd straight game. He's worked 67 innings so far this year - the most of his career. It's probably not a coincidence that his ERA in August is 6.35.

Greenville lost in the 15th inning last night with Kevin Barry, the 6th of the 7 pitchers used, picking up the loss.

Kelly Johnson walked 4 times in the marathon and is hitting .412/.500/.706 with 7 doubles in the 11 games since he came off the DL.

Tony Pena took his 23rd walk of the year yesterday and now has a robust (for him) BB/AB of .06. Sure, it doesn't sound that great, but since he came into the year with a rate of .03, his current propensity to take a walk is downright Bondsian.

Kyle Roat went 3-for-5 for Myrtle Beach which matched his hit total of his first 8 games with the team. He raised his batting average 90 points in one night.

Adam Stern is batting just .178/.265/.205 since coming off the DL earlier this month.

Yaron Peters went deep in consecutive games for Rome and now has 10 HR for the season. He's batting .357/.417/.595 since his return to low-A.

Willie James, who batted .237 in fill-in duty for Rome earlier in the year, went 3-for-5 to raise his average to just .172 for Danville.

Dominique Partridge hit his 3rd HR in a week. His SLG has gone from .291 to .351 in that time.

Justin Saltalamacchia, who I neglected to mention yesterday has been promoted to Danville, has started out 2-for-10 with his new team.

Over his last 5 starts, Sean White is 3-1 with a 1.33 ERA and has struck out 23 batters in 27 innings.

On the other end of the spectrum, Cory Blackmon has given up as many runs (7) in his last 6 innings as he did in his first 25 innings.

Since being no-hit in the first game of a doubleheader last Friday, Orlando has hit .308/.359/.466 as a team in their last 4 games.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia has a hit in 6 of his last 7 games and is batting .478/.520/.870 over that span.

Luis Atilano has an ERA of 2.00 and a WHIP of 1.04 over his last 5 starts. He struck out 7 yesterday, a season-high.

Jose Santiago seems to pitch every day now. And for good reason. He hasn't allowed a run - and just 3 hits - in over a month, a span of 11.2 innings.

 
I've got a page full of transactions that occured while I was gone. I'll go through those now, and the usual minutae will start up again hopefully tomorrow. Since I was out of town, my spreadsheet of stats is woefully out-of-date, but I'll get that current tonight.

Ok, let's start from the top. Atlanta placed Julio Franco on the DL yesterday after a freak weight-room accident required four stitches on the tip of his left middle finger. The Braves called up 1B/3B/OF Mike Hessman to take his spot. Julio has only started 3 games this month, so Hessman will probably spend most of his time as a pinch-hitter. The Richmond website overwrites each day's media notes, and CNNSI doesn't have the R-Braves' splits, so I'm not sure how Hessman does against lefties vs. righties.

When was the last time a player was replaced by someone 20 years younger? Maybe it would stranger the other way...

For Richmond, Mike Hubbard was activated from the DL, John Ennis was demoted to Greenville, Rontrez Johnson was suspended by the team for 3 games, and Frank Castillo and Mike Romano were both signed to minor-league deals.

Castillo's a 34-year-old right-handed starter who spent most of his career with the Cubs and Red Sox. He was released by the Red Sox at the end of last year and has been playing with the mighty Sacramento RiverCats, Oakland's AAA affiliate. Castillo was released by Oakland on July 30 after posting a 4.13 ERA in the hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. His main problem (and stop me if you've heard this before about other Braves' acquisitions...) is allowing too many baserunners. His WHIP was 1.44, and he allowed 12 HRs in just 96 innings. I doubt many of those were solo shots. He'll take Chris Fussell's spot in the rotation.

Romano is a former Blue Jay who had a 3 game cup-o'-coffee with Toronto in 1999. He's 31, a former 3rd-rounder in the '93 draft, and was signed out of the Mexican League. With Tabasco, he put up a 2.72 ERA and 1.33 WHIP as a reliever.

Greenville lost Greg Miller on the 16th when Ennis came down, only to get get him back yesterday when Matt Blank was released. Blank pitched 2 hitless innings for Greenville. Sorry, not good enough...

Brian Almeida was placed on Rome's DL with shoulder tendinitis. The 9 walks in 9.2 innings probably didn't help either. That move also allowed Ricardo Rodriguez to be activated.

And Robert Mason is officially on a rehab stint. It's kinda hard to tell the difference when you're already assigned to Orlando. Guess he'll be headed to Danville if his mystery ailment is ok.

 
I've got to head out of town for a few days to take care of some family business. No, it has nothing to do with the mob. The next blog entry will probably appear on Tuesday...

 
David Cameron at Baseball Prospectus has taken a detailed look at Jeff Francoeur. His comments will sound familiar to regular readers, most notably that Francoeur's primary weakness is his low number of walks. But in the last two months, the 19-year-old has already doubled his first-half output. And that, my friends, is the definition of progress.

With only a handful of games left to play this year, I'd say Francoeur has met or exceeded most expectations for his first full season. The interesting test will come next year at Myrtle Beach when he'll have to deal with a more difficult home park and more advanced pitchers who will go after his weaknesses.

 
Andy LaRoche, Adam's younger brother, signed with the Dodgers today after being drafted in the 39th round. According to Baseball America, his bonus was "equal to supplemental first-round money." Wow.

 
MLBBies for August 13
Dominique Partridge - 2-for-4, 2B, HR
Ray Aguilar - 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K

Partridge was taken in the 28th round by the Braves in 2001 out of a GA high school. He spent two years with Orlando and posted... I guess you could call them 'non-impressive numbers' - .250/.330/.321. He began this year at Danville and hit even worse over the first 2 months - .192/.246/.248. But after 400 career ABs, things seems to be clicking for him now. He has hit .341/.386/.477 in August with 2 doubles, a triple and a HR.

I've mentioned Aguilar enough times over the last week or two, so here's just what he's done since the beginning of June which covers 17 relief appearances and 2 starts:

45 IP, 30 H, 8 ER, 8 BB, 46 K. Or for the math-impaired: 1.60 ERA, 0.84 WHIP, 9.2 K/9, 5.8 K/BB.

MLBBies for August 14
Yaron Peters - 2-for-4, 2 2B
Matt Wright - 6 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K

Peters' first home game with Rome since the middle of June was a good one. He's now 8-for-30 (.267) since his demotion last Friday. Which sure beats the 19 hits he had in 112 ABs with Myrtle Beach.

Wright had plenty of control (or some willing hitters) last night as he struck out 9 batters and walked just one. He has an excellent 10.9 K/9 with Rome - a decent increase from his 8.6 K/9 in 13 starts at Myrtle Beach. The walk rate, which is what presumably got him demoted, is down as well - from 6.2 to 4.0.

Hitting Streaks
Gregor Blanco - 12 games

My lackadaisical attitude (actually my busy schedule) forced me to miss commenting on the end of Charles Thomas's 18-game hitting streak. He hit .408/.471/.645 with 10 doubles, 4 triples and 7 multi-hit games.

Adam LaRoche's 11-game streak ended last night. He batted an even more robust .425/.489/.625.

Mike Hessman had a 10-game streak that included 5 HRs.

Ryan Langerhans had 3 of Richmond's 4 hits last night. Even if those three would've been HRs, it still wouldn't have helped Jung Bong's AAA debut. Bong surrendered 3 runs in the first frame and 4 overall in just 3 innings of work. Chris Fussell, who may move to the bullpen to allow Bong to start, allowed 7 hits in 4 innings but just 1 ER.

On Wednesday, Travis Wilson walked for just the 8th time this year. I'm afraid that's going to put him out of the running for "worst walk rate of his career." He had a .018 in 2001. Currently, he sits at .023.

Greenville got swept last night in a doubleheader after being on the other end just the day before. Ray Aguilar and Dan Curtis led the way on Wenesday with a combined line of: 13 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 10 K. Things didn't go quite as well for starters Bryan Digby and Brett Evert last night: 7 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 4 BB, 7 K. This was Digby's 1st start of the year.

Matt Blank threw a scoreless inning in his Braves' debut on Wednesday.

Kelly Johnson is 8-for-18 since his return from the DL with a nice even .500 OBP.

Gregor Blanco has a .481 OBP over his current 12-game hitting streak.

With yesterday's outing, Zach Miner has now had back-to-back poor starts, allowing 15 hits and 12 runs in 10.2 IP.

In addition to Peters's MLBBie-winning performance, Onil Joseph, Wes Timmons, Jon Schuerholz all had 2 hits each, and Jeff Francoeur tripled and walked. Francoeur has now walked 9 times in his last 61 ABs.

I also missed commenting on Anthony Lerew's fine outing on Wednesday: 6 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 K. He now has a 1.47 ERA in August.

Jose Capellan is back off the DL.

With his HR last night, Danville's Jaime Hemingway has a hit in 9 of his last 10 games.

Sean White allowed an unearned run in 5 innings, and that dropped his ERA to 3.70 overall and 1.17 in his last 5 games.

Orlando was rained out for, I believe, just the third time this year. I predicted 12 rainouts at the beginning of the year, so I guess I should put my meterological career on hold.

 
Bill Shanks is reporting that C.J. Bressoud, the Braves' 26th-round selection, has signed. He had committed to play at Alabama whose classes begin next week. That means we should also hear something soon out of 5th-rounder Chris Vines who's also committed to the UA baseball team.

Shanks is also now saying that Kyle Bakker has signed as well. That one's a bit of a surprise, but it's good to hear. Bakker's stock fell after a mediocre '02 season at Georgia Tech, and the Braves selected him in the 20th round.

I hope to get yesterday's MLBBies and notes taken care of tonight, but if not, I'll make it up to you tomorrow.

 
Ugh. Well, the Reds' interim GM has confirmed that it is Matt Belisle who will be sent to Cincinnati for Kent Mercker. Why even go the PTBNL route if the identity of the player is going to be known two days later? Belisle was on the 40-man roster, so if the trade had simply been announced as Mercker-for-Belisle, then Cory Aldridge would not be in baseball purgatory right now waiting to see if he'll be claimed off waivers.

According to the Times-Dispatch, John Ennis will be sent back to Greenville upon Jung Bong's assigment to Richmond. Although as I pointed out yesterday, Richmond doesn't need to demote anyone since rosters expanded back to 24 on Sunday. If Belisle and Ennis both leave, then they'll actually be down to 22. (????)

If the Braves need someone to handle the intricacies of the transactions, I'm available...

 
Jung Bong has been optioned to Richmond to open a spot for Kent Mercker. It will be Bong's first appearance in the minors this year and his first go-around at AAA. Roberto Hernandez has been creatively placed on the DL to make room for Trey Hodges's return. Richmond now has a full, 24-man roster. As a side note, Greenville still only has 23 active players.

 
Would John Schuerholz really give away Matt Belisle for 2 months of Kent Mercker??? So says Baseball America. Yeesh. Just think what they could've gotten if they had an actual GM...

MLBBies for August 12
Adam LaRoche - 2-for-3, HR, BB
Andy Pratt - 7.1 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 K

I will toot my own horn a bit today as I subtly remind everyone that I placed LaRoche 7th on my 2003 prospect list. No one else had him in their top 10. Now I'll be the first to say that prospect lists are usually just guesses, but they're hopefully based on some facts. And I believe my inclusion of LaRoche was because I weighted OBP much higher than many others did. It's just so rare to see a player in the Atlanta system who's on base more than 35% of the time that I was giddy enough to place him that high. Here are LaRoche's year-by-year stats:

YEAR   AB    H  2B 3B  HR  BB    K   AVG   OBP   SLG

2001  471  118  31  0   7  30  108  .251  .305  .361

2002  423  134  26  0  13  46   75  .317  .389  .470

2003  411  120  27  1  18  55   98  .292  .376  .494

With about 20 games to go, LaRcohe has an excellent shot at finishing the year with 30 doubles and 20 HRs.

Pratt's another one that I had ranked pretty high, but I never expected him to have a strikeout rate as high as he currently does. His 9.5 K/9 would be the highest of his career since his days in the Sally League in 1999. He's also cut back on his walks as of late. He had a 4.9 BB/9 through his first 18 games, but it's dropped to 3.3 in the last 7 games.

I bet the Rangers would sure love to have him back...

Hitting Streaks
Charles Thomas - 17 games
Adam LaRoche - 10 games
Mike Hessman - 10 games
Jesse Garcia - 8 games

Ryan Langerhans hit his 4th HR in 18 games with Richmond. He had just 6 HRs in 94 games at AA.

Johnny Estrada broke out of his doubles drought. Before last night's, he had gone 13 games without an extra-base hit of any kind - easily his longest streak of the year.

Joe Dawley picked up save #20 for Richmond. He's allowed just 4 hits in his last 11 outings.

Well, Myrtle Beach managed a few more hits this time around, but they still lost their 16th game in their last 18 tries. I had a faithful reader who gets to see a lot of the team send me an e-mail with a laundry list of problems with the team. It ran the gamut from terrible baserunning and no plate discipline to misjudging fly balls and a general lack of concentration. For Pelicans' fans, it's probably not a lot of fun to watch these guys as a whole, but there are definitely some bright spots: Andy Marte's excellent all-around year, Gregor Blanco's .366 OBP, Scott Thorman's second-half resurgence, along with the pitching trio of Macay McBride, Dan Meyer, and Zach Miner.

McBride allowed 3 runs on 10 hits and a walk in 7 innings yesterday.

Luis Hernandez hit a HR last night which should've been big enough news to give him the MLBBie... except the voters are biased against weak-hitting defensive specialists. Hernandez's 4th extra-base hit in 277 ABs raised his SLG to .238.

The Rome News-Tribune did a nice piece on Onil Joseph today. It's kinda funny that it just happened to come on the heels of an 0-for-5, 4 K game for 'OJ.'

Jose Capellan pitched for the first time in two weeks, but it was Ryan Ewin who continued to impress. Ewin went 5.1 innings and has allowed just one run in his last 23.1 IP.

Charlie Morton had his first walkless game of the year. He gave up 3 runs on 7 hits and took the loss for Danville.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia has a hit in 8 of his last 10 games and has hit .406/.525/.625 over that span.

Manuel Bale, whose name really confuses the scorekeepers at Orlando, pitched 3.1 innings of relief yesterday and lowered his ERA to 3.38.

 
The Braves signed Kent Mercker today to try and help out the bullpen. He's at least got a better WHIP than Kevin Gryboski, Jung Bong and Roberto Hernandez although that's not saying much. Mercker's cost? A player to be named later. And someone's job in Atlanta.

Cory Aldridge has been designated for assignment which is a fancy way of saying they don't know what to do with him yet. This will remove him Greenville's roster - and from the 40-man roster so that Mercker can be added. Now, the Braves basically have 10 days to try to trade Aldridge or place him on waivers. His 2003 stats (.236/.303/.393) look eerily like his career numbers.

MLBBies for August 11
Steve Doetsch - 1-for-3, HR
Dan Meyer - 7 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K

No one had a really outstanding performance last night, but these two will have to do. Doetsch now has the sole lead in HRs for the GCL and is second in SLG. He's had a hit in 10 of his last 11 games and batted .367/.426/.694 over that span.

Meyer's just 2-4 with Myrtle Beach, but he's got a 3.52 ERA and has held opposing batters to a .281 OBP. His MLBBie gives him the league among pitchers.

Hitting Streaks
Charles Thomas - 17 games
Adam LaRoche - 9 games
Mike Hessman - 9 games
Jesse Garcia - 7 games

It was a bad night for hitting streaks, as Carl Loadenthal, Andy Marte and Ramon Castro all ended theirs.

Kelly Johnson has picked up right where he left off in Orlando. He collected two more hits and is 4-for-7 since his return from the DL.

Adam Wainwright pitched 6 innings and gave up 3 runs on 7 hits. He also struck out 3 batters. He made not have the Ks working, but he also didn't walk anyone for the first time in 9 starts. His current 2.3 BB/9 would be a career-best. His 3.4 K/BB is his highest since his initial 2000 season.

Those mighty Pelicans were one-hit last night, although they did total 4 whopping baserunners. Andy Marte's on-base streak came to a crashing halt at 31 games. He did make the 'Others to Watch' portion of the Prospect Hot Sheet though.

Yaron Peters has gone 4-for-18 with a couple of walks since his return to Rome.

Kyle Davies struck out 5 batters in 6 innings and remains in second place in the league in Ks. He's up to 126 IP, which is of course many more than he's accustomed to.

Matt Esquivel homered again. That makes 6 in the last 2 weeks and 10 overall, good for second on the Appy League.

Seven of the 12 outs that Roberto Nieves recorded yesterday were on strikeouts. That gives him 43 in 30 innings, a phenomenal rate of 12.9 K/9.

Dan Smith is back vexing GCL hitters. He tossed 3 scoreless innings yesterday and allowed one hit and one walk.

 
Greenville has activated Matt Blank from the DL. He was signed on August 3 and has been on the DL with a strained right forearm. It looks like he'll be used out of the bullpen, although one of the starters in their doubleheader tonight has not been announced. Hmm...