What would you say if a guy asked you, “Do you have tickets to tonight’s game?” while walking up to a Low-A stadium? What would you do if you said no and kept walking, but the guy continued to follow you repeating the question? My roommate and I were a bit confused, but realizing he wasn’t going to let us go, we stopped, said “no”, and listened. As it turned out, he was handing out bags with free tickets and stuff in it, so we got in for free. Cool. I just wish the guy had approached with “Hey, I’m with the company sponsoring tonight’s game. Do you have tickets already because I have some to give away?” That would have prevented the weird looks and awkward situation, but we got free tickets. Whatever. On to what I saw.
Rome Braves (Low-A Atlanta Braves)
The Braves have some interesting but raw prospects at this level. Caleb Brewer started the game and put up an impressive line (8 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 7 K), but he isn’t a high-end prospect. He has a very simple delivery that’s compact and mechanically sound. At the beginning of the game, he landed stiffly and left his pitches up as a result. His fastball sat 88-90 (mostly 88), touching 91 a few times, and scraped 92 once. He also threw an impressive breaking ball that was 79-80 mph with good downward movement. Brewer had trouble throwing it early because he wasn’t finishing his delivery, but as the game wore on, he started throwing it better and more often. Most of the seven strikeouts came at that point. He didn’t throw anything else of note and looks to be bullpen fodder as a middle reliever.
Offensively, the team isn’t impressive, but there are a few guys of note. Matt Lipka, the Braves’ 2010 first-round pick, was 1-4, but he didn’t look good. He’s well built but had trouble barreling the ball, and considering his lack of power thus far against his body, I’d say there are some hand-eye coordination issues. He took a lot of defensive swings and made the pitcher work, but he never seemed comfortable swinging the bat.Christian Bethancourt is a raw catcher, but he was impressive in this one. His two hits came off curveballs, and he drew a walk, while going to three balls in another at-bat. The first curveball was a hanger that he lined back up the middle, but the second was a much better curve down that he still lined up the middle. When Delino Deshields, Jr. tried stealing on him, he showed off his arm and nailed the runner. My only concern was what I saw in some small areas. While in the bullpen, he would constantly catch the ball, swing his arm behind his back, and drop the ball trying to show-off a bit, and later in the game, he threw a couple back to the pitcher that didn’t make it to him. His focus needs some work, but I can see why people like him.
Edward Salcedo has his fans, but he had a rough night in this one. He constantly dropped his back shoulder, popping up 2 balls, and he later made his 21st error of the season. He’s impressive physically, but he definitely still has stuff to learn. The most interesting thing involving him in this one was between the innings, however. Byrdzerk, the mascot brought in for entertainment, got him to dance with him, and when Salcedo got into it, Byrdzerk grabbed his glove and ran. It could’ve been scripted, but Salcedo was a good sport about it either way.
Evan Gattis and Jakob Dalfonso were the offensive stars in this one. Gattis nailed a couple doubles, but at 24, he’s entirely too old for the level. Dalfonso, however, showed off some power with a well-hit double and home run. At 21, he seems like a guy to pay attention to.
Lexington Legends (Low-A Houston Astros)
The Houston Astros farm system is as devoid of talent as the major-league roster, but there were a couple guys to notice. Carlos Quevedo started the game, but he wasn’t impressive. His mechanics were a little weird. As he started his forward momentum, he dropped his back shoulder and seemed to put forth quite a bit of effort. Unfortunately, that delivery only produced an 86-89 mph fastball, but it did create some deception that had batters behind his fastball early in the game. The second time around, however, the mediocre stuff got hit hard as the deception faded. He also had a curveball at 76 that was pure garbage for the most part, but he located it better later with a little movement. He’s 6’1” and stocky, so he probably is what he is, which isn’t much.
The only other guys worth mentioning were the three first-round picks playing. Jiovanni Mier, the 2009 first-rounder, was unimpressive. Offensively, he seemed to have trouble picking the ball up, and he never made much of an aggressive swing or good contact, mainly just survival swings. Defensively, he made an error, but he failed to make two other plays that he should have. He’s still young, but he’s repeating the level. I hope I just saw him on an off-night.
Delino DeShields, Jr., one of two 2010 first-rounders, didn’t do much in this one. He drew a walk, but he did nothing else offensively. He never really even had much of a good swing. When he got on base, he tried to steal, but a combination of a barely decent jump and Bethancourt’s strong arm saw him nailed at second. Because of the myriad of fly-ball outs in this one, he never really got a chance defensively. He looked the part of the prototypical slap-hitting lead-off man.
The second 2010 first-round pick was Mike Kvasnicka. He had a nice simple swing, but he doesn’t seem to use his lower half much, which won’t help his power. He made a rather awful error at third, but he otherwise looked okay there. Still some work to do, but he wasn’t terrible. He’s not young at age 22, so that power is going to need to develop quickly.
