In a not so surprising move, the Braves promoted 4 of their Top Prospects to Gwinnett, the last stop before their unis hit MLB Shop. Cristian Pache, Drew Waters, Ian Anderson, and Tucker Davidson will be getting some up close and personal looks from the Braves brass to determine their readiness for the Major Leagues. Whether it be for this year as a September call-up, or next year for a longer stint, there’s little mistaking the timing of the move. These guys have performed above expectations in Mississippi and need a new challenge.
In my opinion, the Andruw Jones rule is in effect here and if any of these guys were to catch fire at Gwinnett, they could see September and October at Suntrust. In my personal rankings put out at midseason, Pache was ranked 1, Waters 2, Anderson 3, and Tucker 12. If I were to re-do my list now, the 3 at the top would remain in place while Tucker would squeeze in to number 9. Here were the write-ups on the 4 players:
Cristian Pache– Could be following RAJ’s footsteps as it isn’t too big of a stretch for Pache to become baseball’s #1 prospect come May of next year if he gets promoted to AAA and continues hitting. The last skill needed to show was power and it is here.
Drew Waters– Still needs to develop the RH swing, but he’s right behind Pache in talent.
Ian Anderson– Walking a bit too many but has been a K-monster since the end of April racking up 95 in 69.2 innings.
Tucker Davidson– Another Driveline guy that added velo, Davidson sat low-90s and even high-80s last year, but now is pumping mid-90s regularly and has been a consistent force for Mississippi. There’s an argument to be made that he’s surpassed Wentz as a prospect, but I’m sticking with Wentz due to pedigree.
Final Thoughts
Tucker Davidson might have the best shot at getting that September call-up due to his handedness. The Braves are down to one real dependable left-handed pitcher in the bullpen and that is Sean Newcomb. If Tucker proves effective at Gwinnett, he could be a left-handed bullpen option that gets a serious look in September.
Long live Braves Journal!
Thanks, Ryan C.
Most excited about Ian Anderson. Hope we get to see him in September.
AA not screwing around with Gausman. Love it!
Pache’s power isn’t really the issue. It’s the contact and the walks. His 7.9% walk rate is nearly double what it was last year, but it’s still barely acceptable, particularly given that he still strikes out three times as frequently as he walks.
Using the MLE calculator below, his Mississippi line translates to a major league line of .257/.307/.457. You’d really love to see him improve the first two numbers before calling him up.
Elite defense with a .764 OPS. Sign me up tomorrow.
Thank you, Ryan C. Teach your children well.
I’m happy for all but, like timo, have great expectations for Anderson.
I hope Anderson gets the walks under control. I had such high hopes that Wright would be efficient on the mound. We need starters who are only 70 pitches into a game going into the 7th inning and not cruising to 100 by the end of the 5th.
Anderson has cut the walks down to about 2.5 per 9 in his current torrid stretch. He was keeping a 6+ clip through mid may but has been much better since then (and the strikeouts have gone up to an inconceivable 13 per 9 over the same span!)
Excluding a one inning stint, before the Futures Game, Anderson has started 20 games. In the first ten, he pitched 48 innings and averaged 5.6 walks and 11.4 K’s. In his last ten, he’s pitched 62 innings and averaged 2.5 walks and 12.5 K’s. He’s definitely trending in the right direction.
I caught 2 Mississippi games last week and Pache looked tired with a lot more arm in his swing than he had back in late April. Acuna wore down at the end of his meteor year as well IIRC.
The NL competitors keep dropping like flies. The Cubs can’t keep anybody well.
Soroka ought to like the weather tonight. Plus closer to home. We will see.
JC’d
August 5, 2019 at 3:24 pm
During the 4 game series with the Reds i was blacked out so had to settle for AtBat…ugh. For the last game my wife (i/c IT, you choose more carefully the third time around) said she had an idea she was going to pursue. Within 15 minutes there was the game, such excitement.
AVG provides our basic internet security. She downloaded from them a VPN (Video Personal Network), rented @ $79 a year, usable for up to 5 devices. You tell this gadget you are in North Dakota or anywhere that is outside your blackout area. And off you go, no more blackouts.
Knowing the nerd ratio on this blog (94.7%) I have little doubt i will now be swamped with smartass missives saying tell me something new, I did this in ’08, my one is free, yours will only work for a week or two before they nail you, etc.etc.
My point is no one told me, yet i’m telling you. Aint I nice. Say thank you
Speaking of I-Told-You-Sos, Craig Kimbrel just went to the DL, and y’all told ME so.
Dayamn.
Alex Anthopolous is a wizard among mortals, it seems.
Updated: To think that the Cubbies signed him to a 3-year deal. I’m glad that’s not us. “Knee inflammation” yup…
Help me with the Gausman deal. I don’t understand how we could send him to Cincinnati after the July 31st trade deadline given the new rules. We just DFA him and he goes to the 1st team willing to pick up the remainder of his contract?
@13, I was coming to ask the same question. Isn’t there supposed to be something transactional between the two teams once Cincinnati claimed him off waivers? Or does he just step from one clubhouse to the other, everything stays the same?
Special announcement coming tomorrow! If you’re a Braves Journal regular, you are not going to want to miss out!
@TD
Yup. That’s how it works. Revocable waivers has been shot into space and now, a claiming team of a player that’s been DFA’d assumes the full contract is the player. There’s 0 negotiating.
Yep. They just take him and he gone.
So there’s no such thing as revocable waivers anymore? If the Braves wanted to pull Gausman back after the Reds claimed him, they couldn’t?
Ahh, okay, reading further…I guess there isn’t! Interesting stuff. It’s pretty weird to be rid of not only Gausman but his entire remaining contract without any fuss.
I think he’s worth the 3MM risk for a team like the Reds.
You gotta wonder what Cincinnati is thinking on this one, but I guess that’s a problem for Reds Journal. They really did the Braves bean counters a solid here.
RE: Kimbrel…talk to me in October. Too early to declare that a bust.
@18
Best I can tell, revocable waivers is still a thing…it’s just that now there can be no trades off of it after July 31. We can put players on revocable waivers and anybody can claim them. If we decide we don’t want to get rid of them after all, we can pull them back. But anybody claiming is on the hook for all of their remaining salary, and there’s no negotiation between the teams.
Now with no trading off of it, the only reason you’d put someone on revocable waivers would be that you’re trying to get rid of them, so I don’t see why you’d pull them back.
If Gausman had been designated for assignment, they’d have had to announce it, so it wasn’t that. We speculatively put him through revocable waivers, Cincinnati claimed him, and we said, “Here, take him.”
OK, now I’m seeing stuff that says you can’t revoke the waivers if claimed. If they make it all the way through and don’t get claimed, you can keep them, so you don’t have to designate for assignment, but all waivers are now irrevocable.
I dunno…I wish MLB would’ve put out some sort of definitive primer on the new rules for fans. No one seems to know what the hell is going on.
I would think the value for Cincinnati is in the option for next year. If they are able to fix him or he fixes himself this year and turns into 2018 Gausman next year, they have a high value contract. If they can’t fix him, he walks at the end of the year. Correct?
Yeah I guess he’s probably insurance against Alex Wood not coming back. But the Reds have like 7 starters already. Gausman isn’t cracking that rotation unless he massively improves. But their pitching coach is fantastic, so it wouldn’t be that shocking.
@11
Alex…you mustn’t be so hard on yourself re Kimbrel. Or perhaps you should. But you were in good company, most of our upper tier here were also on board the good ship Lollipop. THREE years…YES!
Braves sign Lucas Duda to a minor league deal.
I hope y’all are ready to hear Chip and the beat writers wax on and on about how great Minneapolis is for the next three days.
The Braves forgot Kevin…
I asked for 6 years and barely got three
interminable wait, my delayed apogee
now my body is breaking, a piece at a time
I so loved Atlanta- my name up in lights, back in my prime.
I like Frenchy, but B-R does exist. “Chipper was great as a DH” is just wrong. .254 790 OPS (both well below his career numbers) simply do not justify that statement. He was worse as a DH.
WOW! What a catch by Duvall!!!
It’s official. I want to resign Donaldson. Heading to first mid-pitch is funny.
@28 That was great video… sigh….
I love how the Braves work good pitchers. If they could just get a timely hit every now and then, we’d never lose. But Odorizzi with over 60 pitches in 3 innings and 0 runs scored. Same as Gray almost.
I bet the Braves give Donaldson a QO so they at least get a high pick if he goes elsewhere.
If he stays up the whole rest of the season, do we pick up another year of control with Folty due to the optioning?
Soroka getting BABIPed
Oy, mike missed his spot badly there and it cost him.
Well, phooey. Guess we’ll have to score some runs.
Aren’t we due for a little BABIP? For crissakes, four 2-out singles (two rinky dink IF). It’s ridiculous. Camargo should have charged that ball instead of waiting for the bounce. In theory, Camargo should have cutoff Ozzie on the first IF single and got that out.
FREDDIE!!!
That’s what you get for pitching behind Freddie….. even if it was an accident.
Love Freddie, but we’ve been the solo shot bandits lately
I think that’s the last step for Soroka to take toward ace-dom – limiting those balls in play. Can’t get BABIP’d if they don’t get wood on it.
Upping his K/9 from current 7.42 to something closer to 10 would make a mighty fine rotation anchor.
Good lord Acuna has a cannon!
What a play by RAJ
Can’t see Acuna going back to left field.
Is it me or do the Braves keep giving up two out, no-one-on runs lately?
Might want to stop with first pitch strikes every hitter… sucks because he was so unlucky last inning.
All the runs with 2 outs.
@44 That’s not the kind of pitcher he is and never will be. Remember that Maddux only had one season with K/9 above 7.0 (7.8) and mostly had between 4.0-6.5 k/9 in his career. The key is pitch mix and hitting your spots. He missed with the Kepler HR.
Camargo just fought off… an 0-0 pitch.
@51 – I sure hope you’re wrong, Roger. I think there’s certainly room in his game to up the strikeouts. Could add a pitch to the mix. Could improve the command and hit a few more corners. Could just be getting more experience.
The Maddux comparisons will always be unfair to anyone – there’s really only been one Greg Maddux (why he’s my favorite pitcher). What it misses too is the current strikeout levels league-wide. If Maddux were pitching today I guarantee he’d have an extra K per game.
Look at the top 20 pitchers in baseball right now. Only pitcher other than Soroka with a K/9 in the 7’s is Ryu who is having a bizarre, wonderful year in an all-time pitcher’s park.
We should stop trading with Baltimore.
The BJ Surhoff trade was one of the most boring trades I can recall. That guy hated every minute of playing in Atlanta.
JOSH DONALDSON YOU MULLETED SCAMP!
Where’s Ender?
Oh. Quad. Gotcha.
Ump sucks.
I hope Greene gets a chance tonight. He has faced MIN and not let them have anything.
Nice game, Mike. You be Greg Maddux if you choose. I approve.
Sorry to interrupt what’s been a terrific game, but what’s this “how this pitcher has done against the NL East” stat? Talk about a completely arbitrary sample!
ugh… Camargo
Please come back soon Dansby!
Camargo needs to find the bench
@59 LOL….. at least I talked about how Greene has done against this team….
Is anyone really surprised Johan hit into a dp?
This is one of the worst strike zones I have ever seen.
I am joining the group of people who are ready for a robot strike zone.
Good job, Melancon.
Dat cutter is nasty.
Thought Oz found a gap.
Welp.
You guys haaaaaaaad to replace Luke Jackson, didn’t ya?
Fitting the game ended with more of that opponent two-out, no-one-on magic.
Relievers from hell.
More two out runs….
Nice aquisicions, AA.
Wish those BS infield hits had been avoided.
And go away, Johan.
New-look bullpen has been AWESOME so far.
Seriously though, I’m not worried about the BP long term, but the last few games haven’t been awe-inspiring.
Relief
Pitchers
Are
Fungible
Offense has lost the last couple games. We pitched well tonight. The lineup is just not as deep right now. Sitting Riley is a mistake, imho.
Gotta say I saw that one coming. There was nothing wrong with our relief pitchers, the Twins are just leading the mlb in homeruns for a reason.
On that note, I’m not sure if starting a guy whose biggest problem is homeruns for his 1st ml start in a while is a great idea.
I cannot fathom why the Twinkies are so good this year, but I’ll feel a whole lot better about tipping my cap to them for Game 1 if we can cream them tonight and tomorrow.
@80 Take a look at their pitching stats. Prototypical Weaver team – outstanding pitching and a bunch of HRs.
I’ve been waiting for this series since the Braves haven’t played anyone with a better record in a while. I hope we can win the next two, but this may be a preview of how the Dodgers series is gonna go.
I want to believe we’re ready. Current statistics say we’re ready. But we aren’t quite playing at the ready level. Outside of the Twins and Dodgers, the vast majority of our games will be in division. I’m quite sure we’ll be able to stay ahead of division foes, but I’d like to see us compete against the best, too.