Talking Chop's Minor League Player of the Week: Lucas Sims

In our final installment of 2015 of our Minor League Player of the Week series, we had several strong candidates. Rio Ruiz, Mallex Smith, Brandon Barker, Austin Riley, Luke Dykstra, Steve Janas, and Connor Lien are just a few of the many names that could justifiably be given the honor. However, this week we are naming a player who could have very easily won the award last week (and his league DID in fact give him their weekly honors). With that in mind, congratulations Lucas Sims on being named our Minor League Player of the Week. Just to highlight exactly how good Sims has been of late, we first look to our own @BraveMiLB (Garrett Spain)

Sims last 5 games 0.61 ERA 32 K 15 H 11 BB 29.2 IP

— Braves Farm Updates (@BravesMILB) September 4, 2015

Thats an impressive stretch to say the least, but there are signs that he is getting even better as time goes on. In his two starts this past week, he pitched 13.1 innings, gave up a total of one earned run, 8 hits, and 3 walks (which is definitely a positive sign for him) while striking out 12. Mississippi has certainly needed him to step up as well given that they are trying to make the playoffs and he is certainly doing his part (as for the bullpen....well....). There is no denying that since his promotion to Mississippi, something has clicked for Sims. He doesn't always have perfect control, but he has seemed to harness his excellent stuff more as his recovery from the Carolina Mudcats crash has progressed during the second half. Maybe he just needed the confidence that he gained from his promotion, maybe his physical recovery just took longer than one would have hoped, or maybe he is just a very young player who is finally putting it all together. Just as a little bonus, here is some video of Sims doing Sims things this season.