Braves Minor League Recap: Vaughn Grissom continues to surge

The Atlanta Braves minor league organization struggled badly on the day. They lost four of their six games and two or fewer runs in three of them. In addition to that organization’s best offensive prospect continued his season-long struggles and one of their best minor league starters on the season had arguably his worst start of the season.

(30-39) Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 2, (30-40) Gwinnett Stripers 6

• Vaughn Grissom 2-5, 1 2B, 2 RBI, 1 K
• Braden Shewmake 0-3, 1 R
• Allan Winans, SP, 7 ⅔ IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 2 R, 1 BB, 7 K

Vaughn Grissom led the day for the Braves as highlighted above. He continued his fantastic June raising his average on the month to .318 with his 12th and 13th RBIs of the month. Every batter for the Stripers was able to pick up a base knock except for Shewmake who had his eighth hitless game of the month. Forrest Wall went 1-4 with a walk and three strikeouts which was his fourth consecutive game in which he’s had multiple strikeouts and second in a row with three.

Starter Allan Winans was once again dominant. His start against the Jumbo Shrimp was his third of the month in which he went seven plus innings and allowed one or fewer earned runs. 67 of his 99 pitches went for strikes and he faced the minimum three batters in five of his seven full innings. After Winans, the bullpen came in and slammed the door shut with Brian Moran and Grant Holmes combining to throw the final scoreless inning and a third.

(22-42) Birmingham Barons 5, (31-32) Mississippi Braves 2

• Jesse Franklin V 0-4, 3 K
• Drew Campbell 3-4, 1 RBI, 1 K
• Alan Rangel, SP, 5 IP, 6 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, 4 K

Despite picking up seven hits, five Braves batters went hitless, and they only were able to scratch across two runs. Drew Campbell led the team in hits and was the only player to pick up an RBI for the Braves with the other run coming across via a balk. Tuesday’s game was Franklin’s eighth consecutive game with a strikeout and third straight with multiple K’s. Catcher Tyler Tolve went 1-4 continuing his hot hitting June where he has hit .293.

After a strong May in which Rangel allowed one run in three or fewer starts, this was his fourth start of the month where he allowed three or more runs. His four walks were tied for the most he has allowed in a start this season. Despite the lack of an impressive stat line though he did force 15 swinging strikes which indicates that his stuff was above average against the Barons.

(29-35) Rome Braves 1, (34-29) Jersey Shore BlueClaws 5

• David McCabe 3-4, 1 BB
• Drake Baldwin 2-5, 1 K
• Cedric De Grandpre, SP, 4 IP, 9 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K

The Braves somehow racked up 11 hits but only were able to score one run. They left 12 batters on base and went 0 for 9 with RISP which helps explain the overall lack of success in terms of run production. After a strong couple of games Ignacio Alvarez is now 2 for his last 13 and he was caught stealing for the fifth time this season. Besides McCabe, Kadon Morton also had a big day at the dish going 2-4 with two doubles.

Turns out De Grandpre is human after all. After a torrid start that saw him post a 1.95 across his six starts at Single-A, he’s struggled at the AA level. He’s six earned runs across his three starts for the Braves in which he’s gone past an inning. Defensively the Braves were terrible as they racked up five errors two of which were against Kadon Morton including one to the BlueClaws leadoff batter. Jose Montilla came in for relief De Grandpre in the fifth allowing two inherited runners to come across. After those two scored, he allowed a run of his own over two innings.

(30-33) Augusta GreenJackets 2, (27-36) Delmarva ShoeBirds 3

• Ambioris Tavarez 0-4, 1 BB, 3 K
• Justin Janas 2-4, 1 RBI, 1 K
• Jorge Bautista, SP, 7 IP, 4 H, 3 ER, 3 BB, 4 K

Tavarez is starting to raise questions as to whether or not he should be demoted. He’s now struck out 13 times in the month of June with multiple strikeouts coming in six of his seven games this month. Outside of Tavarez, 24-year-old Bryson Worrell is also deep in a slump as after today’s 0-2 showing he is now two for his last 26 with 12 strikeouts over that span. The GreenJackets as a whole were only able to pick up five hits and went 3 for 13 with RISP in addition to leaving 10 runners on base.

Jorge Bautista did everything necessary to get the victory but walked away with a loss. His control wasn’t strong yesterday as he walked three and had 38 balls compared to 50 strikes. He gave up two homers, which have been a minor problem for him this season having now allowed seven on the year across 54 ⅔ IP. Ronaldo Alesandro rebounded from a poor outing last time out pitching a scoreless eighth inning where he faced four batters.

(7-5) DSL Dodgers 13, (2-10) DSL Braves 9

Luis Guanipa continued his mini slump going 0-3 meaning he’s 2 for his last 12. He did pick up two walks, with this being just the third game in which he’s drawn a walk and the most he’s had in a game this year. Carlos Monteverde had the best game amongst Braves hitters going 2-3 with two RBI’s.

(5-6) FCL Red Sox 4, (5-7) FCL Braves 8

Diego Benitez went 0-4 in the game, which was just his third game of the season in which he went hitless. Douglas Glod went 1-3 picking up two RBIs in addition to a walk and strikeout. Strikeouts continue to be a problem for Glod as it was his 11th game out of 12 with a punch out.