Braves Minor League Preview: About a month to go

We are officially in countdown mode on the 2022 minor league season as we enter the last month or so of games (for the most part). We will start to see minor league regular seasons end on September 11th for the Rome Braves and Augusta GreenJackets, then a week later the Mississippi Braves’ regular season will end, and finally the Gwinnett Stripers finish up at the end of September. Postseason shenanigans are still TBD, but we will keep you posted.

Gwinnett Stripers (58-59)

Last week: 5-1

This week: at Lehigh Valley, August 23-28

After a good week last week, Gwinnett draws Lehigh Valley this week and we should continue to see rehabbing Braves in Gwinnett. Mike Soroka continues his road back from two Achilles injuries and it is entirely possible we could see Ozzie Albies begin his rehab at Gwinnett fairly soon as well.

Mississippi Braves (52-61)

Last week: 3-2 (rain)

This week: at Birmingham, August 23-28

After rain caused all sorts of issues for Mississippi last week, they head on the road to Birmingham to try and get things sorted out. Drew Lugbauer continues to hit homers for Mississippi even if the hit tool leaves something to be desired. Keep an eye out for Dylan Dodd. It is likely that his start got skipped last week because of the weather, but it would be nice to see him take the mound to put any doubt to rest there.

Rome Braves (67-45)

Last week: 2-2 (rain)

This week: at Bowling Green, August 23-28

Another team that is probably ready to not have weather causing havoc is Rome who heads out to Bowling Green for a six game stint. With all of the promotions of late, Rome’s pitching staff is a bit barren, but Royber Salinas remains an interesting name to watch as he has been among the MiLB leaders in strikeouts for a while and had a nice bounceback start last week. We are also pretty interested to see how Geraldo Quintero and Brandol Mezquita continue to adjust in high-A after successful recent debuts.

Augusta GreenJackets (58-55)

Last week: 2-5

This week: at Myrtle Beach, August 23-28

It was a tough week for Augusta last week and now they head to Myrtle Beach who ahs looked far more mortal in the second half than in the first. AJ Smith-Shawver hasn’t pitched since he left his 8/5 start early, so we are keeping an eye out for news there and would love to see him back on the mound. Kadon Morton had a strong week last week both in the field and at the plate including a pair of homers. He has some real athleticism and defensive ability, so hopefully he finds some sustained success at the plate to close out the season.