Filed under: Minor League Prospect, Random Aspects | Tags: Chipper Jones, Jordan Schafer, NL Player of the Week
As an opener, congrats to NL Player of the Week Chipper Jones! Way to go there Larry.
On another note, there’s more development with Jordan Schafer who is apparently truly a beast, or still on HGH (for those with a sense of humor). In the Mississippi Braves game June 6th Schafer hit two homeruns, a 3-run in the first innning and a solo in the third to help propel the Braves to a win over the Mobile BayBears.
If I passed Schafer on the street I wonder if I’d realize he was older than me. He really doesn’t look much past 16. . .
So I know…this makes four blogs, but I just saw a commercial for a show “Playing for Peanuts” it’s about Minor League players playing for much less cash than those in the Majors and an inside look. It appealed to me and it might appeal to some of you, so catch it on CSS Sunday at 11 p.m. You can bet I might be writing something about it.
Filed under: Minor League Prospect | Tags: MLB Draft 2008, Philadelphia Phillies
While the Braves are looking foggy (and soggy, hah) in the third inning against the Phillies, I’m going to go ahead and sum up the rest of the Braves 2008 Draft selections.
Anthony Rendon – Short stop from Lamar High School in Texas.
Quentin Cate – Right-handed catcher from Cuesta College.
Josh Moody – Southpaw from Western Nevada Community College.
Chris Shehan – Right-handed outfielder whom I had the opportunity to watch play with Georgia Southern University and I have to say I was impressed. He’s a junior though so of course it’s debatable whether he will continue school or entire the league.
Jason Stolz – Short stop at Kell High School in Ga.
Pat Lenton – Right-handed pitcher at Minnesota State Universtiy at Mankato.
Justin Fowler - Right-handed pitcher at Texarkana Community College.
Matthew Price – Right-handed pitcher at The Walker School, a high school in Ga.
Zack Osborne – Right-handed pitcher from New Mexico Junior College.
Berry Tanner – Right-handed pitcher (okay this is wearing me out..) at Ware County High School in Ga.
Lucas Hileman – Oufielder (about time, by the way.) from Anna-Jonesboro High School in Illinois.
Jeffrey Richard – Another player I’m quite familiar with hailing from the Southern Conference Coastal Carolina University, and of course he’s a rihgt-handed pitcher.
Taylor Wulf – Right-handed pitcher from Alvin Community College.
Jesse Wierzbicki – Another mouthful of a last name, who plays catcher at Walters State Community College (sounds a bit familiar, right?)
Ian Gilley - Short stop (by the way is that, or is that not two words? My AP Style book was left stupidly hours away from me.) at Northside Senior High School in Arkansas.
Stephen Foster – Southpaw from Bellevue Community College.
Adam Bullard – Right-hander from Gardner-Webb University which is situated right between Charlotte and Atlanta, in a roundabout way.
Taylor Hart – Right-hander from Madison County High School in Ga.
Nick Croce – A catcher (okay, so scratch what I said earlier about them not especially looking for catchers) from Mission Bay High School in California.
Matt Harrison – Shortstop (?) from Green Valley High School in Nevada.
David Walters - Right-hander from Francis Marion University.
David Holman - Right-hander from Andale High School in Kansas.
Joshua Adams – Right-hander from Midland Valley High School.
And last but certainly not least,
Dylan Lightell – A go figure, what a way to close it all, a right-handed pitcher from West Hills College.
So we’ll soon see who decides to sign and who decides school is a better option. I was really excited to see two guys I went to high school with get drafts from the Philadelphia Phillies, whom are still winning in the top of the fourth by the way, and the other being drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals. I felt so in the know.
But for now back to the game…and if you’re lucky I’ll blog about the game later…four posts in one day might equate a blog overload though. God, can you tell I’ve had the day off yet?
So I wrote last Friday about a monster home-run hit by Rome (A) Braves DH, Cody Johnson in the ninth inning in their game against the Asheville Tourists.
The Asheville Citizen-Times newspaper tracked down the ball . . . a whopping 515 feet away from home plate. I am amazed.
The article says that the home run is likely one of the longest ever hit at McCormick Field (which for you movie buffs was used in “Bull Durham”).
“That’s the furthest one I’ve ever seen hit here,” said
Asheville manager Joe Mikulik, now in his ninth
season with the team. Johnson homered well past the
center-field wall off reliever Craig Rodriguez in the
11th inning of a 5-2 Rome win. The following day, the father
of Tourists center fielder Michael Mitchell retrieved a
baseball, believed to be the one off Johnson’s bat,
from the parking lot adjacent to Memorial Stadium.
That means his moon shot had to cross a black fence
separating Memorial Stadium from McCormick Field.
The barrier stands about 460 feet from home plate,
according to calculations made using the Google
Earth program. And the parking lot in which Johnson’s
ball came to rest? Try 515 feet. Mitchell’s dad gave
the ball to a kid during Saturday’s game. Dorland Winkler,
who has been regularly attending games since the late 1960s,
said that before Johnson’s blast,
he’d never seen one land on the Memorial Stadium plateau."
I know he’s a DH, and I know he hasn’t performed up to expectations, but I’m still thinking there are some pretty big things in his future and we shouldn’t forget the name.
Filed under: Minor League Prospect, On the Road | Tags: Chipper, Diaz, DL, Gregor Blanco, Hudson, Infante, Jo-Jo Reyes, Joe Simpson, Kelly Johnson, Soriano, Teixeira
Braves have started the road trip off right with not only a loss, but a one-run loss at that.
On the slightly brighter side though, it wasn’t a bad game for the Braves. Hudson did pitch well, going as deep into a game as he has this season and holding the Brewers to two runs. Braves left several men on base, however; and had the Braves taken advantage of RISP perhaps the outcome would have been different. The only two runs scored by the Braves came off of two solo homers by KJ and Blanco.
I loved the blip on Kelly Johnson by Joe Simpson on the broadcast. Apparently when asked why Johnson’s offense had changed so drastically in, oh say the last thirteen consecutive games where he has found hits, the only straight answer that Simpson could get from him was that for the first two months of the season Johnson said he didn’t have drapes on the windows in his bedroom; so maybe the light waking him up so early was depriving him of sleep. So glad to hear he’s on the up swing, now I can wear my Johnson shirt without jeers.
In addition, kudos to Gregor Blanco, or George White as Hudson calls him. Blanco hit his first career home run in his first at bat. Who knew Blanco would be this useful during the season back in Spring Training?
Tonight the Braves will face right-hander Jeffrey Suppan, lead by Jo-Jo Reyes. Suppan’s era of 4.47 is partnered with a 2-4 record. Fairly similar is Reyes sitting at 2-2, having had a very disappointing last appearance for the Braves against the Diamondbacks allowing seven runs in five innings. Hopefully the team can pull it together, and who knows, maybe this will be the game where Soriano will reappear in the bullpen.
Matt Diaz, was placed on the DL after crashing into the wall down the left field foul area, creating room for Soriano. In Diaz’s absence, in combinations with Kotsay missing sizeable time for a stiff back Bobby said that Omar Infante could be seeing a great increase in playing time and Blanco could be seeing an everyday starting position.
Let’s all hope that tonight Jo-Jo comes in ready to go (notice I ignored the temptation to say go-go) tonight and pitches stronger than his last outing and gets the Braves back on track!
Filed under: Minor League Prospect | Tags: Frank Wren, Jason Heyward, Rome Braves
Late last week I mentioned watching Jason Heyward, who plays for Single-A team, the Rome Braves. In the pre-game show, Frank Wren discussed the outlook for Heyward saying that he could definitely be considered a player considered to fill the role of Mark Teixera if the Braves do not reach an agreement with him. Wren said that Heyward had not exceeded the club’s expectations because they had anticipated him to be an extremely strong player, he only said he supposed that Heyward was doing better, faster than planned. He’ll still need a year or two, but Wren said he is definitely someone the club is looking to end up in Atlanta at some point.
Right now, Heyward is a star in Rome. With the team in last place in their division, 16 games back and with June only right around the bend it’s hard for Rome fans to not already be throwing in the towel. Heyward is one reason to keep watching, however. WIth six homers, 24 RBI, 8 stolen bases, 38 runs, 14 doubles, and a batting average of .330 Heyward is a keystone to the Rome production.
I was interested to hear talk of him at least twice around the Majors, after watching him last Friday was the first time I had really noticed how good he was.
May 25, 2008 3:53 PM | Link to this
If Campillo can’t make next start (too early to know just yet), Bobby said didn’t know what he’d do, but mentioned Charlie Morton again. And Bennett, but said he might be too valuable in ‘pen.
Courtesy of : O’Brien’s AJC blog discussion today
Filed under: Minor League Prospect | Tags: Cody Johnson, Connor Graham, Freddie Freeman, Jason Heyward, Javier Dominguez, Jeff Locke, Rome Braves
Due to the embarassment the Atlanta Braves suffered tonight I’ll spare them the criticism and recap and will instead focus on the Rome Braves (A) win 
Top to bottom: Jason Heyward, Jeff Locke pitching
Tonight I took advantage of the ability to go watch 2006 2nd round draft pick Jeff Locke pitch against the Asheville Tourists. The Tourists are a Single-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. I expected a show from Locke and was impressed with his power, but his placement and ability was not complimented by the catcher Javier Dominguez, who let go of too many balls to count.
The game was a fairly even match of pitching, however. Connor Graham was the starter for the Tourists who with tonight’s 5-2, 11-inning loss fall .5 game back in 2nd place in the SAL Southern Division. Meanwhile Rome rests dead in last place, with a 15-32 record. And they say the Braves have an amazing farm league? I must have caught them on a good night.
Throughout nine innings the Braves and Tourists both only scored two runs. Finally in the eleventh inning the game was closed with back-to-back homers coming from Freddie Freeman and DH Cody Johnson.
I won’t lie, I went to the game to see Locke and Johnson and was incredibly disappointed that Johnson has resumed solely the position of DH. Johnson was a 2006 first round draft pick from Southport, Fla. and was built up to be one of the “next generation Baby Braves”. However, a very disappointing 2006 season has caused Johnson to have to rebuild his reputation ever since. A blogger got a pretty cool interview with him.
FYI Johnson has the fourth largest bonus in the Braves Organization’s history, according to Baseball_America. In front of Johnson are Francoeur in 2002, Matt Belisle in 1998 and Jung Bong in 1997 (Who the heck is that by the way??). Anyway, with all of this build-up I was hoping to see the outfielder in more action than at the plate.
Injuries set Johnson back, and apparently he’s still fighting to regain his PT. In a radio_interview Johnson discusses going from one of the top prospects to the bottom and fighting his way back up. It is necessary to keep in mind though, Johnson’s young. Turning 20 in August, Johnson got a few claps in Asheville as he gave the Braves their last run of the night with a crushing solo homer.
Apparently Johnson has taken up golf in the off-season (so apparently he’s familiar with one of the unofficial prerequisites to entering the Major League Clubhouse) with his pitcher roommates Jeff Locke and Chad Rodgers (who was coincidentally the 3rd round draft pick in 2006, travel in packs much?). In addition, another random fact, Johnson claims to hate needles and taking pills so maybe with him we won’t have to worry about Jordan Schafer no. 2?
I still have faith in the kid’s redemption, and he definitely rewarded me with the amazing homer; I was simply glad to see at least one Braves’ victory tonight.
Filed under: Minor League Prospect, Uncategorized | Tags: HGH, Jordan Schafer, Mississippi Braves, Suspension
With the inconsistency the Braves have shown this season, or rather their consistency in inconsistency? For the first time I’ve been watching their Farm League fairly close.
During March, while watching Braves Spring Training, it was hard to not take notice of the smaller kid with a bigger swing. Braves no. 1 prospect Jordan Schafer was turning heads and rumors of him serving as the team’s center fielder in 2009 started circulating.
April 8, right after the season had commenced, Schafer made headlines once again, but this time in a very negative, HGH-tinted light. At the time Schafer was playing with AA-Mississippi and was suspended for 50 games.
The problem with the story ever since has been that Schafer never tested positive for HGH. According to the AJC Schafer was reported via the League’s new anonymous hotline. Which appears overly convenient to me. In addition, with a gag rule placed over Schafer’s head all the public was told of his side of the story was “It’s not what it seems…you don’t know the whole story…” Well truly then, feel free to share.
Yet it doesn’t seem like fans are going to hear that story for a while still. At the end of April Schafer was portrayed as a downtrodden and forlorn individual when speaking out for the first time, once again printed in the AJC.
“I feel like I let down my teammates, and I let down the organization,” Schafer said. “I don’t want the organization to get the wrong impression of me and say ‘Well he’s a bad kid now, we don’t want him’ or ‘Trade him.’ I want to play my whole career in Atlanta. The organization has been great to me. I want people to think the same of me.”It makes me want to know “…the rest of the story” as Paul Harvey would say. I hate to quote something without the backup but I can’t find it now (go figure), in a blog there was speculation that Schafer became a target for refusing to “out” one of his fellow teammates. Yet, I find that so outrageous. The day I start watching Japanese baseball religiously is the day the MLB starts creaming good talent for political matters.
But off my tirade, May 31 will be Schafer’s first eligible day to return to the ballpark. Currently Schafer is not with the MIssissippi Braves, and throughout the month of April his father commented that they weren’t sure what they were going to proceed in doing. All I know is confidence he showed in Spring Training might be a little lower now.
I’m still eager to see what he has, and if the performance he had in 2007, in the Arizona Fall League, and in Spring Training will continue. I mean, good grief the kid spent $90,000 of his $320,000 signing bonus on a ProBatter Sports high-tech pitching machine. In the April edition of ChopTalk magazine Schafer gave readers an indepth look at his work out which included a variety of different types of bats, and hours and hours of time.
Maybe all the hardwork wasn’t paying off fast enough, or maybe his 176 hits (leading Minor League baseball last season) and the 49 doubles, 10 triples and 15 homers weren’t enough?
Whatever it was , whether we get the full story or not I believe the performance of Schafer when he returns will tell fans all they need to know. Either Schafer will crumble with lost confidence or he will just keep shining
I’m pulling for the latter, personally. (Even though he does look a bit like a tool in the picture.)
Filed under: Minor League Prospect | Tags: AJC, Atlanta Braves, Charlie Morton, David O'Brien, Richmond
“…Cox said [Morton] could get consideration if there are injuries this spring or later in the season. The Braves want Morton in the Class AAA Richmond rotation to build innings.
“Ideally, he’ll make about 20 starts in Richmond and be ready to go,” Cox said.”
So that was the spring training verdict of Charlie Morton, courtesy of David O’Brien of the AJC.
http://www.ajc.com/sports/content/sports/braves/stories/2008/02/26/braves_0227.html
So if we stick with what Bobby said leaving the gates, we’re halfway almost half way there.
