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Braves Prospects: Ian Mejia dominates again

Theo

If you’re an Atlanta Braves fan, or maybe just an Augusta GreenJackets fan, your TGIF could refer to nothing more than a love for GreenJackets starter Didier Fuentes. Fuentes looked great, at least for one round until rain ended the night for Augusta. But there’s a lot more to watch for in the Braves’ system starting Friday, including a standout outing from (surprise?) Mississippi Chief of Staff Ian Mejia.

(18-18) Gwinnett Stripers 4, (14-22) Charlotte Knights 2

The score of the box

Statistics

  • JP Martinez, RF: 1-3, RBI, .293/.371/.455
  • Forest Wall, DH: 2-3, 2B, BB, RBI, .310/.444/.448
  • Allan Winans, SP: 6 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 3.27 ERA

It wasn’t the most dominant performance from Allan Winan that we’ve seen this season, but he was nonetheless effective as he allowed the Knights to hit weak contact for much of his outing until ‘They arrive late. Winans’ fifth inning saw him leave his secondaries above the plate too often and Charlotte was able to chip in, although overall, even though Winans didn’t have his best idea to bury the changeup and slider , he was able to avoid disaster. That type of pitch probably doesn’t work against big league hitters — Charlotte has the third-lowest OPS in the International League — but he made it work Friday to keep Gwinnett in the game.

The Stripers’ offense, for its part, did enough to earn this victory and overall this season, when they score four or more points, they are 13-5. This is a fantastic pitching staff, but a truly terrible offense that fortunately faces a pretty bad pitching staff on the Charlotte side. Knights starter Jonathan Cannon – who locals may recognize from his time with the Georgia Bulldogs – started strong, then completely lost his feel in the final innings of his outing. Gwinnett surged, stringing together hits in a three-run fifth inning, including a 106 mph double from Forrest Wall. Wall has been by far the leader of this offense since returning to Gwinnett, and he was everywhere Friday, reaching base three times and accounting for two of Gwinnett’s runs.

(11-20) Mississippi Braves 8, (15-15) Rocket City Trash Pandas 0

The score of the box

  • Nacho Alvarez, DH: 1-5, 2 RBIs, .284/.397/.333
  • Drake Baldwin, C: 2-3, BB, RAP, 2 RBIs, .232/.306/.293
  • Keshawn Ogans, 3B: 2-5, 3B, RBI, .202/.260/.247
  • Ian Mejia, SP: 5.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 9 K, 2.02 ERA
  • Rolddy Munoz, RP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 4.91 ERA

Ian Mejia’s dominance this season and a nine-strikeout performance gives him the Southern League lead in total strikeouts. While last season Mejia’s good games often depended on his ability to locate, get ahead in counts and deceive hitters, this season he has racked up swings and misses at a high rate. His slider allowed the Trash Pandas to see ghosts on Friday, and he forced a total of 19 whiffs. His ability to place his slider in absolutely perfect spots consistently has separated the field from others with similar moves, and this season he has placed himself on another level. Fortunately for Mejia, he also received some rare help from the Mississippi offense, as they ran for eight points against Rocket City.

I mentioned in yesterday’s game how Nacho Alvarez has been getting a lot of contact lately, so of course he struck out two in this game. Alvarez had a bit of trouble against Trash Pandas starter Chase Chaney’s curveball as it was the pitch that both whiffed on the first strikeout and locked him in as he watched the ball go down to the middle for number two. Alvarez would eventually get his revenge against Chaney, spinning a fastball into the infield half for a two-run single in the sixth inning. Drake Baldwin reached base four times in this game, a desperately needed performance considering his -2 wRC+ in his previous 11 games. Baldwin has struggled with pitch selection all year, as he hasn’t found consistent power on his fastball, although there has been a slight increase in contact in the month of May for him. Rolddy Munoz has taken the system by storm this season and added a three-strikeout performance Friday to give him eight in his 3 2⁄3 innings since promotion. Munoz largely leads the system with his 46.6% strikeout rate this season, a number that ranks in the top 1% of minor league pitchers.

(16-13) Emperors of Rome 3, (17-14) Cyclones of Brooklyn 6

The score of the box

  • Sabin Ceballos, 3B: 1-4, 2B, RBI, .232/.347/.293
  • Kevin Kilpatrick Jr., CF: 1-4, .280/.338/.424
  • EJ Exposito, 2B: 2-4, 2B, RBI, .286/.356/.649
  • Drue Hackenberg, SP: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 5 K, 3.90 ERA

This was another Drue Hackenberg outing where the strikeout ability we expected from him wasn’t there, and so far this year he’s put up a surprisingly high walk rate of 15.1%. . The biggest problem with Hackenberg is his tendency to land with his front half closed, forcing him to work his entire body. That, coupled with his arm often being late in his delivery, has caused quite a few consistency issues this season, and he was certainly struggling with his landing spot on Thursday. It’s a problem that dates back to his days at Virginia Tech, and the Braves seem to be trying to fix it and get him more in line toward the plate and I have a feeling some of his issues are just adjusting to trying to get comfortable with the changes to her delivery. This is when you hope his athleticism can take over and allow him to make those adjustments.

Overall, it hasn’t been a completely terrible start for Hackenberg, as he mostly missed horizontally (all year) and was able to keep his sinker in the bottom half of the zone and force a lot of balls on the ground. This allowed him to escape without giving up huge innings with extra base hits contributing to poor line drives, although yesterday his defense let him down and Rome committed four errors total. Two of them would come in the tenth inning of that game, leading Rob Griswold to allow three unearned runs in the 6-3 loss. Rome’s offense was primarily driven by a two-run third inning, where we got a rare extra base hit from Sabin Ceballos. There certainly can’t be much complaining about Ceballos’ success rate on goals this season, although I’m sure many would be thrilled if he started lifting the ball more consistently to strike for power again. Even that double wasn’t much of a show of strength, as he bounced a ball down the third-base line that skipped over the bag and into the corner. EJ Exposito showed some power, and he hit one down the warning track the opposite way for a double to score Ceballos. Exposito has ten extra-base hits in his last 11 games, putting up a 270 wRC+ over that span.

(14-15) Augusta GreenJackets 2, (11-18) Myrtle Beach Pelicans 0

SUSPENDED

The score of the box

  • Didier Fuentes, SP: 1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 2.50 ERA

This match ended up starting and then being suspended very early, and it’s a real shame for Didier Fuentes. Fuentes had his best first inning of the season with his two strikeouts, as he was able to regain a feel for the zone earlier than we’ve seen in previous starts. Fuentes took seven whiffs in his only inning of work. Although this is his second trip to the league, he is the sixth youngest pitcher in the Carolina League to pitch this season, and he has held up pretty well. He improved his strikeout rate slightly to 24.6%, while also reducing his walk rate by almost two percentage points to get it to 8.7%. However, he definitely fills the zone with a real sense of command. While Fuentes is in the high 90s with his fastball, his arm speed is a plus and I can see him adding velocity as he matures and continues in the Braves’ program. He definitely has a better feel for his fastball location than where he was on Opening Day, as he just hasn’t seemed quite ready to come out of camp, and in his last three starts , he had 12 strikeouts (32.4%) and 3 walks (8.1%) against 37 batters faced.

(0-5) FCL Braves 8, (4-1) FCL Rays 15

The score of the box

  • Mario Baez, SS: 1-4, BB, 2 RBIs, .235/.316/.235
  • John Estevez, LF-CF: 1-4, 2B, .214/.421/.429
  • Douglas Glod: RF: 1-5, 2 RBIs, .188/.278/.188
  • Marco Patino, SP: 1.2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 4 BB, 1 K, 16.20 ERA

The FCL Braves experienced an offensive breakthrough for the first time this season, accumulating eight points against the Rays affiliate. But still lost. It’s no surprise to see this team struggling – they’re one of the youngest teams in the league and were built primarily off promotions from last season’s DSL roster. Starting pitcher Marco Patino had a rough day on the mound with four walks in 1 2⁄3 innings, but those struggles aside, he actually appears to be a relatively interesting branch, at least when you consider that he actually started in the Florida Complex League last year as an 18-year-old. Patino walked just six batters in 25 innings last season, and this is his first experience as a starting pitcher as a professional. On offense, 17-year-old John Estevez continues to be the guy who has hit well all season, as he adds a double to his ledger for his second extra base hit in five games.

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