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Ronald Acuna Jr. got seven innings in the field and recorded four at bats for the Gwinnett Stripers, and in that time he looked fantastic. Acuna had a first inning single and two more hard hit balls while also being active on the defensive end. Ha-Seong Kim also had a hit in his rehab appearance.
(48-47) Gwinnett Stripers 4, (42-52) Iowa Cubs 7
- Ronald Acuna Jr., RF: 1-4, .222/.333/.222
- Ha-Seong Kim, SS: 1-4, 2B, .265/.342/.382
- Patrick Clohisy, CF: 3-4, 2 2B, 3B, RBI, .565/.600/1.130
- Herick Hernandez, SP: 3 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 4 BB, 1 K, 8.31 ERA
- Hayden Harris, RP: 1.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 5.00 ERA
It was a solid day for Ronald Acuna Jr. at the plate and it was also the most he has been tested defensively. Acuna is obviously not putting his best effort out there in the field or on the bases to avoid aggravating his hamstring, but a few times he had to chase down fly balls in right field and he was able to do so safely and with little trouble. He shot a single through the left side of the infield in the first inning, and after a double from Ha-Seong Kim and a ground out from Carlos Santana he was able to come around to score the Stripers first run. He reached on an error in the second inning, then in his final two at bats had similar outcomes. In both cases he hit hard fly balls to center field, but he just got under them both too much and they fell harmlessly for fly outs. Acuna’s timing at the plate looks good and he is making solid contact, and though the Braves have reason to be patient with his return it also wouldn’t be a surprise nor the first time if they made the push to bring him up very soon. Kim hit the ball decently as well, just missing a home run in the second inning on a fly ball that died at the wall in right center field. Patrick Clohisy had another huge day at the plate with three hits — all of them for extra bases — and it’s incredible the start he has gotten off to at Gwinnett. He has hit safely in all six games at Triple-A with four multi-hit games and eight extra base hits, and he is suddenly in the top five in the system statistically. With numbers like that there is clearly an element of luck involved, but Clohisy has just been flat out good even if you take variation out of the equation. Dating to the last month or so of his time in Columbus he has been hitting the ball the hardest he has in his career and really making an impact on the pull side more often. He has managed to make the jump to Triple-A and so far is not having issues with the increase in pitching quality, maintaining the low whiff rates he has had throughout his career, and everything lately seems to be coming off of his bat hard.
For as much positive as there was on the hitting side of things in this game, Herick Hernandez added negatively on the mound. Hernandez didn’t really have command of any of his pitches and was consistently missing his locations up, and for someone who relies on fastballs up in the strike zone that meant a lot of times he was just missing wildly above the zone. This has been the experience with him throughout his professional career, with flashes of brilliance and other days where he can’t find any sort of rhythm with the strike zone. He is one of the few pitchers in the system that has the talent to imagine him in a key rotation roll in a distant future playoff run, and that intrigue carries his profile, but there is so much room to improve his command and so little you could tweak without messing with the quality of his pitches that it’s difficult to see him in a consistent starting position. Even with his problems though he is one of my favorite prospects in this system and a joy to watch work when he is on, and with a team that shuffles through arms the way the Braves do he is going to get his shot.
Swing and Misses
Herick Hernandez – 6
Hayden Harris – 4
Blake Burkhalter – 3
Connor Thomas – 3
(42-43) Columbus Clingstones, (46-43) Pensacola Blue Wahoos POSTPONED
(43-45) Rome Emperors 2, (55-33) Frederick Keys 10
- Tate Southisene, SS: 0-4, RBI, .230/.365/.397
- John Gil, 2B: 1-3, BB, .249/.343/.383
- Eric Hartman, LF: 0-4, .272/.357/.532
- Owen Carey, LF: 2-4, RBI, .262/.328/.439
- Cade Kuehler, SP: 4.2 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 2 K, 5.54 ERA
It was a troublesome game for Cade Kuehler even if his issues didn’t fully take form until his final two innings. From the first pitch Kuehler was having trouble commanding anything, and coughed up a leadoff home run after going down 3-0. The next nine outs came under shaky footing and a boatload of missed locations, and in the final two innings his luck wore thin. Kuehler gave up four runs, including a two-run home run that chased him from the game. Kuehler had that promising stretch of play in May that has gone quickly to the wayside as his command just is not good enough to get him the results he needs. He never has blow up games with regards to walks, but the consistency with which he allows baserunner and then makes mistakes over the plate that get hit hard is making good outings hard to come by. Kuehler has good enough secondary stuff to miss bats, but he rarely gets to it due to his issues commanding everything, and he often leaves sliders up in the strike zone that get crushed.
It was a quiet day at the plate for the Rome lineup, though it was only just so in the first inning. The Emperors had two infield singles in the inning that they weren’t able to cash in for runs, even though Eric Hartman barely missed taking advantage. Hartman had a nuke that drifted foul, another hard hit liner that just missed the right field line, and then hit a sharp liner to dead center field that the defender got a great jump on and was able to track down to avoid it falling for extra bases. Hartman would end up hitless in the game, extending his quiet streak at the plate. Though he still shows the power he has all season Hartman hasn’t had multiple hits in a game since June 28th, though if he keeps hitting the ball hard it’s going to happen sooner rather than later. Owen Carey was the only hitter in the lineup who had multiple hits in this game, and though he hasn’t really had a sexy streak of play this month he has been steadily producing for the Emperors. Carey is hitting the ball solidly and still spraying line drives everywhere, and beneath the big numbers of the guys ahead of him he has still produced well for a guy his age in this league. His power is progressing as hoped and Carey’s real remaining issue is that he just isn’t drawing enough walks yet to get on base at a high clip.
Swing and Misses
Cade Kuehler – 5
Tyler Schoff – 5
(50-41) Augusta GreenJackets 7, (38-52) Salem RidgeYaks 4
- Luis Guanipa, CF: 1-4, RBI .301/.357/.454
- Conor Essenburg, RF: 1-2, BB, 2 RBI, .254/.399/.459
- Alex Lodise, SS: 2-4, 2 2B, .258/.340/.479
- Davis Polo, SP: 6.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 3.84 ERA
It may have been rainy and Augusta may have needed a late rescue by the weather, but they were able to hold on and get the win behind good work from Davis Polo and a big offensive day. Alex Lodise had a couple of big swings in the game, though he also ended his game with two more strikeouts. In the first inning he smoked a single past the shortstop for a base hit, and after the left fielder bobbled the ball Lodise was able to get around to second easily with a double having never stopped at first base. His next time up Lodise hit a missile into center field that would have been a home run in most parks, but with the high walls in Salem he had to settle for just another double. The endpoints on this are arbitrary, but over his past 27 games Lodise is now up to 21 extra base hits following this game. Every bit of contact he is making is hard contact, it’s just that he hasn’t done a whole lot yet to improve on the swing-and-miss issues that have kept him from really breaking out this year. Conor Essenburg had a nice night at the plate with a walk in the first inning and a late-game hard hit single into left field. For a period there Essenburg was cutting back on his swing-and-miss just a bit though that trend has largely leveled out with him still showing extreme whiff rates. His age works in his favor here, but his whiff rates are staying on the wrong side of 30% which is a major concern for him. He draws a ton of walks and has the exit velocities to get away with that, but he is going to remain limited in his projections until he shows a better hit tool. We’re in an era though where guys with his profile are finding themselves much more valued at the plate and some of the top hitters in the league have elevated strikeout rates, but these are not problems you want to see at the Single-A level and typically only start getting worse at upper levels. Essenburg’s raw potential is off the charts and he has the ability to be an impactful hitter, but he’s on the razor’s edge right now where even a small regression in his contact could make a huge difference in his outcomes.
Davis Polo was terrific in this game, and if the weather didn’t become a factor late he very well had a chance to finish the full game. Polo didn’t rack up strikeouts in this game, but that was due to the RideYaks being extremely aggressive on his fastball the first time through the order. Despite the ugly weather Polo was lighting up the strike zone with his fastball and the RidgeYaks kept going after borderline pitches and htiting ground balls, leaving Polo at only 23 pitches through three innings of work. The next three innings were a bit more standard as Polo worked deeper into his bag and had to labor more as the RidgeYaks got some hits, but Polo’s slider was on point throughout the outing and his changeup was as good as its ever been. Relying on those two pitches he was able to escape a couple of tricky situations, but the game got slippery in the seventh inning. An error on a poor through and an infield single on a ball that squirted away from Cooper McMurray at first base ended Polo’s day with only one out, and Kade Woods struggled in relief. Woods gave up a grand slam to take a chunk out of the Augusta lead and then walked the next hitter, though thankfully the rain got too heavy to continue and the GreenJackets weren’t forced to try to pitch even more through unsafe and unfair conditions.
Swing and Misses
Davis Polo – 12
Kade Woods – 3
