Beck's Minor League Threecap: 8/23/2024

The Braves keep getting away with it

Hey there, me again, still writing way deep into the evening. I’m not going to draw this out because it’s already late (and I’m running dangerously low on small-talk). The singular non-baseball thought I’ll offer is that Brooklyn 99 is a fantastic show in almost every way except for the intro music. It’s incredibly jarring and not at all the same volume as the rest of the show. Off we go!

All Drake No Joshing.

The Braves rarely have a highly-rated farm system but they seem to churn out big league regulars with outrageous regularity. The latest iteration looks like Drake Baldwin (ATL), a 2022 third rounder out of Missouri State who has found a fair bit of success in his first two years as a professional. He’s pushed his way back to Triple-A this year after getting a short vignette in 2023 as the Braves sought to get him some extra work after the High-A and Double-A seasons ended. Since landing in Gwinnett he’s managed a .312/.427/.497 line over 49 games, which is almost as exciting as his under-the-hood metrics. He’s running a 106.9 mph 90th EV (better than Dylan Crews), an 88.1% in-zone contact rate (better than Dylan Crews), and a 21.2% chase rate (better than Dylan Crews). You might be reading this and thinking ‘hey, maybe he’s better than Dylan Crews’, but that’s not what I’m saying at all. He was 2-for-4 with a home run on Thursday.

We’ve got another ‘remember that guy’ moment. George Valera (CLE) went 3-for-5 with a pair of home runs yesterday, all but forcing me down memory lane. He’s spent the entire year with Triple-A Columbus and currently owns a .248/.326/.450 line and a 28.5% K rate. He’s been hamstrung by injury throughout his minor league career, especially so in 2023, and has fallen out of favor rather rapidly as a result. There’s a little swing-and-miss in his game, but there’s still some value here. He’s not chasing wildly and he’s still hitting the ball hard.

Ale-Ale-Jandro.

I think it’s about time I shove Alejandro Rosario (TEX) into my top 100. Part of that has to do with the relatively low level of talent currently present in the minors but most of it has to do with the fact that he’s filthy. He’s pitched to a 2.29 ERA over 82.2 innings with a 37.4% strikeout rate and a 3.6% walk rate, which is positively unreal. He has a mid-to-high 90’s sinker with run but the standout offerings are his splitter and slider, both of which have proven lethal against Single- and High-A competition. His command has improved since his time as a Miami Hurricane and has in turn made his entire arsenal more effective. The Rangers haven’t been a paragon of pitching developing in recent years, but the recent emergence of both him and Kumar Rocker may have me singing a different tune soon. Rosario went 5.0 scoreless innings and struck out nine on Thursday.

GunLowder and Lead. 

I’ll take it. We got blanks from Rhett Lowder and Alejandro Rosario, nobody had more walks than strikeouts, and everybody but George Klassen logged at least 4.0 innings.

We’ve got some fun arms going on Saturday, though the slate is largely devoid of top-100 arms outside of Jackson Jobe. JR Ritchie and Bishop Letson are head-to-head, so that’s where my attention will be. Here’s what else to watch for:

• JR Ritchie (2.36 ERA) for the Augusta GreenJackets (ATL) at 5:00 ET

• Bishop Letson (3.02 ERA) for the Carolina Mudcats (MIL) at 5:00 ET

• Santiago Suarez (4.24 ERA) for the Charleston RiverDogs (TBR) at 6:05 ET

• Jackson Jobe (2.14 ERA) for the Erie SeaWolves (DET) at 6:30 ET

• Sean Sullivan (1.29 ERA) for the Hartford Yard Goats (COL) at 6:35 ET

• Robby Snelling (2.51 ERA) for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (MIA) at 7:00 ET

• Adam Maier (2.31 ERA) for the Rome Emperors (ATL) at 7:00 ET

• Samuel Aldegheri (4.97 ERA) for the Rocket City Trash Pandas (LAA) at 7:05 ET

• KC Hunt (3.38 ERA) for the Biloxi Shuckers (MIL) at 7:30 ET