The Dynasty Digest: August 23, 2024

Chris breaks down all the action from across the Minor Leagues.

I took in a game between Greenville and Rome last night, which was a pretty sloppy game all around, but I did get my first look at former Braves’ second-rounder Blake Burkhalter. Miguel Bleis did some good things as usual and I talked about why you should not fade him.

Let’s get to the reports from yesterday’s action.

Live Looks

Blake Burkhalter, RHP, ATL, 23, A+

After being selected in the second round of the 2022 MLB Draft out of Auburn, Burkhalter pitched just 4.2 innings before blowing his arm out and needing Tommy John surgery. A dominant closer at Auburn, the Braves are developing Burkhalter as a starter now that he is back healthy.

Burkhalter tossed five innings of two-run ball on Thursday, striking out three and walking two. The strike-throwing was inconsistent at times, but Burkhalter still landed 67 percent of his pitches for strikes during the start.

Having a heavy cutter profile, Burkhalter threw it often, sitting in the upper 80s and touching 91 at times. The cutter sometimes morphed into the slider with more sweeping action when it sat at the lower side of its velocity band.

The fastball sat in the 93-95 range all start. The shape is pretty does not stand out but the velocity when it is located well allows it to play. Burkhalter also threw a changeup in the low-to-mid 80s with good arm-side fade.

Considering this is Burkhalter’s first year back from Tommy John, he has progressed pretty well. Sure, he has not missed bats at a high level, but I do think he can find that. If the Braves can differentiate the slider and cutter more and give him four pitches, this could become a really intriguing arsenal.

Are the Braves building him up as a starter for trade value? Maybe. But Burkhalter is pretty interesting, especially with a full offseason of work ahead of him entering 2025.

Miguel Bleis, OF, BOS, 20, A+

Another day of defending Bleis despite the numbers looking.. not so good. Last night he walked and added a single, but had two hard-hit balls that ended up right at left fielder Stephen Paolini.

Since joining High-A, Bleis is slashing .189/.259/.309 with just five home runs and 17 stolen bases. The BABIP is quite telling, as Bleis is running just a .214 mark after sitting north of .300 for most of his career.

Bleis has run contact rates that are slightly above average and has consistently hit the ball hard, registering a batted ball of 113 mph this year. He pulls the ball consistently and gets plenty of lift. I have seen the infield fly ball rate as a reason to be out on him, but I can attest that the number you are seeing just is not accurate.

If you want to completely jump ship based on a sub-200 plate appearance slash line, I get it. But Beis has elite bat speed, and is an impressive athlete. He just turned 20 years old in March. He plays a strong centerfield. I will hold steady on my rank of him, even if the box score in High-A looks bad.

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