Braves fall 6-3 to Tigers in Spring Breakout Game

JR Ritchie, Garrett Baumann, and Didier Fuentes let it rip – all touching the high 90s with their fastball

MLB’s Spring Breakout series continued today with today featuring the Atlanta Braves and the absolutely stacked Detroit Tigers featuring the top farm system in baseball headlined by Max Clark.

The Braves countered with the following lineup:

RF – Carlos D. Rodriguez
SS – John Gil
2B – Luke Wadell
C – Adam Zebrowski
3B – David McCabe
1B – Drew Compton
DH – Nick Montgomery
LF – Owen Carey
CF – Luis Guanipa

SP – JR Ritchie

In the first JR Ritchie came in pounding the zone featuring a fastball that sat 97-99 and a fantastic changeup and got the dynamic trio of Clark-McGoingle-Liranzo 1-2-3. It was effortless velocity for JR who is looking to have the first full season of his career. He located his fastball well, throwing it around the zone and kept the hitters at bay with a sharp changeup that had great movement.

After a quick bottom half of the inning, JR came out for his second inning of work and found some quick trouble with runners on first and third with zero out. The fastball velocity dropped a bit, sitting more in the mid-90s that we are accustomed to seeing from him. He gave up the first run of the game after getting Brett Callahan to ground into a double play courtesy of a great play by John Gill who looks like he will absolutely be able to stick to shortstop. After allowing another single in the inning, JR got out of the inning by inducing a groundout by Bryce Rainer.

The Braves would respond in the bottom half of the inning after David McCabe worked a 2-1 single to center, took second on a wild pitch, and scored on Drew Compton’s single. We then got our first look at 5th round pick Nick Montgomery, who is slotting in at the DH spot, who quickly struck out on three pitches.

The Tigers would strike again, at the top of the third, off of a fatiguing Ritchie. JR’s secondaries began to elevate in the zone, with his fastball staying too low in the zone. He would give up a run but ultimately leave the game trailing 2-1. Overall, JR showed why the Braves chose him so early in the draft. He showcased a plus fastball, a plus changeup, and a potential plus slider – with his command of that slider lagging just a bit behind. He looks like a player you want to go out of your way to watch on an every start basis.

After a relatively quick bottom of the inning, which was unfortunately highlighted by John Gil being picked off at second by Max Clark after he strayed too far away from the base, it was Garrett Baumann’s turn to take over the mound for the Braves. It was a struggle, command wise, for Garrett as he simply didn’t have command of any of his pitches but he did show a lot in his outing. Garrett sat in the high 90s with his fastball, including touching 100 MPH on the radar gun. We all know about his plus changeup, but Garrett also showed a solid slider that had really good horizontal movement but he struggled to really locate it. As a result of the poor command the Tigers would add on a pair of runs and push their lead to 4-1 in the fourth inning.

The Braves would start the bottom of the fourth with an Adam Zebrowski walk but then would get mowed down by Tigers pitcher Jaden Hamm – getting David McCabe to fly out, Drew Compton to fly out, and striking out Nick Montgomery. Garrett Baumann would come back out, after being relieved by Rolddy Munoz, and it did not go well as he would load the bases with 1 out including a pair of walks. He was then relieved, again, this time by Luis Vargas who struck out a pair, but also gave up a bases loaded single that would extend the Tigers lead to 6-1. The Braves would fail to respond in the bottom of the inning as Owen Carey, Luis Guanipa, and Carlos D. Rodriguez would quickly be retired Hamm once again.

With the score now 6-1, Elison Joseph came in to the game and absolutely dazzled. He struck out a pair, and induced weak contact by the third. He showed his absolutely dynamic fastball/slider combination, which when commanded well are absolutely major league worthy. Joseph forced six whiffs on seven swings, with the only contact being a foul pop up that was grabbed up for the second out.

Concern set in during the bottom half of the inning, when John Gil hit a roller out to shortstop. Gil, as he does, tried to use his speed to beat the throw down the line, but pulled up close to the base with what appeared to be some lower body discomfort. He walked off under his own power and didn’t seem to be drawing too much attention in the dugout, giving us a bit of hope that it was just a cramp. Gil was replaced by Lizandro Espinoza as part of a slew of changes in the top half of the seventh inning. Luke Waddell had a single in the sixth inning, but was stranded at first base.

Didier Fuentes got his turn to pitch in the top of the seventh inning, and despite overthrowing early in the inning had perhaps the best outing of the day.. He hit one batter up high near the helmet, though he was also blowing fastballs by Tigers hitters when he was locating. Fuentes struck out the side, all swinging, with five total whiffs. He mostly sat around the mid-90’s, but dialed a couple of his fastballs to 98/99 with that electric carry that makes his fastball so effective. His sweeping sliders also looked strong, finishing off the final batter of the inning, but perhaps the most impressive development was his strikeout pitch to the third batter he faced. After getting ahead on fastballs Fuentes dropped in a rare changeup, burying it just below the zone at 84 mph. If Fuentes can show that average changeup more often he could go to the next level this season and take a place in the top 10 in the system.

Atlanta finally got back on the board in the bottom of the seventh, with Nick Montgomery getting the inning started with a single. Montgomery had looked rough early in the game, with his lengthy swing giving him trouble against much more experienced pitchers, but in this one he took a pitch and bounced it down the first base line for a single. After he was taken off the bases on an Eric Hartman force play, Hartman advanced on a wild pitch to set up Ethan Workinger. Workinger bounced one over to third base, which skipped past the defender into left field and allowed Hartman to score Atlanta’s second run.

Fuentes returned for another inning in the eighth, and started out with a terrific defensive play. On a slow roller to the right side Fuentes busted it to first base, and was able to reach back and nab a poor throw from first baseman Will Verdung and find the base for the first out. Max Anderson was able to get to Fuentes for a single, and Fuentes found himself behind the next two hitters 2-0, but locked in when he needed to. He battled back to get to 2-2 before a perhaps generous called strike three earned him the second out, then again fell behind 0-2, fought back even, and finished off the inning by blowing a 95 mph fastball past Carson Rucker for his fifth strikeout. After a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom of the eighth Didier Fuentes returned to finish the game out for Atlanta, and he looked a bit sharper after a short bit of rest. He got up early on the first batter before forcing a broken bat tapper back to himself, then recorded strikeout number six by blowing three straight fastballs past Hao-Yu Lee. Facing off against top 100 prospect Josue Briceno, Fuentes competed strongly. He got up 0-2 quickly before Briceno battled back to run the count full, with Briceno fouling off some high fastballs. Finally he froze Briceno with a fastball, running up his seventh strikeout through three scoreless innings of work.

Finally the Braves had to contend with our old pal Tyler Owens in the ninth inning, who promptly issued a walk to Cal Conley. Will Verdung then crushed a liner over the right fielder’s head for a double, scoring Conley and bringing the game within three runs. This brought up the bottom third of the order with the chance to make the game interesting, but Owens was able to lock it down. With one out Eric Hartman lifted a ball into shallow left field, but Nomar Fana made a terrific sliding catch to save a hit and keep Verdung at third base. Ethan Workinger floated one out to right field for the final out, sealing a win for the Tigers.