The headliner on Saturday has to be a start coming for Hurston Waldrep against the Phillies affiliate.
Saturday has some interesting pitchers to watch in the Atlanta Braves system, led by Hurston Waldrep. Waldrep is the only big prospect, but Adam Maier and Rayven Antonio are both also worth a watch, and we still don’t know who is set to start for Columbus as of this writing.
(9-9) Gwinnett Stripers, (13-6) Lehigh Valley
- GWN: Hurston Waldrep — 1-0, 7.11 ERA
- LV: Kyle Tyler — 1-1, 3.68 ERA
Hurston Waldrep is on the mound on Saturday against Lehigh Valley. After a great first start of the season, allowing just one run and one walk over five innings, Waldrep has struggled in his last two starts – especially with his command. It’s worth noting that both of those starts came against a Norfolk lineup with some interesting prospect pieces, but he has allowed a total of nine runs and walked four batters in each of those starts. Hopefully he can turn things around against Lehigh Valley.
In his Triple-A debut after being promoted Carlos Rodriguez was one for three with a walk, while Bryan De La Cruz was hitless in four at bats in his first minor league game after being sent down from Atlanta. Rodriguez and De La Cruz give the Stripers outfield a new look a couple of weeks into the season, and it should be interesting to see how the prospect Rodriguez performs against pitching that is a step closer to big league pitching.
It is also worth noting that Luke Waddell came into the weekend hot, and continued that on Friday with another pair of hits. The Eddy Alvarez, Waddell top of the lineup has certainly produced to start the year.
(6-6) Columbus Clingstones, (9-4) Pensacola Blue Wahoos
- COL: TBD
- PEN: Dax Fulton — 0-0, 9.00 ERA
The Clingstones pitcher is yet to be determined, but we will get to see prospect Dax Fulton go for Pensacola. Fulton is massive at 6’7”, 245, and the former second round draft pick brings mid to upper nineties stuff from the left side. He currently ranks as the Marlins #14 prospect according to Pipeline.
Columbus got a win in a true pitchers duel last night, as the two teams spent 10 innings combining for three runs and eight hits. Still David McCabe continued to reach base, going one for four and making it the 10th time in 11 games that McCabe has reached base to start the season.
(6-7) Rome Emperors, (6-6) Asheville Tourists
- ROME: Adam Maier — 0-1, 6.23 ERA
- ASH: Anderson Brito — 0-0, 0.00 ERA
Adam Maier makes his third start to the season on Saturday, and hopes to build some momentum on the back of a better appearance in his last time out than the first time. Maier still didn’t have his best command in his last start, but he did allow just one hit over four and two thirds innings. For Asheville they start Anderson Brito, who hasn’t allowed a run in his first two starts, even if it is just seven and two thirds innings combined.
Ambioris Tavarez continued his solid start to the season last night with another multi-hit game, bringing him to a .304 average and .809 OPS. After struggling in a big way to start his pro career, Tavarez feels like he is finally starting to hit enough to pay attention to. Patrick Clohisy snapped his recent cold streak yesterday by doubling out of the DH role.
(6-7) Augusta GreenJackets, (6-7) Myrtle Beach Pelicans
- AUG: Rayven Antonio — 0-0, 6.75 ERA
- MB: Yenrri Rojas — 0-1, 3.12 ERA
Rayven Antonio is set to make his second start of the season in this game. The 19-year-old from Colombia had been excelling at forcing ground balls up until his limited time in Low-A, but has not quite had the same success there in a very small sample size dating back to the end of the season last year. Antonio did strikeout four guys in four innings in his season debut, notable considering he had just 53 strikeouts in 77.2 career innings headed into this year.
For the Augusta lineup, it feels like the trio of Colby Jones, Eric Hartman, and Isaiah Drake has all slowed down a bit after excellent starts to the season. While all of the trio still has an OPS above .700, none is higher than the .742 of Drake. That’s a bit lower than a week or so ago when each of the trio was well over 100 points higher. It is important to note that despite the fact they’ve all slowed down a bit, they have all shown something in the early going and it is still a net positive.
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