Murphy’s 107 mph laser was the highlight of a rough showing for the Stripers
The Gwinnett Stripers had a week to themselves among the Atlanta Braves affiliates, and they closed out that week with an ugly loss to the Nashville Sounds. Tomorrow, the full minor league slate kicks off with all four full season affiliates taking the field, and the excitement of minor league baseball is finally in full swing to distract from whatever that is going on with the big Braves.
(2-4) Gwinnett Stripers 1, (2-4) Nashville Sounds 5
- Sean Murphy, C: 1-3, .298/.402/.471
- Luke Waddell, SS: 1-3, BB, .294/.406/.481
- Chad Kuhl, SP: 6 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 9.35 ERA
- Dylan Dodd, RP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, 27.00 ERA
After a couple of wins the Stripers were due for a stinker, and they looked poor on Thursday evening, especially on the offensive end. The good news for Braves fans, and don’t we need a little bit of that right now, is that Sean Murphy’s rehab is chugging along nicely, with him adding a hit in one of the three at bats of his second appearance. Murphy smoked a 107 mph single in the first inning, though was help in check in the next two with a fly out and a strikeout. Murphy was lifted after seven innings in the field, and seems to be on a good pace to hopefully bolster what has been a pathetic offensive performance for the big league club this season.
Elsewhere, it wasn’t pretty for the Stripers bats. Along with the Murphy single Luke Waddell and Garrett Cooper drew walks to give Gwinnett an early threat in the game, but a critical strikeout by Matthew Batten sunk Gwinnett, with Luke Williams flying out to end the inning. That freed Logan Henderson from his shaky early performance, and he seemed to get stronger and stronger as he blanked Gwinnett across five innings. Gwinnett almost squandered their next big opportunity as well, this coming when Murphy’s replacement, blasted a hanging slider for a leadoff double. Two quick outs followed, Seagle no further to getting Gwinnett on the board, when Williams popped one into shallow left field for what should have been the final out. Fortunately for Gwinnett, Adam Hall just dropped the easiest pop up in the world and Seagle was able to get home to score. Unfortunately for Gwinnett, that just made the game 5-1. They were not winning this game.
You have to give Chad Kuhl credit for his performance. He hung in there, threw strikes efficiently, and filled up six innings for Gwinnett to help get the bullpen a little bit of rest. You cannot give him credit for being good though, mostly down to his disastrous third inning. Garrett Spain’s (no relation) one-out single sparked a four-run inning for the Sounds, with Jorge Alfaro’s two-run home run capping the inning and putting Gwinnett into a whole they would not climb out of. Gwinnett’s bullpen was quite good, with the only baserunner coming on a ninth inning walk, and Dylan Dodd in particular shook off a rough game to strike out two batters in a perfect seventh inning. This was a necessary move for Dodd, who at this point wasn’t going to sneak into the Braves rotation for any meaningful innings, and he has covered a big hole in his game from last season. Dodd’s release point is much more consistent across pitches, allowing him to both command his fastball better and not tip when he is throwing fastball vs secondary pitches. Dodd’s velocity is also increased in these shorter stints, although not quite as high as what we were sometimes seeing in the early innings of 2024, and the changes to his delivery do seem to have improved the quality of his pitches. He’s likely going to end up in more of a middle relief role if and when he does get a chance, but given how he has looked the last couple of seasons getting any major league production from him would be an improvement.
Swing and Misses
Chad Kuhl – 7
Dylan Dodd – 4
Final note: I tip-toed around Dodd’s changes this year but keep an eye out over the next week or two. I’m introducing a couple of new series — one of which is focused on players who have made significant changes to mechanics, pitch arsenals, or approaches. Dodd will be featuring in that, so I will go in depth on what I’ve seen different from him in that later on, partially because I don’t want to make too big of a judgement on a 44 pitch sample. Specifically I’m hoping for around April 14th, though the date could move forward or back a few days depending on my schedule, that’s just the date I have in my rough notes for now.