Atlanta Braves Minor League Recap: Drue Hackenberg strikes out 16 for Mississippi

Sunday was a noteworthy day in the Atlanta Braves system. Obviously the headliner is Drue Hackenberg striking out 16 hitters during seven innings – a surprising total for a pitcher whose season high this year coming in was just eight. We also saw after the Gwinnett game ended that Nacho Alvarez was promoted to Atlanta to replace the injured Ozzie Albies, making Sunday potentially his final minor league game of the season. Then we saw AJ Smith-Shawver rack up swings and misses before a drop in velocity just before leaving the game.

Gwinnett Stripers 10, Charlotte Knights 2

Box Score

Statcast

• Nacho Alvarez Jr., 3B: 0-2, 3 BB, 2 R, .336/.432/.575
• AJ Smith-Shawver, SP: 3.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K, 5.40 ERA
• Hayden Harris, RP: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 5.68 ERA

AJ Smith-Shawver is the headliner here. He didn’t have his best command but was still on and allowed just one hit and two walks over three and two thirds scoreless frame before he was removed from the game at 68 pitches. AJSS picked up five strikeouts and 10 swing and misses – but he did lose velocity prior to coming out. He touched as high as 97.4 MPH in the first inning, to mostly around 92 MPH during that fourth inning. Domingo Gonzalez came in to get the final out of the inning before Matt Carasiti went a scoreless inning next. That led to Hayden Harris coming in, and he was lights out. Harris didn’t allow any hits or walks over an inning and two thirds, picking up three strikeouts in the process. Brooks Wilson followed and allowed both Charlotte runs in his inning and a third, before a scoreless ninth from Parker Dunshee capped this one off.

In what could be his final minor league game this year Nacho Alvarez went hitless in two at bats, but drew three walks and scored a pair of runs. Shortly after this one ended the news of Ozzie Albies’ injury broke and Nacho received the call up to the big leagues. Andrew Velazquez was the star for the Gwinnett offense, going three for five and hitting a two-run homer in the first inning. Luke Williams and Yuli Gurriel each added two-hit games, while Luke Waddell, Chadwick Tromp, and Alejo Lopez all reached base multiple times – with Waddell and Tromp each picking up doubles in the win. Drake Baldwin was in the lineup at catcher, but was hitless in four at bats with a walk.

Mississippi Braves 5, Pensacola Blue Wahoos 1

Box Score

• Tyler Tolve, DH: 2-5, HR, 2B, R, 3 RBI, .211/.265/.298
• Drue Hackenberg, SP: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 16 K, 3.43 ERA
• Trey Riley, RP: 1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 4.68 ERA

Drue Hackenberg turned in the best start of his pro career on Sunday, and arguably the best start of any pitcher in the Braves system all year. All he did was go seven innings, allowing one run on three hits and no walks and struck out 16 batters on just 90 pitches. So not only did Hackenberg strike out an incredible 16 hitters, he was almost unhittable and did so 67 of his 90 pitches for strikes. Things didn’t get much easier from there for Pensacola, as Trey Riley came in and immediately struck out the side. Anthony Vizcaya went two scoreless innings and picked up two more strikeouts to the Braves total, and finally Landon Harper added one more during a scoreless 11th inning. Combined the four pitchers struck out 22 in 11 innings of work, allowing just one run on five hits and no walks.

This game went 11 innings despite the great pitching performance because the Mississippi offense has just as much trouble scoring runs, before plating four of them in the 11th inning. Tyler Tolve went two for five with a homer and double, batting in three of the five Braves runs. David Fletcher and Justin Dean each had two hits, with Dean adding three stolen bases as well. Cal Conley, Keshawn Ogans, and Bryson Horne also added doubles in the win.

Hudson Valley Renegades 3, Rome Emperors 1

Box Score

• Kevin Kilpatrick Jr., CF: 2-5, SB, .243/.322/.357
• Sabin Ceballos, 3B: 2-4, RBI, SB, .262/.354/.361
• Blake Burkhalter, SP: 5 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 3.10 ERA

Blake Burkhalter had his turn on Sunday and went five solid innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk to go with four strikeouts. He allowed those three runs in the first two innings and seemed to settle down from there, needing 72 pitches to make it through five. After Burkhalter the Rome pitching staff didn’t allow any base runners the rest of the way, with Tyree Thompson going two innings and Samuel Strickland going the final inning.

The top of the order had a strong day for the Rome offense, but the rest of the lineup failed to do any real damage. Both Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. (2-5) and Sabin Ceballos (2-4) had a pair of hits and each added a stolen base from the top two spots in the lineup, while three hole hitter Ethan Workinger was one for three with a walk. Other than the top of the order both Jace Grady and Stephen Paolini walked twice, with Paolini also adding a steal, and Drew Compton walked once to account for all of the Rome base runners.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 7, Augusta GreenJackets 1

Box Score

• Isaiah Drake, CF: 1-3, SB, .167
• Will Verdung, 1B: 1-3, RBI, .210
• JR Ritchie, RP: 3.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 2.08 ERA

This was a resumed game due to rain, with Augusta down 4-0 through two innings after Davis Polo started the game. JR Ritchie gets the relief appearance, but he started the action on the bump for the GreenJackets on Sunday. Ritchie went three and two thirds, allowing two runs on six hits and two walks with three strikeouts. Reibyn Corona went the final two and a third innings, allowing one more run to come across.

Augusta didn’t have much luck with the bats on either day here, scoring one run on just four hits and one walk. Isaiah Drake went one for three with a steal, while Will Verdung was one for three with the lone run batted in. Luis Guanipa (1-4) and Luis Sanchez (1-3) each added singles, and the final player to reach base was Junior Garcia, who walked and scored the team’s only run.

Kannapolis Cannon Ballers 6, Augusta GreenJackets 0

Box Score

• Will Verdung, 1B: 0-2, BB, .209/.351/.281
• John Gil, SS: 1-3, SB, .300/.273/.300
• Giomar Diaz, RP: 3 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, 4.95 ERA

The second game was started by Anthony Garcia, who went on to give up six runs over two innings of work. Giomar Diaz would follow with three scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and one walk while striking out three hitters. Finally LJ McDonough tossed a scoreless inning to finish off the second game of this doubleheader.

The second game was very much like the first for the Augusta offense, except this time they weren’t able to push any runs across the plate. This time they also only managed two hits and a walk, with John Gil and Cam Magee recording singles, and Will Verdung reaching on a walk. Verdung ended up going one for five with a walk over the course of the two games, to make him the most productive hitter of the bunch.