AAA Gwinnett Braves (12-8)

• Christian Bethancourt – .191/.255/.213/.468, 1 2B, 0 HR, 5 RBI, 4BB/13K, 36% CS rate
• Jose Constanza – .280/.375/.360/.735, 2 2B, 2 3B, 0 HR, 8 RBI, 6/6 SB, 12BB/13K
• Todd Cunningham – .263/.313/.368/.682, 5 2B, 1 HR, 12 RBI, 3/5 SB, 5BB/11K
• Phil Gosselin – .361/.409/.443/.852, 5 2B, 0 HR, 6 RBI, 1/1 SB, 5BB/8K
• Tommy La Stella – .338/.403/.369/.772, 2 2B, 0 HR, 10 RBI, 1/1 SB, 9BB/4K
• Ernesto Mejia – .354/.420/.684/1.104, 5 2B, 7 HR, 24 RBI, 7BB/21K
• Edward Salcedo – .209/.250/.388/.638, 6 2B, 2 HR, 9 RBI, 2/4 SB, 4BB/19K
• Joey Terdoslavich – .279/.364/.412/.775, 4 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 8BB/17K

Tommy La Stella is hitting well, just like everyone thought he would. It is a bit surprising to see his lack of extra base hits, but he is getting on base 40% of the time and walking more than twice as much as he is striking out. Another important number to see is that he has only 1 error at second so far this season. How long before he gets a shot in Atlanta? Ernesto Mejia continues to mash, no surprise there.  I really wish the Braves would try him on the bench as a bench bat just to see if he can hit major league pitching. Todd Cunningham has been solid and at this point he is probably equal to Jordan Schafer other than the speed factor.  The Braves future behind the plate, Christian Bethancourt, has been disappointing at it.  He is hitting below the Mendoza line which no power at all.  He has been throwing out baserunners at an above average rate though.

• Ryan Buchter – 8 G, 5.23 ERA, 10.1 IP, 7BB/6K, 1.742 WHIP, 1 SV
• Juan Jaime – 8 G, 0.00 ERA, 8.0 IP, 7BB/13K, 1.500 WHIP, 5 SV
• Cody Martin – 4 G, 3 GS, 3.38 ERA, 18.2 IP, 3BB/23K, 0.964 WHIP, 1 SV
• Luis Vasquez – 8 G, 9.72 ERA, 8.1 IP, 8BB/11K, 1.920 WHIP

I am pretty disappointed in Buchter and Vasquez so far.  Buchter isn’t striking out hitters anywhere close to the rate that he has in the past and is still having awful control issues.  Vasquez’s control has been even worse.  I fully expected both of those guys to contribute to the Atlanta pen this season, but they won’t sniff a big league bullpen until they stop walking guys. Juan Jaime has also had some control issues, but has yet to even allow an earned run and is striking a lot of guys out. Cody Martin has been pretty effective so far and would be able to make spot starts in Atlanta if ever needed. Hopefully, it will never come to that in 2014.