Fans of the Atlanta Braves Minor League system knew that they had a lot of competitive teams to look forward to in 2017 and most of them have lived up to the early hype. However, one team has stood out in particular through the first handful of games. The defending South Atlantic League champion Rome Braves have started the season 6-2, including a 6-1 road trip before dropping their home opener last night . They kicked off 2017 with a four game road sweep of West Virginia before making a four hour trip south to Kannapolis, North Carolina where they took 2 out of 3 from the Kannapolis Intimidators.
After an April 6th rain out, opening day turned into a double header against the West Virginia Power.
Game 1: Rome 3 @ West Virginia 0
Bryse Wilson and Jon Kennedy combined for seven innings of shutout, one hit ball in this one. The offense came by way of the long ball as Juan Yepez and Lucas Herbert went yard back to back in the sixth.
Game 2: Rome 3 @ West Virginia 2
Rome had just one extra base hit in opening day’s second game. They were 2 for 11 with runners in scoring position, but another solid pitching performance secured an opening day sweep.
Game 3: Rome 8 @ West Virginia 3
The bats came alive in the third game of the season as the Braves put up a season high eight runs. After jumping out to a 7-1 lead through their half of the fourth, Rome cruised to the easy 8-3 victory.
Game 4: Rome 2 @ West Virginia 1
The final game of the opening series took eleven innings, but eventually Rome completed the four game sweep behind a solid performance from four Braves pitchers. Anthony Concepcion drove in Anfernee Seymour for the game winning run.
Game 5: Rome 1 @ Kannapolis 5
The Braves suffered their first blemish of 2017 at the hands of the Intimidators. Rome had eight hits in the ballgame, but left eight men on base and could only muster one run.
Game 6: Rome 2 @ Kannapolis 1
It didn’t take long for the Braves to get back in the win column when another great pitching performance led to a 2-1 win. Cristian Pache got the scoring started with a third inning RBI triple.
Game 7: Rome 4 @ Kannapolis 3
The Braves improved to 6-1 with their fourth one run win in their first seven games. After four solid innings from Bryse Wilson, the bullpen did not even allow a hit in their five innings.
Game 8: Rome 8 vs, Charleston 14
With the RiverDogs win last night, there are now five teams in the South Atlantic League tied with the best record at 6-2. If Rome could have held on to their 8-3 lead they had established before giving up eleven unanswered runs, they would have been sitting alone at the top of the SAL standings going into Friday’s action.
Game 9: Rome vs Charleston; 12:00pm
The Braves look to get their first home win of 2017 under their belt and they will turn to highly touted pitching prospect Ian Anderson in hopes of doing so.
Stats
An Interesting Stat: It is no secret that pitching is the key to this team as a whole and offensively we knew it was going to be all about speed, just like the GCL team last year. It is worth noting however that the Braves have only hit three homeruns on the entire season and two of those came back to back from Juan Yepez and Lucas Herbert in the first game of the year.
Offensive Leaders
Randy Ventura – 9/22, 1 2B, 1 RBI, 6 SB
Anfernee Seymour – 8/23, 4 2B, 3 SB
Juan Yepez – 8/29, 1 HR, 3 2B, 5 RBI, 1 SB
Derian Cruz – 6/25, 1 3B, 1 2B, 5 RBI, 3 SB
Cristian Pache – 6/25, 1 3B, 4 RBI, 2 SB
Pitching Leaders
Bryse Wilson – 9 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 10 SO, 2 BB
Oriel L. Caicedo – 6.2 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 7 SO, 0 BB
Ryan Lawlor – 5.1 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 8 SO, 3 BB
Jon Kennedy – 5 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 6 SO, 0 BB
Ian Anderson – 4.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 8 SO, 3 BB
Featured Image Courtesy of: Baseball America
