Braves Minor League Recap: Tate Southisene extends on-base streak to 15 games

The strong pitching continued afterwards as Dylan Dodd (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 1K) needed just 11 pitches to work a scoreless inning. Dodd was able to locate his cutter real well down in the zone against some right handed hitting – something to monitor and see if he’s able to do once he’s back in Atlanta. Following Dylan Dodd was Daysbel Hernández (1IP 1H 0R 1BB 2K) who appears to be rounding into shape after sitting out the start of the season due to injury. The Daysbel slider was at its peak, pretty much rendering hitters useless against it, a very good sign. Also of note, Daysbel was nearly 50:50 with his four-seam, and slider combination which shows confidence in his ability to locate both. We all know of the high upside Daysbel has when he’s able to locate the two pitches and it appears as though he is on the right track. Following Daysbel was Rolddy Muñoz who worked around a hit-by-pitch, and an error and worked a scoreless inning himself. Rolddy featured manly his two-seam and slider, which looked particularly great, but also let it rip with a four-seam fastball. The two-seam continues to be a tantalizing pitch with its 21” IVB.

Offensively, this game had three big highlights that came on three swings. First was a fourth inning solo home run by Ben Gamel to give the Stripers a 1-0 lead.

Fast forward to the seventh and it was Ben Gamel, again, who hit a two run single that scored Aaron Schunk and Brewer Hicklen to then tie the game at 3-3. The final highlight came in the eighth when Nacho Alvarez Jr. connected on his second homer of the season, the eighth pitch of the at bat, to give the Stripers the lead, and ultimately the win.

(14-14) Columbus Clingstones 7, (12-16) Biloxi Shuckers 4

• Patrick Clohisy, RF: 2-for-5, 3B, R, .257/.288/.371
• Luke Waddell, SS: 3-for-5, RBI, R, .261/.369/.386
• Jordan Groshans, 1B: 2-for-5, 2 RBI, R, 2B, 3B, .229/.288/.500
• Garrett Baumann, SP: 4.2IP 5H 2ER 3BB 2K, 7.33 ERA

Box Score

It was an up-and-down outing for Garrett Baumann who got through 4.2 innings of work. Garrett leveraged his four-seam 30% of the time, a bit of a spike for him, but mixed his pitches very well. By my charting Garrett was four-seam (30%), two-seam (14%), cutter (20%), curveball (13%), and splitter (20%), but struggled to identify a true whiff pitch while often unable to land his offspeed pitches in/close to the zone. Garrett also struggled with the run game a bit – allowing three stolen bases, something he has focused and worked on a lot this season so far. All that said, Garrett still allowed just two earned runs and was followed up by some solid bullpen work as well.

LJ McDonough (1.1IP 1H 1R 0ER 2BB 1K) worked into, and out of trouble, giving up a pair of walks and hitting a batter but was able to get a double play to end any threat. His fastball control struggled as he threw multiple ones too far up in the zone to make hitters swing at it. He was replaced by Ryan Bourassa who gave up a solo home run, but still pitched well. Ryan leveraged all three of his pitches (four-seam, cutter, splitter), and looked as though he executed his plan quite well. The home run was a bit of really nice hitting on a fastball up and away that the batter was able to swing through and connect on. Lastly, Blane Abeyta was fantastic in closing out the game. His sweeper was fantastic and he was starting it outside and locating it inside the zone. He combined that strong sweeper with a fastball that he commanded well at the top of the zone – overall a very strong pitching performance for Blane.

Offensively, the Clingstones went 5-for-18 with runners in scoring position and scored seven runs, but could have scored more if not for some struggles with runners at third. The scoring started early with a Jordan Groshans RBI double in the first. In the third, it was Jordan Groshans again, this time grounding into a double play but scoring Lizandro Espinoza to push the lead to 2-0. The Clingstones would then be held in check until the eighth inning when, who else but Jordan Groshans, hit an RBI triple that scored Luke Waddell. Two batters later the hot hitting Archer Brookman drove in Jordan with an RBI single that ultimately gave Columbus the lead back.

After a solo home run by the Shuckers in the bottom of the eighth inning tied the game, the Clingstones added three more runs in the ninth inning to secure the win.

(14-14) Rome Emperors 9, (7-21) Asheville Tourists 10

• Isaiah Drake, RF: 3-for-5, 2B, 3 RBI, R, .250/.308/.389
• Eric Hartman, CF: 1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, R, .308/.390/.644
• Dixon Williams, 2B: 1-for-3, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 BB, 2 R, .256/.385/.558
• Colin Burgess, C: 2-for-4, 2B, R, .226/.329/.274
• Cedric De Grandpre, SP: 4IP 7H 6R 5ER 3BB 5K, 2 HR, 6.75 ERA

Box Score

Unfortunately for Rome it was one of the erratic games for Cedric De Grandpre who struggled throughout the outing and never really got into a groove. He had runners on base in three of his four innings, struggled to land his fastball in the zone, let alone at the top of the zone, and was unable to find a rhythm with the rest of his arsenal. As a result, you get a mixed bag review. Cedric has a ton of arm talent, has a pitch mix that falls in line with everything Jeremy Hefner would love to work with (four-seam, two-seam, slider, curveball, changeup), but has been very inconsistent. There are games where it all comes together and he looks like a top prospect, and then he has games like today where he struggles to land any of them in the zone. The stuff was still there, as he was able to generate 12 whiffs, but the inconsistencies ultimately cost him.

He was relieved by Jacob Kroeger (0.2IP 3H 4ER 1BB 1K) who struggled as well, particularly with his slider, unable to land it in the zone primarily making Jacob a one pitch pitcher. He was then relieved by Drew Christo (1.1IP 1H 0R 3BB 1K), a recent call up to Rome, and he also struggled to land his pitches in the zone, however was still able to get through his outing without allowing a run to score. Finally, Logan Samuels (2IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K) pitched the final two innings and unlike the previous pitchers, was able to land his pitches and attacked batters. 17 of Logan’s 21 pitches were strikes and he threw his four-seam, two-seam, and sweeper all for strikes.

Offensively, it was a never quit attitude for the Emperors. They found themselves down 10-2 after the games first five innings and rallied – scoring seven more runs before ultimately falling. Isaiah Drake was especially strong as he collected three hits including this 97 MPH RBI double.

Drake also collected a pair of singles with exit velocities of 104 (run scoring), and 110 MPH.

After scoring a pair of runs in the sixth to make it 10-4 Tourists, Eric Hartman connected on this 108 MPH home run to make it 10-6.

The Emperors would threaten again in the ninth with John Gil driving in a run on a double play to make it 10-7. Dixon Williams would follow that up with a two run home run of his own later in the inning to make it 10-9, before the Emperors ultimately fell.

(17-11) Charleston River Dogs 3, (15-13) Augusta GreenJackets 5

• Tate Southisene, 2B: 2-for-4, R, .280/.443/.480
• Alex Lodise, SS: 1-for-3, 2 R, .256/.328/.385
• Luis Guanipa, CF: 2-for-4, .301/.330/.476
• Dalton McIntyre, RF: 2-for-3, 2 RBI, BB, R, .353/.441/.529
• Cooper McMurray, 1B: 1-for-4, HR, 3 RBI, R, .175/.320/.250
• Logan Forsythe, SP: 4IP 3H 2ER 1BB 3K, 3.21 ERA
• Aiven Cabral, RP: 5IP 2H 1ER 2BB 3K, 3.13 ERA

Box Score

Logan Forstyhe got the ball for the GreenJackets and was solid. After struggling in the first inning he was able to turn things around and navigate through the final three innings of his outing with his three pitch mix (four-seam, sweeper, changeup). Logan was primarily four-seam – throwing it 65% of the time but it had good shape, and while it didn’t generate a ton of whiffs, was still used to keep hitters in check with it’s solid velocity (94-95 MPH). He was relieved by Aiven Cabral who was strong – allowing just one earned run over the games final five innings. He did a really good job of getting ahead of batters early which allowed him some leeway when he was unable to finish batters. Cabral continued to utilize a four pitch mix of four-seam, two-seam (1?), slider, and splitter. Nothing particularly stood out between the two pitchers, but we did see both of them settle in and provide a solid outing.

Offensively it was a strong game by a lot of the team. The GreenJackets scored their first two runs in the fifth inning with a Cooper McMurray 94 MPH home run. They would tack on three more runs the following inning with a Dalton McIntyre two run single, and a run scoring ground out by Cooper McMurray. They would tack on their final run of the game in the eighth inning with an RBI single by Nick Montgomery.

Beyond the numbers, it was a game of really good approaches by Tate Southisene, Luis Guanipa, and Dalton McIntyre. The trio all showcased strong at bats with minimal expanding, and taking advantage of balls left in the zone. Alex Lodise went 1-for-4, but did expand up high as he is known for. Nick Montgomery continued his strong 2026 that continued to show good swing decisions – a big, and very promising, change from 2025.

(1-2) FCL Braves 2, (1-2) FCL Red Sox 8

• Will Verdung, 3B: 1-for-1, 2B, 2 BB
• Michael Martinez, LF: 1-for-2, 2 BB
• Juan Elejandro, 2B: 2-for-3, 2B, R
• Luisberth Valdez, SP: 2.2IP 7H 6ER 3BB 2K

Box Score

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