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Quick Prospect Update

Hey all, just wanted to insert something in here about a prospect that I find to be very interesting.

PROSPECT PROFILE (courtesy of Myrtle Beach Pelicans Website)

Moises Hernandez
#26

Position:
RHP

Birthplace:
Valencia, VZ

DOB:
March 18, 1984

Bats:
R

Throws:
R

Height:
6' 1"

Weight:
170 lbs

Acquired: Originally signed by the Baltimore Orioles on November 28, 2001. Was picked up by the Atlanta Braves as compensation for pitching coach Leo Mazzone.

What Moises Did Last Season: Moises, the older brother of Seattle Mariners young phenom Felix Hernandez started the `06 season in Rome where he made 10 relief appearances and one start before receiving a promotion to Myrtle Beach on 5/24. Moises logged a 2-0 mark with a 1.93 ERA at the time of his promotion to the Carolina League. With the Pelicans Moises strung together a streak of three consecutive saves in as many appearances from 5/28 – 6/4. This past winter Moises pitched for the Cardenales del Lara of the Venezuelan Winter League and finished with a 3-5 record with a 3.14 ERA in 16 saves, seven of which were starts.

All About Moises Hernandez:
Older brother is 21-year-old phenom pitcher Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners.
On 4/12/07 Moises earned a victory at Winston-Salem to improve to 2-0 on the season, just one day after Felix pushed his record to 2-0 with a complete game shut out against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway.

Me:

Moises Hernandez picked up his 8th win today. Felix's older brother seems to be lights out. Down in Myrtle Beach, he's got a 3.06 ERA. I feel he's a guy that's a possibility at getting called up either at the end of this year or in future years as a reliever or starter. What do y'all think? Please comment at www.braves-report.com

chipperboy1

Draft Profiles: Blake Beaven

Blake Beaven

Height: 6'7

Weight: 210

Birthdate: 1/17/1989

City: Irving

State: TX

Position: SP

B/T: R

Physically, Beaven is a scout's dream. He stands an imposing 6 foot 7 and wieghs 210 pounds. He is an above average athlete. He has a fastball that currently sits in the low to mid 90s and has touched 97. With his frame he could add another MPH or 2. He has a great sweeping slider. But he needs to become more constistant with it. It does project as an outpitch. He needs to develop a change-up. He has command of his pitches. My only concern with Beaven is the way he throws his slider. It puts extra stress on his elbow. He profiles as top of the rotation starter. He compares favorably to Roy Halladay.

Draft Prospets: Heyward & Main

With the MLB Draft less then a month away, Braves-report.com will start to profile some of prospects that fit the Braves profile. Today the two who should be #1 and #2 on the Braves Draft board are Jason Heyward and Michael Main.
Jason Heyward

Height: 6'4

Weight: 220

Birthdate: 8/9/1989

City: McDonough

State: GA

Position: 1B

B/T: L

Strong hitter from the left side of the plate. He should hit for both average and power. He has tremendous power and power potential. Has slightly above average speed. Has great instincts. Extremely patient hitter. Almost too patient. Currently plays centerfield but will most likely be a first baseman. He could be a run producing middle of the order hitter. When he matures and gets a few years under his belt he should be a left-handed version of Derek Lee.

Michael Main

Height: 6'2
Weight: 180
Birthdate: 12/14/1988
City: Deltona
State: FL
Position: SP
B/T: R
Main may be the best pure athlete in the draft this year. He has a fastball that has touched triple digits according to some reports. Good command of all pitches. Has a slider that kind of looks like a hard slurve that hit 84 on the gun. He has shown great poise on the rubber and has mound presence. His delivery is a concern. It places max effort on his arm. His wind-up is very slow before he begins speeding up his body through his delivery. If he stays healthy and develops, he could be an ace. He is also a hitter who would be a first round pick without his arm.

532, 6005, 5,1

532, 6005, 5, 1
By chipperboy1, Braves-Report.com

532. That's the number of wins that John Smoltz and Greg Maddux will have combined when they face off against each other tonight.

335- Number of games that Greg Maddux has won during his career.

197- Number of games that John Smoltz has won during his career.

5- That's the number of Cy Young Awards that the two have combined.

4- Number of Cy Young Awards that Greg Maddux has won.

1- Number of Cy Young Awards that John Smoltz has won.

6005- Combined Strikeout total for Greg Maddux and John Smoltz combined.

3191- Career Strikeouts for Greg Maddux.

2814- Career Strikeouts for John Smoltz.

308- Greg Maddux's Career ERA.

3.28- John Smoltz's Career ERA.

154- Number of games that John Smoltz has saved during his career.

0- Number of games that Greg Maddux has saved during his career.

May 16, 1990- First Maddux-Smoltz encounter. Maddux walked Smoltz and John came around to score one of the Braves 3 runs in that game. The Braves won, 3-0, and it was Smoltz's first career shutout.

8- Number of consecutive losses that Maddux suffered after he lost that game, which remains the longest stretch of his career.

July 10th, 1992- Date of the last Smoltz-Maddux pitching matchup.

4-0- The score of that Braves-Cubs game, in which Smoltz knocked in a run off of Maddux.

24- Age of Greg Maddux that day.

24- Age of John Smoltz that day.

41- Age of Greg Maddux now.

40- Age of John Smoltz in 6 days.

2-1- The advantage that Smoltz has over Maddux in their "rivalry." Both of his wins were complete games.

4- Years since Maddux has pitched at Turner Field.

10- Number of divisions the two helped lead the Braves to (1993-2003).

391- Number of wins combined that the two won as Braves.

2/3- Two-thirds of the greatest starting pitching trio in Baseball History. Heck, it's probably the greatest trio in Sports history.

1- Number of Games that should be watched tonight.

5th Starter

5th Starter

chipperboy1

Coming out of Spring Training, I thought that we had the best pitching staff, from 1-5, in the Major Leagues. Actually, I thought 1-6 would be more appropriate. Smoltz was obviously the #1, after that it was Hudson, James, Davies, Redman, and Cormier. I thought that the signing of Redman in the wake of the Hampton injury was another classic John Schuerholz move reminiscent of the Jaret Wright waiver claim. I thought that if one of our starters went down, we’d have more than enough help to keep us with 5 starters in order to fill the rotation.

I thought wrong.

The Redman signing, so far, has been a colossal bust that is more reminiscent of an Albie Lopez-type deal than a Jaret Wright deal. And it isn’t because the Braves haven’t been giving him run support either. It’s been his ability not to hold a lead, and his penchant of allowing too many men to reach base. He can’t seem to pitch consistently. Now, this isn’t really Bobby’s fault, JS’s fault, Roger’s fault, or anybody else associated with the Braves fault except Redman. I think he didn’t have the right mindset to pitch coming into the year, which you definitely need when playing for the Braves.

Now, the question is, who replaces him? It’s obvious that he needs to be dropped, and he’ll probably end up being released. Well, Cormier is the obvious answer. But say he pitches poorly coming off the DL, which has happened before (don’t get me wrong, I want him to pitch well). Who replaces him in case that occurs? Here are my options:

1. Oscar Villarreal, partly because of the fact that he is our innings reliever who can do a solid job in starting if needed. He didn’t pitch badly last night either.

2. Anthony Lerew, probably because of the fact that he’s done it before.

3. Matt Harrison, because he has been so dominant down in the minors the last few years and has been compared to the next Tom Glavine.

4. Pick up another Pitcher through FA or Trade. It was rumored during Spring Training (on pure speculation) that we’ve been interested in Carl Pavano, but I seriously doubt JS would be willing to do that, and the fact that the Yankees pitching staff has been dropping like flies doesn’t really help that cause either. Maybe a Brian Lawrence-type could be intriguing for JS. It’s been mentioned before. They could drop Redman and pick up Lawrence.

5. Another minor-league pitcher that I forgot to mention could be used here. I couldn't think any more off the top of my head.

I honestly hope that Cormier comes off the DL perfectly healthy and in good form, but I just wanted to give some options as to what is after him.

What do you all think? Post your feedback on Braves-Report.com

This Is The Time

This is the time. Time to see if it worked. Time to see whether proof again can be made of John Schuerholz's genius. Time to see whether or not the acquisitions of Mike Gonzalez and Rafael Soriano this offseason paid off. Time to see whether or not the Braves can turn to their "Two Closers of the Future." Today, the Braves placed Bob Wickman on the DL, due to a sore back. What we know is that it's time for Gonzalez and Soriano to step up and live up to the hype that has been surrounding them since their acquistions. Their pitching is crucial to our success in the 8th and 9th innings, and so far, with Wickman's recent Kolb-like falterings, they have been the only one's who have pitched well consistently.

Tonight was a good sign that at least one of them is living up to the hype. Gonzo looked tonight like he was finally back to the way he pitched in Pittsburgh when he was their closer. At the beginning of the season, he was, to say the least, a bit shaky. It didn't seem like he was able to get lefties out as much because he didn't get enough movement on his pitches. We contributed it to aftereffects of the arm injury that sidelined him for most of the end of last season. And maybe it was. Hopefully it was, because tonight, it looked as if those arm injuries were long gone.

Rafael Soriano has been pitching well all year, showing no after-effects of that line drive to the head that ended his season prematurely last season. He has been pitching consistently all year, giving us a good impression that he may be the closer of the future of the Braves, especially with his success against righties that is so important for a pitcher of his style. With the heat that he throws, he can get anybody out, as long as he can locate it. Which he has been able to do this season, giving us even more confidence in our bullpen that we've not had in a while.

Last year, with the score tied 2-2 in the 9th in April, most of us would probably have given up, due to the fact that we had just about no big name guy who we knew we could count on to get the 3 outs we needed in order to get to the bottom of the 9th, and give our guys a decent chance of winning. Tonight, however, the confidence that was felt among us Braves fans during that 9th inning was, to say the least, relieving. Finally, not since the days of Chris Hammond and Darren Holmes did we feel so much confidence in our set-up guys late in the game. Finally, it was time to start thinking ahead to the bottom of the 9th inning again. A bottom of the 9th inning that tonight, obviously, proved very fruitful and memorable for the Braves and their fans, as Andruw jacked one out with two on and the crowd on their feet. Last year, with our bullpen, that might have pulled us within 1 or two runs. Tonight, it was a walk-off homer that pulled it out for us. With all the moves that JS made the offseason, that walk-off homer cemented for me his brilliance and his craftiness. For me, just knowing that the day that we DL'ed our closer was the day that one of the two closers we acquired in the offseason had dominated the Phillies lineup was almost surreal. It was exciting, and I hope to be more excited in future games to come.

To comment on this entry, please go to http://braves-report.com, and post in the forums.

Rafael Soriano

Rafael Soriano
By Chipperboy1
Just wanted to write a quick editorial that I had in mind that I didn't want to forget.Rafael Soriano looks like the most impressive Braves pitcher so far. The way he handled the Mutts today was impressive, and not just him setting them down 1-2-3 in the 8th inning. The way he looked when he threw the ball, the way he throws it with such ease, makes me think that we have a future star here in Atlanta. The trade that sent Horacio Ramirez to Seattle for Soriano looks like an absolute robbery with John Schuerholz as the bandit. Soriano has the stuff and pitching style that makes me, Bobby Cox, and everybody else in Braves-Nation, drool at, and he does it with such composure and style. I honestly do not think that the label that Soriano had bestowed upon him last year by some experts as the AL's best Setup-man was undeserved. The way he looked today made me feel that we have a future closer on our hands here in Atlanta.Comments are appreciated and welcome.My full recap is coming soon.Is there a way to move a pic of Soriano to the side of this article?

Predicted Standings

NL East
1) Braves
2) Phillies *
3) Muts
4) Marlins
5) Nationals
NL Central
1) Brewers
2) Cardinals
3) Astros
4) Cubs
5) Reds
6) Pirates
NL West
1) Dodgers
2) Diamondbacks
3) Padres
4) Rockies
5) Gants
AL East
1) Red Sox
2) Blue Jays
3) Yankees
4) Devil Rays
5) O's
AL Central
1) Tigers
2) Indians *
3) Twins
4) White Sox
5) Royals
AL West
1) Angels
2) A's
3) M's
4) Rangers
Playoffs
LDS
NL
Braves over Dodgers
Brewers over Phillies
AL
Red Sox over Tribe
Tigers over Angels
LCS
NL
Braves over Brewers
AL
Tigers over Red Sox
World Series
Braves over Tigers

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