Transaction Tuesday: September Callups with a Gohara Spotlight

With September call-ups in full swing, I decided to do something a little different today and give you guys a super-sized transaction recap that includes today's moves. Usually, I review the last week, but not include the day I publish the recap. However, with there likely being so few moves to go over for the next few weeks - and a big one in today's recap - let's dive into the last eight days.

*The moves covered in this edition of Transaction Tuesday cover August 29 to September 5. A number in parenthesis represents the player's ranking in the midseason WOW Top 50.

Atlanta
(Stephen went over the Brandon Phillips trade and I also profiled Tony Sanchez, who joined the roster on September 1.)

Promoted from Gwinnett: Rex Brothers...I once made the FIP argument about Jim Johnson. I learned my lesson. Despite Brothers' decent-enough FIP of 3.84 compared to his 6.88 ERA, I'm not buying Brothers as a good option for the bullpen.

G-Braves Media

SPOTLIGHT Promoted from Gwinnett: Luiz Gohara (#8)...I loved the trade to go get Gohara, but even I'm shocked by how much he cruised through the minors. This is a guy who had made 12 appearances at low-A coming into this season. My hope was that he would spend half of the year in Florida before a promotion up the ladder to Mississippi. That would put him on a trajectory for a midseason-2018 ETA, but the Braves said "hold my beer" and pushed him to the moon. To his credit, Gohara only responded to such an aggressive push.

In seven starts with Florida, Gohara dominated the Florida State League with a sub-2.00 ERA and over a K an inning. That got Gohara a call-up to Mississippi and despite leaving his first start and spending a week on the DL, Gohara kept rolling with a 2.60 ERA and 60 K's in 52 innings before heading to Gwinnett. There, he logged 35.1 ING over seven starts with 48 K's. Now, he's in the majors. I forgot to say, "Hi, Jerry DiPoto!"

Gohara mixes easy mid-to-late 90 mph heat with a slider that is just a beautiful thing to watch. You can judge how much a slider bites on the kind of stats we get in the majors, but the best way of judging it in in the minors is to watch hitters look mystified and Gohara's slider has that effect on hitters. The reason why Gohara is now in the majors, though, is the improvement we've seen with his changeup. It's not near the other two pitches in effectiveness, but it's good enough now for Gohara to throw with confidence. Without that improvement, we don't see Gohara this year.

The biggest thing with Gohara, no pun intended, is the weight. Can he keep it a manageable level? One of the worst-kept secrets in baseball is that Gohara isn't close to the 210 pounds his bio says he is. If he can't keep his weight from becoming a problem, it could limit him long-term. That said, he's going to have access to the best trainers and dietitians money can buy now that he's reached the majors. If he keeps the weight at pudgy instead of fat, he could be a frontline arm in the major leagues.

Promoted from Gwinnett: David Freitas...If, before the season, you tried to come up with a group of Braves who would make their major league debut this season, Freitas would not be on your list. The former 2010 15th rounder out of Hawaii got his shot because of an injury and despite Sanchez's acquisition, it's Freitas who continues to receive some playing time as Kurt Suzuki's backup. Part of that is due to his familiarity with the young Braves' arms. Nevertheless, Freitas may receive the Anthony Recker-treatment and stick around all offseason hoping the Braves don't add another catcher via free agency.

Promoted from Gwinnett: Max Fried (#21)...Fried was used all kinds of wrong in his earlier promotion, but the Braves brought him back in a starter role and he did just fine against the defending World Champions, limiting the Cubs to one run on four hits over five innings. He struck out four and picked off a batter. Fried will continue to get looks in the rotation moving forward as the Braves search for answers for the 2018 staff.

Promoted from Gwinnett: Micah Johnson...What a crazy few days it's been for Johnson. He was twitter designated for assignment on Friday. What's that, you may ask? That's when you find out via twitter of a transaction involving you. The Braves later said they weren't DFAing Johnson, though it clearly was thought about. Instead, he was in the lineup for Gwinnett the next day and hit a homer. Now, on Tuesday, he received a promotion to the big leagues and looks like he'll stick around for the rest of the season.

Promoted from Gwinnett: Rio Ruiz (#25)...On one side, Ruiz had a worse 2017 than he did 2016 with Gwinnett as his AVG and OBP were quite a bit lower. On the other hand, his ISO was much improved and in the end, it left him with a .341 wOBA compared to the .342 wOBA he posted with the G-Braves the previous season. Ruiz received some playing time with the major league team earlier this year and now, he seems poised to receive the lion-share of playing time for the rest of the season. The .270 BABIP will climb and with it, his batting average. He's walking at a nice rate and has flashed some renewed power since rejoining the team last week. The Braves are looking for a reason not to spend a lot of money or prospects on a third baseman this winter. Whatever Ruiz does this month will help them in deciding which way they go.

Activated: Johan Camargo (#23)...Camargo, Take 2 begins with the cannon-armed youngster having lost his shortstop gig following Dansby Swanson's resurgence. He's not even being handed the third base job after Phillips was traded as the Braves appear committed to getting a long look at Ruiz. And that's probably for the best. Camargo was off to a great start, but the league re-wrote the scouting report during the All-Star Break and since, Camargo was hitting .247/.291/.395. True, that's a small sample size of 86 PA. As was his successful run of 111 PA. Somewhere in the middle of these two distinct splits is the actual Camargo and that's not to slight the player. He's improved quite a lot since last year and looks to be a major league player. However, do I think he's an everyday starter, even at third where I do believe his defense is much better suited? Not really, but I also wouldn't be too upset if the Braves go with Ruiz/Camargo heading into 2018 because I believe the duo can work out for Atlanta.

Activated: Adonis Garcia...He's hitting .245/.280/.348. The other day, someone tried to argue that keeping Garcia over Micah Johnson was the better move because of options. Foolishly, I failed to reply, "He's hitting .245/.280/.348. That's not an option." Granted, it's a little trolling because he was speaking of minor league options, but still. Joke. Landed.

Activated: Luke Jackson...The best thing about Jackson this season has been his sitcom-worthy bromance with Lane Adams. That's probably not something you should say about a major league pitcher. He's still only 26, but Jackson throws one of the most boring 95 mph fastballs in the league.

Activated: Ian Krol...I don't even want to talk about this anymore.

Activated and put on 60-day DL: Danny Santana...Apparently, Santana is still struggling with a quad injury and after being activated off the disabled list, the Braves thought better and placed Santana on the 60-day DL. That's just fine in my book as Santana has played too much since joining the Braves. Since being acquired, Santana has a .245 OBP and over a month of action before hitting the DL, he played in 27 games (10 starts) while slashing .161/.175/.286. That was 58 PA of essentially a pitcher who occasionally pops a homer. Sometimes, you have to Snit-proof the roster and giving Brian Snitker a player like Santana is asking for trouble.

DL'd: Tyler Flowers...The expectation after the trade and subsequent activation of Sanchez was that Flowers might miss significant time -  potentially the rest of the year - but he's expected back by this weekend. So, there's that. Flowers has significantly cooled off after his tremendous start, hitting .208/.311/.426 since July 4, but he still has the inside track on beginning 2018 as the starting catcher.

DL'd: Jason Motte...The way Brian Snitker was using his bullpen, it was Arodys Vizcaino, Jim Johnson, and Jose Ramirez from the 7th to 9th innings with the lead and before that, Snitker went to his B-Team of Jackson, Krol, and Motte. That sounds like the worst law firm ever. Despite a FIP climbing to 6, Motte kept getting crunch time games while other younger and more talented arms pitched for Gwinnett. Fortunately, that looks to have stopped as the Braves decided his oblique was strained after giving up his sixth homer of the year last week. Funny how that happens. Motte had walked a batter in eight straight contests and he's likely thrown his last pitch for the Braves.

Gwinnett
Promoted from Mississippi: Sal Giardina...It seems like Giardina has been around for eight years, but it's actually only been half that. He made both his Double-A and Triple-A debuts this season and hit .264/.348/.329 over 161 PA. He's an organizational guy who can play the infield corners in a pinch.

Promoted from Mississippi: Dan Reynolds...Signed out of the independent leagues last winter, Reynolds was a solid, though unspectacular pitcher for Mississippi before a late-season promotion to Gwinnett. A veteran of six minor league seasons in the Angels' system before 2016, Reynolds still walks a few too many hitters and he'd probably get a pass on that if he threw with his left arm instead of his right arm. A minor league free agent, the Braves may not have room for Reynolds in 2018.

Phillips | Jeff Morris - Follow on Twitter

Activated: Evan Phillips...Sadly, some struggles late in the season have pushed Phillips' full-season numbers back up to ugly after he worked so hard to make them respectable. Phillips started the year much like he ended it - by giving up a bunch of runs. He surrendered 14 in his first five games (5 ING) but rebounded with a 3.35 ERA and a strikeout an inning over his next 32 games and 43 innings. Mixed in there was a promotion to Gwinnett at the end of May. However, he gave up five runs over his final 3.1 innings, which also includes a trip to the DL. Overall, give him a 6.14 ERA on the year.

Recalled and Optioned: Jason Hursh...Cheer up, Jason. This was the seventh and probably the last time you will be optioned to the minors this season. Hursh was the 26th man during a recent doubleheader and will probably rejoin the Braves once he completes his mandatory 10 days in the minors following a demotion. Hursh has a 4.30 ERA in the minors this year with nearly a strikeout an inning. He's allowed six runs in 10.2 ING over nine games in the majors.

DFA and Outrighted: Enrique Burgos...There was a time this year where it looked like Burgos was on the fast track for a promotion, but things went real bad over his last eight outings. In 5.2 innings, he gave up 11 runs, walked seven, and struck out eight. The Braves may have brought him down to Atlanta for a September look before his August stumbles. Now, he's likely thrown his last pitch as a Brave.

Mississippi
Promoted from Florida: Raymar Navarro...He never pitched for Mississippi and the Cuban-born right-hander finishes his second year much like his first - with underwhelming numbers. With Danville, Rome, and Florida, Navarro has a 4.56 ERA in 51.1 innings. We'll see if he stays around for 2018.

Florida
Promoted from Danville: Jaret Hellinger...A 20th rounder with some hype two years ago, Hellinger received a brief run in Rome before the D-Braves' season began, but did little with it. He became one of Danville's most consistent arms after that, though, and finished the year with a two-inning appearance in Florida. Hellinger was a decent "get" out of Ola High School in McDonough, GA in 2015, but it's time we see some results. I imagine he'll receive an assignment with Rome to open 2018.

Promoted from Danville: Gary Schwartz...I've only seen him referred to as "Garrison," but either way, Schwartz had a big August for Danville and was awarded a three-game tryout in Florida to end the year. He didn't do so hot there with a 1-for-9 showing with a steal, a walk, and five K's. I imagine he'll head down to Rome to open 2018 and the former Grand Canyon University standout will get a shot to get back on track.

Promoted from GCL: Hayden Deal...I wrote about him a good deal earlier today in my GCL recap. Deal was added to Florida either for roster purposes or an extra arm, but he was never used.

DL'd: Kevin Mathews...The former Texas first rounder only logged 24.1 innings after joining the organization in early July. He gave up 22 hits, struck out 22, and walked 22. Somewhere, Jayson Stark just got excited. After a great start in Rome and a decent spot start at the end of July in Gwinnett, things kind of went bad in Florida for Matthews. The lefty has long has had a high-projection arm, but has had very few positive results with it. It'll be interesting to see if he's back in 2018.

Rome
Promoted from Danville: Walter Borkovich...A Walk-Off Walk favorite, The Bork's first season after being undrafted out of Michigan State went rather well. Over 27.1 ING spread across three minor league stops, Borkovich finished with a 2.30 ERA, over a strikeout an inning, and just three walks. That comes out to a 10 strikeout per walk ratio, which is amazing. Now, can he do it again in 2018? That'll be fun to watch.

Promoted from Danville: Riley Delgado...This year's Marcus Mooney (i.e. high work ethic, grit, short on projection) is Delgado, a middle infielder out of Middle Tennessee State. He was picked in the ninth round to save money and in 22 games in Danville, hit just .232/.299/.246. He's a smooth fielder, both at second and shortstop, but you're simply not going to get much out of his bat. Probably will stick around in the system for a few years as a bench player.

Danville
Demoted from Rome: Bladimir Matos...This was the third time Matos was demoted to Danville. The number of times he pitched for the D-Braves? Zero. Roster manipulation FTW!

Nothing doing for the GCL and DSL rosters, whose seasons are over.

Transaction Tuesday: Minter, Dustin Peterson, Evan Phillips

Very quiet week in transactions and a couple of major league pitchers start or continue rehab assignments while a major prospect is brought to the majors. Of course, things will get more active over the next few days as any waiver trades are completed before rosters expand for September and a number of DL'd players return.

*The moves covered in this edition of Transaction Tuesday cover August 21 to August 28. A number in parenthesis represents the player's ranking in the midseason WOW Top 50.

Atlanta

Credit: Fox Sports

Promoted: A.J. Minter (#24)...I went over Minter's actual promotion when it happened, but let's look at his first two appearances. Unsurprisingly, they were spaced out with three off days in between outings. I expect the Braves to continue to bring him along slowly as they have never pushed him too hard. He averaged 96.7 mph with a high of 98.3. His slider was in the low 90's range and already looks like it's going to devastate major league hitters. I don't think we'll see too much from Minter this September as the Braves monitor his usage. That said, a good last month will put him in the driver's seat for a big role on next year's roster.

Optioned to Gwinnett: Max Fried (#20)...I was a fan of the call-up until I saw how he was utilized. He was basically another long reliever rather than a guy being given a chance to pitch meaningful innings. Because of that, I'm glad he was demoted to the minors and he made his first Triple-A start last week with a solid four-inning start where he struck out six, walked two, and allowed one hit. He'll probably get a second shot in the majors and maybe even will get a start down the stretch. His chance to contribute for real comes next year when he'll battle for a rotation spot with Lucas Sims, Sean Newcomb, and Luiz Gohara.

DFA'd: Jim Johnson...Oh, wait, this didn't happen. I should erase this.

Gwinnett
Activated: David Peterson...I mentioned Sims before and he's one of three players left from the 2012 draft. Connor Lien, who has been abysmal this year also came from that class and as did David Peterson. Picked out of the College of Charleston, Peterson skipped rookie ball and over a half-dozen seasons, the righty has been fairly durable with questionable peripherals. He still has a year before minor league free agency and provides a bit of stability with nearly 80 games at Gwinnett the last three years.

SPOTLIGHT Activated: Dustin Peterson (#21)...It has been the season from hell for Peterson, who broke a hamate bone in his hand during spring training and has just never been able to get going. It's good to see that his DL trip was short as he missed just a week, but his return was basically a microcosm of his entire season. He went 1-for-4 with a single. The injury this spring has sapped him of most of his power, which was a big reason Peterson became a prospect to watch last year.

It's not all bad for Peterson. This is just his Age-22 season and he's always played young for his level, which has muted his production. The raw potential that pushed the Padres to make him the 50th overall selection in the 2013 draft is still there and occasionally, like last year, we are able to witness what it could look like. That season, he hit .282/.343/.431 while setting career highs in a variety of categories. It was the kind of season talent evaluators has waited for since 2013, yet never saw. And more, the expectation was that Peterson was just scratching the surface of the kind of prospect he could be. Would a .295/.360/.475 season be next? Would he reach 20 homers for the first time in his career? Would he push his way onto the major league team?

Unfortunately, one errant pitch this spring and a slow recovery have made the answer to those three questions a resounding "no." He'll be ticketed for a return to Gwinnett in 2017 after being placed on the 40-man roster to protect him from the Rule 5. Peterson still could end up being a nice little prospect capable of putting up David Peralta-type numbers or he might be a good bench/platoon guy. By the way, that still pays a good amount. Either way, with a crowded outfield situation in the majors and Ronald Acuna on his way up, Peterson looks lost in the shuffle for now.

Rehab: Luke Jackson...Just a short trip to the DL this season for Jackson, who last pitched in the majors on August 18. Ten days later, he worked two/third's of an inning for Gwinnett and gave up a homer and a walk. The Braves had some high hopes for Jackson, but he's been more-or-less forgetful this season for Atlanta. In 40.2 ING, he has a 16% K%, 9% BB%, a 4.36 FIP, and a 5.20 xFIP. He's given up a lot of great contact, which in turn makes him unreliable out of the bullpen. He'll be back next year, but he'll need big-time improvement to stick around for very long with so many more intriguing arms on the way.

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DL'd: Evan Phillips...A 2015 pick, Phillips reached Triple-A this year for the first time and has struggled mightily with his control as his walk rate is 15%. I guess that's not too much worse than the 11.7% he was pulling at Mississippi, but neither rate is good. Phillips gets a good amount of grounders from his heavy fastball/slider combo and if he can show more consistency, he could be a guy who pushes his way into the bullpen mix next season. One last note if you look at his stats is an 8.14 ERA at Mississippi before the promotion up the ladder. Most of that came in his first five outings, where he surrendered 14 runs. In his last 16 innings with the M-Braves, he gave up just five runs.

Mississippi
Demoted from Gwinnett: Sal Giardina...The catcher/corner infielder did okay in a three-game run through Gwinnett. He went 4-for-7, all singles, and reached base two more times via a walk and a hit-by-pitch. He returns to Mississippi, where he was hitting .248 with a homer over 119 PA earlier this season. Giardina screams "future coach" for some reason.

Florida
Rehab: Ian Krol...I was a big fan of Krol's heading into 2017 as I saw a guy who made a huge step forward during last year. However, the wheels have come off in a big way (FIP up 2.43, xFIP up almost two whole runs). Seemingly overnight, he reverted back to the guy the Tigers traded at the end of 2015. Since coming back after a trip to the DL, Krol's tossed four scoreless innings over three outings with the GCL club and Florida, but the arbitration-eligible southpaw will need to dominate in September if he has any hope of being a Brave in 2018 - and even if he did, the Braves may still pass.

Rome
Promoted from Danville: Bladimir Matos...More roster manipulation involving the same cast of characters I've written about numerous times in the past.

Demoted to Danville and Promoted Back: Troy Conyers...It was Conyers' second demotion to Danville. He's yet to pitch for them.

Danville
Demoted from Rome: Walter Borkovich...Yawn. Another move for roster management purposes.

GCL
Promoted from DSL: Jose Montilla...One of the few constants for a bad DSL staff, Montilla did just enough to keep his team in most games, though he had some truly uninspiring metrics (11% strikeout rate, 5% K-BB%). Hence the 90-point divide between his FIP and his 3.07 ERA. Nevertheless, Montilla deserved at least a shot at continuing to beat the metrics and his first start in the GCL went pretty well. He tossed five scoreless innings, giving up two hits, a walk, and striking out four - a new personal high. That last part had to be surprising because Montilla went seven appearances and 22.2 ING earlier this season with four total strikeouts.

Promoted from DSL: Filyer Sanchez...It's been a long time coming for Sanchez, who made his professional debut shortly after signing at the end of May of 2015. Over three seasons in the DSL, he's always maintained pretty solid numbers (2.48 ERA over 119.2 ING, 2.4 BB/9, no homers allowed), but because he doesn't have the big strikeout numbers, the lefty has been slow to work himself into the Braves' plans beyond the DSL. Finally, after 57 appearances in the DSL, Sanchez was brought stateside and appeared in his first game for the GCL Braves. It could not have gone any better. Following Krol in a rehab assignment, Sanchez tossed three scoreless innings with a K. Only an error by Braulio Vasquez kept the outing from being perfect. Vazquez would make up for it with a RBI double to break a 3-3 tie and the GCL club would hold on from there, giving Sanchez a win. Like I said, the rate stats aren't tremendous, but three years with an FIP under 3.00 deserve at least a shot to sink-or-swim.

Promoted to Rome and Demoted Back: Hayden Deal...Undrafted out of Presbyterian College, Deal was a solid reliever in the Big South before finishing up his collegiate career as a starter during his senior year. Following the draft, Billy Best, one of the Braves scouts who keeps finding guys no one else wants, kept Deal from putting too many plans in place for a post-baseball life by signing Deal after a bullpen session. A fan of the Braves growing up. Deal's staple is control - something that has continued professionally. He was hit up pretty good in the GCL prior to a promotion to Rome last week as the SALLY squad was desperate for a fresh arm. The outing couldn't have gone better for Deal, who faced one over the minimum during a career-high four innings. He also struck out four, one off his career-best. Deal and the aforementioned Borkovich are easy to root for as undrafted free agents and to this point, both look like their professional dreams are hardly over.

DSL
Activated from the restricted list: Erick Abreu...A year after being suspended for Stanozolol, Abreu made his return just in time to get into one game for the Dominican Summer League Braves before their season came to a close. He went three scoreless innings and got the win in relief after the Braves plated 17 total runs from the third inning on. Signed in January of 2016 as an 18-year-old, Abreu pitched in 16 games in the DSL last year. He got plenty of K's (31 in 31 innings) but also walked a small village (27 total). Seems to be another in the line of players who fit the "teach him some control before he kills someone" category. Will turn 20 on New Year's Day so his spot in the organization is dicey, but it would appear that they kept him through a year-long suspension for a reason.

Transaction Tuesday: Braves Lose Player to the Air Force

After a big week of promotions to report the last time I did this, the last seven days were more about the weird (lots of player movement for procedural purposes) and the unusual (a player going on military leave) than well-earned promotions - though there were a couple.

*The moves covered in this edition of Transaction Tuesday cover July 18 to July 24. A number in parenthesis represents the player's ranking in the midseason WOW Top 50.

Atlanta
We've already given the full-court press on yesterday's trade. Stephen gave a general recap of the deal and what it means for the Braves while I focused on the prospect acquired in the deal, Huascar Ynoa, with a scouting report.

By Keith Allison on Flickr (Original version) UCinternational (Crop)
[CC BY-SA 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Activated: Arodys Vizcaino...A right index finger strain didn't keep Vizcaino out of action for long. It's been a weird season for the hard-throwing righthander. A year after turning into a groundball pitcher, he's reverted back to his 2015-self with a groundball rate just south of 40%. He's also allowed five home-runs - nearly half of his career total. That's played a big part in an FIP of 3.89. And no, this isn't a SunTrust Park thing - only one of those homers occurred in Georgia. He got off to a slow start but was dominant from April 27 to July 1. His numbers started to fall again before his trip to the DL. The Braves are hoping he gets going again as it both helps his trade value and gives Brian Snitker more options should the Braves trade Jim Johnson or at least demote him from his current position.

Placed on Bereavement List and Activated: Kurt Suzuki...A day after hitting a big two-run homer in Atlanta's 6-3 win over the Dodgers last Thursday, Suzuki headed to Hawaii for his grandfather's funeral. He was activated Monday. It's been a great season for Suzuki, who recently reached 1 fWAR for just the second time in the last six years. He could garner some trade attention moving forward, but with Anthony Recker dealt yesterday, Atlanta will likely hold onto their backup catcher short of an offer John Coppolella can't say no to.

Promoted: Matt Wisler...Like his other call-ups this year, Wisler's return to the majors will be short. Aaron Blair has been given Jaime Garcia's spot in the rotation. Instead, Wisler is back in the bigs to help out the bullpen. He got that shot in Monday's game and got hammered. At this point, we know what Wisler the Starter looks like and it's not good. We also have seen glimpses into what Wisler the Long Reliever looks like and that's not too attractive of an option either. What about Wisler the One-Inning Reliever? It seems like that's the only stone left unturned here. Consider this: Wisler has mid-90's heat and can touch 97 mph on the gun as a starter. He might be able to consistently hit 97 as a reliever or at least be able to push his velocity that high more often. We also know that throughout his career, he has a slider that is capable of generating whiffs. In fact, it's the only pitch he's been able to get swings-and-misses on. Now, if you were able to take his control, increased velocity, and plus-slider and turn it into a reliever, you might have the makings of a solid option out of the bullpen. At any rate, it's time to try something new with Wisler.

Released: Eric O'Flaherty...Atlanta kept hoping they could get something out of the former star reliever, but ultimately, O'Flaherty just couldn't find his groove anymore. Since returning to Atlanta last year, O'Flaherty had a 4.91 FIP over 47 innings while allowing seven home-runs. During his best three years in Atlanta during his first run as a Brave (2010-12), O'Flaherty gave up seven homers in 175 innings with a 2.98 FIP. O'Flaherty had been on the DL with left rotator cuff tendinitis and there was no word on any time table ahead of him being released. Atlanta could have opted to send him to the 60-day DL to get a roster spot, but instead, ran out the clock on something else. O'Flaherty reached ten years of major league service by the Braves waiting as long as they did to release him. That ensures a full pension from Major League Baseball. A solid move by the Braves as they reward one of their most well-liked pitchers of the last decade.

Gwinnett

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Activated and Promoted from Mississippi: Joseph Odom...After spending most of the first three months of the season on the DL, Odom appeared in four games with Mississippi before landing back on the DL. Once activated, he was promoted to replace Recker. His first few games in Gwinnett haven't been great, but Odom will likely be the guy moving forward for the G-Braves behind the plate as the only other catcher on the roster, David Freitas, is a 28-year-old journeyman hitting .265/.346/.354. Odom has been lost in this new era of a number of interesting catching prospects in the Braves' system, but he did rake last year with Carolina, hitting .292/.349/.500 with 8 HR before a promotion to Mississippi. To be sure, he struggled after arriving in Double-A. Odom is solid backstop behind the plate, though not elite. At the plate, he's progressed each year in OPS from .567 to .654 to .688 to .758. While it's difficult to predict big things, Odom has enough skills that might play well as a backup. For the moment, he might be third on the depth chart at catcher so keep him in mind.

Optioned to Gwinnett: Lane Adams...In his most extended shot at sticking in the majors, Adams has done some things well. He's been an option off the bench with five successful steals, has belted a pinch-hit homer and another pinch-hit double and can play all three outfield slots. The negative is that he's only on-based .267 over 30 PA. To be fair, he's received zero starts so nearly all of his action has come in late inning situations. The returns of Danny Santana and Sean Rodriguez, along with Atlanta's insistence to stick with an eight-man bullpen cost Adams his job. Chances are he'll be back again in the majors at some point this season. He's slashed .269/.320/.473 in the minors this year with 18 EBH, including 7 homers, and 15 steals.

Promoted from Mississippi: Enrique Burgos...In a brief return to Double-A, Burgos never appeared as he waited for a spot to open back up in Gwinnett. Burgos has been wonderful since his trade from the Diamondbacks' organization with a 1.15 ERA over 15.2 ING. He has K'd 18 and walked eight as well. Burgos may not be a top relief prospect, but he's done a good job opening some eyes in Gwinnett and might get a chance in the majors with the Braves looking to tinker with their pen to get better results.

Demoted to Florida and Re-Promoted: Xavier Avery...This is the first of many weird moves that occurred last week in which several players were shuffled down to Florida and back up. A few guys came up from Florida and were quickly shifted out again. It must have been a logistical thing. I just wanted to point this out because you'll see some funny transactions here. In pretty much every one of these moves, the player never appeared during his brief time demoted/promoted. In regards to Avery, he's been a productive player for the Gwinnett Braves this season. He strikes out way too often (104 in 292 PA), but he's also got on base at a big-time clip (.371) and showed good pop (.213 ISO). He's also added 15 steals and if it wasn't for Adams, he'd likely be next-in-line in case a bench spot for an outfielder opened up.

Demoted to Florida and Re-Promoted: Caleb Dirks...For the first time in his career, Dirks is struggling. Over his last six appearances (sandwiched around a trip to the DL), Dirks has given up eight earned runs and three homers over 8.2 ING. He's K'd 8 in that time frame. Dirks has been remarkably consistent and awesome during most of his four-year career since the Braves took him in the 15th round back in 2014. It'll be interesting to see how he answers adversity for a change.

Demoted to Florida and Re-Promoted: Evan Phillips...Evan Phillips was a bit of a surprising promotion at the end of May because he was carrying an 8.14 ERA at Mississippi. That was a product of a bad handful of games to open the year. In his final ten games, he had a 2.81 ERA with 18 Ks in 16 ING. Since joining Gwinnett, he's continued to pitch fairly well, though he needs to clean up the walks (12 in 18 ING). Still, he's getting a strikeout an inning and has a 3.00 ERA in his first taste of Triple-A ball. You'll take that anytime. A 17th-round selection back in 2015, Phillips won't turn 23 until this September.

DL: Mauricio Cabrera...The Atlanta Braves' bullpen struggles may have started this year with the inability to get Cabrera going. He was expected to take a prime role in the pen after 38.1 ING in the majors last year with six saves and a 2.82 ERA. Instead, he has been abysmal in Triple-A with nearly a walk-an-inning. His last six outings were especially bad as he walked ten in 5.2 innings. Cabrera had control issues in the minors before but seemed to find it a bit after getting to the majors. It's just flat-out gone now.

DL: Kyle Kubitza...It hasn't been the best season for Mr. Kubitza with a .232/.321/.324 line over 66 games. To be fair, the former prospect has turned it on since June 1, slashing .284/.375/.402. That kind of slash is why many Braves fans thought Kubitza might be a possible piece that could help the Braves' team in 2015 before he was traded to the Angels in the Ricardo Sanchez trade. No word on what sent Kubitza to the DL, but at this point, he's filler at the infield and outfield corner positions.

Mississippi

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Promoted from Florida: Corbin Clouse...I didn't put Clouse in my Top 50 Midseason list, but he was very close. He keeps this up, he'll definitely be in it when we reconvene for an offseason list. Clouse has some ugly walk numbers this season in Florida, but something started to click for him over his final nine games. In 13.1 innings, he walked three and struck out 19 while not allowing a run. In the 21.2 innings before that, he walked 18 and struck out 27 with an ERA of 3.82. The change for Clouse warranted a promotion to Mississippi and he's already tossed four scoreless innings there. When you add last year's success between Danville and Rome, Clouse has a 1.69 ERA over his first 69.1 ING...which I hear is nice. He's also struck out 103 of 287 batters, a rate of 36%. Not too shabby for a 27th rounder out of Davenport University.

Promoted to Gwinnett from Florida and Demoted to Mississippi: Junior Rincon...Since joining the organization earlier this month, Rincon has spent most of his time in Florida but now returns to Mississippi where he threw one game out of the pen a few weeks ago. He also got a few days in Gwinnett but didn't pitch. It would have been his Triple-A debut if he had.

Florida
Promoted to Gwinnett and Demoted Back: Andres Santiago...Santiago gets around. He's played for four minor league teams this year and all of them are in the Braves' system. Most of the season has been spent in Rome where he's thrown 33.2 of his 53.2 innings. At 27, Santiago is an eleven-year veteran who is just trying to keep a dream alive.

Rome
Promoted from GCL: Troy Conyers...A 23rd-round southpaw out of the University of San Diego, Conyers is a big guy at 6'5" and 230 lbs. Slowed in college by Tommy John surgery in 2014, Conyers was switched from starter-to-closer in 2017 and it came together for him in a big way (12.5 K/9, 2.5 BB.9, 1 HR allowed in 46.2 ING). At 23, it was a surprise to see him in the GCL until you remember that the Braves drafted 20,000 left-handers in June and they couldn't all be in Danville. Over eight games in the GCL, Conyers was absolutely dominant. In 14 innings, he struck out 19, walked two, and the only run to score off him was unearned. He needs a challenge and it might as well come in Rome.

Danville
Nothing doing.

GCL
Demoted from Danville: Jeremy Fernandez...Fernandez wasn't getting a lot of playing time in Danville and what playing time he did get resulted in a .174/.240/.196 line over 50 PA. This is the third season of his career and the 20-year-old has yet to show much offensive capability. He's played mostly second base.

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Placed on Military Leave: Adam Groesbeck...The Braves knew this was coming. Groesbeck was a 38th rounder last month out of the Air Force Academy. After graduating, Groesbeck had 60 days of leave and a majority of that was spent with the Braves' organization. The outfielder played in 14 games before leaving the team and struggled mightily with just two hits in 39 PA. He walked seven times and struck out eleven. Groesbeck was among the top hitters in Division I baseball last year with a .410/.460/.649 line over 50 games. According to new requirements put in place last April, Groesbeck must serve two years of active duty before requesting Ready Reserve status (which would last five years). As such, Groesbeck exchanges his baseball uniform for a military one and will begin his primary career as a drone pilot.

DSL
Nothing Reported

Random Prospect Sunday - Evan Phillips

Jeff Morris. Follow him on Twitter @AtlBravesJeff

When the 17th round of the 2015 MLB draft began, Evan Phillips was waiting for his name to be called. A right-hander out of UNC-Wilmington, Phillips had been promised by the New York Yankees that when the 18th pick of the round - and #513th overall - came up, it would be his name that would be called. You can imagine that Phillips had a moment where he imagined what it might be like to wear those iconic pinstripes and walk onto the mound in the new Yankee Stadium.

But something happened before that. With pick #510, Phillips received a call from Billy Best, an area scout for the Atlanta Braves, that it would be the Braves, not the Yanks, that would select the Clayton High School alum (NC). He quickly signed with the Braves and he was a professional.

Phillips, who also had been picked by the Kansas City Royals coming out of high school in 2012, was assigned to the Danville Braves to begin his professional career at just 20-years-old. A starter in college, Phillips was tabbed to be a reliever in the minors and immediately opened some eyes with a half-dozen games in Danville. He allowed a solo homerun, the only blemish during his 13.1 innings. All the while, he K'd 17 and walked just four. It was quickly apparent - and the Braves agreed - that rookie ball was beneath him. He spent the final month-plus in Rome. The results weren't nearly as dominant (4.41 ERA, 3.67 FIP, 4.41 BB/9), but considering he was just a couple of months out of college, Atlanta was pleased with the volume of work.

Rather than a return trip to Rome, Phillips was tabbed for a promotion to Carolina to open 2016. On one hand, he had a 1.27 ERA and eight saves over 21 games with a 2.54 BB/9, his single-best total anywhere. On the other hand, his strikeouts were significantly decreased and his .217 BABIP gave the impression of a pitcher who was getting pretty lucky. Regardless, by mid-June, the Braves again gave Phillips a promotion up the ladder and in just over a year since he was drafted, Phillips was already in Double-A ball. The rapid climb meant that Phillips was the first draftee from 2015 to make it to Double-A to stay (Trevor Belicek made a one-game appearance in April before returning to A-ball). Soon, A.J. Minter and Patrick Weigel would join Phillips in Mississippi from the Class of '15.

With the Mississippi Braves, the strikeouts returned. After falling under 20% with Carolina, it climbed back up to 28.5%. the control wasn't as pinpoint as it had been with the Mudcats, but Phillips continued to show an ability to get out hitters - though a .348 BABIP and 61.4% LOB% were his downfall ERA-wise. That mark went from 1.27 to 4.46. This is despite an FIP that dropped 10 points compared to Carolina and an xFIP that fell nearly a run. A deeper look showed a pitcher who was prone to giving up runs in a short amount of games. Between July 8 and July 24, Phillips was charged with five earned runs over 9.1 ING (5 games). Toward the end of the season, a three-game run saw him give up nine earned runs over 2.2 innings. Those three games jacked up his ERA from 2.20 to 4.60.

Phillips's 2016 was not finished. He headed to Arizona to play in the Fall League with some of the best minor league talent in baseball. He appeared nine times and though he did strike out a little over a batter an inning, he walked nearly as many. He was rather fortunate that he only gave up six hits in 10.2 innings because had he given up many more hits, his ERA would have looked even worse.

Unlike the previous two seasons, an iffy run down the stretch with a new team wasn't followed by a promotion to begin the next season. Phillips headed back to Mississippi to open 2017 and things...have not gone so well, but again, a deeper look into the numbers shows that things may not be what they appear.

Considered a strong possibility to close games for Mississippi, Phillips was blasted early-and-often to begin the season. Two big stinkers on April 13 and April 20 were ERA-ruiners. On the 13th, after Kolby Allard and Jesse Biddle had tossed a combined 7.1 scoreless innings, Phillips entered. He stranded a runner in the 8th and entered the ninth with a 7-0 lead after the Braves added four in the top of the inning. The wheels came off from there. He retired two batters in the inning, but allowed six runners to reach on five singles and a hit batter. When he left, the bases were loaded and three runners had already scored. That's when Danny Reynolds compounded the problem and despite a 7-0 deficit entering the ninth, Tennessee walked it off with an 8-7 win.

A week later, there was significantly less drama as Phillips replaced an ineffective Max Fried and was charged with five runs in just one inning of work. Since that game, Phillips has righted the ship for the most part. He did give up three homers in a pair of appearances in early May, but in 16 innings since April 20, Phillips has allowed just five runs (2.81 ERA), struck out 18, and walked seven. Of course, when you see that his ERA is 8.14, it's worth knowing that since April 20, he's brought his ERA down 17 runs from 25.20 to 8.14.

As for a brief scouting report, Phillips is 6'2" and about 215 pounds. He has a quick delivery in which he pushes his weight back an explodes to the plate. He's not gifted with plus-plus velocity, but can hit 95-97 mph with max effort, though he's more likely to be a few ticks under. He changes speeds well and appears to throw both a four-seam fastball and cutter. His slider is his best delivery and when he's able to get ahead on the heater, his slider has swing-and-miss potential with great late movement. Occasionally, he throws what looks like a show-me changeup, but it wasn't utilized frequently in the game footage I watched.

Phillips' biggest issue is with his delivery - or more specifically, one part of his delivery. Even in the short footage down below, you can see that everything looks smooth except where his landing foot is. Using the dug up scuff of dirt as a guide, check out the landing spot at 0.03, 0.10, 0.18, and 0.25. Benjamin Chase of Tomahawk Take also spoke about this during a scouting report. Consistency throughout the delivery is very important and right now, Phillips has issues there. When he's on, he's dominant as we've seen. When he's not, his control waivers. It'll be something to keep track of moving forward.