Results tagged ‘ Spring Training ’

Prospect Evan Gattis is Spring Training invitee

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Catcher Evan Gattis of the Rome Braves, Class A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, in the first game of a doubleheader against the Greenville Drive on August 15, 2011, at Fluor Field at the West End in Greenville, South Carolina. (Tom Priddy/Four Seam Images)

Catcher turned slugging left field prospect Evan Gattis is among the 21 non-roster invitees the Braves will bring to Spring Training camp this February.

The Braves’ invitees include nine pitchers: Ryan Buchter, Yohan Flande, Sean Gilmartin, J.R. Graham, Dusty Hughes, Wirfin Obispo, Daniel Rodriguez, Gus Schlosser and Alex Wood.

Six catchers: Luis De La Cruz, Evan Gattis, Matt Kennelly, Matt Pagnozzi, Braeden Schlehuber and Jose Yepez. Three-infielders: Nick Ahmed, Blake DeWitt and Joe Leonard. Three-outfielders: Todd Cunningham, Joe Terdoslavich (formerly an infielder) and Jordan Parraz.

Shortstop, pitcher competitions keep Braves interesting

Shortstop Andrelton Simmons, right, of the Lynchburg Hillcats, jokes with the Hillcats radio reporter, center, and coach Bobby Moore before a game against the Wilmington Blue Rocks on June 15, 2011, at City Stadium in Lynchburg, Va. (Tom Priddy / Four Seam Images)

So far this spring the Atlanta Braves have a miserable exhibition record (2-10), but interest is growing in four rookies competing for possibly just two spots on the roster.

While Tyler Pastornicky was predicted by some reporters as the likely starting 2012 shortstop, Andrelton Simmons is turning this spring into a competition.

Simmons won the Carolina League batting title in 2011 as the only league player to hit above .300. But never having played above High Class A, he was thought to need another year in the minors.

But as of Thursday morning Simmons is batting .295 with an OPS of .780 in spring games and Pastornicky just .100 and an OPS of .229. Game on.

Two young, highly regarded pitchers are competing for spots on the roster, too, possibly one in a starting role. Julio Teheran and Randall Delgado, both among the Braves’ top prospects, have been tag-teaming games this spring, one starting, one coming in later to pitch.

Teheran is 0-1 with an 11.00 ERA, and Delgado is 1-1 with a 9.00 ERA. So it’s possible neither will get the starting spot and both may be headed back to Triple A Gwinnett.

In any case, it keeps these spring games interesting, even as the Braves are less than inspiring at the plate.

RHP Julio Teheran of the Atlanta Braves at Spring Training camp on March 17, 2009, at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Tom Priddy / Four Seam Images)

RHP Randall Delgado of the Atlanta Braves throws during an intra-squad game on March 13, 2009, at Spring Training camp at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. (Tom Priddy / Four Seam Images)

 

Braves sign Prado, Wilson to one-year deals

Martin Prado of the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, Class A Carolina League affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, taken May 13, 2005, at Pfitzner Stadium, Woodbridge, Va. (Tom Priddy/Four Seam Images)

The Atlanta Braves have signed veteran utility man Martin Prado to a one-year contract.

David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that “The deal, which will pay Prado between $4.5 and $5 million, has no real bearing on the whether the Braves end up trading him because any conversations have come with the understanding that Prado would draw this kind of salary for 2012.”

The Braves also signed infielder Jack Wilson to a one-year deal.

 

Lefty Gilmartin will be headed to Spring Training

Starting pitcher Sean Gilmartin (2) of the Rome Braves, Class A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, prior to a game against the Greenville Drive on August 16, 2011, at Fluor Field at the West End in Greenville, South Carolina. Gilmartin was Atlanta’s first-round pick (No. 28 overall) in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft out of Florida State. Making his second start of the season, he pitched four scoreless innings, giving up one hit and striking out four. (Tom Priddy/Four Seam Images)

Lefty Sean Gilmartin, one of the Atlanta Braves’ top prospects, is one of the non-roster invitees who will be attending Spring Training with the big club next month.

The Braves’ No. 1 pick in the 2011 First-Year Player Draft, Gilmartin was named the No. 20 prospect in last fall’s Arizona Fall League.

The club’s other non-roster invitees will include Christian Bethancourt, Andrelton Simmons, Todd Cunningham, Zeke Spruill, Stefan Gartrell, Jordan Parraz, Josh Wilson and Drew Sutton, MLB.com’s Mark Bowman reports.

Matt Young gets the call for opening day

9 April 2008: Infielder Matt Young (6) of the Mississippi Braves, Class AA affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, in the season’s home opener against the Mobile BayBears at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Miss. Photo by: Tom Priddy/Four Seam Images

Infielder Matt Young, a long-time Minor Leaguer, got the word today that he’ll be on the Atlanta Braves’ 25-man roster on opening day.

Reports from the Braves’ beat writers indicate that Young was so emotional when he was given the news Sunday morning that he temporarily forgot to listen to anything else that was said.

Nobody in the Braves organization has worked harder to get a roster spot. Young, generously listed at 5 feet 8 inches, has had to work harder than anyone else to get noticed. He has been a perennial award winner and all-star.

He hit .300 last year at Triple-A, .358 just a few months ago in Mexico, and in his career was player of the week in the International League, Southern League, Carolina League, Best Hustler in the Southern League . . . and you get the picture.

Has his height kept him back? Probably, but he keeps hustling and winning awards. And now he finally got the call after being in the Braves organization since 2005.

I’ve photographed him for several years, including quite a bit when he was in Mississippi, and I haven’t seen very many players work as hard as he has. He deserves this shot.

Also selected to the opening day roster today were Brandon Hicks, also a long-time Braves farmhand, another feel-good announcement.

15 March 2009: Brandon Hicks in a game between the Atlanta Braves and Houston Astros at the Braves’ Spring Training camp at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Photo by: Tom Priddy/Four Seam Images

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soriano is either here or there or both

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14 March 2009: Rafael Soriano of the Atlanta Braves at Spring Training camp at Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Photo by:  Tom Priddy/MiLB.com
By the time you read this, Rafael Soriano may be a Brave, or he may be an Oriole, or a Yankee, or a Red Sox . . .
Soriano accepted arbitration from the Atlanta Braves yesterday. Then, in order to make room on the 40-man roster they designated OF Ryan Church for assignment. Then, Soriano accepted the possibility of a trade with a specified list of teams . . .
I’m tried of the story already. Anyway, the winter meetings are going on right now, so he’ll probably be traded before the end of the week.
I guess this spring may have been the last time I photograph him in a Braves uniform.

A look at new Braves outfielder Ryan Church

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       17 March 2009: Outfielder Ryan Church of the New York Mets in a game 
       against the Atlanta Braves at the Braves’ Spring Training camp at Disney’s 
       Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Photo by: Tom Priddy/
       Four Seam Images
Braves announcer Joe Simpson tonight called the trade of Jeff Francoeur “a punch in the gut.” Add to that what my wife said: “Sometimes I hate this game.” That about sums it up for me, too.
In addition to my years of photographing Francoeur, I’ve photographed new Brave Ryan Church several times in the majors, too, including at Washington and here at Spring Training this year.

Tommy Hanson making his MLB debut today

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The Braves’ top prospect, pitcher Tommy Hanson, is making his Major League debut on the living room TV in front of me right now, and he just struck out the side. Not too shabby, eh?
Earlier today I went through my archives, looking for anything I’d shot of Tommy other than the two photos I’ve already posted on this blog. Not much luck.
I found a lot of photos of the pop group Hanson, photographed when they played in Greenville, and some guy named Michael Hanson, who I can’t exactly place in my memory.
But not too much Tommy Hanson. I photographed him in Danville a few years back, but missed him last year when I was shooting in Myrtle Beach. That’s the way it is with starting pitchers: sometimes you’ll see them over and over and sometimes you miss them completely. Depends on the rotation.
I also photographed Tommy at Spring Training a couple of years back, and got a lot of mileage out of those photos because not many other photographers had caught on to his potential back then.
But this spring, when I again spent a week shooting the Braves in Florida, I pretty much missed Tommy completely. 
The only time I saw him this year was when pitching coach Roger McDowell was running a drill with some of his pitchers, tossing them pop flies over their shoulders as they ran from foul line to foul line.
It was fun to watch . . . but I hope this kid sticks around for a long time so I can get some better photos of him.
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       17 March 2009: RHP Tommy Hanson runs a fielding drill with pitching coach 
       Roger McDowell (right) of the Atlanta Braves at Spring Training camp at 
       Disney’s Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Photo by:  Tom 
       Priddy/Four Seam Images

Following up on a Spring Training visit

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I sat down on a park bench one day during my Spring Training trip, just killing time waiting for an afternoon camp session to begin, and happened to bump into Al Himpsl.
Al was in town visiting his son, left-handed pitching prospect Derick Himpsl, who is trying to make a comeback with the Braves.
Derick Himpsl was drafted by the Braves, and pitched briefly in the low minors. But the lefty tired of the Florida heat, his dad said, and he left the organization at the end of the year and went back home to upstate New York.
One rainy, cold, miserable day, father and son had a talk, and Derick decided that maybe he was a bit hasty in leaving baseball. So after a year out of baseball he was reinstated by the Braves and is giving it another shot.
He’s tall, he throws very hard for a lefty, and the Braves think he’s worth another chance. Looks like he’s penciled in to pitch for the rookie Danville Braves again this season.
His dad also mentioned that Derick didn’t like last year’s baseball card — which I did not shoot, by the way — because his game face is, well, intense.
I photographed him a little throwing batting practice, and I told his dad when I saw him later, that Derrick won’t like these, either. He has his game face on again.
But I made sure I got the photo below, just for him and his dad . . .
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There were other players in the game, too

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Just in case you think I photographed nothing but Braves at Spring Training, I offer this shot of Hunter Pence of the Houston Astros as evidence to the contrary.
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