(This is my debut article for Talking Chop. See the full article HERE.)
The Atlanta Braves right-hander Freddy Tarnok is yet another young arm in a seemingly endless arsenal of highly-rated pitching prospects. One viewing of Tarnok and three words quickly come to mind: electric, exciting, and raw.
The Rome Braves’ huge second half surge led them to their first South Atlantic League title in 13 years. The achievements of their heralded young pitching staff and the tremendous second half Austin Riley had with the bat have been well documented over the past few months. While Ray-Patrick Didder and Patrick Weigel made some waves as two of the Atlanta Braves’ breakout prospects, closer Devan Watts quietly slid under the radar and played a huge role in Rome’s SAL Championship.
It sounds like a broken record, but another night has passed and yet another Rome Braves starter has hurled another impressive performance. Max Fried dealt a dandy last night, striking out 13 en route to Rome’s first South Atlantic League Championship in 13 years.
ROME, GA — Time and time again, the 2016 version of the Rome Braves seem to play well beyond their years. They entered Tuesday night’s Game 2 of the South Atlantic League Championship Series down one game to none after an uncharacteristically-sloppy Game 1 that saw Mike Soroka’s gem go to waste behind four unearned runs. Needing a win before heading north to New Jersey, Touki Toussaint got the call for arguably the biggest start in his life.
As the Rome Braves starters have done all series, Touki delivered.
ROME, GA — If the Atlanta Braves rebuild project begins this season with Dansby Swanson and ends a few years down the road with the abundance of top prospects on the Rome Braves, the organization is in great shape. The Rome Braves are not only winning, they are having fun and it is contagious to watch.
Despite the Atlanta Braves clearing payroll and shipping off their big names at the beginning of the 2015 season, the real rebuild began with the 2015 MLB Draft. They made a huge haul in that draft and they are starting to see the results with the majority of them playing an integral part in the surging first place Rome Braves fantastic second half run.
The Rome Braves have had a stacked team this season, with some of the bigger prospects in the organization playing a big part in their turnaround. The pitching staff has been phenomenal with names like Mike Soroka, Kolby Allard, Max Fried, Touki Toussaint and the recently promoted Patrick Weigel coming of age and showing that the talent seen in them may be more than potential. Austin Riley is maturing into the best third base prospect in the system while being arguably the biggest bat on the pipeline behind a huge second half.
Having taken in quite a few Rome Braves games this season, primarily to see the names above, a couple other prospects — though much lesser known — have shown steady improvement seemingly each and every time I visited State Mutual Field.
ROME, GA — The Rome Braves are stacked in the pitching department. Some have been acquired through the drafts, like 2015’s haul of Kolby Allard, Mike Soroka and Patrick Weigel. Others — like Max Fried and Touki Toussaint — were brought to Atlanta via trade. After a slow start to his Braves career, Toussaint is now finding his way for the Rome Braves.
I get somewhat spoiled by getting to see the Rome Braves this season. Nearly every time I go, one of baseball’s exciting young pitching prospects takes the mound. Whether it is Max Fried or Mike Soroka, the Rome Braves rotation is stacked with big names like Kolby Allard, Touki Toussaint and Patrick Weigel.
Last night, I didn’t see any of those names, but walked away impressed with the pitcher I saw. It says a lot about the depth on the Braves pipeline.
ROME, GA — Luke Dykstra can flat out hit a baseball. Since the day he was drafted by the Atlanta Braves, that’s what Dykstra has done, and he has done it extremely well. In an Atlanta Braves system that is flowered with some of the finest middle infield prospects in the game like Ozzie Albies, Dansby Swanson, Kevin Maitan, and now Travis Demeritte, Dykstra is making people take notice another fine season in Rome.