Atlanta Braves Call Up Two Prospects Tuesday, and They Both Produce
On Tuesday, the Atlanta Braves called up Lucas Sims and Ozzie Albies to make their major league debuts and both held their own.
The Atlanta Braves called up two of their top prospects on Tuesday to make their major league debuts against the Los Angeles Dodgers. As the trade deadline has passed, the Braves are looking to see what they have in their young players to be ready for the 2018 season, so getting a chance to see what they have in Sims and Albies coming into the offseason is important.
Who exactly are these two prospects?
Ozzie Albies
Albies continues a strong Atlanta Braves presence in Curacao, the tiny island just off of Venezuela that was made famous by Andruw Jones. Of the 15 players who have played in the major leagues from the country, the Braves have had 5 play for their team.
Albies was originally signed in 2013 and made his professional debut in 2014. It was evident immediately that Albies was more valuable than the $350,000 signing bonus he received, hitting .364/.446/.444 across two rookie levels, with 7 doubles, 3 triples, a home run and 22 stolen bases. Even more impressive is that at 17 years old, he had more walks than strikeouts, 28 to 23.
In 2015, Albies was moved up to full-season Rome at just 18 years old, where he was dynamic, hitting .310/.368/.404 with 21 doubles and 8 triples, stealing 29 bases. A late season wrist injury ended his season.
The Braves jumped Albies up to AA Mississippi to open 2016 at just 19 years old. He did so well that within a month, he was moved up to AAA. Some off field stuff led to struggles immediately, but when he was moved to second base, his play ticked up significantly. He moved back down to AA to pair with Dansby Swanson as the Braves’ future middle infield to play together, and the two were dynamic in their time together. Overall, Albies hit .292/.358/.420 with 33 doubles, 10 triples, 6 home runs, and 30 stolen bases. His season was ended in the AA playoffs when he broke his elbow on a freak injury when he swung and felt it immediately.
In the offseason, I put up a scouting report on Albies, discussing his recovery from his injury. One orthopedic surgeon from Mayo Clinic I talked with for a different piece this winter mentioned that he’d dealt with similar fractures before, and while the athlete can return to action in 6-9 months, playing with “comfort” in performing doesn’t really come until 9-12 months after the surgery. That 9 month mark was the beginning of June, and it’s been notable that Albies’ left-handed swing this season has been much better after early June than it had been early in the season, as he’s hitting the ball with more authority, even if the hits don’t fall (as they didn’t for a couple week stretch in mid-July to hurt his overall numbers from the left side since June 1).
On the 2017 season, Albies has hit .285/.330/.440 in AAA with 21 doubles, 8 triples, 9 home runs, and 21 stolen bases (to just 2 caught stealing). He did go 0-2 in his debut on Tuesday night against the Dodgers, but he did draw an 8th inning walk and score on a 2-run home run that got the Braves within one run on the night.
Lucas Sims
Sims was drafted by the Atlanta Braves with the 21st overall selection in the 2012 draft out of high school in Georgia. He pitched in the two rookie levels in his draft year, throwing 34 innings and striking out 39 batters.
He exploded onto the national season with his performance in low-A Rome in 2013, where he threw 116 2/3 innings with a 2.62 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, with a 46/134 BB/K ratio. That got him into the top 60 prospects of all the major lists.
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Sims had a fall back season in high-A with Lynchburg, posting a good WHIP and keeping contact weak, but really struggling to miss bats and seeing his ERA jump to 4.20. Sims returned to high-A, though the Braves had moved to Carolina from Lynchburg. Sims was part of a very scary incident at Carolina when the team bus was in an accident. Multiple players missed significant time, and one player had his career ended. Sims missed roughly two months, but once he came back, he showed very well and was quickly promoted to AA Mississippi, where he performed very well.
He threw well at AA Mississippi to open 2016, but he struggled mightily when he was promoted to AAA Gwinnett, leading to a 7.56 ERA in 50 innings. He got back on track down in AA after a demotion. Over the offseason, I wrote a scouting report on Sims, noting his struggles with his delivery but his excellent movement on his stuff when he’s able to be consistent in his delivery.
He’s worked well this year on simplifying his delivery, frequently approaching for weak contact rather than strikeouts, pounding the zone with an added cutter that has allowed him to really show well in AAA, putting up a 3.75 ERA over 115 1/3 innings with a 1.14 WHIP and a 36/132 BB/K ratio.
Sims threw a tremendous game on Tuesday, likely deserving to have at least two of his three runs allowed as unearned runs. His final line was 6 innings, 3 runs allowed on 6 hits and no walks, striking out 3. He threw 92 pitches, 62 of them for strikes in a very impressive performance against the team with the best record in baseball.