SL1 Mississippi Braves

Thursday, June 27 vs. Jackson (TN) Generals | 5:35 PM CT Doubleheader | Trustmark Park

Published on June 27, 2019 under Southern League (SL1)
Mississippi Braves News Release


Game #76/77: Mississippi Braves (4-2, 37-38) vs. Jackson (TN) Generals (2-4, 41-35) | 5:35 pm Doubleheader | Trustmark Park

Streak: W3

Home/Road: 18-18/19-20

Starting Pitchers:

Game 1: RHP Jasseel De La Cruz (1-2, 3.16) vs. LHP Bryan Valdez (3-2, 3.89)

Game 2: M-Braves Bullpen vs. RHP Joel Payamps (1-3, 5.03)

Standings: Mississippi (2nd, SL South, -0.5), Jackson (5th, SL North, -1.5)

Current Series: 2 of 5 (1-0)

vs. Jackson: 2019 (5-1, 15 games) All-Time (126-115), at Trustmark Park (74-52)

Radio: Coverage begins at 5:30 pm on 103.9 FM WYAB and on TuneIn Radio

TV: MiLB.TV

Today's Promotions:

Thirsty Thursday - 16 oz domestic beer and 16 oz fountain drinks will be $2 each.

M-Braves Cornhole Tournaments - Join us on Thursdays this season for M-Braves Cornhole Tournaments presented by Central MS Corn-Hole & Good Times! Every Thirsty Thursday at Trustmark Park (13 of them) we'll have competitive tournaments outside the Farm Bureau Grill on the right-field concourse starting at 6:00 pm. Great cash & prizes to winners! $5 entry per player.

Southern Miss Night - Wear your Golden Eagles attire and receive a $5 Field Level Ticket.

Library Night - Present your Library Card at the Trustmark Park box office and receive $3 Field Level Tickets (up to 4 guests), presented by the Central Mississippi Regional and Madison County Library System.

Today's Roster Moves: RHP Andres Santiago activated from the 7-day Injured List and transferred to Triple-A Gwinnett

Today's Game: The M-Braves continue their first home series of the second-half on Thursday night at Trustmark Park with a doubleheader against the Jackson (TN) Generals. The cross-division foes meet 15 times this season with one more series in Jackson, TN coming July 22-26.

All-time the M-Braves are 126-115 against the Generals/Diamond Jaxx and 74-52 in games played at Trustmark Park. The M-Braves are 5-1 against the defending Southern League champs this season, winning four of five in Jackson, TN June 7-11.

last time out: LHP Joey Wentz tossed 6.0 innings of shutout baseball on just three hits with four walks and set a new career high with eight strikeouts in Mississippi's 7-1 victory over the Jackson Generals in the series opener on Wednesday morning. SS Riley Unroe, 1B Ryan Casteel and 2B Alejandro Salazar had two hits each as the M-Braves put up three runs in the fourth and fifth innings to jump out to a big lead.

NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL HIGH QUALITY H20:OF Drew Waters went 1-for-3 with a solo home run in last Tuesday's Southern League All-Star Game. So far this season, the Woodstock, GA native has recorded nine three-hit and three four-hit games and has a league-best 28 multi-hit games.

Waters leads all of Double-A baseball with 99 hits (next closest with 89, also 4th in MiLB), 155 total bases, 25 doubles and 38 extra-base hits. Waters leads the league in eight categories, AVG (.334), hits (99), doubles (25), triples (8), XBH (38), TB (155), OPS (.901) and runs (46). He is 2nd in slugging (.524)

30-game on-base streak and 18-game hit streak: Waters is on a season-high and 2019 Southern League best 30-game on-base streak that began on May 23, batting .388 (45-for-116) with 10 doubles, six triples, two home runs, 13 RBI, 21 runs, seven walks and .437 OBP. Waters has extended his streak 14 times during his first at-bat. He is also on a 18-game hitting streak that began on June 4, batting .417 (30-for-72) with eight doubles, two triples, two home runs, nine RBI, 12 runs, four walks and a .462 OBP. The streak is the longest by an M-Brave this season and longest active streak in the Southern League.

The M-Braves record for on-base streak is 40 games set by Cristian Bethencourt in 2013. The record for hitting streak is 23 games set by Tommy La Stella in 2013.

the atlanta braves top prospect:OF Cristian Pache ranks among the top 11 in the Southern League in 11 different offensive categories: AVG (.295, 6th), Hits (79, 3rd), doubles (19, 2nd), triples (5, T-3rd), XBH (34, 2nd), TB (138, 2nd), slugging (.515, 3rd), OPS (.869, 5th), HR (10, T-7th), runs (37, T-11th) and RBI (42, 5th). Pache has hit six of his 10 home runs in June.

casteel cleaning up:1B Ryan Casteel had his fourth career multi-homer game on Sunday afternoon and is tied with Pache for the M-Braves lead with 10 home runs. Casteel ranks among the Southern League leaders in OPS (.884, 2nd), AVG (.299, 5th), HR (10, T-7th), RBI (37, 9th), OBP (.376, 7th), and slugging (.508, 5th).

davidson dealing: Over 14 starts, LHP Tucker Davidson leads the league and all of Double-A baseball with a 1.48 ERA, is 3rd in opponents' batting average at .203, 6th in strikeouts with 78 and 9th in WHIP at 1.19. Davidson hasn't allowed an earned run over his last three starts and 13.1 innings pitched.

DON'T LET THE LAST NAME FOOL YOU: RHP Jeremy Walker is 5-for-5 in save opportunities and has appeared in 19 games, including one start. The Advance, NC native has 53 strikeouts and just four walks in 55.2 IP. Walker has three saves and a 0.90 ERA over seven outings in June.

no june swoon: The M-Braves are 13-10 in June and rank 3rd in the Southern League with a .266 batting average in 23 games. Drew Waters leads the league this month with a .417 batting average.

LEADING THE LEAGUE IN STRIKEOUTS: Atlanta Braves No. 3 overall prospect RHP Ian Anderson leads the Southern League and Double-A baseball with 99 strikeouts over 15 starts. He ranks T-7th in innings pitched (78.2) and 4th in opponents' batting average (.209).

MULLER TIME: LHP Kyle Muller is 2nd in the league with a .195 opponents' batting average, is 3rd in strikeouts (90), T-7th in innings pitched (78.2) and 8th in ERA (3.09).

all-stars: The M-Braves had seven All-Star selections for the June 18 game at Biloxi. Outfielders Cristian Pache and Drew Waters are joined by pitchers Ian Anderson, Tucker Davidson, Jason Hursh Kyle Muller and Jeremy Walker.

12 ATL top 30 prospects on the active roster: In the June 23 MLB Pipeline ranking update, OF Cristian Pache is the No. 1 prospect for the Braves and #14 prospect in their top 100. There are 12 total top 30 prospects on the M-Braves active roster: RHP Ian Anderson (3, #26 overall), OF Drew Waters (4, #44 overall), C William Contreras (6), LHP Joey Wentz (9), LHP Kyle Muller (10), OF Greyson Jenista (12), LHP Thomas Burrows (15), LHP Tucker Davidson (18), INF C.J. Alexander (IL - 19) RHP Jasseel De La Cruz (22), and INF Ray-Patrick Didder (26) and RHP Jeremy Walker (30).

Young guns: The roster contains seven players that are 21-years-old, or younger. OF Drew Waters is the youngest (20, 12/30/98), followed by OF Cristian Pache (20, 11/19/98), RHP Ian Anderson (21, 5/2/98), C William Contreras (12/24/97), LHP Kyle Muller (21, 10/7/97), LHP Joey Wentz (21, 10/6/97) and RHP Jasseel De La Cruz (21, 6/26/97).

hammer time: Jackson, MS native Chris Maloney "Hammer" returns for his second season as M-Braves manager. Maloney, 57, the seventh skipper in franchise history attended Jackson's St. Joseph High School and went on to play collegiate baseball at Mississippi State University, graduating in 1983.

During his first season in 2018, Maloney guided the M-Braves to a 67-71 record, boasting a 38-30 mark in the second half of the season, missing out on the playoffs by just one game in the standings. Maloney enters 2019 ranked eighth among active minor league managers with 1,417 wins (1,417-1,321 overall record, .518 winning percentage) and has guided his clubs to winning records in 11 of 21 seasons and league championships in 1993 (Savannah Cardinals, South Atlantic League) and 2009 (Memphis Redbirds, Pacific Coast League).

Based in Pearl, MS since 2005, the Mississippi Braves are the Double-A Southern League affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. The M-Braves are owned and operated by the Atlanta Braves, the longest continuously operated franchise in Major League Baseball. Follow the M-Braves at www.mississippibraves.com, www.facebook.com/mbraves, and www.twitter.com/mbraves.

Check out the Mississippi Braves Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Southern League Stories from June 27, 2019


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central