SL1 Mississippi Braves

Waters, Wentz Named Farm Bureau Players of the Week

May 6, 2019 - Southern League (SL1)
Mississippi Braves News Release


PEARL, MS - Mississippi Braves outfielder Drew Waters and left-handed pitcher Joey Wentz have been named this week's Farm Bureau Player and Pitcher of the Week. The awards were given for their performances for the M-Braves from April 29-May 5.

Waters, 20, led the club batting .524 (11-for-21) over six games last week with three doubles, five runs scored and 14 total bases. Waters slashed .524/.524/.667 and capped his week with a career-best 4-for-4 performance on Friday, May 3 vs. Jacksonville.

The Woodstock, Georgia native leads the Southern League this season in doubles (12), extra-base hits (15) and total bases (58), is 2nd in hits (38) and batting (.342), T-3rd in runs scored (19), 4th in OPS (.904), 5th in slugging (.523) and 7th in OBP (.381).

Waters hit a leadoff home run in game one of a doubleheader on April 27 at Mobile, starting a streak of seven consecutive games with a first inning hit. Waters hit.536 (15-for-28) over the seven-game stretch with a double, home run, two RBI and eight runs scored.

Waters, The No. 8 overall prospect for the Atlanta Braves and No. 81 overall prospect in baseball according to MLB Pipeline was a second-round selection (41st overall) by the Braves in 2017 out of Etowah High School in Georgia.

Wentz, 21, took a perfect game into the seventh inning during last Thursday night's contest against the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. Wentz surrendered a walk and single in the seventh inning, but became the first Mississippi pitcher to carry a perfect game into the seventh inning since Tommy Hanson's individual no-hitter on June 25, 2008. The Kansas native finished the night with 7.0 shutout innings on just one hit, posting five strikeouts and just one walk, notching his first Double-A victory.

Overall this season, Wentz is 1-1 with a 4.13 ERA (11 ER/24.0 IP), 11 walks, 23 strikeouts in five starts this season.

The Atlanta Brave selected Wentz as their Comp. Balance A pick (40th overall) in the 2016 draft. The M-Braves featured the first three selections from Atlanta's 2016 draft class (Ian Anderson (3), Wentz, Kyle Muller (44)).

During the five-game series sweep of Jacksonville, M-Braves pitchers held the Shrimp to just three runs over 46 innings, with 49 strikeouts, holding them to just a .173 batting average. This series will match the top two teams in the Southern League in pitching. Pensacola has a team-ERA of 2.48, while the M-Braves boast a 3.03 ERA. Ian Anderson matched a career-high with 11 strikeouts and 6.0 shutout innings on Saturday, May 4 and Kyle Muller delivered 7.0 shutout innings on Sunday, May 5.

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Southern League Stories from May 6, 2019


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