Jamie Dismuke never made it to the majors a player despite being the star on a number of good Cincinnati Reds Double-A Chattanooga Lookouts and Triple-A Indianapolis Indians teams in the mid 90’s. After 5 seasons in the high minors without making it to the big leagues, Dismuke called it quits in 1997. Now a days the Syracuse, New York native is one step away from the majors once again, this time as a coach for the Triple-A Gwinnett Braves. In the story, Dismuke talks about still drawing a crowd in his home town of Syracuse, being blocked as a player by Hal Morris, his love of coaching, and the fulfillment he felt being called to the big leagues to coach with the Atlanta Braves last September. It’s a very good read, especially for those who remember Dismuke from his playing days.
The Atlanta Braves have called up top pitching prospect Arodys Vizcaino according to multiple sources and he will make his major league debut this week. The 20 year old has pitched for the High-A Lynchburg Hillcats, Double-A Mississippi Braves, and Triple-A Gwinnett Braves in 2011. He began the season as a starter in Lynchburg going 2-2 with a 2.45ERA in 9 starts. He was then promoted to Mississippi where he was 2-3 with a 3.81ERA in 49.2 innings covering eight starts and three relief appearances. Vizcaino was converted exclusively to relief following a promotion to Triple-A in order to groom him for a role in the Braves bullpen, and he responded by going 1-0 with a 1.29ERA in six appearances out of the Gwinnett bullpen. Vizcaino began his career in the Yankees organization and came to the Braves in the trade that sent Javier Vazquez to New York. Braves fans can expect to see a lot of velocity from Vizcaino whose fastball can approach 100 MPH.
The Houston Astros have traded outfielder Michael Bourn to the Atlanta Braves for a package of four prospects which includes pitchers Brett Oberholtzer, Paul Clemens and Juan Abreu as well as outfielder Jordan Schafer. Oberholtzer is the best of the Braves second tier pitching prospects. He is currently 9-9 with a 3.74 ERA with 92 strikeouts in 127.2 Innings for Double-A Mississippi. The 6’2″ lefty went 6-8 with a 3.72ERA combined between Low-A Rome and High-A Myrtle Beach in 2010. The 22 year old Oberholtzer was an 8th round pick of the Braves in the 2008 draft. Clemens is 6’4″ right hander who’s posted a 6-5 record with a 3.73ERA and 93 strikeouts in 108.2 innings for Mississippi this season. The 22 year old went a combined 2-4 with a 3.23ERA between Rome and Myrtle Beach in 2010. Clemens was a 7th Round pick of the Braves back in 2008. Abreu is a 6’0″ right handed reliever who is currently 4-2 with a 2.25ERA at Triple-A Gwinnett. He’s struck out 68 batters in 48 innings and International League hitters are batting just .193 against him. The 26 year old went a combined 4-2 with a 4.35ERA and 12 Saves between Myrtle Beach and Mississippi last season. He was originally signed as a non drafted free agent by the Kansas City Royals back in 2003, and has yet to make his major league debut. Schafer was at one time a top organizational prospect before running into a string of bad luck including a 50 game suspension from major league baseball in 2008 and a wrist injury in 2009. His best season in the Minors came back in 2007 when he hit a combined .312 with 15 Home Runs and 63 RBI’s between Rome and Myrtle Beach. Schafer has not had more than 4 Home Runs in a season since hitting 10 in his suspension shortened 2008 season. Since a call up from Gwinnett in May of this year, Schafer hit .240 with 6 Doubles, 3 Triples, 1 Home Run, and 7 RBI’s in 52 Games with the Braves. The 24 year old Schafer was a third round selection of the Braves back in 2005.
It sounds like a broken record, but the Tampa Bay Rays once again have the best pitching prospect in the game. Matt Moore was on top of his game once again Wednesday night for Triple-A Durham. The 6’2 lefty, in only his second Triple-A start went 8 innings, allowed no runs, three hits, walked two, and struck out 13 Gwinnett Braves hitters to pick up his first Triple-A victory. Moore now has 151 strikeouts in 115.1 innings of work. He’s allowed six hits in 13 innings in his two Triple-A starts and has struck out 20 batters over that span. Prior to the promotion, Moore was 8-3 with a 2.20ERA for Double-A Montgomery.
This is pretty cool or pretty scary depending on who you are. The Norfolk Tides home game against the Gwinnett Braves was suspended due to rain in the first inning. This wasn’t your garden variety rain storm as the video below shows. Fast forward to the 1:40 mark where the action starts to pick up. It really gets crazy at the 2:25 mark. WARNING: Some profanity in the video as the weather gets more and more intense.