Braves Prospect Check-In: Standouts Searching for Footing at New Levels

It's been some time since a full breakdown has been done down on the farm in the Atlanta Braves' system.

While some prospects have been highlighted individually, such as Jim Jarvis, JR Ritchie, Eric Hartman and Tate Southisene, there's more ground to cover.

It's time to check in on another handful of prospects in the Braves system and see where they stand at the moment.

Cam Caminiti, High-A Rome

Caminiti had a promising first full season in the minor leagues last season with Augusta. Moving him up was the natural progression.

So far, the walk rate is very respectable. He's walked 18 out of 191 batters faced, for a rate of about 9%. It's notably an improvement from last year's 11% walk rate, while with Augusta. His home run rate is up, but it's still only at 0.8 per nine innings. That's not concerning by any means.

However, he's missing fewer bats. His strikeouts per nine innings is down to 8.7 from 12. His hits allowed per nine innings is up to 8.7 from 6.9. In turn, his ERA, which is currently sitting at 5.19, has suffered.

As he refines his pitches, you'll likely see a course correction. It'll just take time.

John Gil, High-A Rome

Gil was off to a solid start in April. At the end of that first month, the spring training standout was batting .291 with an .856 OPS. He had three home runs and eight total extra-base hits.

As late as May 10, he was batting .305 and his OPS was up to .911. Since the,n, he's entered a serious slump. In his last 14 games, he's gone hitless in eight of them. He has one home run during that stretch with no other extra-base hits.

These slumps are par for the course. It's been a rough couple of weeks, but he's made his adjustments in the past.

Alex Lodise, Single-A Augusta

While Lodise's numbers this season aren't eye-popping (.246 avg., .735 OPS), there are some positives to look at.

When the power flashes, it comes in large spurts. He has eight home runs this season, including two multi-homer games. He hit just one home run last season, and now, he's had two games where he's hit two.

The speed has had its moments as well. He has a perfect stolen base rate on 10 attempts. His walk rate is also up to 9.2% from 4.6% last year.

His strikeout rate is still holding him back a bit. It sits at around 28%. Granted, that's also down from 39% last season, but it's still on the higher end for someone in Single-A. Given that his batting average on balls in play is .317, which is considered to be in the sustainable range, we get an idea of where he could be as his pitch selection continues to improve.

Owen Murphy, Triple-A Gwinnett

This season has seen Murphy get action in both Double-A & Triple-A for the first time in his career. With the move to this level, there has been an expected learning curve.

The long ball has given him trouble. He has only pitched a single game where he kept the ball in the yard throughout. Hits and walks are both up. Hitters become significantly more disciplined once you reach Double-A or higher.

Fortunately for him, he's had some promising starts as of late. In each of his last two starts, he's pitched into the seven inning and held opponents to two runs. His ERA lowered from 6.59 to 4.73 in that span, while his WHIP dropped frm 1.76 to 1.28.

If he goes on a monster run after this, that would be great for him. However, just progressing and limiting the damage after a fast-track to Triple-A is good for now.

Jhancarlos Lara, Double-A Columbus

That moment where the Lara becomes that dominant reliever is still pending. The Braves moved him back down to Double-A this season after some time in Triple-A, plus a brief call-up to the majors where he didn't make his debut.

A positive is that hitters are only batting .208 against him this year. They've mustered a combined 10 hits. The downside is that he's walked 24 batters across 13 1/3 innings pitched. The high volume of free passes has translated to a 2.55 WHIP so far this season.

The command on that high velocity that hasn't been harnessed yet. There have been flashes. We saw them in the Arizona Fall League. However, he's yet to truly find his consistency.

Add us as a preferred source on Google