Previewing Rome

Still have to recap the Asheville series, which the Fireflies lost 3 of 4. Now they play the Rome Braves, who the Fireflies swept earlier. Unfortunately, it seems the Fireflies have more trouble at home than on the road. The biggest appeal of this series is that Rome is the affiliate of the closest MLB team to South Carolina in the Atlanta Braves. That said, while the Braves do scout Georgia they don't seem to scout this area much lately. SC's main appeal to the Braves is local TV viewers, nothing more. Rome has few prospects of note, though the pitching staff managed to through trades get three first round picks (who all have struggled in the pros). Rome is a very young team, and outside the bullpen there are very few four-year college guys on the team. A lot of the players they have are best classified as projects, so Braves fans shouldn't expect to see anybody from this team as somebody who will turn around the big league club in a few years. Overall, Rome isn't a very interesting team. The biggest player of note locally is deep bullpen backup pitcher Chad Sobotka, who pitched for USC Upstate. I will skip the opener tonight for a high school final, then come back to the last two games of the homestand if the weather cooperates (not likely). With that said, here are the tables:

Hitters

Player	Position	AB	OPS	AVG	HR	RBI	Round Picked	Age	College	Home State/Country
Ray-Patrick Didder	SS	132	0.77	0.273	1	8	IFA	21		Aruba
Austin Riley	3B	125	0.699	0.248	3	15	1s	19		Mississippi
Jonathan Morales	C	124	0.776	0.323	2	20	25	21	Miami-Dade	Puerto Rico
Justin Ellison	CF	117	0.561	0.205	2	13	12	21	Western Oklahoma State	Georgia
Luke Dykstra	2B	117	0.722	0.308	0	16	7	20		California
Ronald Acuna	CF	110	0.78	0.3	2	13	IFA	18		Venezuela
Alejandro Salazar	SS	106	0.55	0.255	0	11	IFA	19		Venezuela
Lucas Herbert	C	99	0.56	0.202	1	10	2	19		California
Bradley Keller	OF	85	0.574	0.2	2	10	15	19		North Carolina
Matt Tellor	1B	74	0.457	0.189	1	3	10	24	Southeast Missouri State	Florida
Erison Mendez	IF	46	0.549	0.196	0	3	IFA	24		Dominican Republic
Wigberto Nevarez	C	37	0.676	0.27	0	2	20	24	Lubbock Christian	Puerto Rico
Juan Yepez	3B	34	0.734	0.294	0	4	IFA	18		Venezuela
Yeudi Grullon	2B	28	0.562	0.25	0	3	IFA	21		Dominican Republic
Leudys Baez	CF	15	0.369	0.133	0	0	IFA	19		Dominican Republic
Stephen Gaylor	OF	0	1	NA	0	0	NDFA	24	Berry	Georgia

Pitchers

Player	IP	W	L	S	ERA	Round Picked	Age	College	Home State/Country
Patrick Weigel	39	1	3	0	3.23	7	21	Houston	California
Mike Soroka	36.67	1	3	0	1.96	1	18		Alberta
Ricardo Sanchez	34	2	3	0	4.24	IFA	19		Venezuela
Max Fried	32.33	1	2	0	5.85	1	22		California
Touki Toussaint	26.67	1	3	0	6.75	1	19		Florida
Trevor Belicek	22	3	0	0	2.86	16	23	Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	Texas
Oriel Caicedo	20.33	1	0	2	3.54	IFA	22		Panama
Dalton Geekie	18	2	2	1	6.5	22	21	Georgia Highlands	Georgia
Bladimir Matos	17	1	1	1	3.71	IFA	22		Dominican Republic
Taylor Lewis	16.33	0	3	1	4.96	9	22	Florida	Georgia
Grayson Jones	16.33	0	1	1	2.2	11	21	Shelton State CC	Alabama
Matt Custred	11.33	0	1	0	7.15	31	22	Texas Tech	Texas
Caleb Beech	11	0	0	0	3.27	13	23	Shelton State CC	Alabama
Alex Minter	5	0	0	1	0	2s	22	Texas A&M	Texas
Jon Kennedy	5	0	0	0	9	IFA	20		Australia
Josh Graham	4	0	0	0	2.25	4	22	Oregon	Oregon
Chad Sobotka	2.33	0	1	0	3.86	4	22	USC Upstate	Florida
Luis Gamez	2	0	0	0	0	11	19		Arizona
Yeudi Grullon	1	0	0	0	0	IFA	21		Dominican Republic