On a cool, wet night at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville, the Atlanta Braves top prospect, pitcher Julio Teheran, continued to show that he is ready whenever the big club decides to call him up.
After a 42-minute rain delay in the middle of the second inning, the G-Braves bats heated up and Teheran mowed down the Norfolk Tides 6-0. With the win, the Class-AAA club improved its record to 9-4 and remained in first place of the International League’s South Division.
The G-Braves capitalized on five Norfolk walks in the fourth and fifth innings alone to score three runs in each inning. But the story of the night was Teheran, who posted his second straight strong start after struggles with his ERA during spring training seeped into his first start of the regular season 11 days ago in Durham. Against the Bulls, Teheran lasted just 1.2 innings and allowed three earned runs.
The 21-year-old Columbian changed speeds effectively all night against the Tides. He consistently hit the mid to high-90s with his fastball and mixed in off-speed stuff just below 80 miles an hour. Speaking with first baseman Ernesto Mejia as his translator, the right hander said he was working hard on his off speed pitches but wasn’t sure weather he was throwing more of the curve or the change-up.
For the night, Teheran threw 84 pitches (54 strikes) over 5 2/3 shutout innings. He mixed in seven strikeouts while allowing two singles and two walks.
After grabbing some chicken for a late supper in the clubhouse, Gwinnett’s ace admitted that this is the first time he’s had to pitch on both sides of a rain delay in the minors. He said simply, “They never let me do that before.” He also threw what amounted to a simulated inning of 15 pitches under the stadium in the G-Braves batting cages during the brief thunderstorm.
G-Braves manager Dave Brundage was impressed both by the results of Teheran’s night and the way the youngster has approached spending another year just north of Turner Field. “He had a good feel for his curve ball tonight. He threw it no matter what the count, got some strikeouts with the curve ball, and he pitched aggressively with his fastball,” said Brundage. “Julio is a big part of [the organization’s] future.”
After three starts at the highest level of minor league baseball in 2012, it’s very clear that Teheran making the most of being so close to Atlanta, literally and figuratively.
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