Jordan’s POV: Rome Emperors

Being down here in Braves Country, I am just like most of you — a huge Braves fan. So, naturally this week, though I cover the Spartanburgers for the station, I had a vested interest in the opposition that I am sure I share with many of you. 

Hub City hosted the Braves’ High-A affiliate, the Rome Emperors, for a six-game set this week at Fifth Third Park, and there were some Atlanta prospects that stood out to me. 

Many Braves insiders such as Bill Shanks have been quick to point out with the trade deadline coming on Monday, that Atlanta’s farm system is in some of the best shape it has been for a long time. He is not wrong. The Braves are loaded with talent that no doubt makes Alex Anthopoulos’ job much more difficult when one considers that due to the likelihood of a lockout next year, anybody you give up will be a high price to pay for what could just be a half-season rental. 

I cannot speak much on the guys in Gwinnett or Columbus, but I have seen Rome take on Hub City 11 times now, and there are certain guys I firmly believe the Braves would be nuts to consider trading. 

Let’s start with the obvious one. Top prospect and left handed pitcher Cam Caminiti. He has had two vastly different starts against the Spartanburgers this season. His first back on May 21st, he tossed six and a third innings and gave up three earned runs on five hits, two walks, and just a pair of strikeouts. I’ll state the obvious about that one — he was facing a much different Hub City lineup that had Yeison Morrobel, Rafe Perich, and Malcolm Moore in it, all of whom are now tearing it up in double A. But, even so, you could see he looked the part of a top prospect. 

For some, that little tidbit about the Burgers being a much different team in May vs now is cause to put an asterisk on Caminiti’s brilliant second start this past Friday where he went opposite the Rangers’ #2 overall prospect Caden Scarborough. 

In that contest, he showed phenomenal growth into a strikeout artist. Caminiti has clearly learned the finer art of pitching while also adding to his arsenal. He effectively pitched backwards, starting almost every batter with either a changeup as low as 77 on the gun and then followed with a fastball that topped out at 96. He would then come right back to the offspeed, often a sweeper or a slider with a ton of glove-side run that would be in the 80s. 

In essence, Caminiti’s ability to not only bounce back and forth from fastball to offspeed and incredibly deceptive movement made him practically untouchable. He dumbfounded the Burgers’ hitters, generating 32 whiffs on 56 swings to the tune of a career high 14 strikeouts. Cam won the duel with Scarborough handily, going six and two-thirds innings with one earned run on three hits, and a walk. 

To use the struggles of Hub City at the plate to sell that kind of performance short would just be criminal. As would trading him. 

Another prospect that stood out was center fielder Eric Hartman — currently the #3 ranked offensive player in the entire South Atlantic League, surpassed only by Bowling Green’s Connor Hujsak and Greensboro’s Jhonny Severino. 

Hartman can absolutely smash. In this past series with Hub City, which he entered with a team-high 22 home runs and an on base plus slugging of .875. He added two more bombs in game number two of the series as part of a team-leading 3-5, four RBI night. It is worth noting that Hartman also had a team-high 57 RBIs coming into the series — a total he upped to 64 in five games. 

If that is not impressive enough, maybe his .268 batting average coming in — also a team-high until he was surpassed by shortstop Alex Lodise, who made his High A debut this week (I’ll get to him shortly). After going 7 for 20 with 7 RBIS and 8 runs scored this week, that average went up to .273 and put his OPS at .889. 

So, Hartman can hit — both for power and average. But even when he doesn’t reach via a knock, he is a danger on the basepaths. He, like many on the Rome roster, is not afraid to run. Hartman stole four bases in the five games this week, and did so with ease — often taking off on back to back pitches. He also stole a base on a return throw after a pitch before anyone had any clue he was going. Those four swipes upped his season total to 38, which leads the entire SAL. 

A guy who has raw power and speed like that in his bag is not someone I would want to trade If I were a major league parent club that is currently aging in the outfield and has so many injuries to go with it. 

Alex Lodise got off to a slow start after being called up from Augusta on Tuesday. He went 0 for 5 in his first game with a run scored. But he picked up his first hit with the Emperors in his first AB in game two, notching a single that followed a two-run homer from Hartman. AJ Russell later picked him off for the second out of the inning, but that hit got him going as he added two more — both base hits with one coming in the eighth inning and the other in the ninth to cap a 3-6 night. 

Lodise still struggled to get an extra base hit, adding two more singles in game three, but he did pick up an RBI in a 2-4 effort with a pair of runs scored. In total, Alex went 5 for 19 in the set with two walks, just the one run driven in, and two runs scored. His defense was also fairly sure-handed, having made just one error all week.

I honestly do not believe that we have seen enough from him to make a judgement on whether or not he is useful for a trade piece. It is for that reason that I believe the Braves would be wise to keep him and let him develop a little more. The potential is there, but the service time is not enough of a sample size.