Atlanta Braves: Julio Teheran Struggles While Sean Gilmartin and Others Shine

While the big league club gets off to a slow start by being swept in a three game series at Citi Field in New York, the often praised farm system had its fair share of top performers during the opening weekend across the minor leagues.

Unfortunately, the Atlanta Braves’ most highly touted prospect, Julio Teheran, continued to struggle after enduring a disappointing spring camp.

After recording a 9.37 ERA in five spring appearances, including allowing nine homeruns, Teheran was unable to make it out of the second inning in his first start of the season for Triple-A Gwinnett on Saturday.

He allowed three runs on three hits, walked two and struck out only one against the Durham Bulls (Tampa Bay Rays).

Teheran’s outing was not the trend though among the rest of the Braves top pitching prospects this weekend. Both Zeke Spruill and Sean Gilmartin shined during their initial starts of the season.

Slowly beginning to fall down the prospect ladder for the Braves, Spruill enjoyed somewhat of a breakout season in 2011. He led the Carolina League in WHIP (1.01), CG (5) and was fifth in ERA (3.19).

In his season debut on Friday for Double-A Mississippi, Spruill held the Mobile BayBears (Arizona Diamondbacks) to one run on two hits, while striking out eight batters and only walking two. He didn’t factor in the decision, but it was good to see him start the year by building on his 2011 campaign.

Left-hander Sean Gilmartin is also starting the year at Double-A Mississippi and took his turn in the rotation on Saturday. He didn’t walk or strike out a batter in six scoreless innings and allowed only two hits. He threw 43 of his 71 pitches for strikes in the no decision.

Gilmartin got his first taste of professional ball last season for Low-A Rome posting a 2.53 ERA and a 30:2 K-to-BB ratio in 21 innings.

Dave Filak, a former fourth round selection in 2010, got off to a much needed positive beginning to the season by throwing six innings of one run ball and striking out seven.

A lesser known pitching prospect, he is hoping to find better luck versus Low-A hitter this season after posting a 7.54 ERA in 11 games at Rome last year.

Offensively, a couple of second base prospects got off to hot starts.

Tommy La Stella is hitting .556 with a home run and seven RBI in his first three games for Hi-A Lynchburg. The other is Phil Gosselin, who is 6-16 through four games, including a 3-hit performance on Sunday.

With the retirement of Chipper Jones looming at season’s end, who will take over at third base has been a hot topic of conversation.

While it appears newly acquired Juan Francisco might get the first chance to take over next season, there are a couple of prospects manning the hot corner at the minor league level that deserve some attention.

Joe Terdoslavich impressed coaches this spring and was given the third base job at Triple-A to start the season. Even though he is off to a slow start with only two hits in 15 at-bats, there shouldn’t be any concern as he was able to hit 20 home runs and drive in 82 runs for Lynchburg in 2011.

Edward Salcedo is enjoying the other side of the spectrum to begin 2012. He is hitting .417 after three games and joins four other members of the Lynchburg lineup that is batting at or above the .400 mark.

Let’s rinse and repeat all the small sample size quotes by stating it’s only one weekend of games, but it’s always better on the psyche of young players to get off to quick starts rather than struggling, especially when facing the trials of jumping a level in the minor leagues.

Here is a look at how some of the other top prospects in the farm system performed:

Luis Durango (OF/AAA)—.286/.286/.429 with a 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, 2 SB … not considered a prospect but could get a call-up at some point during the season.

Joe Leonard (3B/AA)—.353/.389/.471 with 2 2B, 3 RBI, 1 SB

Christian Bethancourt (C/AA)—Has more strike outs (4) than hits (3) in first 13 AB

Evan Gattis (C/Hi-A)—Four hits and an RBI in 10 AB

Matt Lipka (CF/Hi-A)—.385/.385/.538 with 3B, SB

JR Graham (SP/Hi-A)—5 IP, 2 ER, 5 hits, 3 K, 2 BB

AJ Holland (SP-Low-A)—6.2 IP, 0 ER, 3 hits, 4 K, 2 BB

Navery Moore (RP-Low-A)—3 IP, 0 ER, 2 hits, 4 K, BB

Jim Pratt is a Featured Columnist covering the Atlanta Braves for Bleacher Report, and is an MLB contributor for MLBDepthCharts and BravesWire. Follow Jim on Twitter, @2OutSacBunt