Tate Southisene was back on the field Tuesday, and the day started with the kind of long, grinding plate appearance you’d expect from a player shaking off a layoff.
Southisene, who had been sidelined since July 28 after getting hit in the hand/wrist area, returned in the Glendale Desert Dogs’ 5-4 loss to the Surprise Saguaros. He finished 0-for-2 with a walk, but his first game back gave a clear snapshot of where his bat and approach are right now.
His first trip to the plate went five pitches, and the pitcher had to mix in three different pitch types before finally getting him out with a slider on the outer third that Southisene lined at 96 MPH straight to right field. In his second at bat, he got a little too aggressive, chasing a slider below the zone and grounding out to third.
By his third trip, though, he showed real feel for the strike zone, protecting well on two pitches near the edges before drawing an eight-pitch walk. He came out of the game in the sixth.
The Desert Dogs had six Braves prospects in the game, and Isaiah Drake made the most visible impact at the plate. Starting in right field, Drake went 1-for-4 with an RBI and helped fuel a three-run push.
He opened with a first-pitch popup to second on a cutter at the edge of the zone, then flied out to right on another first-pitch swing in the fourth. His biggest moment came with two runners on and two outs, when he worked the inside part of the plate, fouled off two pitches there, and then jumped on a 94 MPH cutter sitting middle-middle for a single to center that scored Dillon Lewis and put Glendale ahead 3-1.
He moved to second on an errant throw by the center fielder. Drake’s final plate appearance was another disciplined one: a six-pitch at bat in which he never expanded before lining out to left on a cutter up and in.
Owen Carey batted ninth and had a mixed night. His first at bat came in the third inning and stretched to eight pitches, with four fouls on strikes before he grounded out to second.
The next one was over almost before it started, as he struck out in three pitches after chasing a changeup high and away for the third strike. Carey’s third plate appearance did bring him some positive value: he was hit by a pitch to lead off the seventh, advanced to second on a Wyatt Sanford groundout, and scored on a Dillon Lewis single.
On the mound, Owen Hackman was the first Atlanta arm into the game, entering in the fifth and throwing two scoreless innings. He leaned mostly on his four-seam fastball, but also mixed in a sweeper, slider, and changeup.
The fastball command was only fair, but the sweeper and changeup stood out more because he placed them better and got weak contact with them. It was a solid two-inning outing overall.
Logan Samuels followed and allowed a pair of runs, though he showed a plus changeup and a solid slider. The issue was getting swings and misses.
Tanner Bauman took over after that and was charged with the blown save and the loss. His slider was effective, but he had trouble locating his two-seam, four-seam, curveball, and changeup.
The whiff rate was strong at 45%, but a second-pitch home run tied the game, and the eventual winning run also came around on his watch, though it scored after an error on a missed catch by the first baseman.
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