Advance grad Moses making his own progress in minors

I wrote a story about former Southeast Missouri State baseball player Shae Simmons and his progression through the Atlanta Braves minor league system that was in today's paper and can also be found here.

When I talked on the phone with Southeast coach Steve Bieser we also discussed former Southeast baseball player Trenton Moses, Simmons' teammate at Southeast who is also in the Braves minor league system.

Moses, a graduate of Advance High School, was drafted by the Braves in the 26th round of the 2012 MLB draft and is making what Bieser would consider to be the typical progression through the minor leagues for position players.

"Pitchers get shot up a little quicker because of the demand for pitching at the big league level," Bieser said. "But as a position player, especially as a first basemen, I mean, the first basemen for the Atlanta Braves is probably going to play there for four or five years. They don't run through first basemen very often."

Moses began his career with the Advanced Rookie Level Danville Braves in Danville, Va., where he played 38 games and hit .298 with three home runs. He was assigned to the low-Class A Rome Braves in May. He batted .364 in 33 games with the Rome Braves and was promoted to the high-Class A Lynchburg Hillcats in June. He played 64 games for the Hillcats, hitting .259 with 37 RBIs.

"His progression, as long as he's making that one level a year, that's going to mean that he's succeeding because as a later round pick they don't give you anything," Bieser said. "You earn it every year and show that you can handle that level and they're going to give you an opportunity at the next level. I just see a nice, steady progression for Trenton."