Braves' Pache breaks out with four RBIs

Cristian Pache needed a game like Wednesday night's after a slow start to his 2019 season.
MLB.com's No. 35 overall prospect doubled, singled and drove in four runs in Double-A Mississippi's 9-4 win over Mobile. The RBI total fell one shy of the career high he set last June 1 with Class A Advanced Florida.

Expecting a fastball, Pache lashed a first-pitch two-RBI double to left field in the fifth inning to highlight a five-run frame for the Braves. The fourth-ranked Atlanta prospect added a sacrifice fly to left in the seventh and grounded a run-scoring single to right in the eighth.
"My approach is always looking to hit the fastball," Pache said through translator Carlos Mendez, the M-Braves' hitting coach. "I got the pitches to hit and I made some good contact."
After he struck out swinging in the fourth, the 20-year-old and Mendez discussed how he chased some pitches out of the zone.
"I think when he gets in trouble it's when they make him chase out of the zone," the coach said. "When he does that, it's not just gonna be hard for him but for anybody."
Pache's in-game adjustments helped him put together his best performance of the season.
The center fielder started off the season 4-for-19 at the plate with an RBI for a .211 average and a .211 on-base percentage. Wednesday's robust night raised his OPS to .726. 
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"One thing I've been working on all spring and in the offseason is being better early in counts," Pache said. "Try to swing at more pitches in the strike zone, and when I do that, I think I can be a good hitter. That's the one thing I need to be consistent with, swinging at strikes early."
Pache spent Spring Training as a non-roster invitee with Atlanta and learned from young Braves Ronald Acuña Jr., Ozzie Albies and Ender Inciarte on how to get ready for games like a big leaguer.
"How they prepared before batting practice was such a big thing for me," he said, "to create your own routine and get better."
Longtime Braves center fielder Andruw Jones spent two weeks with the team this spring and taught Pache some valuable lessons during their time together.
"Andruw told me that I was a pretty good center fielder and that I should keep working and keep making adjustments at the plate," the Dominican Republic native said. "He said stick to an approach and learn how to be a better hitter early in counts."
Pache spent most of last season in the Florida State League. He batted .285 with eight home runs -- the first dingers of his professional career -- 40 RBIs and five triples in 93 games. He moved up to the Southern League on Aug. 1, but slowed down with a .260/.294/.337 slash line with one homer and seven RBIs in 29 games.

In 2017, Pache finished fourth in the South Atlantic League in his first year of full-season ball with 32 stolen bases for Class A Rome, hitting .281 and driving in 42 runs. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound right-handed hitter batted .283 in 27 Rookie-level Gulf Coast League games before busting out at Rookie Advanced Danville with a .333/.372/.404 slash line.
Eighth-ranked Atlanta prospect Drew Waters drove in two runs and scored another while No. 23 prospect CJ Alexander, added two hits, an RBI and a walk. In his first start of the season, 22nd-ranked Tucker Davidson twirled four hitless innings, striking out four and walking four.