Hillcats' Hefflinger continues barrage

Talked about in the winter as a player the Braves would like to move aggressively through their system, Robby Hefflinger has responded with the kind of season that shows why.

Hefflinger homered for the third straight game to help Class A Advanced Lynchburg beat Myrtle Beach, 4-1, on Thursday. He has four homers over that span.

Hitless in his first three at-bats against the Pelicans, Hefflinger opened the eighth inning with a solo blast, his Carolina League-leading 15th of the season.

"I was struggling the first two at-bats," said the Braves' seventh-round pick in 2009. "The guy who came in [Jose Monegro], I don't think we've faced him before. He's a changeup guy. The count was 2-2 and he threw a changeup, I was trying to sit on something soft. I knew I hit it well distance-wise, but I thought it was going to be foul. It started hooking on me."

The blast extended the 23-year-old outfielder's hitting streak to seven games. He's gone deep five times and driven in eight runs over his last nine games.

Overall this season, Hefflinger is batting .292 and tops the circuit with 115 total bases, a .590 slugging percentage and is tied with Winston-Salem's Jeremy Farrell for the lead with 37 RBIs. He's already just one shy of his previous career-high 16 home runs, set last season with Lynchburg and Class A Rome. He credits his experience over the winter playing in Panama for his success.

"It was my first time playing winter ball," said Hefflinger, who scored twice. "I went with [teammates] William Beckwith and Caleb Brewer. It was our first time going out of the country, especially to play baseball. It was kind of overwhelming to see how the world was outside of America. I had fun. It was a good experience to play with Ramiro Mendoza and Ruben Rivera, that was a really cool experience.

"In high school, I played football and baseball. When baseball season was over, it went right into football. I never got a chance to play summer ball. I went from there right into junior college into pro ball, so I didn't have much experience. I think getting at-bats and being around guys like Rivera and Mendoza and talking about hitting gave me more experience and expanded my knowledge."

During the offseason, Braves' Minor League field director Dave Tremblay described Hefflinger as having "light tower power." He added that the team needed "to do with him what we did with [Evan] Gattis, which is to push him along in the system." With his strong start, it's only natural to wonder what the next step is for the Georgia native, but Hefflinger isn't putting stock in that.

"What's going to happen happens, the only thing I can control is how I play," he said. "I try to leave the other stuff to the guys in the front office. If it happens, then I'll try to help that team win. I try to let it be what it is."

Elmer Reyes doubled twice and drove in a run while Matt Lipka was 2-for-4 with a run scored.

Jarrett Miller allowed a run on six hits and struck out six over seven innings to improve to 4-3 for the Hillcats. Nate Hyatt allowed a hit in the ninth to earn his sixth save.

Rougned Odor, the Rangers' No. 10 prospect, had two hits for the Pelicans.