Braves promote lefty Gohara to Triple-A

The Braves continued to get aggressive with their player moves, promoting 20-year-old left-hander Luiz Gohara, their No. 8 prospect, to Triple-A Gwinnett.

Ranked as MLB.com's No. 96 overall prospect, Gohara will make his Gwinnett debut Friday night against Syracuse. He will be the youngest pitcher at the Triple-A level this season and the youngest to appear in the International League since Julio Teheran reached Gwinnett in 2011 when he was 20. The Dodgers' Julio Urías is the last pitcher to reach Triple-A at a younger age, doing so last season at 19.
The promotion comes just weeks after the organization promoted 19-year-old outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr., the team's top prospect, to Gwinnett.

Gohara has split the season between Double-A Mississippi and Class A Advanced Florida, going 5-2 with a 2.34 ERA in 19 outings. He's struck out 99 and walked 28 in 88 1/3 innings, mostly in the Southern League. Gohara struck out a career-high 11 batters on July 23, prompting his pitching coach, Derrick Lewis, to praise the lefty's development so far.
"He's had some good ones and tonight was a good one, as well," Lewis told MiLB.com after the game. "All of them are stepping stones for where he wants to go. Tonight definitely was a good game from him and he's had some other ones, but he's progressing along. He's trying to learn something from each time out." 
The 6-foot-3 starter went 7-1 with a 1.81 ERA and 81 strikeouts in 69 2/3 innings last season across two levels. Gohara, who signed out of Brazil in 2012, was a Northwest League All-Star in 2015 while with the Mariners organization and was traded Jan. 11 along with lefty Thomas Burrows to the Braves for outfielder Mallex Smith and righty Shae Simmons. The Braves promoted him to Double-A on May 10.