After working with the likes of Jeff Francoeur, Brian McCann and Yunel Escobar in recent years, Mississippi Braves manager Phillip Wellman figured this season might be a lean one.

Center fielder Jordan Schafer was the only top-20 organizational prospect on Mississippi’s opening-day roster, and he lasted four games before receiving a 50-game suspension for testing positive for human growth hormone. The Double-A Braves lost 15 of their first 17 games and have been saddled with the Southern League’s worst record since.

“We haven’t had a whole lot of fun yet,” Wellman said. “We’ve only won one series, and it’s been a struggle.”

Mississippi’s triumphant series came earlier this month at the expense of the Chattanooga Lookouts, a feat the Braves will try to repeat Thursday night when they begin the first of a five-game set at AT&T Field. This will be Mississippi’s only scheduled trip to AT&T this season.

Schafer was rated by Baseball America as Atlanta’s top prospect after amassing 176 hits last season at Single-A Rome and high Single-A Myrtle Beach, the most hits in all the minor leagues. The 21-year-old followed that by hitting .316 this spring in his first big-league camp.

Barring any game postponements, Schafer is scheduled to return to the Braves at the end of this month.

“He really only played three games, because he pinch-hit in one,” Wellman said. “I saw a kid who could play center field and has a good arm, but I don’t think it’s fair to draw judgment on anybody in four games. We didn’t get the opportunity to see much of anything.”

Wellman believes Atlanta’s lack of star power in Double-A is the result of several factors, most notably trades. The Braves dealt five players, including four minor leaguers, to the Texas Rangers last summer for first baseman Mark Teixeira, and they dealt pitchers Joey Devine and Jose Ascanio after the season in separate trades.

Catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia and shortstop Elvis Andrus were among those sent to Texas after beginning last season as Atlanta’s top two prospects.

“Whether or not those players directly affected us, they indirectly affected us,” Wellman said. “For example, if Saltalamacchia were still here, where would that make Clint Sammons be? If Devine and Asconia were still with us in Triple-A, then we would have two of their guys in Double-A.

“If those trades wind up winning the pennant in Atlanta, then that’s OK and struggling through a Double-A season is well worth it. Ten years from now, if the Braves win the World Series this year, no one will remember that the Double-A team struggled.”

Outfielder Jason Perry, who was released by the Detroit Tigers on the last day of spring training, has been Mississippi’s most reliable player. Perry joined the Braves when they were nearing that 2-15 mark and has been a needed spark, hitting .311 with eight homers and 23 RBIs in his first 22 games.

“It was rough,” Perry said of his arrival. “Everybody in the locker room was struggling, but the good thing about this league is that there are two halves. We put ourselves in a hole at the beginning of the season and still have a lot of games left in this half to hopefully climb out and make things interesting, but if not, we could still build a bunch of confidence for when that second half starts.”

Though it could take a year to cover up the hole Atlanta is experiencing in Double-A, Wellman said there is no cause for organizational concern because Myrtle Beach is playing well and Rome has the next wave of prospects with outfielder Jason Heyward and pitcher Jeff Locke.

Mississippi has a new prospect on its roster, with pitcher Tommy Hanson joining the team this week after going 3-1 with an 0.90 ERA in seven starts at Myrtle Beach. Hanson is the organization’s No. 9 prospect and is scheduled to start Sunday afternoon against the Lookouts.

So things could be worse for a team that actually has split its last 22 games since the disastrous start.

“We’re playing a little better, but we’re still not very good, to be honest,” Wellman said. “We still have a lot of things to work on, and that’s my diplomatic way of saying that. We’re last in the league in pitching and last in the league in hitting, and we have the worst record in the Southern League. We’ve got things to work on.

“To the credit of these guys, they haven’t folded the tent. They keep playing hard, which is indicative of their character, and that I can appreciate.”