The End of 2015: Where the Atlanta Braves Stand

Oct 4, 2015; Atlanta, GA, USA; Atlanta Braves starting pitcher Matt Wisler (37) throws a pitch against the St. Louis Cardinals in the third inning at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

New Kids on the Block

“Most Improved Farm System” – that’s the title assigned by MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo to the farm system of the Atlanta Braves.

Duh.

Oddly enough, he might have given the Braves that award two years straight… and as fans, we might have been satisfied with the work done between the 2014 and 2015 seasons to right the ship then to obtain some serious prospects.

But when you look at the work done since then?  John Coppolella has actually improved on what he and John hart did just a year ago.  Shockingly so, even.

Mayo lumps together everything done during the calendar year from Jan 1 to today, though I am thinking of ‘baseball season to baseball season’.  In those terms, when you look at the MLBPipeline.com’s Top 30 prospects for Atlanta, you just have to come away in bewilderment of how huge the changes have been – just in the past six months alone:

• #1 Dansby Swanson (DBacks/Miller heist)
• #2 Sean Newcomb (Angels/Simmons trade)
• #4 Aaron Blair (DBacks/Miller heist)
• #5 Touki Toussaint (bought from DBacks)
• #6 Kolby Allard (draft)
• #11 Chris Ellis (Angels/Simmons trade)
• #15 Mike Soroka (draft)
• #16 Zachary Bird (Mets/Uribe-Johnson trade)
• #18 Lucas Herbert (draft)
• #20 Austin Riley (draft)
• #27 John Gant (Mets/Uribe-John trade)

That doesn’t count Ender Inciarte (also from The Great Snake Robbery), Hector Olivera, or Rule 5 pick Evan Rutckyj.

Sure:  some of these deals have hurt.  Some of them hurt a lot in the past 15 months.  But you cannot argue with the results that will be paying dividends for several years.

There’s More to Come

The 2016 Draft order is still in some flux due to the number of Qualifying Offer free agents still out there, but as of today, the Braves will have the following early picks:  #3, #38 (from the Marlins), #42.

Nice draft picks again.  But there’s still more, as we’ll see.

Next: Follow the Money