Atlanta Braves Midseason Top 50 Prospects: 50-41
50. Jason Hursh, RHP, AA Mississippi
When the Braves made Hursh their first round selection in the 2013 draft, many saw his hard sinker and his projectable, athletic frame and dreamed of a future mid-rotation starter that could eat up innings. His initial performance when he was sent straight to low-A Rome by the Braves further inflamed those beliefs as he made 9 starts, posting a 0.67 ERA and 1.11 WHIP over 27 innings in his pro debut. Sure, the 10/15 BB/K ratio made you a touch concerned, and the fact that somehow, he allowed 9 runs, but only 2 were earned, pretty drastically skewing that ERA number should have risen a red flag, but we are nothing if not die-hard fans, believing our team drafts nothing but future superstars!
2014 was not even a bad season, though it wasn’t exactly “stunning” in prospect terms. Hursh was skipped over high-A, and he posted a 3.58 ERA and 1.31 WHIP over 148 1/3 innings at AA Mississippi. The 43/83 BB/K ratio was a very low strikeout rate, but the thought was he was simply a sinkerball pitcher, and low K numbers could work with a solid defense behind him.
Then 2015 happened. Hursh simply blew up out of the gate, and he never recovered. Well, at least not as a starter. He finished the season with a 5.00 ERA and 1.68 WHIP on the season. His time in Mississippi as a reliever was an overwhelming success, but he was blown out of the water in Gwinnett, so he was sent back to Mississippi for 2016.
This year, Hursh has ticked up his performance. I still don’t foresee him ever becoming a big strikeout guy, even out of the bullpen. However, he’s taken a step forward this season in realizing how to utilize what works best in his stuff as a reliever. His heavy, hard sink on his fastball is absolutely devastating to hitters, resulting a 2.5/1 ratio of balls on the ground to flyballs and line drives combined. He’s using that sinker even more, and he’s almost entirely staying away from any pitch above the belt, making it near impossible to drive a pitch. He’s got the numbers to match as well, with a 2.51 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, and a 20/36 BB/K ratio without a single home run allowed. While Hursh is not a spring chicken, he is only 24, so he has a good chance to contribute as a middle reliever going forward.
49. William Contreras, C, GCL
No, this is not the Cubs catching prospect Willson. The Braves have their own Contreras catching prospect, this one a signee out of Venezuela in 2014. He was a lightly heralded signing, considered to have a decent bat and glove, but likely to be roster filler more than anything.
However, last season, Contreras showed he was much more than that, as he hit .314/.370/.413 with the Braves’ Dominican Summer League team. Getting great scouting from the Dominican is a challenge, to say the least, but when a player stands out, guys remember him, and when I asked about the DSL Braves, the guys who saw them, to a man, recalled two players – Randy Ventura and Contreras. (There were others mentioned, but those two were mentioned by all four I talked with). The reviews on his defense is what blew me away. Not only was Contreras seen as a passable defender, he was actually regarded widely as an excellent defender, displaying an impressive arm and very good footwork as he threw out 40% of base runners. In fact, one scout even said to me that “the only catcher in the DSL who could have stopped Randy Ventura from running was his own teammate.”
I was more than pleased to see that the Braves brought Contreras to the GCL team, and though they have a three-headed catching group at that level, Contreras’ bat has already staked a claim to more playing time, as he’s hit .294/.333/.412 this year, and, more impressively, he’s thrown out fully half of the runners trying to steal on him so far this year. That’s a pretty incredible percentage!
He may not be at the top of many lines of thought quite yet at the catching position, and that’s part of why I hold some hesitation on him (on top of some power development concerns in his contact-driven swing), but Contreras absolutely has a great chance of turning into a viable catcher for the Braves as he matures.
Next: 48, 47