Atlanta Braves Midseason Top 50 Prospects: 20-11
16. Joey Meneses, 1B/OF, AA Mississippi
The Braves signed Meneses after watching him primarily as a pitcher in Mexico, signing at the age of 19. His bat was very raw due to his primary focus being on the mound, so he’s taken time to develop has a hitter.
Along the way, he’s shown a propensity for contact, as evidenced by his .270 career average, but after going .288 between multiple levels in 2014 and getting some excitement built up as he had a full slash line of .288/.355/.496. However, his lack of over-the-fence power and advanced age led to many skeptics.
Meneses shuffled badly with Carolina last season, hitting .239/.398/.337 with only 3 home runs. Many wrote him off as org filler and likely to go on just occupying a spot, but not being anything in particular special. I liked his swing, but it just wasn’t doing enough last season for me to buy in on him becoming more than he was.
This season, he came out and hit and just kept hitting with Carolina, putting up a line of .342/.401/.490 before being promoted to AA Mississippi. The Braves are giving Meneses a chance to work in the outfield to see how his bat can possibly play going forward. Yes, he’s 24, but his contact skills are already plenty advanced, and if his very good arm can play well in the outfield, he could move up quickly to Atlanta.
15. Christian Pache, OF, GCL
From the time spring training began until the time GCL’s season began, nearly all I heard when making calls on the system was how incredible Pache looked. I’ve seen multiple games now on Pache and the skills are absolutely ridiculous. There’s a reason that he’s hitting in the middle of the order yet also leading the team in stolen bases, non-Randy Ventura category.
When Pache was on the market, he received a lot of comparisons to Andrew McCutchen offensively. I’m not sure if he’s at that level, but if Cutch is 100 score of offensive skills, Pache is at 85-90. He’s very, very close with a lot of the same style of skills. I could definitely see Pache becoming a guy who hits for solid power, in the range of 20ish home runs, steals 20+ bases, and also has a great average along with playing excellent defense.
So far with the GCL, he’s hitting .300/.333/.417 with a 3/2 BB/K ratio, 3 triples, and 5 stolen bases. At 17, he’s already 6’2 and listed at 185 pounds, though I could believe he’s 200 without even blinking, and it isn’t bad weight at all. He’s going to be a kid who can carry a ton of good weight as he has a solid frame.
Next: 14, 13