TomahawkTake’s Mid-Season Top 30 Atlanta Braves Prospects – the Ranked List

It was tough to sort these guys out, but we came up with a consensus list among us of the most promising 30 Atlanta Braves prospects for 2016.

I won’t reiterate everything said from Friday when we rolled out the Honorable Mentions list.  If you’d like to see that (which includes the scope of this ranking and how we scored it), then click over here to that prior post.

Otherwise… let’s dig right in:  our 2016 Top 30  Atlanta Braves of the future!

One reminder note:  this took a few days to put together, so active stats will have changed a bit here and there, especially for the position players.  Don’t beat me up over that.

Prospect Rankings 21-30

30. AKEEL MORRIS

• 23 years old, 6-1/195, RHP
• International signee of the Mets in 2010; from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands
• Acquired in the second Kelly Johnson trade with the Mets; Mets fans were not pleased.
• Has 1 game of major league experience – didn’t end well, but has electric stuff (~12 K/9 on average); needs to cut down on the walks (~6 per 9).
• AA/Mississippi
• 2.78 ERA in 23 innings over 18 appearances.

Note:  yes, he was actually on this list before we found out that he’d been promoted!  Congrats to Akeel for getting back to the majors.  You think that the Mets are gritting their collective teeth that we got him for Kelly Johnson while they tried and failed to get Jim Johnson?

TIE 28-29. LUCAS HERBERT

Fun fact: there are now 3 notable Braves prospects named Luke or Lucas.

• 19 years old, 6-1/195, Catcher
• Round 2 draft pick (#54 overall) of the Braves, shortly after having taken classmate/batterymate Kolby Allard
• A/Rome
• Struggling to hit in his first full-season league: .184/.230/.285/.515 with 6 HR in 334 PA over 84 games. That should improve.
• Known for field leadership and defense as well.
• Full scouting report

TIE 28-29. BRETT CUMBERLAND

• 21 years old, somewhere between 5-11/205 and 6-0/188, Catcher
• Round 2 draft pick in 2016 draft out of Cal/Berkeley
• PAC-12 player of the year
• A/Danville
• .231/.321/.385/.706 thus far with 3 homers, 9 doubles.
• Projects to be a ‘hit first’ catcher with average defensive abilities.
• With both of these catchers (Cumberland and Herbert), our writers were a bit divided on their ceilings, with rankings ranging from about 22nd to 30+

27. LUKE DYKSTRA

• 20 years old (21 in November), 6-1/195, Middle Infielder
• 7th round draft pick of the Braves in 2014 (Westlake HS, CA)
• A/Rome
• Lenny Dykstra made a pretty solid career with limited power (though he hit 19 HR in one season) while hitting in the high-200’s, stealing a bunch of bases and generally just getting on base a lot. His son is dong exactly that.
• .300/.335/.385/.720 at all minor league stops so far with 17 steals in 183 games. K-rate is excellent at under 10%, though walk rate is limiting his OBP.
• Defense seems solid at well. Now hitting .304/.332 at Rome. Should go to Carolina next Spring.

26. RICARDO SANCHEZ

• 19 years old, 5-11/170, LHP
• International signee of the Angels; acquired via the trade for Kyle Kubitza in early 2015.
• Fangraphs scouting grades highlight his curve with an overall 50 rating
• Patience will be the key here, though improvement is being seen
• A/Rome
• 97 innings, 5.20 ERA, 1.44 WHIP. 82 K/44 walks. That represents a consistent reduction in walk rates since 2014. Location and command will be important.
• Many (if not most) prospect watchers have Sanchez ranked higher; as a group, we are still a bit pessimistic on the command, though he still has plenty of time to sort that out. Meanwhile, others with high upside and less risk have filled in spots above him now.

Curious thing happened on Friday afternoon (8/12):  Kyle Kubitza became a Brave again… claimed on waivers from Texas.  So the Angels have nothing left from this deal that gave us Ricardo Sanchez (they had sold Kubitza to Taxes in June).

Kubitza, a third baseman by trade, is still a ‘rookie’ with 19 major league games of experience, but will not crack our lists here.

25. BRAXTON DAVIDSON

• 20 years old, 6-2/230, OF/DH
• First round pick in 2014 (#32 overall) via TC Roberson HS, Asheville, NC
• A+/Carolina
• A bit of an enigma still, but we have to continue to remind ourselves that he’s still just barely 20 years old.
• Ben has documented a major cause for issues this season (see scouting link below); it’s something he’s finally working out of at the season winds down.
• The power in his hitting is there; the question will be whether the hit-for-average tool will come as well. Very patient at the plate with high OBP, but also with some scary strikeout rates (spiked 34% this season, partly for reasons Ben described).
• .226/.342/.379/.721 at Carolina w/10 HR, 23 other XBH; numbers have generally been consistent across levels
• Full scouting report

24. A.J. MINTER

• Nearly 23 years old, 6-0/205, Southpaw Closer
• 2nd round pick of the Braves in 2015; Texas A&M
• Here is where our individual relief pitcher biases bubbled to the surface. Minter had ranking votes among our crew everywhere from 11th to ‘out of the Top 30’. This is, again, largely because of the disparate value that we place on relief pitchers as part of their limited role. In the case of Minter, it’s also a factor of how close to Billy Wagner or Craig Kimbrel a voter might believe his ceiling lies. Personally, I tried to balance those views in my own votes and put Minter at 16th… this position is probably a decent compromise between all viewpoints.
• All that said, this kid is tearing up the minors. He’s already been at 3 different levels this season and hasn’t really been slowed down yet.
• AA/Mississippi
• Across all levels: 0.32 ERA in 24 appearances. 28 innings. 11 hits, 6 BB, Thirty-Nine strikeouts. 0.607 WHIP. Averaging nearly 2K per inning at AA… with only 1 walk.
• I’m kinda drooling at the possibility of RH Shae Simmons and LH Minter at the back end of the 2017 Atlanta Braves’ bullpen.

UPDATE:  MLBPipeline added Minter as the 30th-best prospect for the Braves on Friday.  We do think a bit better of him than that.

23. CHRIS ELLIS

• close to 24 years old, 6-4/190, RHP
• Round 3 selection of the Angels in 2014 from Hoover, AL (just south of Birmingham) via Ole Miss
• Acquired along with Sean Newcomb in the Andrelton Simmons trade
• AAA/Gwinnett
• Was promoted from AA Mississippi after strong first half (2.75 ERA in 79 innings).
• Has had difficultly adjusting to AAA: generally has been either very good or very bad (earned runs in 10 AAA outings: 0, 6, 1, 2, 8, 0, 2, 1, 5, 5). Has not gotten into the 6th inning with Gwinnett as yet; managed 7 innings twice while at Pearl.
• 6.64 ERA, 1.97 WHIP, BAA .288 in ~41 innings at AAA; again, much better at AA. Another season at AAA would get him deeper into games and add consistency.

22. MAX POVSE

• Nearly 23 years old, 6-8/185, RHP
• Round 3 draft pick of the Braves in 2014 (102 overall) out of UNC/Greensboro
• Name is pronounced ‘Posey’
• Promoted from Carolina to Mississippi a month ago; stats are actually better now
• AA/Mississippi
• 91 K, 17 BB at Carolina; 26/5 at AA with a 2.65 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP in 37 innings. Has remarkably consistent outing durations between 5 and 7 full innings throughout the year (exceptions: one 3.2 inning stint; one nearly 8 innings).
• Another “where does he fit on the list?” guy.  Some of us ranked Povse as high as 10th in this list (myself included), while a couple didn’t have him in the top 30. Certainly, he’s an under-the-radar name, but if he can maintain this kind of performance for the rest of the year, then AAA is almost a given with a shot at the Atlanta rotation not too far behind that.

21. ROBERT WHALEN

• 22½ years old, 6-2/220, RHP.
• Mets draftee from Round 12 in 2012. Born in Pennsylvania, but plucked from Haines City HS (FL).
• Major league debut this month, nearly skipping AAA.
• Atlanta Braves
• 101 innings at AA: 2.49 ERA with lots of ground-outs; keeps ball in the park
• 3 starts at AAA: 1.93 ERA with very consistent K/BB numbers 8.3/3.3 ratio
• Walks burned him during debut start (though he got the Win); was better at Milwaukee on Monday
• Likely will be optioned back to Gwinnett once Teheran or Gant come back, but he’s earned future shots… definitely on everyone’s radars now.

Next: 11 Through 20

Prospect Rankings 11-20

20. DERIAN CRUZ

• 17 years old – will be 18 in October. 6-1/180, SS.
• International signee by the Braves in 2015, Dominican Republic
• Along with Cristian Pache, Cruz has made the remarkable leap from the Dominican Summer League to the US Mainland in a single Summer… and now even beyond that.
• R/Danville
• The GCL was looking like an easy task… Danville has been more of a challenge early on, which is starting to expose some issues with plate discipline. But still: he’s 17…. it’s way early.
• GCL: .309/.336/.445/.782 with 10 XBH, 16 K, 2 BB and 4 steals in 26 games/110 AB.
• Danville: .139/.162/.222/.384 with 2 XBH, 7K, 1BB in 9 games/36 AB.

19. RIO RUIZ

• 22 years old, 6-1/180, 3B
• 1st selection of the 4th round in 2012 by the Astros from Bishop Amat HS (CA)
• Acquired in the Evan Gattis trade along with Mike Foltynewicz
• AAA/Gwinnett
• Has been pushed through the system fairly quickly. A late hitting surge in AA likely earned him a AAA gig in 2016.
• Slashing .273/.355/.391/.746 for the full season with 11% BB, 23% K, 7 homers, 21 other XBH in 428 plate appearances. Just 6 errors at third base for the year.
• Voters were in fairly tight agreement, with ranks ranging from 14th just out of the Top 30.
• The question: will his bat play at the next level? The Braves are talking about looking at someone like Martin Prado, which suggests that they aren’t convinced.
• At his age, it is certainly possible that the team might opt to give him another AAA year to watch for (expected) power development. Regardless, it is also possible that others (Demeritte, Maitan, Riley) could overtake Ruiz if his promotion is delayed for very long.

18. PATRICK WEIGEL

• 22 years old, 6-6/230, RHP
• Round 7 pick of the Braves in 2015 from University of Houston
• Trivia: first player in this list to appear in the Top 30 of all TomahawkTake respondents surveyed.
• A/Rome
• 122 innings, 9.3 K/9, 3.3 BB/9, 2.66 ERA, 1.10 WHIP. Most innings, lowest ERA, lowest WHIP, most starts on team.
• Has out-performed all other starters at Rome this year… which is significant, given that this rotation consists of himself, Mike Soroka, Touki Toussaint, Ricardo Sanchez, and Max Fried. Oh, and Kolby Allard is also in that house.

17. CRISTIAN PACHE

• 17 years old – will be 18 in November. 6-2/185, OF.
• International signee by the Braves in 2015, Dominican Republic
• Seems to have been joined at the hip to Derian Cruz, though we’re starting to see just a bit of separation between this pair.
• R/Danville
• Worth mentioning again the remarkable leap from the DR Summer League all the way to Danville in one season.
• GULF:  .283/.325/.377/.702 in 27 games/106 AB.  11K, 6 BB, 7 steals, 6 XBH.
• Danville:  .343/.378/.400/.778 in just 10 games; 3K, 2 BB, 1 triple.
• Note the OBP strikeouts and walk rates.  This early show of plate discipline is missing from Cruz’ game and is helping his results at Danville.

16. KYLE MULLER

• 18 years old until October; 6-6/225, LHP
• Round 2 selection for the Braves this June from Jesuit Prep in Dallas TX.
• Kyle was our “Babe Ruth” draft pick – Pitchers Who Rake™
• GCL Braves… because somebody has to pitch there
• 7 starts, ~21 innings, 2 ER, 0.87 ERA, 30 strikeouts, 10 walks, 1.06 WHIP, .162 BAA
• Yes, he should be dominating this league – but he also is doing so, and that’s still a good thing.

15. RONALD ACUNA

• Age 18; 6-0/180, CF.
• International signee of the Braves in 2014
• Here’s another kid who was brought stateside early, and made that jump from GCL to Danville quickly.
• A/Rome
• OPS’d .800 at GCL in 2015, then .851 at Danville
• Was off to an great start with Rome until a thumb injury in early May derailed his season… he has not played since.
• Rome:  30 games/110 AB.  .300/.389/.391/.780 with 5 XBH, 15 BB, 20K, AND 12 steals just in that one month.
• We said to have been close to getting a ‘Top 100’ nod overall until the injury.  We’re fairly bullish as well, but would like to see some more game results.

14. TRAVIS DEMERITTE

• 21 years old until September 30th.  6-0/180, 2B… maybe 3B
• Round 1 selection of the Texas Rangers in 2013 from Winder-Barrow HS (GA)
• Acquired from Rangers in the Lucas Harrell/Dario Alvarez trade because the Diamondbacks had run out of 1st round to give us, so Coppy had to pick on another team to work his magic.
• One of two Braves at the Futures’ Game this Summer (Swanson).
• A+/Carolina
• Showed great power at Hickory (NC) in the Sally League  in 2014 (25 HR in 398 AB) and again at High Desert in the California League early this year (25 HR in 331 AB).  But that’s High Desert for you.
• Carolina:  14 games/50 AB so far… .220/.350/.500/.850 with 7 XBH (3 triples, 2 HR in most recent game as this was written; 10BB/21K).
• The deal for Travis is the strikeouts:  146 of them in 381 AB plus 51 walks (33.8% K Rate).  He must get that number into the lower 20’s to be considered a serious prospect.

13. LUCAS SIMS

• It seems strange, but Sims is still only 22 years old.  6-2/220; RHP with shoulders about 3 feet wide.
• Round 1 pick of the Braves in 2012 from Brookwood HS in Snellville, GA
• AA/Mississippi
• Consistency of control is the deal for Sims.  His ‘stuff’ is there, his ERA is even there (at least at AA).  It’s the walks that have plagued him, though the are starts with beacons of hope followed by teeth grinding.
• GWIN:  7.56 ERA with 37 walks in 50 innings, 58 K, 1.86 WHIP
• MISS:   2.01 ERA with 41 walks in 67 innings, 79 K, 1.19 WHIP
• If Sims can get that walk rate down in the 3’s per 9 innings, then he’s a major leaguer…very similar to the path of Mike Foltynewicz (without that much pace on the fastball).  If not, then he will continue to slowly push through the minors.

12. JOEY WENTZ

• Will turn 19 in early October; 6-5/210.  LHP.
• Chosen at the end of the 1st Round by the Braves in 2016 from Shawnee Mission East HS (KS), the “other” Kansas native selected in the early part of the draft (Riley Pint).
• Rookie/Danville
• A petition of the GCL clubs requested that Wentz be removed from the GCL Braves and promoted to Danville because he was being unfair to their hitters.
• GCL line: 12 innings, 0.00 ERA.  0 runs, 3 hits, 5 walks, 18 K, .083 BAA, 0.67 WHIP.  Nice.
• Danville:  14.2 innings, 11 hits, 11 earned runs (thanks mostly to one very bad outing).  6 BB, 17 K, .298 BAA, 1.57 WHIP.
• Danville is presenting more of a challenge, but he’s sticking with his command of pitches, regardless of the results.

11. AUSTIN RILEY

• Still just 19 years old; 6-3/220, 3B
• Drafted by Atlanta at the end of the 1st round in 2015 from DeSoto Central HS (Southaven, MS)
• A/Rome
• Burst onto the scene last Summer with a bunch of homers – 12 in 60 games between the GCL and Danville, hitting ~.305 in the process.
• Been critiqued for a ‘slow bat’ by a couple of scouts, though recent videos suggest that he might be a little quicker through the hitting zone at this point.
• ROME: 108 games, 414 AB, .261/.316/.449/.765 with 14 HR and 34 other XBH.  128 K and 33 BB, so that’s a 28.6% K rate, but he’s accelerating to the finish line of this season.
• As with Demerrite, the strikeouts need to be reduced.  Do that and the Braves will find space for him someplace… even if he can’t stick at third base.

Next: The Top 10

The TomahawkTake Top Prospects for Mid-2016

Here is our entire list, with ranks from MLBPipeline’s Top 30 supplied in parentheses for comparison purposes.  MLB included John Gant (22) and Manny Banuelos (23), who we omitted for eligibility reasons.

More from Tomahawk Take

• Atlanta Braves Sign Joshua Fuentes to Minor League Deal
• Braves News: New Year’s Eve comes with several questions about the 2023 Braves
• Braves News: How the Braves got their name, mailbag, more
• Atlanta Braves Mailbag: New Year’s Edition
• Braves News: Atlanta makes a pair of trades, prospect debuts, more

1a  Ozzie Albies (2)
1b  Dansby Swanson (1)
3 Kolby Allard (4)
4 Sean Newcomb (3)
5 Kevin Maitan (8)
6 Touki Toussaint (10)
7 Mike Soroka (6)
8 Ian Anderson (5)
9 Max Fried (11)
10 Dustin Peterson (18)
11 Austin Riley (13)
12 Joey Wentz (7)
13 Lucas Sims (14)
14 Travis Demeritte (9)
15 Ronald Acuna (17)
16 Kyle Muller (12)
17 Cristian Pache  (unranked)
18 Patrick Weigel  (29)
19 Rio Ruiz  (15)
20 Derian Cruz  (unranked)
21 Robert Whalen (21)
22 Max Povse (20)
23 Chris Ellis (16)
24 A.J. Minter (30)
25 Braxton Davidson (25)
26 Ricardo Sanchez (26)
27 Luke Dykstra (unranked)
28 Brett Cumberland (unranked)
29 Lucas Herbert (27)
30 Akeel Morris (28)
31 Jacob Webb
32 Zachary Bird (24)
33 Abrahan Gutierrez
34 Isranel Wilson
35 Alejandro Salazar
36 Juan Yepez
37 Jason Hursh
38 Anfernee Seymour (19)
39 Matt Custred
40 Tyler Neslony
41 Connor Lien
42 Jonathan Morales
43 Matt Lipka
44 Ramon Osuna
45 Ray-Patrick Didder
46 Caleb Dirks
47 Mauricio Cabrera
48 Dilmer Mejia
49 Yunior Severino
50 Drew Harrington
51 Alan Rangel

Resources From Our Minor League Watcher Ben Chase:

• Prospect Database (Pitchers)
• Prospect Database (Hitters)
• Mid-season reviews: His Top 1-10
• Mid-season reviews: His Top 11-20
• Mid-season reviews: His Top 21-30
• Mid-season reviews: His Top 31-40
• Mid-season reviews: His Top 41-50
• Mid-season reviews: His Extras

Next: Mallex Done for 2016?

We will stop there for now – hopefully, this can serve as a useful resource when you next hear of one of these standouts doing something great on their way to the big club.