Atlanta Braves Top 100 Prospects: Full List, Re-Dux!

The 2016-2017 Top 100 Atlanta Braves Prospects List, Now with Additions!

In October, I completed the entire top 100 list, and if you’re curious what that list looked like, you can take a look here. On that link there’s also links to the write ups on each player as well from the week leading up to that list. As the offseason has gone on, the Braves have acquired multiple prospects, traded multiple prospects away, and I’ve also had further discussions with scouts and others around the game about Braves players (along with now finishing every single Rome, Mississippi, and Carolina game available on Milb.tv – seriously, it’s a sickness…). That’s led to a few adjustments in the placement of players as well.

I will spend some time after each batch of ten discussing any changes that have occurred in the offseason, but also keep your eyes open for updates to scouting reports coming in February along with new scouting reports on guys I haven’t yet done. Also, the database linked at the bottom has been updated with all names, but I’m working to find time to get all the add-ons updated for everyone!

The Entire List (*=new to the list)

1. Dansby Swanson, SS
2. Ozzie Albies, 2B/SS
3. Sean Newcomb, LHP
4. Kolby Allard, LHP
5. Ronald Acuna, OF
6. Kevin Maitan, SS
7. Max Fried, LHP
8. Ian Anderson, RHP
9. Mike Soroka, RHP
10. Luiz Gohara, LHP*

Hopefully, you had the chance to read the scouting report of Gohara that I put out this week. He was a guy that I was enjoying getting reports on this fall while writing up Mariners material for the other site I write for, and he ended up #71 overall in my top 125 prospects in baseball. He was an incredible “get” for the Braves and certainly the best prospect acquired over the winter.

11. Touki Toussaint, RHP
12. Patrick Weigel, RHP
13. Dustin Peterson, OF
14. Cristian Pache, OF
15. Austin Riley, 3B
16. Lucas Sims, RHP
17. Travis Demeritte, 2B
18. Joey Wentz, LHP
19. Rio Ruiz, 3B
20. Kyle Muller, LHP

Nothing much to see here. Since the list posted, I had very positive reports on both Peterson and Demeritte from their time in the Arizona Fall League, though they stayed in the same position on my list.

21. Yunior Severino, SS
22. Ray-Patrick Didder, OF
23. Alex Jackson, OF*
24. A.J. Minter, LHP
25. Juan Yepez, 1B
26. Derian Cruz, SS
27. Braxton Davidson, OF
28. Jonathan Morales, C
29. Connor Lien, OF
30. Matt Withrow, RHP

Two real notables here: Alex Jackson enters the list at #23. I mentioned in my initial review of him that he was very similar to Braxton Davidson, though with a hair more upside, which puts him just a hair above Davidson in my ranks. Morales moved up into the top 30 as I reviewed more and more Rome tape and his improvement behind the plate absolutely jumped off the page. He’s clearly the top catcher in the system at this point.

31. Ricardo Sanchez, LHP
32. Michael Mader, LHP
33. Joey Meneses, 1B/OF
34. Tyler Pike, LHP*
35. Dylan Moore, IF
36. William Contreras, C
37. Bryse Wilson, RHP
38. Keith Curcio, OF
39. Tanner Murphy, C
40. Braulio Vasquez, SS

One newcomer here in Pike, and he and Mader a couple of slots above him are very similar in that I believe their upside is a #3/#4 starter that can eat up innings, but both have a great organization to maximize that ability. Murphy bumped up as I watched more of his end of season flourish at the plate. His eye at the plate is quite notable when you add in his solid defensive skills behind the plate.

41. Randy Ventura, OF
42. Dilmer Mejia, LHP
43. Anfernee Seymour, SS/2B
44. Brett Cumberland, C
45. Carlos Castro, 1B
46. Corbin Clouse, LHP
47. Akeel Morris, RHP
48. Isranel Wilson, OF
49. Abrahan Gutierrez, C
50. Jeremy Walker, RHP

Walker is going to be my Weigel next year. I have received so many reports on him, yet I just struggle to bump him up more than here, and come next year’s list, I have a feeling I’ll be wishing I’d have bumped him up higher, much like Weigel in 2016. I also bumped up Seymour some here after watching his play at 2B defensively, as he could have found a place to really allow his incredible speed to play.

51. Kade Scivicque, C
52. Caleb Dirks, RHP
53. Mel Rojas, Jr., OF
54. Jared James, OF
55. Wes Parsons, RHP
56. Joseph Odom, C
57. Luis Ovando, 2B
58. Lucas Herbert, C
59. Justin Ellison, OF
60. Jason Hursh, RHP

James is the big jumper here, though he interestingly is right behind another guy with family roots in the game (both had fathers play in the majors), and I could absolutely see Rojas opening the season as the 4th outfielder in Atlanta. Herbert fell hard as I watched more Rome games. He’ll likely return to Rome in 2017, and he has plenty of work with the stick to do.

61. Jacob Webb, RHP
62. Devan Watts, RHP
63. Drew Harrington, LHP*
64. Thomas Burrows, LHP*
65. Shean Michel, OF
66. Livan Soto, SS
67. Luis Mora, RHP
68. Josh Graham, RHP
69. Yoeli Lopez, OF
70. Taylor Lewis, RHP

Two newcomers to the list here in Harrington and Burrows, both of whom have similar profiles as 2016 collegiate draftees who should move quickly as lefties in the bullpen. Michel is a name to keep an eye on as I’m getting the kind of defensive reports on him I was getting on Didder before 2016.

71. Jhon Martinez, LHP
72. Chad Sobotka, RHP
73. Kevin Josephina, 2B
74. Carlos Salazar, RHP
75. Johan Camargo, IF
76. Chase Johnson-Mullins, LHP
77. Anthony Concepcion, 1B/OF
78. Yenci Pena, SS
79. Ricardo Rodriguez, C
80. Bradley Roney, RHP

Mostly reshuffling here than anything. It is notable that Pena has been getting a lot of love in the offseason from those who are reviewing the July 2nd class, so the Braves could have nabbed a good one here.

81. Alejandro Salazar, SS
82. Jaret Hellinger, LHP
83. Alan Crowley, C
84. Luis Gamez, RHP
85. Jackson Pokorney, OF
86. Jasseel De La Cruz, RHP
87. Armando Rivero, RHP*
88. Evan Phillips, RHP
89. Luis Mejia, 3B
90. Alan Rangel, RHP

Rivero, the Rule 5 pick shows up here, and you can check out the scouting report on him from earlier this week. I had some discussions about moving up Rangel, but the conversations I had kept talking about him as a guy who is a two-pitch guy, if that, with deception right now, so I’ll leave him where I had him for now and wait for 2017 to show me wrong!

91. Carlos Lopez, RHP
92. Yefri Del Rosario, RHP
93. Juan Contreras, RHP
94. Jon Kennedy, LHP*
95. Matt Custred, RHP
96. Phil Pfeifer, LHP
97. Steve Janas, RHP
98. Bradley Keller, OF*
99. Lisandro Santos, LHP
100. Ramon Osuna, 1B*

Mostly flushing out a few names to add in some names that I’d received good reports or seen good things on in my end-of-season reports. Keller is a guy who has a load of talent on offense and defense, but just struggled to put bat to ball in a Rome audition this year, which could have been a bit aggressive for him in the first place. Osuna’s a big boy with a big bat, and those who see him think he’ll really translate well to pro ball. Kennedy is an Australian lefty reliever that made a big impression in his time in the org last year. He could move quickly up the system.

Next: Braves Minor League Database

I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did putting it all together. Feel free to comment and chat about the player rankings in the list!!