Atlanta Braves: Minor league promotions announced

The Atlanta Braves announced a large selection of players to be promoted on Wednesday and Thursday

There is roughly a month left in the minor league season, and the Atlanta Braves have seen many impressive performances on the season. In August, the Braves have already announced a number of promotions of players.

Promoted to Gwinnett

Bryse Wilson is doing exactly what Ronald Acuna did in 2017. He’s just doing it on the pitching side, and it’s not making the headlines anywhere near the same way that Acuna’s big season has. Combined with Florida and Mississippi, he has pitched 103 2/3 innings, allowing a 3.04 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, and a 33/115 BB/K ratio.

Promoted to Mississippi

One of the absolute elite talents in the Braves system coming into the 2018 season, Cristian Pache has blossomed into much, much more, showing one of the strongest bats in the system along with incredibly elite defense. After showing very well in Florida in the Florida State League, he will now get his chance in the upper minors, still a teenager until November. Pache went 2-2 in his first game with Mississippi Wednesday night.

Promoted to Florida

The guy essentially making his mark to be right alongside Pache in top prospect rankings at the end of the year has been Drew Waters, taking huge strides throughout the 2018 season. He has been showing tremendous defense along with plus speed and plus raw power. The Atlanta Braves will be going against their typical route with prospects, as usually, a player will spend a full season at Rome, and Waters is getting a month at high-A to end his first full season. With a .303/.353/.513 line, 32 doubles, 6 triples, 9 home runs, and 20 steals on the year, he’s really filled up the stat line!

Akin to Waters, Contreras will be moving before spending a full season with Rome. He was even a late entrant to Rome, spending time in extended spring before he joined the Rome Braves at the end of April. He struggled out of the gate, but he’s been getting better every month, showing his impressive power at the plate, and making strides defensively. He’s currently hitting .293/.360/.463 with 11 home runs and 39 RBI with Rome.

While Waters and Contreras are well-known, the big righty reliever that will be joining them in Florida from Rome is not as well-known. Walter Borkovich was signed by the Atlanta Braves as an undrafted free agent last June. He’s been dominant ever since. With Rome this year, he’s posted a 2.08 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, and 13/34 BB/K over 47 2/3 innings. He’ll hope to keep having success in Florida.

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Promoted to Rome

Drafted in the 17th round this past June, Justin Dean has shown plenty of skills to be a tremendous top-of-the-order hitter and center fielder in his short time with Danville thus far. He’s hit .308/.419/.454 with 8 doubles, 4 triples, and a home run. So far, the biggest issue has been his 7/13 stolen base rate.

From the same small college in North Carolina as Dean, John Curtis was the Braves 8th round pick in 2017. He’s shown an impressive ability to control the ball, and he’s recently been moved to the rotation and had tremendous success. On the year, the lefty has pitched in 7 games, 3 starts, throwing 26 1/3 innings with a 2.05 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, and 2/27 BB/K ratio.

The Braves drafted Michael Mateja out of North Central College in the 25th round this June. He has done nothing but hit the entire time he’s been with the Braves, and he’s especially been skilled at getting on base. He has hit .304/.487/.464 with a home run and stolen base over 77 plate appearances. He’s played second base, third base, and left field this year.

The Atlanta Braves new front office were reportedly going to be more deliberate in their movement of prospects, but this is certainly aggressive with a number of these guys, and that’s plenty exciting to see as Braves fans!