Atlanta Braves top 50 midseason prospects – AAA and MLB
The Atlanta Braves have an impressive farm system still, even after a few graduations. Who are the top 50 prospects in the system as we hit midseason?
Welcoming Benjamin Chase back to Tomahawk Take means that you will get plenty of minor league coverage of your Atlanta Braves on site. We are going to open with a midseason top 50 list, but this will be a different method than you’re likely used to on other places that put together a mid-season list.
Rather than present a list number by number with quick profiles of each number, we will be presenting the profiles of all those players who are seriously considered for the top 50, right now over 80 players in total, and then on Friday, we will cover the list itself. Here’s what the preliminary schedule will look like:
Monday – AAA and MLB prospects
Tuesday – AA prospects
Wednesday – low-A and high-A prospects
Thursday – Rookie ball prospects
Friday – Top 50 list
We will start with a couple of guys who I will not be considering simply because I foresee them both losing their rookie eligibility very soon.
Max Fried, LHP
Fried has the type of stuff that would work well in both a starter and relief role, but the Atlanta Braves still haven’t figured out which they would prefer him in. Frankly, with his height, curveball, and mid-90s fastball, Fried could be a similar pitcher to Andrew Miller in the bullpen, working multiple innings with excellence.
So far this year, Fried has pitched 9 games with the major league club, 4 of them starts, with a 3.38 ERA and 1.39 WHIP, posting a 16/34 BB/K ratio over 26 2/3 innings. The strikeout rate has been impressive, but his walk rate is still needing polishing.
Luiz Gohara, LHP
Way too many Braves fans (and media, sadly) are ripping on the struggles that Gohara has seen at the big league level, blaming them on his size or, worse, on a lack of commitment.
Gohara lost his father in the offseason and spent time early this season traveling home to be with his mother, who he thought was also going to pass. For any (at the time) 21 year old, that’d be plenty to take your mind off your job, whether it’s throwing a baseball or accounting.
Gohara’s quick ascension in 2017 put in the mind of many that he would have immediate major league success, but as we saw with Sean Newcomb, sometimes it takes time for a player to get his feel at the major league level. Gohara’s fastball and slider are both still elite, so there’s plenty to still dream on.
So, Gohara and Fried won’t be on the list…let’s look at some guys who will be!
Catchers/Infielders
Carlos Franco – Long a personal favorite, Franco has settled into what he will be – a slugging corner infielder without a ton of contact upside that will likely fit the AAAA slugger line for the Braves for a few years, but he could find his way to a left-handed bat off the bench. Hitting .246/.313/.418 with 16 home runs for Gwinnett this year.
Alex Jackson – The strides behind the plate have been minimal, and the back track behind the plate has been significant. Oddly, Jackson has cut loose now that he’s been moved up to AAA, showing the plate discipline and power that he flashed with Florida last year, which had him as high as the top 10 in some lists. He’s got a 1.021 OPS in 53 AAA plate appearances. Overall, Jackson is hitting .208/.302/.374 with 7 home runs.
Luis Marte – Possibly another gem found by the Braves farm system, Marte was released by the Rangers this spring, and the Braves picked him up. A career .252/.273/.342 hitter in the minor leagues in almost 700 career minor league games, Marte has not just hit with the Braves system (.348/.383/.467 over 224 PA), but he’s played sharp defense at multiple infield spots, making him a possibility as a bench bat in the infield.
Austin Riley – I’ve seen Riley as high as #1 on midseason lists. I will tell you that he’s not going to that high on Friday. It’s been impressive to see his progress the last 18 months physically and defensively, but one of my big issues with Riley is still abundant (26%+ strikeout rate, first step issues). I would like to see Riley at the end of the season for a few looks, but he might have a future more in right field than third base in Atlanta, and with the emergence of Johan Camargo, Riley’s future may be somewhere else.
Rio Ruiz – Speaking of someone who really has a future elsewhere, Ruiz deserves a chance elsewhere. He’s simply stagnated in his third year at Gwinnett, but when you watch him play, the swing is still there, the eye is still there. He really would be best served as part of a deal like the Duvall deal to get him somewhere else where he can have a chance to succeed.
Outfielders
The Gwinnett outfield is primarily served by guys without rookie eligibility like Lane Adams, Xavier Avery, and Danny Santana. All are great AAA contributors, but their major league potential is limited. Adams did show that even those guys can have a solid run as a 4th outfielder, though, so don’t purely write them off!
Dustin Peterson – Peterson has slowly returned to the guy who was one of the best hitters in the entire Southern League in 2016 at 21 years old and then followed that up with an .823 OPS in the Arizona Fall League against some of the best prospects in all of baseball.
Some guys take extra long to fully get their feel from a hamate injury, and it is notable that Peterson seemed to take quite a bit to get his feet back under him after getting banged up in the Carolina bus crash in 2015. He really didn’t feel comfortable at the plate that entire year. It could just be something that takes more time for Peterson to get the “feel” at the plate than most.
His year is really starting to take shape, hitting .269/.326/.408 with 16 doubles and 9 home runs. On June 28th, Peterson crushed a home run against Tyler Danish of Charlotte, one of the top relief arms in the Chicago White Sox system. From that game forward, he’s hit .315/.369/.468 with 4 home runs over 28 games.
Michael Reed – A Brewers prospect that just couldn’t ever break into the Milwaukee outfield, the Braves signed Reed as a minor league free agent this offseason. He’s been one of the best minor league free agent pickups in recent history by the club.
Reed has simply hit all season in the minor leagues, with a .344/.463/.540 slash line with 10 home runs and 10 steals. He’s played very good outfield as well. It could be interesting to see where he ends up his season as he seems to be the ideal 4th outfielder with the ability to play all outfield positions and provide speed and a bit of power as well.
Starting Pitchers
Kolby Allard – His first start wasn’t perfect, but there was a ton to like. Allard has shown himself to be a guy who will work around hitters with stuff that has tremendous late movement and incredible plane considering his 6’1″ frame. The strikeouts have become a focal point, as has his velocity, but he’s shown an ability to pitch around hitters and be a rare guy who gets better with more chances to face a hitter as he can set him up better.
Wes Parsons – Parsons is a great pitcher to fit into multiple roles across the upper minors. He’s been added to the 40-man, and he could be an excellent candidate to fill into a bullpen need or a spot start, but his lack of focus in his role has made it tough to really project him at this point.
Mike Soroka – Soroka showed some very good things in his short MLB stint before his injury. The questions around his injury remain, and he will be a guy to follow over the offseason as there are some odd comments starting to come out – and frankly, they don’t sound like Mike, which concerns me that people are putting words into his mouth.
Touki Toussaint – Touki’s really worked to utilize his change into his repertoire more consistently this season, and his steps forward as a pitcher rather than just a “thrower” have been tremendous to see. I’m still not 100% sold that he’s a starter long-term in the major leagues, but there is a lot, lot more to go on for that argument than before.
Patrick Weigel – A forgotten man in the system, Weigel exploded through the Braves farm system, completely bypassing high-A and working to AAA in his second season in the system, but then needed Tommy John surgery. If he comes back at full health, Weigel has the premium velocity and two solid breaking pitches to be an effective starter or he could be a tremendous multi-inning weapon.
Bryse Wilson – When Ronald Acuna went from high-A to AAA, seemingly getting better at each level last season at 19 years old, he was the top prospect in all of baseball, headlines galore. Bryse has done that on the mound this season, all the way up to AAA, and all at 20 years old. Why isn’t he getting the same publicity?
Kyle Wright – The big name the Atlanta Braves drafted in 2017 has been really turning it on lately and left his first AAA start without allowing a hit. He did show what remains the biggest concern I’ve had with Wright since watching him with Vanderbilt – consistency in his command/control. Wright’s raw stuff has definite mid-rotation future and possible upside, but the control and command both lapsing is concerning. For comparison, while Newcomb had “walk issues” before coming to the majors, in watching his games, he would hit the glove as positioned nearly every time with his pitch, but he often was working the edge of the zone and missed the call and/or didn’t get the pitch framed well. He was commanding well, but the control was not the best always. Wright has shown issues with both, which makes him very hard to judge in rankings.
Relievers
There are a host of guys in AAA that will likely get some big league time as a reliever, and a few of them could succeed and have a much better big league career than any of the guys I’m looking at, but these are the guys with a shot to be at the elite end of relievers if all goes well.
Adam McCreery – McCreery is a towering lefty, standing 6’9″ tall, and with that level of height comes well-known issues with consistency in long levers repeating delivery and commanding the ball. Since coming to the Braves in 2016, McCreery has really pushed his profile forward, striking out 90 hitters in just 62 1/3 innings last season in nearly equal time at Florida and Rome. He’s seen some control issues creep up this year in AA, but recently has really gotten on track, and he could be a force in the Atlanta Braves bullpen down the line.
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Philip Pfeifer – Pfeifer was acquired from the Dodgers in 2016, and he’s got the near opposite issue of McCreery. He packs so much punch into a frame that’s generously listed at 6′ tall that he often will get out of sorts in his control. Pfeifer has overcome plenty in his personal life to stay on the mound, so I have every confidence that he will be a guy that can become a very solid reliever down the road for the Braves.
Chad Sobotka – Pairing Sobotka and McCreery in the same bullpen could be incredibly fun as Sobotka is listed at 6’7″ (he was listed at 6’8″ early on in his career), and he’s got plenty of plane on a hard sinker that can be incredibly effective, as evidenced by his 72 strikeouts in just 53 1/3 minor league innings this season. His issue throughout his career has simply been health, and if he can keep himself healthy, he could be a future key member of the relief corps.
Jacob Webb – After recovering from Tommy John surgery, people stood up to take notice of Webb when he recorded 31 strikeouts in just 13 innings in his first season back on the mound – to get perspective, he only generated 39 outs on the entire season, and he recorded a strikeout on 31 of them!
Webb has continued with the big strikeout numbers, but his biggest weapon, his devastating curveball, can also be his curse, as he can struggle to locate the pitch and then see the walks start to pile up. With his strikeout stuff, he could be a guy that makes Rule 5 decisions tough this offseason.
Next: Morning Chop: Extra inning Kakes!
So that’s the guys from the MLB and AAA level for the Atlanta Braves that will be considered for the top 50. Anybody missed here? Anyone that is profiled incorrectly? Comment below!!