Atlanta Braves Opening Day countdown: 60, TINSTAAP

For an Atlanta Braves organization centering its rebuild on pitching, it’s one of the biggest worries. What if a top pitching prospect never turns into anything at all?

The Atlanta Braves made a very intentional move in their rebuilding efforts in 2014 to acquire top arms, and their drafting has been focused in that area during the rebuild as well. However, the history of Manny Banuelos may give Braves fans pause.

For reference, the term “TINSTAAPP” is a phrase with a few debated origins, but it stands for “there is no such thing as a pitching prospect”. The background of the phrase is that anytime a pitcher is highly-regarded as a prospect, he’s always still a very high-risk proposition.

Before the Atlanta Braves

Manny Banuelos was originally signed from Mexico by the New York Yankees. Standing just 5’10”, he had an advanced approach on the mound, which allowed scouts to overlook his size, which normally would have been seen as a negative, as Banuelos was also fairly thick at that height, without a ton of athleticism.

He built up his conditioning as he worked up quickly through the Yankees farm system, getting to high-A for a short stint as an 18-year-old. At 19, he finished the year in AA and went to the Arizona Fall League, where he showed well over 25 innings. That performance got him noticed as a top prospect, ranked as #41 by Baseball America and #27 by Baseball Prospectus in their offseason top 100 lists.

Banuelos had a big year in 2011 at 20, pitching across AA and AAA, with his stuff from the left side ticking up to the mid-90s in velocity, though he saw his control slip with the increased velocity. Regardless, the ability to hold his own at the upper levels at age 20 got Banuelos ranked highly, #29 by BA, #13 by MLB Pipeline, and #29 by BP in the 2011-2012 offseason.

After just 6 starts in AAA in 2012, Banuelos succumbed to Tommy John surgery. That was the beginning of a sharp value decline for Manny. After nearly two years not on the mound, the Braves traded two relief pitchers for Banuelos in January of 2015. He’d been able to pitch 76 2/3 innings with a 4.11 ERA in his first experience back.

More from Tomahawk Take

• Braves News: Braves 2023 rotation speculation, Correa deal on hold, more
• Atlanta Braves: Current Left Field Mix
• Atlanta Braves 2023 Preseason Top 30 Prospects List: 11-15
• Braves News: Braves sign Luplow, Atlanta’s shortstop plans, more
• Atlanta Braves Could Go With Six-Man Rotation in 2023

With the Atlanta Braves

Banuelos was stellar in his first exposure in the Atlanta Braves system, putting up a 2.18 ERA in 86 2/3 innings in 2015 in the minor leagues before he was promoted to the major leagues.

Wearing #60, Banuelos made 7 appearances, 6 of them starts, in 2015 with the major league club. He posted a 5.13 ERA, and his walk rate wasn’t great, but it was under 10%, but what showed up significantly was the issues with Banuelos’ reduced velocity, averaging under 90 MPH on his fastball in his major league time.

Banuelos struggled with performance and injury in 2016 before being released by the Braves in August of 2016.

Banuelos pitched 2017 in the Los Angeles Angels farm system. He moved to the other Dodgers squad in 2018, and he really benefitted from the scientific approach the Dodgers take to training their arms, recovering much of his velocity and really thriving as a reliever once he adjusted to the role.

The Chicago White Sox acquired Banuelos this winter with the intent of trying him as a swing man in 2019.