Not just pitchers: The Atlanta Braves have a top-10 position-group in the Minors

I wrote about 4 of these 6 players this past weekend, as they were amongst the top-100 prospect overview provided.

The Talent

1. (OF) Cristian Pache
2. (3B) Austin Riley
3. (OF) Drew Waters
4. (C) William Contreras
5. (OF) Greyson Jenista 
6. (2B) Derian Cruz

Let’s focus on those two players in bold, since those two guys aren’t written or talked about as much as the other four.

(OF) Greyson Jenista 

Jenista was a second-round (49th overall) pick by the Braves in 2018, and the kid didn’t take long to shoot up to Advanced-A Ball. He was fortunate enough to play in 19 games for the Florida Fire Frogs and get a bit of a head start for this upcoming season.

2018 Rookie Ball wasn’t much of a problem for Jenista, as he OPS’d .848 in a quick 40 at-bat assignment there, before moving up to A-Ball and hitting. 333 with an .830 OPS in 32 games.

Jenista came back down to earth a bit once he was granted his final promotion of the season, but remember – baseball is hard.

Overall, through three levels of pro ball for Greyson Jenista in 2018, the stat card looks like this:

• 61 games
• .265/.328/.395
• .723 OPS
• 4 HR
• 34 RBI

The right fielder committed three errors and six assists in 53 starts in the outfield – good for a .973 FLD%.  RF is his preferred position, but he could also man the opposite corner, first base, or (shudder) could be a possible future DH.

Here’s Jenista crushing one in college a couple of years ago.

And another blast (a towering…triple) by Jenista while playing for the Rome Braves this past July.

He sure has a pretty swing from the left side. Let’s hope for a healthy 2019 for the 22-year-old outfielder, and hopefully his head start in Florida will pay off.