5 Atlanta Braves prospects who made big impressions in Spring Training

Spring Training is about to come to a close and the Atlanta Braves have some important decisions to make about their young prospects.

Spring Training is often a time where most fans don’t expect much from their teams. We’ll hope that the Atlanta Braves win of course, but that isn’t the most important aspect of the Spring.

This is a time for veterans and prospects alike to get into form for the upcoming season and if you’re lucky, you may find yourself on the big league roster.

When you are a club like the Atlanta Braves and possess a large talented prospect base, Spring Training is extremely important. We know that not every prospect will end up being as good as originally hoped but there are always a few stars in the mix.

There is also the opportunity for roster spots to be occupied when a team is hit with injuries. That has unfortunately been the case for the Braves as Mike Foltynewicz, Kevin Gausman, A.J. Minter, and Darren O’Day have been nursing injuries that may affect their availability the first month of the season.

This opens the doors for some of the young pitching prospects that Atlanta possesses.  At the same time, that scenario can make things dicey for the coaching staff to make decisions given the expectations of this club to defend their division title.

This Spring has been no different for the Atlanta Braves organization. We have seen many of the young prospects turn heads and some of them have a strong case for being on the 25 man roster.

What follows is a rundown of 5 prospects that have made the biggest impressions during this:  the 2019 edition of Spring Training.

4. Cristian Pache

Cristian Pache is one of the most coveted prospects of the Atlanta Braves. He is the best defensive outfielder in the entire Braves organization. The Braves have simply been waiting for his bat to catch up with that elite defense.

Last year, Pache hit .279 with 9 home runs and 47 RBI playing for both the Florida Fire Frogs and Mississippi Braves. He also struck out 97 times in 495 plate appearances.

This Spring saw Pache improve offensively in a major way and we may see him called up at some point late in the season. If he keeps up the pace from this Spring, you could even see him by the summer. [ Now, that most likely won’t happen but you never know with how well some of these young guys perform. ]

The 20 year old prospect from the Dominican Republic has earned a .375/.412/.719 slash line. He has shown some nice power and speed on the offensive side of the ball. In 32 at bats, Cristian has 12 hits including 2 home runs, 5 doubles, and 10 RBI. The defense has been as advertised and Pache has made some tough plays in the outfield look routine.

This guy is going to be an amazing addition to the Atlanta Braves outfield in the next few years. Imagine his defensive talent and speed alongside Inciarte and Acuna Jr. That would be an extremely tough outfield to have success against.

3. Max Fried

Max Fried has continually improved since he was included in a trade for former Braves slugger Justin Upton. Fried was traded to Atlanta along with Jace Peterson, Mallex Smith, and Dustin Peterson. Fried is the only one that currently remains with the organization.

I’m sure Fried has felt a lot of pressure to succeed when included in a deal for a guy as good as Justin Upton. Fortunately for Max, he has started to live up to the hype. We saw the flashes of his talent in 2018 and he was one of the better relievers in the NLDS for Atlanta.

His ERA has improved in both of his seasons with Atlanta and it’s only going to get better.

This Spring has been no different at all for Fried and it appears that he is going to be in the starting rotation come Opening Day. He’s been one of the most efficient starters for the Braves as they prepare for 2019. He currently sports a 2.35 ERA in 15 1/3 innings pitched.

In those games, Fried has struck out 16 batters, only allowed 4 earned runs, and has only walked 5 batters. As we noted when talking about Kyle Wright, hat’s the sort of consistency the Atlanta Braves need from their starting rotation.

Max has commanded his 94 mph fastball extremely well and his curveball is absolutely devastating. He looks to be (and has said himself) as comfortable as he’s ever been on the mound.

The way he can control his breaking ball is going to help him strike out a lot of hitters.  He brings with him one of the best curveballs in the organization.

Max could find himself in the rotation as Sean Newcomb has struggled mightily to find the strike zone this Spring. However, he could function just as well in a long relief role and reminds me a bit of Andrew Miller.

2. Touki Toussaint

Touki Toussaint may be one of the most impressive pitchers for the Atlanta Braves this season. The guy just knows how to pitch and has some nasty breaking pitches.  If Max Fried only has ‘one of the best curveballs in the organization’, it’s because this guy is also a Brave… this one’s the best.

The one question mark for Toussaint throughout his minor league career has been a rather high walk rate.  In 7 games pitched for Atlanta in 2018, Toussaint averaged 6.5 walks per 9 innings.

In the minors, his walk rates ranged anywhere from 3 per 9 innings (AAA over 50 innings last season) to 6+ (2015 over his 1st 49 innings with the Braves in A-ball).

However, it seems that Touki may have gained a bit more control of his pitches as the 2018 calendar was replaced on the wall as he has only walked 2 batters in 14 innings pitched this Spring. He has accordingly shown a lot more confidence in his changeup and fastball.

His curveball is still his best pitch but it has been nice to see how well he can work off of his other pitches to get outs. This confidence has helped Toussaint rack up 17 strike outs over the course of Spring Training.

I don’t think it is surprising to anyone that Touki Toussaint will be in the rotation come Opening Day. He has the “it” factor that all MLB teams look for in their impact players.

However, just like Max Fried, he could be just as effective in a long relief role for the Atlanta Braves. It won’t be long before we find out as Opening Day is only a week away.

1. Bryse Wilson

The last performance we will touch on is that of starting pitcher Bryse Wilson. Wilson struggled a bit last year when called up to Atlanta. In 7 innings pitched, Wilson had a 6.43 ERA allowing 5 earned runs and 6 walks.

However, those numbers are a bit deceiving… and almost irrelevant.

In his major league debut, Wilson threw 5 innings of shutout ball against the Pirates in a very impressive start.  The runs he allowed came in two relief appearances against the Cardinals and the World Champion Red Sox.

This Spring has been a different story and he has easily talked his way into deserving a spot on the Braves pitching staff.  I don’t see Bryse taking a spot in the rotation simply because of how well Max Fried and Touki Toussaint have pitched. However, he is the perfect choice for the bullpen and would fill a nice long relief role.

So, what have his numbers been this Spring? In 13 2/3 innings, Bryse Wilson has a 3.29 ERA while only allowing 5 earned runs and striking out 13 batters. Opponents have only hit .231 against him in 5 games pitched.

One of his best Spring games saw the Atlanta Braves prospect toss 70 pitches in 4 innings and 49 of those pitches were for strikes. That is something the Braves bullpen drastically needs, a strike thrower. As for walks, he has only allowed 2 walks in all 5 games.

Wilson features a mid 90s fast ball, changeup, and slider. When he has control of his fastball, his breaking pitches are effective.  His ability to pitch to weak contact or generate swings and misses are both reasons why he should be considered for the bullpen.

Change is a’Coming

This Spring Training has been an exciting one to follow because we are finally starting to see all of the talent come to fruition. General manager Alex Anthopoulos mentioned a couple of days ago that he plans to go with the best pitchers. He isn’t necessarily worried about who has the most service time.

https://twitter.com/sportsandra/status/1108713866421252097

I’m in agreement with Anthopoulos here. With how tough the National League East has become, you cannot simply take guys with the most experience. We need guys to start throwing strikes and getting outs.

The Atlanta Braves were extremely lucky in 2018 that the amount of walks issued didn’t come back to hurt them as often as it should have, and this emphasis on strike-throwers should certainly help.

https://twitter.com/FOXSportsBraves/status/1109051737460142080

NOTE: The Atlanta Braves will be on TV this evening at 6:05 EDT on the FOX Sports South networks as Jeff Francouer debuts as Chip Caray’s right-hand analyst.  The Braves will be facing the Detroit Tigers from Disney World in the next-to-last Spring game that they will play at their current facilities.  After tomorrow… they move to North Port!

Julio Teheran will be starting on the mound and it appears that the expected Opening Day lineup will be starting the game.  Don’t miss it!

I know this list has been extremely heavy with pitching. But the fact of the matter is, the Atlanta Braves just have that many talented pitching prospects. We may not have that single ‘big name’ pitcher, but these prospects are clearly ready to make their mark on Major League Baseball.