Atlanta Braves: 5 prospects who could be traded
We look at five prospects in the Atlanta Braves system who could be traded at some point in the future.
Last week we looked at five Atlanta Braves prospects who should be untouchable, and now we’ll look at five prospects who could — and maybe should — be traded.
Since Alex Anthopoulos took over as general manager of the Atlanta Braves he has been very hesitant to move some of the top prospects in the organization.
But at some point you have to figure he’ll need to move some prospects in order to make the Atlanta Braves a serious playoff contender.
It may not happen this Summer, but if the Atlanta Braves miss the playoffs or flame out in the first round again, he can’t sit on his hands next offseason.
Prospects are prospects, and not all of them are going to pan out.
Now that Anthopoulos has a better feel for the system and these players, hopefully he has a better grasp on which players will be impact players at the big league level, and who they can handle parting with.
The best prospect Anthopoulos has traded is probably Lucas Sims, Brett Cumberland, or Akeel Morris.
We’ve yet to see him move a top 10 or 15 prospect. That is likely to change this Summer or in the offseason.
I understand that it’s hard parting with prospects that you’ve seen grow up in your system, but sometimes you have to take the risk in order to win now.
The Atlanta Braves are entering a win-now mode — in my opinion — so it’s time to take some chances when the right deal presents itself.
Kyle Wright
Coming out of the gates hot, this probably will not be a popular decision. And this is not an overreaction to his time in the big leagues, I’ve never been that high on Kyle Wright.
I’m a huge college baseball guy and Wright is someone I watched a lot. I honestly was not that excited when the Atlanta Braves drafted him fifth overall. He was very inconsistent in his last year in Vanderbilt, and that has continued into the big leagues.
The tools are all there for Wright. He has a fastball that sits in the mid-90s, a great curveball, a slider, and developing change-up.
His Minor League numbers suggest he will calm down at the Major League level eventually. He has a 1.22 WHIP in 159 Minor League innings compared to a 1.75 WHIP with the Atlanta Braves.
He also has a 3.3 BB/9 rate in the minors compared to 7.2 in the big leagues.
And that’s why I’m not ready to call Wright a bust. At any moment he could flip the switch and become the top of the rotation pitcher many think he can be.
But we have other pitchers who fit that bill that I trust more, and if I have to part with one, it would be Wright because I think he still has the most value in a trade.
The caveat to that is, I only trade Wright if we get a true ace in return that has at least two years of control left.
Kolby Allard
This one is pretty obvious as Kolby Allard has plummeted down the list of pitching prospect in the Atlanta Braves system.
Right now he is the definition of a Four-A player as he honestly has nothing left to prove at Triple-A where he has a 2.86 ERA in 125.2 innings with a WHIP of 1.23.
But he’s never been a power pitcher with a K/9 of 8.2 in the minors.
And it’s a small sample size in the big leagues, but that high contact percentage has not worked out well. He’s given up 19 hits in 8 Major League innings.
And because he’s not a strikeout guy, he’s not really someone you can move to the bullpen.
He’s not someone who walks a lot of batters, but instead, he tries to generate weak contact and relies on his defense behind him to make plays.
I still think Allard has the chance to be a solid big league starter, but his ceiling is likely a fourth starter.
He’s honestly just fallen behind all of the other pitchers in the system, and he needs to be traded to a team that can give him the chance to grow up at the big league level.
Bryse Wilson
I’m a little torn on this one because I would like to see what Bryse Wilson could do as a reliever in the Atlanta Braves bullpen.
He kind of flew through the Atlanta Braves minor league system and is just 21-years-old. Like Allard, he’s kind of done all that he can do in the minors with a 2.88 ERA in 306 innings with a WHIP of 1.10.
Again, a small sample size, but that hasn’t translated to the big leagues yet with a 7.84 ERA in 10.1 innings. That’s mainly due to 10 walks, which just can’t happen.
I still think he can be a major force in a big league rotation, but I think his ceiling is a number three starter.
He has that type of build that he could be a workhorse in the starting rotation, which I love.
But again, I think we have plenty of those guys in the system already.
Like Kyle Wright, I only trade Bryse Wilson if we can get a top of the rotation starter who has a couple of years of control left.
I certainly am not ready to trade Bryse — or Wright for that matter — but if the right deal comes along, these are guys I wouldn’t lose sleep over if we traded them.
Luiz Gohara
My hearts absolutely hurts for Luiz Gohara. I can’t even imagine what he must be going through after losing his father and then learning that his mom was dealing with heart issues.
Whether it was a direct correlation or not, Gohara got out of shape and has battled injuries for over a year.
We still have not heard anything about him since he was sent to Triple-A at the end of March.
More than anything, I want Gohara to get a fresh start somewhere else so that he can kind of reset and start over.
As a pitcher, the lefty has all of the tools to be a workhorse starting pitcher in the middle a Major League rotation for a long time.
Right now he just needs to get healthy.
I would certainly love for the 22-year-old to bounce back with the Atlanta Braves. But it might be best for him to start over somewhere else.
Once he can finally prove that he’s healthy, and if there is interest out there, I think the Atlanta Braves will look to trade Gohara.
I just pray his life will settle down and he can get back to doing what he loves, and do it at a high level like he’s capable of.
Austin Riley
I don’t expect this will be a very popular pick, but I think the Atlanta Braves should consider trading Austin Riley.
He is viewed as the third baseman of the future for the Atlanta Braves, but I think Johan Camargo is capable of filling that role beyond 2019.
And perhaps if Josh Donaldson plays well this year he’ll give us a team-friendly deal for another two or three years.
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I’ve never loved Riley like a lot of other Braves fans have. The strikeouts are a big issue with me.
He struck out 400 times the past three seasons in almost 1,400 at-bats.
I know that is par for the course these days, especially for a guy who could possibly give you 30 home runs a year, but I’m just personally not a fan of that many wasted at-bats.
If we knew for sure that the DH was coming to the National League in a couple of years, then I think it would make sense to hang onto Riley.
Otherwise, I think he could be the centerpiece of a big trade.
I really hope Riley wasn’t the hold up in trade talks for J.T. Realmuto, because I would have pulled that trigger in a heartbeat.
Like all of these prospects mentioned, I’m not saying I’m giving up on any of these guys.
Next. Will you miss these Braves players?. dark
The point is, sometimes you have to part with promising prospects in order to win now. And if that is the situation we find ourselves in, these are the prospects I would be OK parting ways with.