The Futures are here: 2 Atlanta Braves farmhands named to Futures Game

It is a showcase game that highlights some of the game’s brightest up-coming stars from the minor leagues.  2 future Atlanta Braves are on the roster.

A pair of AA Mississippi Braves – and likely future Atlanta Braves – will be featured in Cleveland at the annual Futures Game as part of All-Star week festivities.

Outfielder Cristian Pache and Pitcher Ian Anderson are the honorees, and they will get something of a vacation from the M-Braves for a couple of days while getting a chance to ply their talents in front of a national audience.

By the reckoning of MLB Pipeline, these now are the Braves’ #1- and #3-ranked prospects (14th and 26th overall).

That gets to the idea behind many of these selections:  it’s about talent, for sure, but it’s also about the rankings of scouts and their thoughts on who might eventually excel at the major league level.

Mississippi named 6 players to the original Southern League All-Star roster, which included this pair.  The others were outfielder Drew Waters and pitchers Tucker Davidson, Kyle Muller and Jeremy Walker.

In fact, in terms of sheer statlines, both Davidson and Muller have actually been outpitching Anderson so far this season, and Waters is out-hitting Pache.

Waters is 1st in the entire Southern League with a .328 average and is 2nd (by 10 points) in OPS.  Pache is no slouch, though, hitting .295 (7th in league in both average and OPS), plus his defensive skills are unparalleled – likely even including all minor league outfielders.

Tucker Davidson is still stifling AA hitting at a remarkable pace:  1.48 ERA.  That figure leads all other starters by three-quarters of a run.  The one knock against his line is 35 walks in 73 innings.

Muller is edging out Anderson (3.09 to 3.20), though even as I’m typing, Anderson has a gem in progress:  4 innings complete, no runs, no hits, 8 strikeouts, 1 walk.

So while in progress, Anderson’s ERA has dropped below Muller’s.

UPDATE:  Ian Anderson complete 7 no-hit innings Friday night, with a career high 14 strikeouts and just 2 walks and 1 HBP.  His season’s ERA is now 2.94… 7th in the Southern League.

Note though, that all of that isn’t an attempt to tear down the accomplishments of either Anderson or Pache – rather, it’s an attempt to point out just how loaded this Mississippi team really is:  sure – those guys are worthy of their Futures Game selections… but so are these other players!

So watch for these guys on Monday of All-Star week – and cheer on these future Atlanta Braves!