We saw a few Atlanta Braves prospects debut in 2019, let’s look at several that could reach the majors during the 2020 season.
The Atlanta Braves have certainly gotten off to a busy start this offseason — the team recently signed free agent left-handed reliever Will Smith this past Friday — and there will surely be more moves in the coming months, bringing new players to the roster for the 2020 season.
And depending on which route GM Alex Anthopoulos decides to take, pertaining to his additions, there may perhaps wind up being a few opportunities for a few Braves’ prospects to make their debuts.
In 2019 we, of course, witnessed third baseman turned-left fielder Austin Riley make his long-awaited introduction to the majors and the spectacular start that went with it. Wouldn’t it be nice if all prospects could hit the ground running as Riley did?
Of course, a return to earth (and then some) eventually came for him, though all-in-all it was still an exciting debut and most definitely a worthwhile experience for Riley.
In terms of the quantity of MLB debuts, the 2019 season was a bit of a bore, considering only five players were lucky enough to throw their first pitch or take their first at-bat in The Show; especially when looking at the 2018 campaign, a season that featured 12 players making their MLB debut (most notably of course… Ronald Acuna Jr.).
Although, Braves’ prospects that pitch should perhaps feel a bit better about their chances, as 13 pitchers have debuted for the Braves over the last two seasons, compared to just four position-players; that’s not necessarily unique, considering the volatility and health issues that come with throwing baseballs extremely hard.
Much like my most-recent write-up predicting three 2020 Braves’ NL RoY candidates, it would be quick and easy to just select all pitchers, as this pitcher-heavy pattern will likely continue.
But maybe players like Riley and catcher Alex Jackson this past season, and Acuna and outfielder Dustin Peterson in 2018 (remember the hype surrounding him!) should give us hope that there will be at least a couple of hitters to make their debuts in 2020. I haven’t looked beyond the 2018 season, but I’m sure there’s a possible trend to detect.
In any case, the task at hand is pretty self-explanatory: pick a few Braves’ prospects that could make their debuts in 2020.
The format is simple… the following list is broken up into two groups — Not Likely and There’s a Chance. I’ve selected three players for each group.