The Atlanta Braves farm system rankings impact after Matt Olson trade

The Atlanta Braves acquiring Matt Olson changes the Atlanta Braves farm system rankings. How did the rankings change?

The Atlanta Braves made a splash today, acquiring superstar first baseman Matt Olson from the Oakland Athletics.

The Braves moved Shea Langeliers, Cristian Pache, Ryan Cusick and Joey Estes to acquire Olson.

I have been putting together the Braves top prospect rankings/articles over the last few weeks and this obviously impacts those rankings.

Here are where the 4 players ranked for us at Tomahawk Take:

• Shea Langeliers– 2nd
• Cristian Pache– 3rd
• Ryan Cusick– 8th
• Joey Estes– 14th

I wrote about Estes already in the 15th-11th rankings that I have already submitted and should be published in the coming days. He was someone I was higher on than most, and I hope everyone enjoys his write-up.

Cusick is in the newest feature that I was currently working on as the Olson trade was announced. I had already written up Cusick’s section, so he can be read about more when that section is posted.

The two I did not get to write up on was Langeliers and Pache. So, I thought I would give a quick overview of each seeing as they both ranked as top 3 prospects in the Braves system.

Shea Langeliers

This one probably hurt Braves fans the most. However, a move for Olson was probably always going to include either Langeliers or Michael Harris.

Langeliers was known for his elite defense, with some thinking he could handle a major league pitching staff today. Not only was he great behind the plate, but he featured a cannon of an arm, throwing out 42% of base stealers in 2021.

Pretty impressive, especially considering that some minor league pitchers have not figured out how to effectively hold runners. Langeliers looks to be a future captain of the infield and a wonderful battery mate.

The key would be how much would the bat develop. He took a massive step forward in AA, hitting .258/.338/.498 22 HR, 56 R, 52 RBI, 1 SB, .363 wOBA, and 128 wRC+. The production earned him a promotion to AAA Gwinnett to end the year.

The entire body of work is what propelled him upwards, not only in Braves rankings, but in national rankings as well. He is a consensus top 100 prospect in baseball.

Best of luck to Langeliers in Oakland.

Cristian Pache

Pache was the former top prospect that fell down in the rankings for a few reasons.

One was his poor debut with the major league team. In 72 major league at-bats, he had a .119/.157/.209 slash with 1 HR, 6 R, 4 RBI, .162 wOBA, & -6 wRC+. Defensively, he was average in his first 178.1 innings in the outfield. He is touted as being a future gold glove defender, so that had people worried early.

Another reason was the emergence of Langeliers and Michael Harris. They showed great potential and surpassed Pache with the hype surrounding them.

A third reason could simply be attributed to prospect fatigue. Pache has been in rankings for a while, and everyone has waited for him to put it all together. When one gets touted as the center fielder of the future, that is a lot of pressure to live up to.

Sometimes, we as fans set our expectations too high on prospects, and that might be the case for Pache.

However, he is still very talented. There are reasons multiple lists believed in Pache enough to rank him as high across the industry.

Hopefully, Pache can figure it out with consistent playing time in Oakland. I will be rooting for him; he seems like a genuine guy.

The list goes on

The prospect rankings will continue over the next few days. Estes and Cusick will still appear due to the timing of the trade, so feel free to adjust accordingly.

Thanks for reading the prospect rankings, and we will get out an updated Braves farm system rankings before the season starts.