Atlanta Braves Prospect: Darius Vines Shined in July

Darius Vines put together a phenomenal month of July for the Mississippi Braves. He was rewarded by being named the Southern League Pitcher of the Month for July.

Darius Vines is currently the Atlanta Braves 10th ranked prospect according to MLB pipeline and 24th according to Fangraphs. However, he arguably put up the best month of any Braves farm hand in the month of July.

In the month of July, Darius Vines started 5 games, pitched 30.2 innings, with a 1.17 ERA, 2.37 FIP, 0.82 WHIP, 28.3% strikeout rate, and 8.0% walk rate. Hard to do much better than that.

The impressive month earned Darius Vines the honor of being named the Southern League Pitcher of the Month for July.

Well deserved honor for Darius Vines.

For the year, he has a 4.14 ERA, 4.12 FIP, 3.92 xFIP, and 1.25 WHIP in AA. He is striking out a solid 28.2% of batters and doing a great job of limiting walks with a 6.9% walk rate.

This recent run has shown the type of talent that Darius Vines possesses. If it all comes together, there is the potential for him to reach a major league rotation. His ceiling might be that of a middle rotation arm, but he has shown the potential to get there. Although he probably sits more as a backend guy or maybe a bullpen arm down the line.

Darius Vines throws a solid fastball that sits in the low 90s with excellent command. It works well with an elite changeup that can get batters off balance. He also features a slurve type pitch that has not shown much consistency so far in his career but could end up a serviceable third pitch.

While Vines has shown some promise this year, something to keep an eye on is he will be eligible for the Rule 5 draft this winter. The Braves will have some roster decisions to make this winter, including deciding if Darius Vines is worthy of a 40-man spot.

If not, he might be an intriguing arm for some teams in the Rule 5 draft.

Either way, right now, Vines is making a case for the Braves to keep him around based on his performance over the last month. Congratulations again to Darius Vines for earning Southern League Pitcher of the Month for July!