September call-up season is essentially over and the Atlanta Braves have made their roster decisions. Instead of going with potentially flashier choices for the final month of the season, Atlanta recalled Rolddy Muñoz and activated Luke Williams from the injured list as their moves once rosters expanded. It is safe to say that those moves were underwhelming for a Braves fan base that is eager to have something to look forward to the last month of the season.
Thankfully, the Braves seemingly undid their greatest sin when they called up Hayden Harris on Tuesday to boost their bullpen, but there are a number of prospects Atlanta could have turned to when rosters expanded and, for one reason or another, they just didn't.
Here are the prospects the Braves should have strongly considered making their September call-ups
Ultimately, calling up any of these guys at this point wouldn't have moved the needle much for the Braves and that may what drove much of their decision-making. While it would have been nice to give these guys a taste of the big leagues, there are still service time and 40-man considerations that factor into these sorts of things. That said, here are a few Braves prospects that had a real case for being September call-ups, but didn't end up making the cut.
JR Ritchie
Ritchie is the easiest name to point to as he is already at Triple-A and has been shoving in the minors this season. Purely on merit, Ritchie probably should have gotten called up given the state of Atlanta's rotation. Unfortunately, it seems like the above roster considerations as well as the Braves' desire to limit Ritchie's innings in his first full season back from Tommy John kept him in the minors for now.
Blake Burkhalter
Bullpen arms are very, very often among the guys that do get added when roster expansion happens. The Braves did promote some bullpen help, but it was Muñoz that got the nod over more highly regarded options including Blake Burkhalter. Atlanta spent a second round pick in 2022 on Burkhalter in hopes that he could be a starter, but has been pitching out of the bullpen lately with a fair bit of success. He'll be in the running during spring training, but it would have been great to see how his stuff plays against big league hitters this month.
Jhancarlos Lara
Speaking of bullpen arms that would be fun to see in the majors, Jhancarlos Lara might top that list especially now that Harris was promoted. The flamethrowing righty has long been a fan favorite, but Atlanta has thus far resisted moving him too quickly for their tastes. Lara could have forced the issue if he had pitched better in August, but the Braves continued to try him as a starter and Lara had some unfortunate command problems that made Atlanta's choice easier.
David McCabe
This is a weird one, but the fact remains that Austin Riley is out for the season and Nacho Alvarez Jr. still has yet to show any real power in the big leagues. McCabe has his own warts to be sure, but he hits the ball hard consistenly and could be a really solid trade piece had he played well since there is almost no world that he replaces Riley anyways. His August was only okay, but he did hit seven homers at least. A fun potential call-up that was simply not to be.