Prospects will break your heart more often than not. It is really easy to fall in love with what a player could eventually become, only for reality to set in, and that player falls short. It happens to very talented players all the time because baseball is a really hard game to be elite at, and failure is just part of the prospect following process. Unfortunately, the Atlanta Braves know all too well the feeling of seeing a promising prospect falling short.
Attrition is something that all organizations deal with, and the amount that the Braves have dealt with is not unusual, no matter what some of the malcontents say. Again, baseball is hard. However, some players seemed to be on a much better track with Atlanta before falling flat once they left.
Here are some of the former Braves prospects who have fallen on hard times after leaving Atlanta
The goal here is not to find every former Braves prospect still kicking around somewhere struggling. That would be tedious, and most of the names would not be ones that even the most deranged prospect watchers would remember much about. The focus instead will be on names that had some level of prominence that ended up moving on one way or another and are...not having the best time right now.
Vaughn Grissom
At the time that he was traded to the Red Sox, Vaughn Grissom was one of the Braves' more promising young bats, although there were certainly some defensive concerns at the time. After Atlanta sent him to Boston in the Chris Sale trade, Grissom voiced his displeasure with the Red Sox over how he was being held down in the minors. Predictably, Boston decided he wasn't worth the trouble and shipped him to the Angels were a surprising number of Braves players have ended up in the past. He hit pretty well in Triple-A last year, but the odds that Grissom does much in the majors at this point are pretty small.
Freddy Tarnok
When the Braves drafted him back in 2017, Freddy Tarnok was one of the draft prospects with the most helium ahead of the draft, and he seemed to have a lot of raw talent to work with. His time in the organization was a bit of a mixed bag, with some flashes of brilliance mixed in. Ultimately, the Braves traded him to the A's in the Sean Murphy trade. After stops with the Phillies and Marlins, Tarnok has decided to try overseas and just signed a deal to play in Japan.
Kyle Wright
Yeah, this one stinks. Kyle Wright, being a fifth overall pick, brought a certain level of expectations amongst Braves fans. After a very rocky early portion of his career, it seemed like Wright had finally figured something out in 2022 and ended up winning 21 games and posting a 3.19 ERA across 30 starts. Unfortunately, Wright's shoulder gave out shortly after that, and he got traded to the Royals. Kansas City ended up designating him for assignment, and now he is just trying to hold on for dear life to his MLB career after signing a minor league deal with the Cubs earlier this month.
Braden Shewmake
Braden Shewmake was one of the rare cases (alongside Shea Langeliers and now Tate Southisene) where the Braves willingly took a position player with a first-round draft pick. While his glove at shortstop developed nicely, he never recaptured his offensive form from his college days. After being a part of the 40-man roster dump to the White Sox for Aaron Bummer, Shewmake eventually landed in the Yankees' organization, where he hung around a lot longer than he should have before finally being designated for assignment this past offseason.
Drew Waters
Drew Waters was once one of the more toolsy Braves prospects after being drafted out of high school. With a rare combination of power and speed from a switch-hitter, it felt like Waters was on a path towards being a key part of the Braves' outfield for years to come. Unfortunately, cracks started to form with regard to his hit tool as the strikeouts started to pile up. After being traded to Kansas City for the draft pick that became JR Ritchie, Waters is still kicking around and seems to be the definition of a quad-A player being shuffled back and forth from the minors and struggling more and more over time, which can't be fun.
Patrick Weigel
Patrick Weigel came out of nowhere to become one of the Braves' better pitching prospects, period, in 2016. Unfortunately, Weigel needed Tommy John surgery not long after that, and while he had his moments after his rehab, including his big league debut in 2021, the Braves ended up trading Weigel to the Brewers for Orlando Arcia. Since then, Weigel has played in five different MLB organizations, two Mexican League teams, and an independent league squad. He is still trying to hang around, though, and he signed a minor league deal with the Rockies back in January.
Jared Shuster
The first of two Wake Forest products that make this list, Jared Shuster, was seen as a bit of a reach when Atlanta picked him in the first round of the 2020 MLB Draft. His changeup was stellar, but the rest of his offerings were often lacking. He did still manage to make it to the big leagues with the Braves in 2023 after fellow list member Kyle Wright went on the injured list. Sadly, Shuster didn't do enough to justify Atlanta keeping him around, and he got sent to Chicago in the same trade that Shewmake was in.
After a couple of seasons with the White Sox, the A's claimed Shuster off of waivers, and he just signed a minor league deal with the Cardinals for 2026. That first-round pedigree is not exactly carrying much weight anymore.
Ryan Cusick
Another Demon Deacon (the Braves really just need to avoid Wake Forest players in the draft for a while), Ryan Cusick was a flamethrower in college, and the Braves thought they could tame his command issues after making him a first-round pick in 2021. Sadly, Cusick never really figured out where his pitches were going, and he ended up going out west in the Matt Olson trade. Since then, walks have continued to be a problem, and his strikeout rate has steadily decreased during his stops with the A's, Tigers, and Phillies.