It is easy to get caught up in the fact that the Atlanta Braves' 2025 season is extremely likely to end without a playoff appearance. While one can appreciate wanting to embrace the nightmare of it all, there is still the future of the Braves to consider. That not only means looking ahead to the 2026 draft where Atlanta will hold a high pick, but also looking at their existing prospect crop where at least one former first round pick is turning some heads.
No one, including the Braves, thought that Cam Caminiti would fall to them at the 24th overall pick in the 2024 MLB Draft. The prep lefty had some of the best raw stuff in the draft, but the teams ahead of Atlanta were hesitant to take the young high school arm which allowed the Braves to swoop in. After just one short appearance as a pro in his draft year followed by some arm troubles early in 2025, it looks like the Braves' good fortune with Caminiti is finally starting to pay off.
Top Braves pitching prospect Cam Caminiti is putting on quite the show in the minors right now
Through Caminiti's first six appearances of the season, it was clear that he was still pretty rusty from his injury layoff. While he did manage to strike out 23 batters in 21 innings of work between rookie ball and low-A, he also walked seven batters and gave up 15 earned runs on 22 hits over the same span which was definitely less than ideal.
Thankfully, Caminiti has since found his stride and probably is going to get pushed to high-A at least before too long if he keeps this up. Over his last seven starts at low-A, Caminiti sports a 1.61 ERA with 43 strikeouts versus just 10 walks in 28 innings of work. Opposing hitters are hitting just .212 against him during that stretch even with the Braves limiting his breaking ball usage coming off his arm issues.
While there is no real reason to rush Caminiti, don't expect the Braves to rest on their laurels with him. He is still only throwing four or five innings at a time, but there is some wisdom in promoting to the next level of the minors to challenge him a bit and see how Caminiti acclimates to the stiffer competition in a controlled environment. If he keeps pitching like this, the Braves may not have a choice but to give him that opportunity.
One thing is for sure: after a bit of a delay to his pro career, Caminiti seems like he's worth the wait.