For the first time since 2019, when they picked Shea Langeliers after the Carter Stewart fiasco, the Atlanta Braves are picking in the top 10 and have one of the biggest draft bonus pools in all of baseball. That is potentially very exciting for a Braves team whose minor league system isn't what it used to be, but has been trending upward recently. However, it also puts pressure on the front office to get this draft class right, and their track record lately is pretty hit-and-miss.
The Braves' class from the 2025 MLB Draft is just one example of this. No one is arguing that Atlanta didn't do well for themselves with their first few picks last year, but assessing their entire class isn't so simple. Even though the Braves did bring in some talent, they also failed to bring in the depth that they probably would have hoped to get.
Here is how the Braves' 2025 draft class grades out through the beginning of June
It is really important to remember that it is still VERY early on in the development of the 2025 draft class. A lot of these guys only have a handful of games under their belts so far, so a lot can change in the coming months and years. These grades are just one snapshot in time and nothing more.
We recently took a look at the Braves' first few picks in the 2025 draft, and things are pretty much the same as in that update. Tate Southisene has been awesome and has pulled his OPS all the way up to .946 as of June, and Briggs McKenzie was dominating rookie ball until he very recently got promoted to low-A Augusta. Conversely, second-round pick Alex Lodise has been fine, if unexciting, with Dixon Williams being in a similar spot. Unfortunately, Cody Miller has struggled with his hit tool, although he has shown some pop, and he already has 20 steals.
However, the rest of the class has yet to really bear much in the way of fruit. Conor Essenburg appears to be an exciting young power bat, but he also missed over a month due to injury. After Essenburg, you have a lot of Day Two underslot guys that have been pretty underwhelming, like Zach Royse and Landon Beidelschies.
One of the best ways to add real minor league depth is to be aggressive with Day Three picks, but the Braves had already run out of bonus pool by that point. That is showing right now as the Braves don't really have much to get excited about in that group, although Mathieu Curtis does look like a legit relief prospect, and there have been some good reports on RHP Aiven Cabral.
In short, the Braves didn't completely ruin their future, but they also could have done a lot better. The 2025 draft class pretty much lives and dies with Southisene and McKenzie at this point, and if those two guys fall off, it is hard to see anyone else in this class outside of maybe Essenburg or Lodise emerging to fill the void.
Grade: B
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