For those who have followed the Atlanta Braves' minor league system closely in recent years, Jhancarlos Lara has been a source of fascination as well as frustration. Lara can hit triple digits with a wipeout slider when he is right, but is a hazard to opposing hitters' health when he is not, as his command can (and often does) completely vanish. For some time now, it has become clear that if Lara was going to make it to the majors and find success, it would be in the bullpen as a result.
The Braves seem to have finally committed to switching Lara over to relief, as all nine of his appearances at Double-A this year have been out of the bullpen. Unfortunately, it is becoming abundantly clear that Lara's inability to throw strikes may be an insurmountable problem.
Jhancarlos Lara's command issues have the Braves prospect's stock plummeting
As long as there is any hope for Lara to figure things out, the Braves are going to give him a shot. As maddening as Lara can be, it just isn't possible to teach his kind of arm talent. The Braves don't have a ton of power relief arms at the moment outside of Robert Suarez, so the chance they could add another in Lara is hard to pass up.
However, Atlanta probably shouldn't hold their breath and wait for that to actually happen. In 68.2 innings in 2025, Lara did strike out 104 batters, but that came with a staggering 65 walks and 10 hit by pitches (ouch). Somehow, Lara has actually been worse on a rate basis in 2026. In his 8.2 innings of work this year, Lara has already walked 18(!) batters against 12 strikeouts, though no opposing hitters have been physically harmed thus far.
The best chance Lara had was that he would be able to command his prodigious stuff if he were only working in shorter stints. Unfortunately, all that has really happened is that Lara is clearly reaching back to show even better stuff, only to magnify his command problems. At this point, this just isn't sustainable.
The Braves may have already come to the same conclusion, as Lara has only made two appearances this month. Lara just seems like he is what he is at this point. It is an unfortunate reality that he and the Braves find themselves in, but this is the way things are going to be without some massive adjustments.
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