When it comes to prospects and the MLB Draft, nothing is certain. Go back and look at any first round since the dawn of the draft and you will see a sea of players that ended up flaming out and forgotten. Evaluating young baseball talent is extremely hard and developing into a big league player is even harder. For Atlanta Braves pitching prospect Briggs McKenzie, he has some questions to answer before he has even taken the mound as a pro.
Selected in the fourth round of the 2025 MLB Draft by the Braves, McKenzie was a massive overslot pick who ended up getting $3 million from Atlanta despite that pick slot only carrying a value of $588,900 and they had to make some strategic picks and signings before that to even be able to sign him. The Braves did so because McKenzie was a LSU commit who already has a hammer curveball that has already drawn comparisons to a young Mackenzie Gore.
However, McKenzie doesn't have anywhere close to the same buzz that Gore had coming out of high school and that comes down to the fact that his fastball saw a pretty significant velocity drop during his senior year.
Briggs McKenzie has to prove early that he can throw hard enough to be a part of the Braves' future
There are two ways you can look at McKenzie this early in his career. Either you can be heartened by the fact that Atlanta saw enough out of him and his breaking stuff that they were willing to give him $3 million or you can say they reached badly for him and they should have focused on a more proven commodity to try and tempt with an overslot deal.
The concerns around his fastball are real, however, Early in 2025, McKenzie was hitting the low to mid 90's with his heater and when you pair THAT with his breaking ball, he looked like a lock to go in the first round. However, his starts later in the season saw a lot more high 80's and low 90's which is...significantly less exciting, though it is important to remember that McKenzie is still a teenager.
Whichever camp you fall in for the moment, the Braves have made their bet on McKenzie. We still have yet to see him in a game as a pro and there is a decent chance that he could even start 2026 in extended spring training if Atlanta wants to install some mechanical changes before facing real opposition to try and unlock some more velocity.
Once we actually see him, that will tell everyone a lot as to whether or not their gamble has a chance of paying off.