When it comes to the Atlanta Braves' minor league system, the strength in recent years has been producing quality hurlers. At the big league level, one can look at Spencer Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach as success stories who can leap forward and gain even more attention if they can put their injury woes behind them.
Elsewhere, 23-year-old Hurston Waldrep seems like the latest installment in the club's pitching development success story as he looks to lock down a role in the 2026 rotation after an impressive 2.88 ERA showing in 56.1 innings serving as an injury replacement last season.
The next wave seems headed by top prospects JR Ritchie and Cam Caminiti, who rank as Atlanta's only two entries in MLB Pipeline's newly updated 2026 preseason top-100. With a couple of tweaks, they could soon be joined by the mountainous Garrett Baumann.
Garrett Baumann could become a fast riser for the Braves with a few tweaks in 2026
A fourth-round pick in 2023, Baumann was a prep arm that the Braves fell in love with, giving him an overslot deal. It's easy to see why. The now-21-year-old right-hander has the kind of big, sturdy frame that scouts dream of, coming in at a towering six-foot-eight, 245 pounds.
Baumann began his professional career in earnest in 2024 and hit the ground running. At Single-A Augusta, he logged 92 innings with a 3.42 ERA. In 2025, he proved that it was no fluke, moving up to Hi-A Rome and postinga nearly identical 3.40 ERA over 113.2 frames.
Unsurprisingly, the bread and butter for the youngster is a fastball that can reach the high-90s, as is customary for most hurlers Baumann's size. He actually has two fastballs at his disposal, as MLB Pipeline notes he began his professional career by tinkering with a sinking two-seamer in addition to his standard four-seam offering, and has made significant progress with the sinker over the past two years.
The pair of fastballs is what sets everything up for the 21-year-old. While most pitchers Baumann's size struggle with control due to the difficulty of keeping their long-limbs in-sync to repeat their delivery, that isn't an issue for the Baby Brave. In 2024, he posted a stellar 5.7% walk rate, and his 2025 performance was right there as well, coming in at 6.4%.
That's all because he can fill the zone with strikes via his heater and the advanced feel he has for it. Despite that, Baumann doesn't generate much in the way of whiffs. Baseball America (subscription) notes that while he has three secondary pitches — a slider, a curveball, and a splitter — all three grade out as fringy at the current moment.
Their suggestion is to have him throw a harder cutter to take advantage of his velocity, but regardless, tweaking his secondaries to generate more whiffs and improve upon his good-but-not-great 22.5% strikeout rate in 2025 will be paramount.
If he can do that, watch out. The youngster will face his toughest challenge yet as he's expected to move on to Columbus and Double-A is typically the level that separates the men from the boys when it comes to prospects. If he can improve his secondaries, he'll succeed and we'll start see him getting more and more recognition as he races towards the big leagues.