Braves Prospects: Baldwin's hot streak, Eli White promoted, Fuentes dazzles

Another week of games, another week of strong performances by a few key Atlanta Braves minor leaguers. Let's take a look at some of the strongest weeks in the organization.

Eli White's strong 2024 leads to MLB promotion

With injuries to Ronald Acuña Jr. and Michael Harris II, the Braves have been desperately trying to find some stability in the outfield and they turned to Eli White after yet another strong week by the outfielder. Before being promoted, Eli White appeared in four games last week for the Gwinnett Stripers where he hit .429/.429/.810 (1.238 OPS), including a pair of doubles and a couple of homers. In 53 games for the Stripers, Eli batted .294/.408/.462 with seven homers along with a good 18/20 stolen base rate.

Allan Win(ans) International League Pitcher of the Month for June

While the performance last week wasn't his strongest, it is important to note that Winans did win Player of the Month after an electric month of July. Allan made five starts and compiled a 1.16 ERA while allowing opponents to collect a mere .516 OPS against. Allan has experienced a resurgence after struggling with some blister issues earlier in the season and continues to be the anchor in the Stripers' rotation.

Drake Baldwin continues hot stretch of play

The Drake Baldwin tour of the International League continued last week with the catcher appearing in five games where he slashed .316/.519/.474 while adding eight walks and a home run. Drake has now made 21 starts in Triple-A where he's hit .310/.431/.512 but it's not just the production that's opening eyes, it's how he's doing it. Drake isn't simply making a lot of contact - he's punishing the ball in Gwinnett.

The future for Baldwin is an interesting one as he is becoming an immensely valuable prospect who plays a premier position. Will the Braves hold onto him and make him a piece of their future moving forward, or use him to fill in a gap on the major league roster? It's a storyline to watch moving toward the trade deadline but one thing is becoming more and more clear - Drake has an MLB floor, with a growing ceiling, and is a player that we will all see playing in Major League Baseball.

Luis De Avila's return to form continuing

After struggling on the mound to start the season, Luis has begun to turn it around including a spectacular start last week. In Mississippi's final game against the Biloxi Shuckers (the Mississippi Braves will be moving to Columbus next season), Luis threw seven innings of shutout baseball giving up just two hits while striking out seven. That performance was enough to earn him the Southern League Pitcher of the Week award. Luis joins Ian Mejia (twice) as the only Mississippi Braves to win the award. On the season, Luis is now down to a 3.97 ERA and 1.387 WHIP.

Didier Fuentes continues very impressive 2024

It's beginning to become a common theme for the year but Didier Fuentes had yet another outstanding start for the Augusta GreenJackets putting together a 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, and 9 K performance. On the season now, the nearly turned 19-year-old has a 2.26 ERA across 13 games with an outstanding 0.952 WHIP and 11 K/9 rate. He has exceeded all expectations for the season and has firmly planted himself as a player to watch not just for this season, but also for the future.

Adam Shoemaker puts together a pair of solid outings

The Braves 11th round pick in the 2021 draft, Adam has seen his role in Augusta remain quite fluid - working between being a starter and a reliever, and last week he appeared in two games, one as a starter and one as a reliever. While the walk rates leave a lot to be desired, Adam put together two shutout outings across eight innings of work, while striking out eight. He will likely see that role stay the same unless we begin to see some promotions from the FCL, but players like him are very important to an organization because of their versatility.

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