After being designated for assignment by the club on July 30, the Atlanta Braves officially sent right-handed pitching prospect Darius Vines outright to Double-A Mississippi recently on August 2.
The Braves No. 13 overall prospect according to MLB Pipeline, came shortly after Vines made an appearance for the major league club on July 29 in which he allowed four hits and two earned runs over his lone inning of relief work.
Darius Vines' star has fallen as other Braves prospects take center stage
A player who last appeared in a game at the Double-A level in 2022, the 2024 season has simply been nothing short of a struggle at times for Vines.
While he has seen limited action in the major leagues, Vines has spent the entirety of his minor league season with Triple-A Gwinnett where he has made 14 starts. Over that span, the right-hander owns a 3-3 record with a 5.14 ERA and 54:22 K/BB ratio across 77 IP, with opponents also hitting a combined .276 AVG against.
In the big leagues as well, Vines has made four appearances for the Braves, two of which were starts. Across those appearances, he sports a 0-1 record with an 8.56 ERA and 9:4 K/BB ratio across his 13.2 IP, with opponents owning a combined .356 AVG against.
As mentioned previously, the 26-year-old right-hander has not appeared in a Double-A game since 2022 when he made 20 starts for Mississippi. That season, Vines held a 7-4 record with a 3.95 ERA and a 127:30 K/BB ratio across 107 IP.
Assuming that Vines performs well in his first start in Mississippi however, the right-hander will likely see the Triple-A level again soon. However, if the Braves were to call Vines back up to Atlanta, the club would have to add the right-hander to the 40-man roster.
It's been tough to see Vines go from a promising prospect to being overshadowed by the plethora of talented prospects that are beginning to stockpile for the Atlanta Braves. He's just been unable to replicate the success he found early in his career.