Two top Braves pitching prospects to showcase what they've got in 2025 Futures Game

BySteven Teal|
Jul 17, 2022; Los Angeles, CA, USA;  JR Ritchie puts on his jersey after he was selected by the Atlanta Braves as the 35th pick of the MLB draft at XBox Plaza at LA Live. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Jul 17, 2022; Los Angeles, CA, USA; JR Ritchie puts on his jersey after he was selected by the Atlanta Braves as the 35th pick of the MLB draft at XBox Plaza at LA Live. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

We are two weeks away from the Atlanta Braves hosting the 2025 MLB All-Star Game. It's going to be an incredible week full of incredible experiences for fans of all teams. Truist Park and The Battery were built for this exact moment and it is going to be a memorable week.

From the home run derby, to the MLB Draft, celebrity softball game, and the All-Star Game, there is a lot of entertainment to offer during All-Star week. Another exciting game to catch is the MLB Futures Game.

This showcases some of the best prospects across Major League Baseball and allows them to compete on an MLB diamond. Fans will get to experience the talent of top prospects such as: Max Clark, Braden Montgomery, Noah Schultz, Andrew Painter, Leo DeVries, and more.

Hayden Harris and JR Ritchie will represent the Braves at the 2025 MLB Futures Game

The rosters for the AL and NL squads were revealed on Monday. It is full of great player and the Braves will feature two of their top pitching prospects this year. LHP Hayden Harris and RHP JR Ritchie.

Harris is having an incredible season between Double-A Columbus and Triple-A Gwinnett. He appears to be a future bullpen option for Atlanta. He has a 0.61 ERA over 29.2 innings (24 games) with 13 walks and 44 strikeouts. 22.2 of those innings were at Double-A and he has yet to allow a run over 7 innings at Triple-A.

He was a non-drafted free agent by the Braves in 2022 after completing his college career at Georgia Southern. The lefty is ranked as the organization's 29th-best prospect. His fastball tops out at 95 mph with a 92 mph average but the ride on his heater helps provide deception. Harris pairs this with a slider and splitter to keep hitters honest.

Ritchie is Atlanta's 6th-ranked prospect and is having a really nice season. He was drafted in 2022 and underwent Tommy John surgery in 2023. So he just made his return to the mound last season and he did fairly well. This season, however, he is showing a lot of promise with a 2.51 ERA over 75.1 innings between High-A Rome and Double-A Columbus.

The right-hander has 25 walks and 71 strikeouts through 14 starts so far. He is currently estimated to be MLB-ready by the 2027 season. Once he's able to figure out his command and hone in on perfecting his pitches, he will be a nice piece in Atlanta's rotation.

Be sure to check out the MLB Futures game on Saturday July 12th at 4:00 p.m. EST.

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