Atlanta’s pitching lab is STACKED! 👀 | Farm Feature: Atlanta Braves

Atlanta’s pitching lab is STACKED! 👀 | Farm Feature: Atlanta Braves

Now look at the Atlanta Braves here. Their top five prospects. Going to start off with number one Cam Camoniti. A left-handed pitcher number 72 MOB number 72 prospect 2028 ETA. He fills the zone up. Lives with his fast ball. Mid to high 90s. Very compact, quick delivery. Slider change. Does not have a great finishing pitch. That’s still his next move. The slider. got a bunch of strikeouts with that, but still kind of waiting to get that finishing pitch. Finished 2025. 17 starts in first four action as a starter. 90 strikeouts to just 28 walks. Four games with at least eight Ks and a handful of those came at the end of the season. So, really developed his strikeout stuff at the end of the year. Former center fielder as well. So, has some versatility. went from center field, used that arm, transitioned it to the hill, has good deception, three/4length release, but didn’t go deep into games. I think that’s really a goal for him this upcoming season. Just went a full six innings twice. So, for them, it needs to really develop length. Similarly to Nolan Mlan, we talked about that last week with the Mets and kind of his development as a two-way player. I think him focusing on pitching and that length, developing his arm, I think is the next big step. But a lot of comps with them again. Max Freed, who left the organization a few years ago, he’s a comp for this guy. Another guy I’ll get to in just a little bit with that fast ball breaking ball mix. Just refining uh for the uh for Camiti, but one of the best talking about lefties with White. Camiti very similar skills in the Braves system. Number two for the Braves is Jr. Richie, a right-handed pitcher, ETA 2027. He pitched in the futures game along with Kimiti this past summer in Atlanta. Got to showcase his skills in front of the home crowd. Richie, closest ETA out of the top five. Could be a name to watch with the Braves this year. Right-handed starter, middle relief. Interesting to see how things break. Injuries have been a real bugaboo for the Braves, especially at the top with the major league club. So, interested to see how he fix another compact release. Everything’s really tight to his shoulder, but has great deception, a curveball and change up that just fall off the kitchen table, gentlemen. I mean, 140 innings last season, 140ks. So, a strikeout per nine innings, six uh in AAA, he would have been second in all of the AAA uh in all of the International League if he kept that up. He got promoted double to AAA, excuse me, uh towards the middle of the season. Sharpness low80s slider could get to a true out pitch who emerge for him. So really interested to see if the Braves uh kind of get that um get him up maybe middle relief action there in the coming season. Then it is Tate South is scene short stop outfielder their recent firstround draft pick this past year in the 2025 draft. He has a 2029 ETA hit tool is the biggest thing that’s going to keep him around. Some comps on draft night from Mark D. Rosa from MLB Network talking about him. Zack Neto was his comp. Has a quick bat. Control of the zone is the biggest skill right now for Southine. Has great hands to it. Shortstop. We talked about the Mets last week with Jet Williams. He’s kind of a fellow prospect comp that I would put at Southine of what he can do with the contact, with the fielding. Again, the the strikeouts though have to get cut down. We’ll see how he does in year two. 15 games with Augusta, 219 average. Biggest thing, again, Sam mentioned it earlier with with the Marlins, the 27ks and 64 at bats. Got to cut that down moving forward. But really like the hit tool control of the zone. Has a has a very elongated swing, a little leg kick, a little bat wiggle. See if he cuts that down moving forward. Number four is Alex Ludisi, the shortstop ETA 2028, second round pick in 2025 out of Florida State, one of the most decorated players in college baseball this past year, winner of the Duckhower Trophy, some other Duckhower Trophy winners, Paul Schmes, Adley Rutman, Carly Charlie Cond Congden, excuse me. and all of those guys really standouts not only in the minors but in the professional game. 50 grade across the board in hits, run, defense, uh as well. So looking for that really defining skill, was a pitcher, third baseman in high school, has really transitioned into that middle infield. Started college at North Florida, then went to Florida State, really refined his game, especially his approach at the plate. free swinger, not a lot of walks, but see finished the college season with a 692 OPS. Uh, excuse me, 692 OPS. That was in 25 games for high A Rome for him. Has to cut down on the strikeouts, work the ball to all fields, but an intriguing middle infielder for the Braves. And finishing off number five, another pick in the 2025 draft for the Braves. The fourth round pick, Brics Briggs McKenzie. Fantastic curveball. Yet to play in the miners, was in rookie ball at the end of the year. But that curve ball, a lot of comps to Max Freed. A hammer curve ball as it’s called. Gets down, gets on the batter quickly. Fast ball, low 90s, high 80s. He’s topped out at 95. But as the season has gone on, velocity has dipped. So maintaining velocity from the lefty is the biggest thing. again, Max Freed, lofty cop, but 88ks and 53 and a third innings as a prep lefty arm in high school. Very dominant skills. And just kind of looking at these draft picks as a whole, guys, I’d love to hear your thoughts, but three out of the five are 2025 draft picks and four out of the five have been drafted in the last two years. So, the Braves have been restocking, have that number nine pick coming up. So looking to continue to add to that top five. >> Yeah. First thoughts here and then I’ll kick it to you Sam is that I’m still waiting for the Braves to do this again when they have a dynamite prospect like a Ronald Akunia Jr. They’re not pioneers. Teams have done it before but buying in on a prospect as they’re making their major league debut or early on. I don’t know if that person is in this list especially since some of them have ETAs of a few years from now. But thoughts in general on how it’s going to impact the big league club. I was digging into this earlier when I knew you were diving into the Braves and it’s a team this year that just couldn’t put it all together. They weren’t really helped out by the injury bug either. Sale didn’t put together a full season. We know what happened with Strider. He had a late entry and didn’t look sharp at the beginning before kind of turning a corner at the end. Wins is not a great fair stat for starting pitching, but I’m going to use it here because I think it’s indicative of a team that couldn’t put it all together. Guys, Bryce Elder led this team in wins with eight. No starting pitcher had more than eight wins. What does that mean? It means guys aren’t going deep into games. It means they’re not getting run support. And it means when one aspect of this baseball team is on, the other one isn’t. So, I think getting consistent pitching, getting healthy pitching, and then getting those bats to show up as well. I didn’t even bring up Ronald Akuna Jr. yet. He had to have rehab starts a decent chunk into the season before he could come back and actually put together a pretty good abbreviated campaign. It’s kind of a 10,000 foot statement, but this team needs to be able to put it together. You can’t have your best winning column pitcher, right? There’s a better way to say that, but you can’t have your team high in wins be eight if you want to compete not only in this league, but in this division. We’ve talked about how hyper competitive the NL East is. Having a Chris or having a Max Freed comp in there, albeit lofty, is promising because I do think the Braves have been synonymous with cranking out good pitchers. Now, it’s hoping that these guys, whether it be a Camoniti or a Briggs McKenzie, have good habits when they’re in single A, double A, AAA, high A in between there so that they can put together full seasons. RNR is good, rest and recovery, and they come back and put it together again. So, my big takeaway is this is a team that desperately needs to put it all together considering all of the big league talent they have present day. >> And they most certainly can put it all together, too. we saw him do it in 2021 with largely the same core of players, right? You replace Freddy Freeman with Matt Olsen. Obviously, you had your help in um Jock Peterson and Jorge Cer that year, but they have good outfielders on the team this year, too. Um your catcher that year was William Contras who was catching and dhing uh for that World Series team. And on top of that, too, now you had Shawn Murphy instead. Plus, you also have Drake Baldwin, the rookie of the year this year. uh and some solid pitchers as well. Um and I think just they’re they’re so good at developing this kind of talent that just it’s not the most superstar. Obviously, you know, you have uh Ronald Akuno Jr., right? That’s your superstar. Matt Olsen is a tier below that. I’d say he’s mostly a bat. The glove is all right, too, but he’s mostly a bat. Um, but they’re so good at producing what I would consider perennial talent, as in year in and year out. They’re tried and true. You know exactly what you’re getting out of these guys every single year. And they’re playing nearly or up to fully their potential every single year. So, and what I like to see personally is that these ETAs for the guys in the top five are so far away >> because they have, like you said, Cory, the talent to be able to put it together on the big league roster and just like Baltimore, get away from whatever the heck that season was last year and get as far away from it as possible. Right. And they have the ability to do it quick just like Baltimore. And they have a better farm system than Baltimore. and it it I like these guys more than I like Baltimore’s top five. So, I think that Atlanta is poised to be another successful organization for years and years and years to come. And it’s because they’ve just been so good at developing what I would consider calling them perennial talents. >> Yeah, that that’s a that’s a great point, Sam, and what I was going to bring up with their strengths uh for that development. Austin Riley 2017 was the 13th prospect in the system. Rose out of it the next two seasons and has become, you know, an allstar third baseman that has garnered top five third baseman in the league type of conversation. Spencer Swallenbach, AJ Smith, Shar, very similar stories with the Braves kind of development staff. Quick strides, finding that release point, finding that pitch to take them to the next level. both of them projected to be in that rotation for this team moving forward. Five of the top 15 prospects in 2024 are in the bigs right now. So that churning out of guys is very quick for Atlanta. A weakness is the signature hit profile profile for the hit tour. South great speed Baldwin who just graduated had that fantastic hit tour but a lot of pitchers at the top of this Braves list of course again Baldwin graduating they have some young players coming through so I think that’s an area at number nine that they could look to improve on of course as thank you froggy fresh in the chat hung Kim coming back to Atlanta as well so that’s a guy that you know maybe some incentive to bring him back with a little bit of a lack of the players coming up. Before I hold off here on the Braves, underrated player to watch, very similar to De Los Santos with the pop is David McCabe. The fourthround draft pick for the Braves back in 2022, 63. We’re talking about mammoth is the episode, guys. Big guys on the corners of the infield. McCabe, big third baseman who has played for us his potential with his power and patience. Quick hands low through the zone. The bat is low right above the shoulders, but when it flies through the zone, the ball is gone in an instant. Fell down from 12- 29 in the system following an injuryfilled 2024 where he only played 36 games. But the raw power that lacks at the top of the system, he’s a guy that could look to get promoted to triple Triple Arenette. Had 14 home runs, 71 RBI’s this past season. uh and had Tommy John surgery out of a position player. We talked about it earlier with pitchers. He had it as an infielder, corner infielder. So, see if again injuries with it which have troubled the Braves if that could prompt him to be brought up at some point for a debut in 2026. >> Big guys is the theme. Very well done, Jacob. Appreciate you doing that. And um I you know the three of us got together as this week started or I guess the cycle going into this week started. This was like Tuesday, Wednesday of last week and I was like oh I’ll take the Nationals. Sam t took the Marlins and it didn’t dawn upon me until like a day after you sent the message the the Braves gift. I’m like I just asked Jacob to cover his rival and you did very well. So awesome stuff, man. I appreciate that.

The Atlanta Braves are in uncharted territory following an injury riddled 2025 campaign. One way get back to the postseason is through the pipeline. Cory Sparks, Sam Strash, and Jacob Smedley take a closer look at some of the top players in the Braves farm system.

Intro- 0:00
Cam Caminiti- 0:06
JR Ritchie- 1:54
Tate Southisene- 3:17
Alex Lodise- 4:28
Briggs McKenzie – 5:43
Round table: What do the Braves Do Well – 6:46
Strength – 11:06
Weakness – 11:49
David McCabe: Underrated Player to watch – 12:30
Segment Wrap Up – 13:40

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