Before reading about our new Braves Top Prospects, get caught up on our list…
- 9 Just Missed Braves Prospects
- Braves Top Prospects, #21-25
- Braves Top Prospects, #20-16
- Braves Top Prospects, 15-11
Braves Top Prospects, #10 Jhancarlos Lara, RHP, 21, A+ 2026
I just might be a touch insane about this guy. A 2021 international signing that generated no buzz at all ($10,000 bonus!), Lara came to the states this season and shoved. I was at his final start of the season where he went 4.2 innings while striking out 12. It felt different than most big strikeout performances because the hitters just had no chance to even touch his stuff, no foul balls at all, with the 2 walks being by guys who just didn’t even try to swing. I reported here on a Strider start in AA 3 years ago and Lara’s outing was shockingly similar. The fastball “only” got up to 96 but was usually 94 with incredible ride up in the zone. The breaker was inconsistent but varied between unhittable, uncatchable and early Craig Kimbrel-esque untouchable. If he can’t start, I foresee a future in late relief.
Braves Top Prospects, #9 Spencer Schwellenbach, RHP, 24, A+, 2025
In his first season back from Tommy John, Schwellenbach was initially treated with kid gloves and didn’t see the 5th inning of a start until the last day of May. The giddyup on his fastball returned but has thus far not resulted in strikeouts possibly because the team was severely limiting his slider usage to protect the elbow. The pitch had excellent metrics as to spin and movement. Scouts remain impressed and the development staff is extremely pleased with his progress. Still likely a reliever in the end but they will give him every opportunity as a starter first.
Braves Top Prospects, #8 Drue Hackenberg, RHP, AA, 21, 2025
Our 2nd round pick from last year is a big guy from an athletic family who has more similarities to Bryce Elder than I care to think about. At the moment he works 92-94 with the fastball which sounds OKish until you realize that it also has a poor shape for a current mlb fastball in that it can only be effective at or below the knees. Without something he can change the batter’s eye plane he will be giving up a LOT of loud fly balls. The slider is his best pitch as it flashes above average to double plus while his change is a work in progress. The developmental staff is working on getting more extension on his delivery and getting him to throw a 4 seamer with carry. With these changes he has hopes of developing into a #3 starter which would actually bean excellent return on the 59th pick in the draft.
Braves Top Prospects, #7 Luis Guanipa, CF, 17, Dominican Summer League, 2027
A short guy who still got the 6th highest international bonus last year because his tools are loud. Blessed with great foot speed and a cannon arm he should have no trouble staying in centerfield which will reduce the pressure on him to hit. About that… He also had the highest measured bat speed and the hardest hit ball in the Dominican last summer so there is hope here (I believe only 2 stadiums down there have Hawkeye and/or Trackman technology and how shortsighted are MLB development orgs?). The kid got off to a great start and then injured himself (I have seen reports of oblique and foot injuries.) Whatever the owie, he mostly kept playing through it although his output dimmed considerably. We will get a better feel for him once the complex league starts up in June.
Braves Top Prospects, #6 Ignacio Alvarez (aka Nacho) , SS?, 21, A+, 2026
Look! A position player! “Nacho” plays a decent short but looks like he will grow out of the position in time. Given his body type and profile I like to think of him as a latter-day Martin Prado although scouts like Nacho better than they did Prado at the same age. With the bat there is a good deal to like. He employs a short, fairly flat stroke to make regular hard contact although the team is slowly implementing more loft. He did hit 7 homers and scouts say that even without adjustments they expect 15-20 at maturity just based on his bat speed and exit velocities. With a 13% walk rate and only 17% strikeouts he also has among the best batter’s eyes in the system. Expect him to start back at Rome and be moved up to AA quickly if all goes well in 2024.
These rankings and summaries are excellent, thank you.
I’m a big fan of Lara as well. I think he could be really special if he develops an above average or even average third pitch.
Here’s what I asked Keith Law about Lara last September:
Kip: How do you view Jhancarlos Lara’s upside after this minor league season?
Keith Law: Good delivery, looks like two good pitches, some issues with LHB even at a low level this year. Intriguing arm with starter potential.
so did mlb.com just forget about Ozzie Albies, he somehow didn’t make the top 10 second basemen heading into 2024 & quite frankly he seemed much better than everyone on the bottom half of the list.
I found that curious as well. The bottom half of that top 10 was actually kind of weak in my opinion. Not having him top 10 was a joke.
I’m convinced it was a troll.
Wasn’t Spencer the Younger a decent hitter in college, to the extent that some teams were looking at him as a field player (SS?)? Seems like teams who draft players like that could at least have them DH in the minors so they could pinch-hit in the majors in extra-inning games.
That may well have been a possibility before the Tommy John. Rehab is hard
I thought about that, but I figured that if he wasn’t trying to play in the field, just swinging a bat wouldn’t be as much of an issue for his arm. May have been missing something, though.
I thought Nacho might be higher on the list than 6th. Especially after the Baseball Prospectus ranking.
I think the Bryce Harper saga this year showed exactly how difficult swinging a bat while rehabbing one’s elbow can be. I expect Ohtani’s batting to take a similar hit this season. Realistically, Schwellenbach was going to be at best a 2nd division starter/backup on a good team at short, so why risk the arm?
Collin McHugh has retired. That’s definitely one guy that will stay in the organization, especially since he’s from here. We have a lot of awesome guys who have stayed around. I wonder how many other teams have this treasure trove of former players being around.
Hang your head high, Collin. Great career, and also the right decision.
New thread.