NL East Farm System Analysis: Atlanta Braves

The number of division games may have been cut down a few years ago, but the New York Mets still play far more games against the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals and Miami Marlins than any other teams. The rivalries are fierce, and the rosters are intimately known. However, the same can’t always be said for the farm systems, so let’s go over each team’s farm, where it ranks, the top prospects and which players could make an impact in 2025. Starting us off, the Atlanta Braves.

League Rankings

Baseball America: 26
MLB Pipeline: 27
FanGraphs: 16

The most recent farm systems rankings update from each of the three main national outlets are listed above. FanGraphs is the most bullish on the Braves of the bunch with four prospects included in the top 100 compared to one for Baseball America and two for Pipeline. They have the lowest-ranked farm system in the division on both Baseball America and Pipeline and the second-lowest on Fangraphs, ahead of Miami.

Top Players To Know

The two biggest names on the offensive side are Drake Baldwin and Nacho Alvarez Jr. Baldwin, a third-round pick in 2022, is Baseball America’s top-ranked Brave. He was one of the bigger breakout prospects of 2023 and continued to climb up lists with a strong 2024. As a catcher, Baldwin hit .276/.370/.423/.793 with 16 home runs and 36 extra-base hits across Double-A and Triple-A. He spent longer and hit better in Triple-A, with his OPS nearing .900 and his wRC+ of 135 ranking sixth among catchers with at least 200 plate appearances.

Alvarez Jr., an infielder, has spent most of his time at shortstop in the minors but does have over 400 innings at third base. Taken two rounds after Baldwin in 2022, he was similar to his draft mate in that he spent time at both Double-A and Triple-A in 2024 but hit much better at Triple-A. He doesn’t have much power, but his bat-to-ball skills are strong and he has a plus glove. He made his MLB debut in July at just 21 years old, and while he went just 3-for-30 over eight games, that’s hardly enough of a sample size to impact his stock.

Aside from Baldwin and Alvarez Jr., most of Atlanta’s highest-ranked prospects are pitchers. The most well-known is AJ Smith-Shawver, who made his MLB debut back in 2023. The hard-throwing righty had some moderate success at the MLB level in six appearances in 2023 and his lone MLB start in 2024, but he also hasn’t lit Triple-A on fire.

Cam Caminiti, cousin of Ken, was the team’s first-round pick in 2024. A 6-foot-2, hard-throwing southpaw, the 18-year-old Caminiti has the makings of the organization’s No. 1 overall prospect, a spot he already holds on Pipeline. A prep arm, he’s still far out from making an impact with the big-league club, but he also could be the most talented arm in a system that has a stockpile of quality pitchers.

One such arm is Hurston Waldrep, who was a hot name heading into last season. Waldrep, the organization’s first-round pick in 2023, was a college arm who the team pushed aggressively post-draft. He was drafted in July, in Single-A by August, High-A a week later, Double-A to start September, and even Triple-A for one start to close out 2023. Many pitchers wait until the next season after being drafted to make their Minor League debut, so Waldrep pitching, and dominating, in four levels post-draft led to talks of him being a big-league contributor in 2024.

Waldrep did make his MLB debut in 2024, and he gave up 13 runs in seven innings across two starts. Obviously, it wasn’t the debut the Braves’ organization and the Waldrep hype train envisioned, but it’s hardly concerning for a 22-year-old who at the time was less than a year removed from his final college start. He still threw over 90 innings in the minors, mostly split relatively evenly between Double-A and Triple-A, with an ERA in the mid-to-low threes.

Other arms to keep an eye on include Owen Murphy and JR Ritchie. Murphy, the organization’s first-round pick in 2022, was dominating High-A to start 2024 before tearing his UCL and undergoing Tommy John surgery. In seven starts before his injury, Murphy posted a 1.54 ERA and 0.73 WHIP with 60 strikeouts in 41 innings. Ritchie, who was selected with a supplemental first-round pick acquired for a trio of minor leaguers in 2022, underwent his own Tommy John surgery in 2023 after just four Single-A starts. He returned to action in the second half of 2024 and pitched well, posting a 2.90 ERA in 12 outings across a couple of levels, making his way up to High-A by the end of the season.

One last player to watch is Jose Perdomo, who was the club’s top signing in the 2024 international class. Given a $5 million signing bonus, Perdomo received the most money of any player in his class. Perdomo barely played in 2024, and like all international signees, he’s very far away. That said, the teenage shortstop is definitely a player to be aware of when he comes stateside in a year or so as he starts to climb the minor league ranks.

Any 2025 Impacts?

Spencer Schwellenbach started the 2024 season at High-A and had a meteoric rise to the big leagues, establishing himself as one of the premier young arms to watch heading into 2025. Who might be next?

The Braves could have a couple of holes in their rotation to fill by the time Opening Day rolls around. Spencer Strider will be back in 2025, but most likely not right away. As it stands right now, Grant Holmes and Ian Anderson are both projected to be in the rotation. Holmes probably is more fit for a bullpen role, and Anderson had a 5.00 ERA in 22 starts last season, so there should at least be some competition for the final couple of rotation spots in camp.

Waldrep, as mentioned above, pitched in the big leagues last year and spent significant time at Triple-A, so he’s probably the No. 1 name to watch for guys who could overtake Holmes and Anderson. Another option is Drue Hackenberg, who threw 129 innings in the minors last year and made it from High-A to Triple-A, having success at every stop along the way. A second-round pick in 2023, Hackenberg has a deep arsenal and has found results, but doesn’t have outstanding stuff. He’s not going to be an ace, but he could be a solid, back-end guy who gets a lot of groundball outs. And yes, Drue is brothers with Christian, the infamous second-round pick of the New York Jets in 2016.

Hackenberg probably isn’t a candidate for the Opening Day rotation, Waldrep will probably get the first crack at it, but he could definitely be in play to make starts later in the year when needed. Other pitchers in a similar spot include Dylan Dodd, Luis De Avila, Lucas Braun, and Ian Mejia.

On the offensive side, Alvarez Jr., has already debuted and could be on the Opening Day roster, and Baldwin should be in the mix if Sean Murphy misses any time. We’ve seen the Braves roster two catchers and use both over the last couple of years with Murphy and Travis d’Arnaud, so maybe they take the same approach with Murphy and Baldwin.

There are not many other hitters who project to make much of an impact with the big league club in 2025, but infielder Drew Compton has a chance to be on the radar by the end of the year with a strong showing.

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