The 2022-23 MLB Offseason Farm Rankings: No. 30, Atlanta Braves
Christmas is approaching and we are in the thick of the MLB offseason. While big trades and free-agent signings have been exciting, but we have to give some love to the farm systems. From 30 to 1, we’re going to look at every team’s farm system and where they rank, with 30 being the worst and 1 being the best. Coming in last place, we have the 2021 champion Atlanta Braves.
We’ll take a look at their top prospects, strengths and weaknesses, and the verdict of why they rank where they do.
Top 30 Prospects:
- Jared Shuster, LHP
- Owen Murphy, RHP
- JR Ritchie, RHP
- Braden Shewmake, SS
- Cole Phillips, RHP
- AJ Smith-Shawver, RHP
- Victor Vodnik, RHP
- Spencer Schwellenbach, RHP
- Cal Conley, SS
- Ambioris Tavarez, SS
- Adam Maier, RHP
- Darius Vines, RHP
- Dylan Dodd, LHP
- Jesse Franklin V, OF
- Diego Benitez, SS
- Brandol Mezquita, OF
- Drake Baldwin, C
- Seth Keller, RHP
- Blake Burkhalter, RHP
- Luke Waddell, SS
- Douglas Glod, OF
- Adam Shoemaker, LHP
- Indigo Diaz, RHP
- David McCabe, 3B/1B
- Tanner Gordon, RHP
- Roddery Munoz, RHP
- Tyler Tolve, C
- Cody Milligan, 2B/OF
- Adam Zebrowski, C
- Cedric De Grandpre, RHP
This list is fairly new. On Dec. 12, the Braves completed a three-team trade with the Oakland A’s and Milwaukee Brewers. Kyle Muller was originally the Braves’ No. 1 prospect but was sent to the A’s in the deal for Sean Murphy. Overall, the Braves sent six players in the trade, which also included young catcher William Contreras.
Strengths
Despite trading a lot of it away, the Braves system is still loaded with pitching. Owen Murphy and JR Ritchie were both first-round picks in 2022 and quickly emerged as the club’s top pitchers. Shuster is set to make his debut sometime in 2023 despite being just drafted in 2020. Players such as Michael Harris, Spencer Strider and Vaughn Grissom have all graduated from the Braves farm system and are great examples of how this team develops its prospects.
The Braves don’t necessarily have to have big named prospects even though it’s helped in the past. Their biggest strength has been developing their farm in which many of their core came from. To note back to the pitching, Atlanta’s major league rotation is already young and loaded. This gives the team much more flexibility to move some guys into their bullpen or even trading them to better their roster.
Weaknesses
While they can develop well, that doesn’t take away the fact that this farm system lacks top-level talent.
The Braves are the only team with no Top 100 prospects and doesn’t have that tier-one level prospect. They used to have Cristian Pache, Drew Waters and Shea Langeliers leading their farm, all of which have been traded. To build the core they have today, they had to give up a lot of that talent.
The talent they didn’t trade is thriving in the majors, but as of 2022, they’re all graduated which leaves the Braves farm looking slim. Also, a majority of their prospects have an ETA of 2024 or later. ETA’s aren’t always accurate, but it just shows the Braves have a lot of new talent that needs time to develop.
The Verdict
Despite having the worst farm in terms of depth and talent, it doesn’t make the team bad, unlike many other farm systems. As I mentioned, they can develop talent like no other. They’ve traded and promoted prospects to build an elite major league core that has already won them a championship.
The Braves really don’t need a top-farm system because they have all their holes filled on the major league roster and are in a win-now mode. Despite having no Top-100 prospects right now, I’m sure by 2023 at least one will squeeze into the list.
Regardless, the Braves farm system lacks tier-one talent and some depth issues, but winning a championship throws all of that out the window.
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