Atlanta Braves Have Six Of The Top 101 Prospects In The MLB
By Jeff Schafer
With all the work that John Hart and John Coppolella have done over the past two years with rebuilding the Atlanta Braves farm system, it’s nice to see the trades are paying off. Baseball Prospectus has just released their list of the MLB’s top 100 prospects for the 2016 season.
The Braves hold six spots in the top 101…only the Colorado Rockies have more, seven players. Not too shabby, especially since all six of these players weren’t in the Braves system before 2014. Five of the six (only Albies) weren’t a part of the Braves in June 2015. And three of the top six were traded for this offseason…Coppolella’s first as the Braves General Manager.
Let’s take a look at the Braves players that made the list…
- Dansby Swanson, SS, No. 27
- Sean Newcomb, LHP, No. 32
- Ozhaino Albies, SS, No. 37
- Aaron Blair, RHP, No. 43
- Austin Riley, 3B, No. 79
- Kolby Allard, LHP, No. 82
Swanson is the ninth and Albies is the 10th rated shortstops. Newcomb is the fourth rated and Allard is the eighth rated left-handed pitcher. Blair is the 12th rated right-handed pitcher. Riley is the sixth rated third baseman.
Swanson, Albies, Riley and Allard haven’t played above Single-A ball yet in their careers. Does that scare any of you looking at the list? Yes, we have six on this list, but they haven’t proven anything just yet. They could develop or like we’ve seen so many times, they could turn into nobodies. Hopefully for our case, these guys turn into future All-Stars and lead the Braves back to the promise land.
You may not have liked what the John’s have done so far, but it’s certainly will pay off in the long run. The Braves are loaded for years to come and these six guys are just the start of it. Many young, prospects are in the Braves system, we just have to wait and watch them grow.