Atlanta Braves midseason top 50 prospects – AA
The Atlanta Braves have an impressive farm system still, even after a few graduations. Who are the top 50 prospects in the system as we hit midseason?
Welcoming Benjamin Chase back to Tomahawk Take means that you will get plenty of minor league coverage of your Atlanta Braves on site. We are going to open with a midseason top 50 list, but this will be a different method than you’re likely used to on other places that put together a mid-season list.
Rather than present a list number by number with quick profiles of each number, we will be presenting the profiles of all those players who are seriously considered for the top 50, right now over 80 players in total, and then on Friday, we will cover the list itself. Here’s what the preliminary schedule will look like:
Monday – AAA and MLB prospects
Tuesday – AA prospects
Wednesday – low-A and high-A prospects
Thursday – Rookie ball prospects
Friday – Top 50 list
We will start with a couple guys who have been throwing as swingmen this year and don’t really fit as either a starter or reliever:
Enderson Franco, RHP
Originally signed out of the Dominican by the Houston Astros, the Braves are Franco’s fourth organization, and he’s really found a home since signing with the team ahead of the 2016 season.
Franco is not a guy with elite stuff, but his fastball has late wiggle and he locates well, working with a three-pitch mix that has seen him show value as both a starter and reliever. He reminds me strongly of a guy like Cristhian Martinez, who could be very solid in multiple innings, but may not have the stuff to go 5 at the major league level or work at the back of the bullpen. A guy like this may have a short major league career, if he gets one at all, but he is absolutely invaluable at the minor league level.
Franco has been that this year, making 24 appearances, 16 of them starts between AA and AAA, all but one with AA Mississippi. He’s posted a 3.39 combined ERA over 106 1/3 innings, with a 1.26 WHIP and a 37/105 BB/K ratio.
Michael Mader, LHP
Acquired as part of the return when the Atlanta Braves sent lefty reliever Hunter Cervenka to Miami in 2016, Mader was originally drafted in 2014 out of well-known Chipola JuCo. He’s not a guy with elite velocity or a single elite breaking pitch, but he’s been a guy who has shown very well from the left side.
Mader has made a few mechanical adjustments in the Braves system, and he’s working to find consistency in his adjusted mechanics, which led Mader to go from a 4.8% walk rate in his first handful of appearances as a Brave to 14.1% in 2017 and 14.5% this season. He’s gradually tightening things up, though, as he’s posted a 10.6% walk rate since June 1st.
Mader’s probably similar to Franco in that he’s best used in a long-man role in the major leagues, but with many elite prospects in front of him likely to filter into that role for the Atlanta Braves, Mader will likely find hiis big league future elsewhere or end up working as a dynamic org guy like Franco is.