The full list of Atlanta Braves minor league cuts

The list of all Atlanta Braves minor league player cuts this week.

First off, while the media is in a bit of a frenzy over cuts made this week all over MLB, the Atlanta Braves truly didn’t do anything unusual.  Most teams really didn’t, either.

There was an unconfirmed report on twitter announcing that Atlanta had made 50 player cuts from the minor leagues.  I won’t repeat the source of that, for it now appears to have been a completely overblown number.

Full credit to JJ Cooper of Baseball America for not only getting the number of actual cuts – thirty – but also in identifying the players involved.  Here’s his tweet on the subject, which speaks volumes:

In case you cannot see the graphic he attached, here’s the full list:

• RHP Shairon Bennett
• LHP Nestor Bermudez
• RHP Walter Borkovich
• C Denzel Bryson
• RHP Alex Camacho
• LHP Carlos Caminero
• SS Nelson Celesten
• C Brandon Chapman
• 1B Braxton Davidson
• RHP Luis De Jesus
• RHP Carlos De La Cruz
• RF Randi De La Cruz
• RHP Luis Diaz
• RHP Caleb Dirks
• LHP Jose Manual Fernandez
• 1B Ray Hernandez
• RHP Greg Leban
• LHP Ramon Linares
• 3B Yerangel Medina
• RHP Jose Olague
• C Hagen Owenby
• RF Joel Reyes
• LHP Orelvis Rijo
• 3B Jordan Rodgers
• C Randy Ruiz
• RHP Ryan Shetter
• C Zack Soria
• RHP Leonardo Vargas
• 1B Brendan Venter
• LF Christian Zamora

Many of these players were obtained as teen free agents via the International market.  Some of the rest were latter-round draftees There is one name in particular that will be recognized by many, and that’s Braxton Davidson.

He was the Atlanta Braves’ 1st round pick (32nd overall) in 2015 (Asheville, NC).  He’s almost 24 years old now, but putting it simply and mildly, he just never developed into the hitter that he was projected to be coming out of high school.

His last competitive AB was a walk-off homer in the Arizona Fall League championship game in 2018… but he nearly broke a foot between 3rd base and home in the process.

Over the 5 seasons he was in the Braves organization, he never hit better than .243, and never got any swings above the High-A ball level (unless you count the AFL stint).

Davidson did punch 26 homers in 2018 over 560 AB, but hit a meager .171 for the Fire Frogs and then .227 for Peoria in the AFL.

In his farewell to the Braves, Davidson says he’s fully healthy now, and ready to try and continue his baseball career… somewhere.  That will likely have to wait until next Spring, but perhaps a new voice/new scene/new venue would help.

In any case, we hate to see any player’s career could to an end, but the facts are these:

• Every team cuts players every year
• Every team acquires a group to replace them… every year

Around the league, there could be a few more cuts since minor league baseball is setting up for a contraction of 40 teams, but that’s not what Atlanta has done here.  This is routine, and should not be confused with the issue of paying the remaining minor leaguers.

We wish Braxton and his fellow ex-Braves well in their future endeavors – whether in or out of baseball.