Atlanta Braves minor league prospects: A view from the outside

Three Atlanta Braves prospects should graduate this year, and according to one evaluator, could be bottom five next year.

Thursday I wrote about the Atlanta Braves’ system remaining in the top five  On Friday, ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel posted his minor league system rankings.

The Atlanta Braves system suffered as the sanctions imposed in 2017 took hold. Many of the good prospects acquired via trades and claims before that vanished without approaching their projected floor, further setting the system back.

The best and brightest of the pre-sanction group graduated to Atlanta and now form the core of the team that won the division in the last three seasons.

The Atlanta Braves system fell from sixth in 2020 to 13th behind Tampa, Miami, Detroit, Pittsburgh, Minnesota, Seattle, San Diego, Baltimore, Cleveland, Arizona, Toronto, and the Giants, in Friday’s list.

McDaniel sees the potential graduates I discussed in Thursday’s piece arriving this year.  He also forecasts the expected departure of  Drew Waters next year, and then notes the lack of depth beyond the top ten players all as signs the system will decline fairly rapidly:

"Once (the players leave the players leave the list), either during 2021 or early in 2022, the whole farm system will essentially be defined by the past two draft classes and the upcoming 2021 draft class . . ."

Atlanta Braves system in decline

McDaniel suggests they could fall to the bottom five in baseball, with the caveat that the club’s core is young and strong so the farm rankings don’t matter much to the team on the field, and there’s no banner to hang for best minor league system.

". . .  but this is an article about farm rankings, so I must point out where the Braves are headed in this prospect circle of life."

I was given the opportunity to join seven full-time journalists in an hour-long zoom call with Kiley on Friday, to discuss his list and his take on prospects. It was an interesting and enlightening experience that I hope I get the chance to repeat.

McDaniel was particularly high in the Marlins system, but sees a roster crunch coming because they have several prospects near major league ready and only a few veterans to move out of the way.

I wish the Atlanta Braves had that problem, because it would mean the team has the capital to bring in important pieces long term players via trade without a crop failure on the farm. Unfortunately for the Braves, many of their crops had a smaller than expected yield or ended up being plowed under.

Remember that prospect projections aren’t for this year or next year, they look forward to four, five and six years in the majors. If your player isn’t on a pedestal, there’s still time for him to build one and climb on top.