Atlanta Braves: Former Top Prospect Manny Banuelos Designated For Assignment
The Atlanta Braves parted ways with former hot prospect Manny Banuelos on Friday to make room for the signing of Kyle Kubitza.
The baseball career of Manny Banuelos took another step backward on Friday, as the Atlanta Braves designated the former top prospect for assignment after claiming third baseman Kyle Kubitza off waivers from the Texas Rangers. Banuelos, a 25-year old lefty, has been hampered by injuries the past several years and has yet to live up to his former billing.
Banuelos, who made his big league debut last July with Atlanta, has a career 5.13 earned run average, 75 ERA+, and 5.37 FIP in 26.1 innings of work in his major league career, and had been on the disabled list with the Braves’ Double-A affiliate Mississippi due to elbow issues.
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An elite prospect in the New York Yankees organization, Banuelos had to undergo Tommy John surgery near the end of the 2012 season and missed the entirety of 2013. The Yankees brought him back slowly before trading him to Atlanta on January 1, 2015. The Braves had to shut Banuelos down last September, and he once again went under the knife to have bone chips removed from his surgically-repaired elbow.
Kubitza was a third round pick of the Braves in the 2011 MLB Draft out of Texas State, and was a fixture on the organization’s top-30 prospects list put out by Baseball America before being traded to the Los Angeles Angels. After slashing .253/.349/.366 with two home runs and 19 RBIs for Triple-A Salt Lake City, the Angels DFA’d and ultimately traded him to the Rangers in mid-June. Kubitza had a miserable .182/.290/.340 slash line, with four homers and 15 RBIs for Triple-A Round Rock before his most recent DFA.
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At the time of his call-up in 2015, Banuelos was sitting 90-94 miles per hour with his fastball and showing a plus curveball and changeup, according to Baseball America. Given his age, career average of nearly nine strikeouts per nine innings, his strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.33, and his pedigree as being a former top prospect, it is likely that another team will take a shot at alleviating his injury issues and resurrecting his career.