The Atlanta Braves wheeling and dealing continued Wednesday afternoon. The John Hart 2015 Braves will hardly resemble the 2014 rendition. Braves Country said goodbye to El Oso Blanco as fan favorite Evan Gattis was shipped off to the Houston Astros for Michael Foltynewicz, Rio Ruiz, and Andrew Thurman. Gattis will settle in nicely in the American League as a designated hitter, but who is coming to Atlanta?
The Braves continued to stock pile young arms in their minor league arsenal. Mike Foltynewicz is a hulking right-handed 6 foot 4 inch, 200-pound pitcher that was drafted in the first round (19th overall) of the 2010 draft by the Astros. Foltynewicz was the 2012 South Atlantic (Single-A) Pitcher of the Year, his second full season. He has a career 32-28 record with a nice 3.98 ERA. Last season he struck out one per inning pitched, but has had some trouble with command, posting a career 3.9 walk per nine ratio.
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Baseball America has Foltynewicz with a three pitch arsenal. The big righty has an impressive four-seam fastball that hits the mid-90s but tops out at 100. He has a curveball and a changeup that he mixes in to keep batters on edge. His changeup grades out a bit higher than his curve, but at age 23 it is still improving. The Astros tried him in the bullpen a few times as he worked on his breaking pitches. He excelled with his powerful fastball, but as the secondary pitches improve, Foltynewicz will be too valuable to keep out of the rotation.
Despite a rocky 2014 big league debut, he still projects as a high-end rotation pitcher and his widely considered a Top 60 prospect in all of baseball. He was considered the third best prospect in a somewhat strong Astros farm system.
Rio Ruiz was the eighth best prospect in the Astros system. Ruiz is a left-handed hitting third base man who was drafted in the 4th round of the 2012 draft. Only 20 years old, Ruiz has an exciting future ahead of him. He possesses a powerful arm that makes him a solid defender. Baseball America compares him to Eric Chavez, which is pretty impressive.
Ruiz has plus power and has shown the ability to hit for average and to get on base consistently. He slashed a .293/.387/.436 line last season in Lancaster in High-A ball. He walked 82 times and struck out 91, which is an impressive split for a youngster. Though he is a few years away, Ruiz has shown big league agility.
The last prospect that the Braves acquired was Andrew Thurman, another pitcher for the new Braves farm system. Thurman stands at 6 foot 3 and weighs in a 225 pounds so he is an intimidating force on the mound. He was drafted in the second round of the 2013 draft by the Astros. Although he didn’t break the Astros top ten on the farm, he does project to be a middle of the rotation arm one day. At the very least, he will provide solid minor league depth.
The 23-year old has a mid-90s four-seam fastball that he combines with a curve and a slider. He had a rough season last year at Single-A ball, finishing 7-9 with a 5.38 ERA. He does have a career 8.7 strikeout per nine rate, so as he develops the curve and slider, he can hopefully bring down the 9.6 career hits per nine rate, as well as the 3.0 walks per nine. He will most likely start the year at High-A or be given a shot at Double-A for the Braves.
The Braves seemingly walked away the winner in this deal. Gattis was loved by Braves fans and had a monster bat, but was out of place in Atlanta. He is best suited as a DH, so the Astros did ultimately get what they need. If Ruiz and Foltynewicz pan out and continue to trend as their numbers project, the Braves may have gotten two big mainstays for their future roster.