Atlanta Braves 2017 Top 100 Prospects: #61-80

The Atlanta Braves began to see some of the fruits of their multiple-year rebuilding project on 2017. After a pair of seasons with rough records and rosters that fans struggled to find future pieces on beyond budding superstar Freddie Freeman, the 2017 season saw 70+ wins for the first time in 3 seasons, though the team still lost 90.

Last season, this was done through Call To The Pen contributor Benjamin Chase’s previous other site, Tomahawk Take. He’s not there, so we’re happy to have the list here!

The making of the list

This top 100 list is the product of the views of CTTP contributor Benjamin Chase. Through either video views or discussions with contacts throughout the minor league/scouting world, Ben has put together this list, and it is his based on his opinion, and his personal weights on certain things will push players up and down – for instance, players with success at the upper minors will appear higher, all things being equal, and relievers will likely find themselves lower on Ben’s list than others’.

With the list coming out at this time, there are plenty of things that could come out in the offseason that changed the players on this list and their order. There are a number of players on this list that are eligible for minor league free agency and Rule 5, so it’s absolutely feasible that not every name on this list will make it all the way to spring training still as a member of the Atlanta Braves.

All players that still maintain rookie eligibility going into 2018 are eligible for this. From the 2016 list that Ben put together, 3 of the top 10 graduated with time spent at the majors and 5 of the top 20.

The list will come out with 20 players at a time, with #81-100, #61-80, #41-60, #21-40, and #1-20. Also at the end will be a post that offers up the entire list in list format (no player evaluations on those players) and also will add a number more players to keep track of beyond the top 100 that could move up quickly or that had positive 2017 seasons.

With that, we will continue with today’s installment, #61-80….

Next: #76-80

80. Dylan Moore, SS, Mississippi

Born: 8/2/1992
2017 Stats: .207/.291/.292, 482 PA, 7 HR, 10 SB, 45/96 BB/K
Info: Moore came to the Braves from the Rangers and had such a big offensive performance with Carolina that many fans began to think there was a future utility infielder or starting 2B/1B in Moore. He even went out to the Arizona Fall League in 2016 and hit over .300 with a pair of home runs and a pair of steals.

This season, Moore played almost exclusively at shortstop in 2017 with Mississippi, but he really fell off in his overall production. While he did show himself well defensively, which was surprising, Moore’s bat, which had always been his calling card, struggled. Moore’s 25 at this point and it’s tough to see him having a big future in the major leagues, but his improvement defensively this year could preclude more to come in 2018.

79. Luis Mejia, 3B, Danville

Born: 3/8/1997
2017 Stats: .297/.354/.330, 103 PA, 0 HR, 5 SB, 8/13 BB/K
Info: Mejia is a lean switch-hitter that has moved up step by step in the system since coming into the organization. He struggled a bit to find playing time with the influx of infielders into the lower levels of the system. Mejia is not a guy who will likely jump out at anyone, but he’s steady, with good bat control, excellent zone judgement, above-average speed, and gap power. He’s not likely to develop into a 30-HR guy down the road, but he reminds me a lot of Johan Camargo at the same spot in their careers. Defensively, he’s not great at short, but he’s a plus defender at third with an above-average arm that plays up due to his ability to load and fire accurately.

78. Wes Parsons, RHP, Mississippi/Gwinnett

Born: 9/6/1992
2017 Stats: 30 G, 11 GS, 111 1/3 IP, 3.15 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 39/108 BB/K
Info: Parsons has been willing to do pretty much anything the Braves need in his career – from starting to relieving, long relief to closing, and everything in between. Parsons works in the low-90s, touching up to 96. His best secondary pitch is his slider, a pitch that comes in around 83 MPH, and it has an incredible break that appears to break late, really deceiving hitters and generating swing and miss. His 6’5″, 240-pound build belies how long his arms and legs are, which leads to a bit of deception on the hitter as well. Parsons likely is not a future starter long-term, but he’s shown enough that he could be a quality middle relief option or long man in the bullpen, offering a guy who could take a spot start when needed.

77. Gary Schwartz, OF, Danville/Florida

Born: 1/22/1996
2017 Stats: .267/.383/.495, 130 PA, 5 HR, 2 SB, 20/29 BB/K
Info: Schwartz came from Grand Canyon University, whose baseball program has been on the rise in recent years, in the 16th round of this past June’s draft. He doesn’t have any one particular standout tool, though his raw power is fairly untapped and could play up to an above-average tool as well as his defense. His arm is not really such that he’d be a plus in right field, but in left, he’s accurate with an above-average arm, which would play well in that spot. Schwartz showed a better eye than many expected at the plate, and his power with Danville was quite impressive. His time with Florida was brief but not very positive. He strikes me as a guy that could end up becoming a solid 4th outfielder or even a 2nd-tier corner outfield starter if he progresses well, but he’s shown a high floor as well after his drafting.

76. Caleb Dirks, RHP, Gwinnett

Born: 6/9/1993
2017 Stats: 27 G, 40 1/3 IP, 4.02 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 13/45 BB/K
Info: Dirks continues to befuddle those who watch him. He has a fastball that works around 93 MPH, topping out around 96, but with plenty of late movement low in the zone. His slider has played up from an average-ish pitch coming out of college as a 15th round pick in 2014 to at least an above-average pitch. Dirks pounds the zone, rarely allowing free passes. However, in spite of all of that, he ends up seemingly finding ways to stall out or raise questions about his ability to move up as a major league option. This season, it was due to a drastic spike in his home run rate, with the 6 he allowed in 2017 doubling his career number before this season. Dirks certainly has the raw tools to be a solid 6th/7th inning guy, but he’ll need to take that next step to get to that spot.

Next: #71-75

75. Jaret Hellinger, LHP, Danville/Rome/Florida

Born: 11/18/1996
2017 Stats: 20 G, 8 GS, 68 2/3 IP, 4.59 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 29/47 BB/K
Info: Hellinger was the definition of hot and cold this season. He was beaten up badly out of the bullpen with Rome to open the season, then had a very solid time with Danville as a starter and long reliever. Then he had one solid relief appearance with Florida. Hellinger stands 6’4″ and is incredibly gangly with long arms and long legs and quite lean. That leads to Hellinger having some issues getting off within his delivery, meaning his timing in that delivery is off, leading to struggles controlling the ball. Hellinger has the stuff to be a back-end starter, but he will need to get his delivery locked in.

74. Joseph Odom, C, Mississippi/Gwinnett

Born: 1/9/1992
2017 Stats: .266/.329/.359, 72 PA, HR, 6/17 BB/K
Info: Odom’s 2017 season was sapped heavily due to injury, and at his age, that could be a very rough thing to his future. Odom has been a guy who has shown above-average power with average zone recognition in his past. He’s been able to show himself as a quality receiver behind the plate with a future backup profile, which for a catcher can mean a long career, but losing time to injury at this point could allow other guys to move past him in the pecking order and prevent him from getting a shot at at bats.

73. Braxton Davidson, OF, Florida

Born: 6/18/1996
2017 Stats: .213/.339/.312, 434 PA, 7 HR, 2 SB, 66/155 BB/K
Info: It’s been a precipitous fall for the former first round selection out of high school in North Carolina. He was repeating the high-A level this season and drastically stepped back. His defense took a step forward in moving over to left field. Davidson can take a walk, strikes out too much, has raw power that he doesn’t show in the game, and has huge holes in his swing. Next verse, same as the first.

72. Jon Kennedy, LHP, Rome

Born: 9/20/1995
2017 Stats: 39 G, 78 1/3 IP, 2.87 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 6/65 BB/K
Info: This could end up being light for Kennedy, but the Braves haven’t really shown that they’re going to push him quickly, so there doesn’t seem to be a rush to get his skills up the system. Kennedy is the first of 3 towering lefties that opened the season in A-ball in the Braves system, and all three showed well. Kennedy’s pinpoint control is his biggest asset in his pitching as he has a fastball that sits around 90 MPH. He also has a curve with tremendous 12-6 looping break that freezes hitters, and coming from a 6’9″ guy who has an arm slot that’d be a very low 3/4 in release point, that curve can be absolutely deadly. Kennedy probably isn’t a guy who will ever be an elite shut down closer type, but his ability to throw multiple innings with quality control and repeat his delivery is a huge asset to any bullpen.

71. Juan Carlos Negret, OF, DSL

Born: 6/19/1999
2017 Stats: .264/.410/.391, 217 PA, 2 HR, 23 SB, 27/47 BB/K
Info: An exceptional athlete that the Braves unearthed from Cuba, Negret opened his season tearing the DSL apart. He came back to earth some, but he still showed good patience and athleticism throughout the season. Negret has good size at 6’1″, 190 pounds listed, though he’s not completely maxed out physically, so he could add some power to his frame yet. Negret has a plus arm and plus to double-plus speed that he uses well to play plus defense in center field or right field. His strikeout rate was a bit high due to a bit of load into his swing, but he has excellent bat speed that should allow him to at least make the jump to a power hitter as he matures into his body further. Negret has an impressive resume to consider and should be one to watch as he comes stateside this season.

Next: #66-70

70. Drew Harrington, LHP, Florida

Born: 3/30/1995
2017 Stats: 15 G, 14 GS, 70 IP, 4.50 ERA, 1.51 WHIP, 22/55 BB/K
Info: Harrington was the Atlanta Braves 3rd round selection out of Louisville, and he was good as a lefty college starter, and he showed well in his first exposure as a pro, throwing out of the bullpen. The Braves chose to put him into the rotation this year, and the results were fairly predictable. Harrington is a guy with two pitches, and while his change is quality, his fastball is average. Harrington projects as a very good LOOGY or an above-average lefty reliever against both sides, but as a pro starter, he needs at least one more pitch.

69. Brandon White, RHP, Rome/Florida

Born: 12/21/1994
2017 Stats: 36 G, 56 1/3 IP, 10 SV, 2.56 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 17/51 BB/K
Info: Back to back guys with the same name selected in the 2016 draft with the same first and last name, and this is the one that stuck, and it’s easy to see why. White really attacks hitters with a heavy fastball that works in the low-90s and a breaking pitch that can make guys look silly. He struggled after his promotion to Florida with location, and that led to some worse numbers at the high-A level. White’s a guy who gets very high marks for those around the team for the person he is and for his composure in good and bad times, and that should allow him to bounce back well, likely opening in Florida in 2018 and probably finishing 2018 in Mississippi.

68. Jeremy Walker, RHP, Rome

Born: 6/12/1995
2017 Stats: 27 GS, 138 1/3 IP, 3.97 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, 30/100 BB/K
Info: Walker is a very interesting player. I had him pegged as the type of guy who could have a season much like Patrick Weigel had in 2016, with electric raw stuff that could leap forward with pro coaching. Instead, it seemed as if smoothing down Walker’s delivery flattened out his once-electric stuff. That forced Walker to be much more precise with his location, and by the end of the season, he was doing exactly that, but it did leave his raw stuff fairly hittable if he did miss his spots, and it left him without much swing and miss. I will be interested to see how Walker moves into year two and going forward, especially if pitching guru Dennis Lewallyn is back in Florida to work with him next season. There’s raw stuff here to be a tremendous asset for the Braves, but it wasn’t there in the same way in 2017 as he showed in pre-draft and after he was drafted in his first looks in the Braves system in 2016.

67. Bradley Keller, OF, Danville/Rome

Born: 12/15/1996
2017 Stats: .250/.311/.490, 226 PA, 8 HR, 3 SB, 15/75 BB/K
Info: Keller is a very raw player still, even after being drafted in 2015. Keller had success at the Danville level in 2017, but again, he struggled once he reached the Rome level. While all is not lost, and he’s just 21 going into 2018, Keller still hasn’t conquered Rome to help him start moving forward. He does have plenty of talent that could translate into an elite player on both sides of the ball with tremendous ability both offensively and defensively. Keller’s strike out rate has dropped down some in the last year, but it was still 33% (he struck out 38% in 2016), and that will be one big sign that he is making progress.

66. Matt Custred, RHP, Rome

Born: 9/8/1993
2017 Stats: 24 G, 38 2/3 IP, 1.16 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 15/48 BB/K
Info: Custred is a personal favorite, but he’s struggled to stay on the field and to keep his delivery on line. He’s 6’6″ and 240 pounds, and the mass of his body coming downhill toward the plate seems to frequently throw Custred off in his delivery and/or cause some minor injuries. In 2017 health was the big issue, as Custred did not throw in a game for 2 full months. While healthy, he was tremendous, though. His batting average allowed was the lowest he’s had in his three seasons in the Braves system. Custred works with a heavy fastball that sits in the mid-90s and a tremendous 12-6 curve that is incredible in that he can get nearly 20 MPH average velocity separation between the two pitches. If he can stay healthy, he could climb up the system ladder in a real hurry.

Next: #61-65