24. Willam Contreras – Catcher
William Contreras is the younger brother of highly-regarded Cubs catcher Willson Contreras, and although he has yet to make it past rookie ball, the 20-year-old Venezuelan backstop slashed .290/.379/.432 with 10 doubles, a triple, and four homers over 198 plate appearances with Danville in 2017.
Contreras hasn’t yet shown an exceptional ability to control baserunners, posting just a 23% caught stealing rate in 2017. However, he’s still a kid and has plenty of time to develop arm strength before anyone’s ready to consider moving him from behind the plate.
23. Tucker Davidson – Left-Handed Pitcher
Tucker Davidson began the 2017 season as in a relief role with the Class-A Rome Braves but was converted into a starter halfway through the season when the opportunity presented itself. Davidson pitched his way to a 2.60 ERA in 31 games with Rome (12 starts, 19 relief appearances, 103.2 innings), and walked just 2.6 batters per nine innings.
Davidson is entering his age-22 season, and will probably pitch his way to Mississippi before the end of the 2018 season. He showed in 2017 that he’s capable of pitching deep into games as a starter, but we’ll see how Davidson is treated in 2018.
22. Drew Lugbauer – Catcher/Corner Infielder
“Slugbauer,” as some have called Drew Lugbauer, had a great 2017 season offensively, racking up 29 extra-base hits in 60 games (253 PA). A .514 slugging percentage turned plenty of heads, but Lugbauer’s defensive ability behind the plate is a big question mark.
Long-term, I see Drew Lugbauer as a corner infielder, and he played almost as many innings at first base (210.1) as he did at third base and behind the plate combined (234.2). Wherever he’s placed defensively won’t have any impact on his offensive production though, and so far that’s been tremendous. It will be interesting to see how Lugbauer is handled in 2018.
21. Travis Demeritte – Infielder
After receiving an 80-game PED suspension in 2015, Travis Demeritte bounced back in 2016 by slugging 28 home runs as a member of the Texas Rangers and Atlanta Braves organizations. 2017, however, was a different story, as Demeritte saw his slugging percentage drop a whopping 152 points from .554 in 2016 to .402 in 2017.
A .231 average in 2017 may be a sign that Demeritte has “lost his edge” following ceasing his PED consumption, but 2018 may tell a different story for the 23-year-old. If he craps out another mediocre year in 2018, Demeritte will ultimately be labeled a bust, but there’s still a small sliver of hope for Braves fans.