2. Mike Soroka, RHP
Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 8/4/1997 (20)
2017 teams/levels played for: AA Mississippi Braves
2017 Stats: 26 GS, 153 2/3 IP, 2.75 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 5.4% BB, 19.9% K
Info: Receiving doubting reviews nationally since he was the Atlanta Braves 2nd selection in the 2015 draft, 28th overall in the draft. He has simply shown them all wrong along the way, continually producing ahead of his age.
In 2017, the Braves pushed Soroka up to AA in 2017 at 19 years old, and his numbers were incredible for a teenager in the upper minors. Soroka is primarily a sinker/slider pitcher, but that’s not that totality of his profile at all.
Soroka works with a sinking fastball that works in the low-90s that can touch 95 that he can manipulate to get multiple breaks on the bottom of the zone. He features a four-seam fastball that works to 95-96 that he uses primarily to adjust hitter’s views by working it up in the zone with nearly pinpoint control.
Off of his sinker, Soroka features a breaker that he can manipulate to a mid-80s deep breaking curve or a high-80s slider in its break, looking the same coming out of his hand. His change is still not quite consistent, but it has nice sinking movement to pair with his quality sinker.
Soroka can give hitters 8 or more looks over the course of a game’s worth of at bats and still have more left that they didn’t see, allowing him to constantly leave hitters guessing. While he may not have raw frontline stuff, Soroka has the type of ability to manipulate the ball and mentality on the mound that he could pitch his way into a frontline pitcher or at least a very good mid-rotation one.
1. Ronald Acuna, OF
Birthday (age on opening day 2018): 12/18/1997 (20)
2017 teams/levels played for: high-A Florida Fire Frogs, AA Mississippi Braves, AAA Gwinnett Braves
2017 Stats: .325/.374/.522, 612 PA, 21 HR, 44 SB, 43/144 BB/K
Info: When the Atlanta Braves signed the son of a Venezuelan scout for a $100,000 bonus, many saw it as a typical six-figure Latin lottery ticket. Instead, now coming into the 2018 season, Acuna is considered one of the 2-3 best prospects in the entire game.
Acuna simply got better over the 2017 season
After an injury-riddled 2016 regular season, the Atlanta Braves sent Acuna to the Australian winter league, where he was absolutely dominant, beginning what would become an impressive streak where Acuna simply got better over the 2017 season.
Acuna opened 2017 with high-A Florida and hit .287/.336/.478 over 28 games with a 6.3% walk rate and 31.7% strikeout rate. He was then promoted to AA Mississippi, and in 57 games, he hit .326/.374/.520 with a 7.4% walk rate and a 23% strikeout rate. Then he was bumped up to AAA Gwinnett, where he hit .344/.393/.548 over 54 games with a 7% walk rate and 19.8% strikeout rate.
Then, just to top off the season he’d just had, Acuna went out against some of the best prospects in all of baseball and hit .325/.414/.639 in the Arizona Fall League, leading the league with 7 home runs and putting up a 12.1% walk rate and a 22.2% strikeout rate.
To describe it best, on offense, Acuna has it all – power, speed, a lightning quick bat with an ability to barrel balls consistently. He’s filling into his frame such that he’ll likely mature into more of an above-average runner than a plus one, but he should also fill into plus power with that maturity as well.
Acuna may not open 2018 with the Atlanta Braves, but he should be up to the big league club quickly and will be a rookie of the year favorite in the National League.
Next: Newcomers to watch