As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
The Atlanta Braves had a tough season—they were struck by injuries and made a much earlier exit from the postseason than anyone expected. Still, Atlanta remains a model organization, particularly in drafting and developing pitchers. As seen in the Top 20 post, their farm system is packed with pitching talent, and that’s because, well, you can never have enough healthy arms. The Braves are leaning heavily into this philosophy in the draft room, and honestly, they’re not wrong. When they believe in a pitcher, they fast-track them to the majors, and more often than not, it works.
You have to credit the front office, especially considering the mess they inherited after the John Coppolella sanctions. Despite the severe penalties, they’ve done great in stockpiling pitching prospects.
Now, while most honorable mentions are pitchers, I’m happy to say that—gasp!—two Braves hitting prospects also deserve a shout-out here.
The Braves go after college pitchers every year—they know exactly what they're doing. And honestly, I get why they stick to this strategy. They take calculated gambles on arms that haven't been fully optimized, work with them, and suddenly, boom—profit. This is the current draft meta, especially for competitive teams. It allows you to stockpile pitchers, giving you a steady flow of arms to either use or trade. After all, you can never have enough healthy pitchers.
Herick Hernandez
That said, the guy I'm really into from the Braves' draft this year is Herick Hernandez.
I went back and watched a few of his starts from Miami—not exactly known for its pitching development—and his short outings in pro ball. In college, I saw an elite fastball paired with a questionable mix of secondary offerings, and that was still the case in his brief taste of pro ball. My main takeaway is that his fastball might be good enough, especially with his 5'9" release height, to spam it out of the bullpen. But the Braves have room to experiment with him. He throws a slider with some vertical bite (which I'm not a fan of), and he dabbled with a changeup and a splitter when I watched him. I prefer the splitter between the two—it could very well be his second-best offering.
The key for Hernandez will be locking down that second pitch. Like I said, I'm not into the slider, but maybe a curveball or some fine-tuning on the splitter could work wonders. If he nails that down, we could have something special here. Plus, considering he's a former JuCo guy with room for development, this is a solid gamble for the Braves. And for those of you in deeper fantasy leagues, as Henriquez starts drawing reliever questions like other Braves pitching prospects, remember the chatter around Spencer Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach. Maybe Herick needs to change his name to Spencer to take off…
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
As Director of Pro Scouting, I lead a talented group of evaluators as we break down future stars. You can find me at random California League games throughout the season!
