Futures Game representative Hayden Harris helps start our updated top prospects
July is coming to a close, and for once the prospect team here at Battery Power is confident that the Atlanta Braves aren’t going to dash their hopes by trading away a prospect in the middle of a top 30 list roll out. The season has been disappointing up in Atlanta, but a look to the future may bring the good feelings, especially after the 2025 MLB Draft that saw the Braves finally reinvigorate the position player crop of prospects.
For those who haven’t been with us before, or don’t remember how this works, twice each season the Battery Power minor league writers lock themselves in a room, break out a deck of Uno cards, and whoever leaves the room victorious gets to rank the top 30 prospects in the system. In actuality we each submit our individually ranked lists, which is composited into one list as best as possible to represent our collective feelings, and this is the list that you end up with.
Now, these rankings tend to fall into tiers of prospects, and the difference between one ranking spot on the list is small, and this year is no exception. The difference between our 30th-best prospect and 25th-best prospect is negligible in the grand scheme of things, and while I know this won’t stop anyone from arguing about rankings (we encourage it, in fact, SB Nation loves the engagement numbers) it’s important to not that even internally we don’t fully agree on every player on this list. I would first like to thank the readers who have stuck with us for all of these years.
This list marks ten years of me doing this lists, my first being the midseason list in July 2015 topped by Ozzie Albies, Jose Peraza, and Max Fried. The opportunity to work at Battery Power (then Talking Chop) has been an honor and I’m proud to have shared this decade with all of you. I also have to thank Matt Powers, Brady Petree, and Gaurav Vedak for helping put together this list and for the coverage all year. It would be impossible for me to do all of this without them, and I’m honored to have a chance to work with them.
30. Jeremy Reyes – RHP
How he got to the Braves: 2023 International Free Agent
Jeremy Reyes was trending towards a breakout in 2024, but a steady diet of injuries and inconsistency have plagued his chances at rising through the Braves ranks. Still, at just 19 years old he has been a bat-missing machine at the lower levels and has put flashes of top tier performance on the field in Augusta. Command has been a consistent problem for Reyes, who has yet to put up a walk rate below 14.6% at any level or an any season. Despite this he has managed to be relatively effective, with a fastball and slider combination that miss bats at a high rate, and the ability to force weak contact from lower level hitters.
The future for Reyes is dependent on his command, but there is plenty to work with. He has a prototypical starter’s frame and sits in the mid-90’s with his fastballs, at times touching the upper 90’s, and he can vary the movement of the pitch between a four seam and sinker shape. His best offering is a mid-to-high 80’s slider that has been a force at the lower levels, and he has shown feel for a solid average changeup though he hasn’t used it as much in 2025. Overall Reyes already shows a pitch quality that could fit in the middle of a big league rotation, and at age 19 he has plenty of time to figure out the other aspects of his game.
Reyes has a quiet delivery with no major flaws, but at this stage of his career he doesn’t repeat his release point well and is prone to walking batters. He has the mechanics and athleticism necessary to grow into average command, but he hasn’t shown much improvement over the past calendar year. His pure stuff would fit well in the bullpen if he his command doesn’t get to starter quality, but the ceiling for Reyes puts him among the better pitchers in the system. There is plenty of risk in Reyes’s profile, but the upside has been clear and he comes with a track record of success even without his command playing in games yet.
29. Cody Miller – UTL
How he got to the Braves: 2025 MLB Draft, 3rd Round
Cody Miller was the Braves third round pick this year, almost out of no where it seemed – however there was another team in pursuit of him similarly high in the draft in part because he was a player who boosted his stock after the season and didn’t require a contract offer of 75% of slot due to not being a part of the combine.
Miller isn’t just a cheap signing, he’s actually quite talented. He’s got plus bat to ball skills, double plus speed, and potentially average power. He’s kind of got Trea Turner-lite skill set in that he can hit for average with big speed, and can hit 15-20 homers potentially. Add in that he’s less tied to shortstop than Turner, as he is expected to get a first look in center field to start his career – somewhere that his elite speed could really be an asset.
He’s going to be a fascinating player to watch based on his surprise draft position and also the skill set, but he is a guy with some serious upside to rank much higher on this list by this time next year if he can keep hitting at a high level against better competition than he faced at East Tennessee State.
28. Eric Hartman – OF/2B
How he got to the Braves: 2024 MLB Draft, 20th Round
The Braves drafted Eric Hartman in the final round in the 2024 draft and gave him an overslot bonus to keep the toolsy Canadian outfielder from heading to Michigan. One year later that is looking like a smart decision for the team, as he is hitting .231/.343/.380 over 56 games with Augusta – a number that would be higher if not for missing some time due to injury.
His skill set is more hit over power with speed and defense, but it’s possible that he develops average power as he continues to fill out his body. He’s only got four homers in 56 games, but he does have 13 doubles and three triples in there, and is 29-31 in stolen base attempts while hitting at the top of the Augusta lineup.
Hartman was seen as a raw but projectable player from a cold-weather area, so he was always going to need time to develop. He also only turned 19 in mid-June, making him younger than some of the prep players drafted in the 2025 draft. So the early returns from him in full season ball for the whole year are quite encouraging. He is a few years away and needs to keep developing his tools and body, but there is definitely starter upside in there for him.
27. Hayden Harris – LHRP
How he got to the Braves: 2022 Undrafted Free Agent
Hayden Harris missed no steps in rocketing up to Triple-A after being signed as an undrafted free agent, but after a strong start in Gwinnett last season he faded down the stretch and got hit hard to close out the year. He took a step back and was pushed to Double-A to start 2025, with the goal for him to work on his secondary offerings in the hopes for improved numbers at Triple-A. He dominated for Columbus with a 0.79 ERA/1.10 FIP, and hasn’t missed a beat in his return to Gwinnett with a 0.71 ERA, though his walk rates remain concerning and he has a 4.28 FIP in 12 2⁄3 innings.
While Harris’s numbers haven’t shown surface-level improvement in Gwinnett yet, a closer look shows that he has pitched to much better results this season. His fastball is producing similar whiff rates and worse contact than last season in a small sample, while the effort to improve his sweeper has made a massive difference in his profile. It was not a viable pitch last year producing just an 8% whiff rate in Triple-A last season, but the Braves have reworked the shape to get significantly more horizontal movement, with the sacrifice of a tick of velo, and in response hitters has whiffed at 47.8% of his sweepers in 2025. With a viable second offering Harris has a much better chance of fitting at the major league level in 2026.
Harris has a unique profile, with a fastball that has averaged only 91.3 mph this season, but with an absurdly low release height and flat approach angle it is one of the best pitches in the system when he can spot it at the top of the zone. Early in his time in Triple-A last season his command showed a significant improvement over 2023, but it came back to earth towards the end of the season and has been spotty ever since. Still, he has put up solid results with his fastball, and with a two pitch mix should be a high-floor big league reliever as soon as the Braves decide to call him up.
26. Ethan Bagwell – RHSP
How he got to the Braves: 2024 MLB Draft, 6th Round
Ethan was drafted in the sixth round as a raw but mega-talented prep arm and while he has struggled with an injury, you can see the arm potential and arm talent that the Braves saw in him. Ethan appeared in just one game last season where he gave up two earned runs over 2.2 innings of work. After factoring in three games in April, Ethan was shutdown until June 30th with an undisclosed injury. He then made a pair of rehab starts in the Florida Coast League before making his full season debut just last week on July 22nd. What he showed in that one start, perfectly represents the arm talent in the 19 year old possesses.
Ethan has a four seam fastball that sits in the low to mid-90s (91-96), and adds in a dynamic two seam fastball that averages right around 93 MPH. He then has two developing breaking pitches, with a sharp slider and decent changeup. At 19, Ethan is 6’4” and 230 – an absolutely perfect frame for a starting pitcher, and while there isn’t much projection in velocity, once his arm is behind him it’s safe to say he will sit in the mid-90s with his 4S/2S combination. There is a significant amount to like about Ethan’s potential, and we have an inkling that this may the be the lowest he will appear on this list moving forward.
25. Brett Sears – RHSP
How he got to the Braves: 2024 MLB Draft, 7th round
Brett Sears has covered all four full season levels in 2025, and the Braves have high hopes that he will be a solid back end starter for them in the near future. Sears was a seventh round pick in 2024, and while he had a solid junior season at Nebraska with a 2.16 ERA, his lack of velocity made him a low level prospect but he hit on the Braves models. He immediately started out by dominating in five appearance in Augusta, and at his next two levels never really hit a snag with his whiff rates hanging on just enough for his command to play him into overall solid performances. Still, his swing-and-miss numbers trailed off significantly as he got pushed up, and in his second Triple-A start he allowed five home runs to balloon his season ERA to 3.67.
Sears sits right around 90 mph with his fastball, and that limitation to his velocity is really the biggest hole in his arsenal. He commands five pitches well and is able to spin the ball at a high rate, but his lack of velocity affects the results of all five pitches. However, like Hayden Harris, he has a trick up his sleeve to help his fastball play up. Sears gets plus extension at 6.8 feet and releases from below five feet, giving his fastball at a flat approach angle that when he commands it at the top of the zone allows him to get better swing and miss numbers than his raw velocity.
Still, there is only so much a player can do to cover up 30 grade velocity, and when he can’t hit the edges with his fastball he does tend to get hit hard. There isn’t much room for Sears to add velocity, so the goal for him is to maximize his command and try to stay off of his fastball as much as possible, and so far he’s been solid outside of really struggling in that second start in Triple-A. His ceiling is severely limited, but he has two MLB offerings in his slider and changeup, and has a high floor as a back end starter and a clear path to a big league job given how much Atlanta seems to like him.