Six prospects who narrowly missed the top 30 cut
The 2025 MLB Draft has given the Braves a new wave of prospects, and with more than half of the minor league season in the books it’s time to update the Battery Power top 30 Atlanta Braves prospects. We’ll run through in more detail in the first wave of prospects tomorrow, but in short it is a composite ranking of four individual lists from our four writers. The top 30 prospects are locked (barring a trade) and we’re starting our list with some notable players who just missed the list. For this season I am favoring players who received votes and are the closest to being major league ready, to give a better sense of names you could see in the next couple of years. This (and the others considered at the bottom) is not an exhaustive list of everyone who received votes, rather it’s the six closest to MLB-ready among those to receive top 40 votes from at least three of the four writers. It’s important to say that we don’t believe there is much, if any, gap between guys in this range and the back end of the top 30, and the margins for voting are often very small.
Elison Joseph
Joseph sits on the border of non-prospect and top 20 arm, and it is all dependent on how many strikes he can throw moving forward. He was on a significant upward trajectory entering 2025, having dominated with upper-90’s fastball and plus slider at every level, but his command backed up from fringe to untenable. His dominance has never wavered and he is forcing whiffs on over 40% of swings, but he has also walked more than a batter an inning this season at Double-A. He is Rule 5 eligible and may get protected this winter, and is one of only a couple of pitchers in the system with late-inning relief potential. He could be a dominant closer if the control can get to major league quality, but he has to re-climb the mountain to get to MLB quality at all.
Cade Kuehler
Cade Kuehler hasn’t played in 2025 due to Tommy John surgery and likely won’t in a competitive environment, but 2026 will be an opportunity for him to reclaim value. He had a solid 2024 season with decent swing and miss and much improved command, but his velocity backed up from his college numbers and this velocity decrease impacted his previously plus slider. If Kuehler’s velocity doesn’t improve he likely drops off of prospect status altogether, but there is belief he could end up better in a relief role. If he can show mid-to-upper 90’s velocity in short bursts like he did at Campbell, he should see drastic improvement in his whiff numbers and play himself back into being a legitimate top 30 prospect.
Herick Hernandez
Herick Hernandez had massive hype coming into 2025, but his performance has fallen well short of the mark at High-A Rome. Two things remain clear. He has a fastball and a slider that can miss bats, and his poor command is holding him back from a starter projection. Battery Power has him at a pure reliever grade at this point, though a command and changeup improvement could get him to back-end starter material, and Hernandez should be primed to excel in a relief role. He has a dominant slider that will miss bats at every level, he throws enough strikes that he shouldn’t play himself out of leverage situations, and his fastball velocity has ticked up slightly this season.
Dixon Williams
After a breakout season with East Carolina the Braves made Dixon Williams their fifth-highest selection in the 2025 draft, utilizing the pick received as compensation for Max Fried leaving in free agency. Williams fits with the Braves as a second baseman, which does limit his ceiling value, but his ability to get on base is a massive boon. Williams walked more than he struck out at East Carolina last season and put up a .451 OBP overall, and while his power is below average in game he has some raw power underlying that and could get to solid average.
Landon Beidelschies
A home run surge in 2025 masked the progress Beidelschies made in missing bats and throwing strikes, and the Braves were able to grab him in the 6th round. Beidelschies will likely start with Atlanta, but his projections favor him in the bullpen as his fastball and slider are well ahead of his changeup. Atlanta has had some success developing changeups in the past few seasons, but the hope is that Beidelschies can sit more consistently in the mid-to-upper 90’s in short stints, and his potentially plus slider and be even more effective at higher velocities.
David McCabe
David McCabe has had a fascinating season for Columbus, and overall it’s hard to scoff at a 129 wRC+. He looked dead in the water in his short time in 2024, but this season he has drastically improved his contact rates, and while his home run power hasn’t shown up much he is playing his best ball as July goes forward. He is consistently putting out triple-digit exit velocities and has been hot all summer, and his only limitation now is that he doesn’t lift the ball enough to get to his above average raw power. McCabe is an on-base machine, but without the power coming into games and with his future likely at first base or designated hitter, he sits as a fringe bat that could be a weapon off of the bench.
Others considered: Nick Montgomery, Luis Arestigueta, Carter Holton, Ambioris Tavarez, Angel Carmona.