Health has been a factor holding this group back, but some late round gems have been the highlight of the class
The 2025 MLB Draft is a week away, and that means we are now almost a year post-draft from 2024. The Atlanta Braves excited fans with their pick of left-handed pitcher Cam Caminiti in the first round, and Caminiti has now gone on to be part of an impressive class of players that as a whole is playing well. With a year of context under out belts, let’s look at how the Braves 2024 draft class gas fared. For more information on Eric Hartman and Owen Carey, you can also read this from earlier today.
1st Round – Cam Caminiti
Injury has unfortunately already been a factor for the Braves draft class, and Cam Caminiti’s first professional season was stunted when he missed the first two months due to forearm tightness and an abundance of caution. Caminiti has only made five starts with Augusta this season and only threw into the fifth inning in one of those games, yet undoubtedly has raised his stock since the draft. How has he done that? Complete and utter dominance. The Braves swapped Caminiti from a two-seam fastball to a four-seam fastball and made his slider his primary breaking ball, and both of these changes have paid massive dividends. Caminiti has had some fluctuation with his velocity, but he has missed bats with all three of his pitches, showed off advanced command, and outside of his one start that he left due to dehydration he has overwhelmed Single-A hitters. He’s been better than advertised, and he was already being sold as pretty good. His slider has taken a massive step forward and one of the system’s best weapons, and as long as he can get healthy he may be the next starter on the fast track to Atlanta.
2nd Round – Carter Holton
Unfortunately there is little to report on Carter Holton. He made one start in Augusta after the draft during which his command was so bad he couldn’t get past the second inning, then in the offseason he underwent Tommy John surgery. He is out for the whole season, and this surgery only exacerbates concerns that he will end up in a bullpen role long term.
3rd Round – Luke Sinnard
Sinnard has been shut down for the past month due to injury, but prior to that he was absolutely dominant in Augusta and made one great start in Rome before a rougher game truncated his rise. Sinnard is facing typical post-Tommy John surgery hurdles — recurring health issues, command problems, and trouble feeling out his offspeed pitches — but that hasn’t really gotten in the way very much. His fastball velocity is better than it was prior to surgery, his curveball has been dominant, and his changeup while sparingly used has showed better shape and movement compared to the one he utilized in college. This season was always going to be just about Sinnard regaining his feel for the mound and stretching out, and while it’s disappointing to see him go down with an injury it’s not unexpected. He’s been terrific when he has played and has set the bar high, making him one of the biggest breakout candidates for the rest of the season and heading into 2026.
4th Round – Herick Hernandez
Expectations shot through the roof for Hernandez after two incredible starts to close out 2024, and he has been a bit disappointing for those who unfairly rated him after just that short sample. His command has come back to earth and he’s been hot-and-cold in Rome this season, mixing dominance (6 IP, 1 BB, 10 K on May 21st) with frustration (three straight four-walk starts immediately after that May 21st game). Hernandez’s slider is better than it was advertised pre-draft and the Braves did a great job picking up a guy with a mid-rotation ceiling for relatively cheap, but given his history of command trouble there is a lot of concern he may end up in a bullpen role. It’s far, far too early to give up on Hernandez as a starter, but if he does end up as a reliever he has the fastball/slider combination to excel there and a solid reliever out of a fourth round pick is nothing to sneeze at. Hernandez has a global whiff rate well over 30% this season and that dominance will always make him intriguing.
5th Round – Nick Montgomery
Montgomery was the highest-paid position player from this draft, but has been one of the worst performers with just a 61 wRC+ at Single-A. His hit tool is not playing in games at all right now, but that isn’t much of a surprise. Montgomery was expected to be a project and year one was forecasted to be pretty rough for him. The positives for Montgomery: when he connects the ball goes a long way. He has had trouble finding the barrel this season and gets beat in the strike zone far too often, but the raw power is legitimate. Montgomery has also shown noticeable improvement on the defensive end, and there is a strong feeling that he will be able to stick behind the plate which can take some pressure off of his bat. Montgomery has a long way to go, but catchers often develop later in their careers and it’s not like the Braves don’t have time with both Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin under significant team control.
6th Round – Ethan Bagwell
Ethan Bagwell is number four of the top six picks to be impacted by injury. Bagwell only made three starts in Augusta before hitting the injured list, and he wasn’t missing many bats when he did, but the atmosphere around the team is excitement. He made his first rehab appearance at the end of June in Florida, and is on track to return after a few appearances there. Elvin Nina has done a great job at developing players in Single-A since joining the GreenJackets coaching staff, and Bagwell is one he and the organization are excited to work with. Bagwell is raw and will need plenty of care to develop, but has the arm talent and classic starter’s frame that traditional scouting dreams of. He’s a project, but one that carries plenty of hype for the rest of the season.
7th Round – Brett Sears
Sears wasn’t a high draft pick, and he was already 24 years old when the Braves picked him up, but there is a bit more excitement about him than you might expect. No one is expecting Sears to be a top-of-the-rotation arm or anything, but he’s not merely organizational depth in the eyes of the front office. His slider is his best pitch and has missed a fair amount of bats, which combined with his above average command has allowed him to have success and reach Double-A this season. His well-below average fastball is a limitation and he has hit a bit of a wall in regards to missing bats at Double-A, but he has a deep arsenal and command and has the potential to find himself in a major league role as a back end starter or swingman.
8th Round – Logan Samuels
Logan Samuels looked incredible for Augusta for the first month and a week of this season, but he has yet to find his footing in High-A. Samuels went the entire month of June without a single strikeout, and seems to be relegated back to a relief role. There was some excitement about Samuels due to his uptick in velocity and both his slider and changeup missing bats at the lower levels, but his command hasn’t been working in High-A and he is in need of a course-correct.
9th Round – Owen Hackman
Owen Hackman has been better than his Single-A numbers have shown, but hasn’t found a consistent feel for his secondaries despite some increased usage this season. His slider and changeup both have a shape that better complements his high-carry fastball, but his location of every pitch has been a bit shaky and while the walks haven’t been high he has been hit harder than was expected. Hackman isn’t far off though and could see a promotion to High-A fairly soon, though I do feel he will ultimately fit better as a reliever. His slider is significantly ahead of his changeup and pitching off of his two best pitches will give him better results.
10th Round – Jacob Kroeger
The Braves signed Jacob Kroeger for just $5000, but he has come in and done nothing but dominate at the lower levels of the system. The caveat being that he is already 25 years old and facing much younger competition. Kroeger’s fastball is his biggest hurdle as he sits just in the low 90’s, but he has a lot of carry on the pitch and has decent command at the top of the zone. Still, he’ll need to improve his command to stick as a starter. His bread-and-butter are his two secondary offerings, featuring a slider with a ton of depth and a nasty changeup that have both been effective at tying up lower level hitters. Kroeger is a real prospect as a back-end starter, but will need to get improve his command rather quickly. While his walk totals at this stage aren’t egregious he is very much control-over-command, often laying pitches in the zone to get ahead early in counts. Upper level hitters won’t let him do that, and with his below average fastball he could find himself in some danger.
11th Round – Patrick Clohisy
Clohisy’s college production has quickly translated to the professional level, where he has been a consistent on base threat this season and is sitting on a system-leading 49 stolen bases. Clohisy has played all around the outfield and showed the advanced approach that was expected of him, but he hasn’t produced enough power to solidify himself as a prospect to watch. Clohisy has a solid contact-oriented game and the Braves will certainly keep him around the organization, but unless he can make high quality contact more often and find more extra base hits he is going to peak as a solid organizational guy.
12th Round – Cayman Goode
Goode is thus far the only draftee who hasn’t played at a full season level, and his production for the rookie level Braves has been mixed. May was solid — 17 innings, a 4.03 FIP, and only five walks — but he hit a wall in June. He has nine walks to six strikeouts in his past four outings and his command has reportedly been a bit troublesome. Goode was known to be a project and his high spin rate secondaries are the foundation of his arsenal, and he’ll likely be a slow-progressing arm.
13th Round – Colby Jones
Jones was good in his professional debut in 2024, but the Braves sent him down to Single-A to work on his approach and he has met that challenge with mixed results. Jones has done a terrific job at laying off of breaking balls out of the zone and his walk rates have skyrocket, going from only 4.8% in his draft year to 15.5% this season. He has done so without sacrificing contact, and his numbers since mid-May have exceeded even that performance with more walks than strikeouts and a 114 wRC+ in his past 41 games. Jones’s lingering issue is his lack of power production. Jones is a pesky player who steals tons of bases, plays a reliable utility infield, and gets on base at a high clip, but he doesn’t lift the ball with authority and his contact is mostly opposite-field oriented. This is actually a pretty significant shit as he hit over 50% of his batted balls to the pull side last season, and he hits the ball hard enough for double digit home run but needs that power to come in the air. He has utility potential and 21 still has a fair bit of time to develop, but the well-below average power production is a lingering concern.
14th Round – Mason Guerra
Mason Guerra had power potential throughout his college career, but struggled to maximize it at Oregon State and went from the top player in his state coming out of high school and a Baseball America top 200 prospect in 2021 to a guy the Braves got in the 14th round of the draft. As a professional his power has immediately stood out, with him hitting 10 home runs this season in 56 games while drawing walks in 16% of plate appearances and posting a 136 wRC+. Guerra still facing hit tool concerns, however, and though his Single-A contact numbers weren’t terrible they are well below expected for a 22 year old. He’s likely to fit as a first baseman and thus will need to hit at a high level, but he’s a good defender at first base with the power and plate discipline to be a second-division starter if the hit tool takes a massive step forward. It’s a very risky profile, but it was worthwhile to take a risk on that power potential this late in the draft.
15th Round – Owen Carey
You can find more details in the profile linked in the introduction, but in short Owen Carey can flat out hit. Still 18, Carey has hit at an above average clip throughout the season and though he has been in a bit of a slump for the past month or so he has put up high quality at bats and is working on improving his swing to unlock power. Carey was a huge find for Atlanta this late in the draft and has the chance to be a solid big league starter, though he needs to draw more walks and start to tap into his average power potential. His profile is carried by his ability to make solid contact to all fields in all parts of the strike zone, and his performance relative to other Braves prospects his age is impressive.
16th Round – Titus Dumitru
Dumitru got off to a solid start to the season but struggled into summer along with the rest of the Rome roster before being shipped to Pittsburgh for Hunter Stratton. Dumitru has some power potential but is limited in his contact ability, and didn’t lift the ball enough to make use of his strength. We wish him the best in his career with the Pirates organization, and hope he can make use of his abilities there.
17th Round – Jacob Shafer
Shafer was incredible in five starts for Augusta last season, but hasn’t pitched at the level yet and is still doing a rehab assignment down in the Florida Complex League. Shafer was brilliant in his five starts with a 1.35 ERA/2.23 FIP though his whiff rates didn’t support him sustaining a 30.8% strikeout rate. Shafer is intimidating standing at 6’8”, but surprisingly only throws in the low-90’s and has been a command over stuff pitcher throughout his career. Shafer should be back in full season action soon, and the Braves have already improved the velocity of two tall righties (Baumann, Sinnard) and may be hoping for the same from Shafer.
18th Round – Jake Steels
Steels has gotten inconsistent playing time in a strong outfield in Augusta, and he hasn’t looked very good in that role. Steels makes a ton of contact but doesn’t hit the ball hard and only has three extra base hits in 119 at bats. Most of his contact is on the ground and it’s often not hard contact, and so far this year he is hitting just .151/.284/.176.
19th Round – Dalton McIntyre
McIntyre got off to a horrible start in the FCL this season, with a 65 wRC+ in the first month of the season. He was a player we expected, if nothing else, to immediately hit at the lower levels, but that didn’t happen immediately. Then he seemed to flip a switch, and has hit .333/.439/.391 since with 13 stolen bases. McIntyre is a high contact player with a ton of speed, and every year the Braves tend to take a chance on a couple of guys to see if they can add enough strength to play at the big league level. McIntyre has looked good in three games with High-A Rome, though his power remains a major question mark.
20th Round – Eric Hartman
While his over slot signing bonus hints at the fact that Hartman is not your typical 20th round pick, the Braves still made a shrewd move to grab him and he already projects as one of this draft’s top prospects. Hartman has already shown off above average power at the plate, and in addition has gone 27/29 on stolen bases while playing left field and second base. Hartman has a pretty swing and is looking to pull the ball hard when he steps up to the plate, and though he’ll need to improve his contact skills and approach a bit to keep his strikeouts down as he advance so far he has been one of the system’s biggest risers.