Some lower-tier names that have put themselves on the map with a strong start to 2024
There is a tendency with any system to focus really only on the top prospects, and rightfully so as those are usually the ones that are going to make an impact at the major league level. Still, sometimes players come out of nowhere to succeed, so I looked at six Atlanta Braves prospects who didn’t make our preseason top 30 list but have looked excellent to start 2024.
Drew Compton
There tends to be one Drew Compton every season we cover here. The Braves will send an advanced bat to lower levels of the minor leagues, he’ll look like Tony Gwynn for a month, and then usually those guys end up getting against higher level competition and proving why they weren’t ranked highly in the first place. Compton is probably one of those guys. He was undrafted out of Georgia Tech, and he was a solid college player but had limitations to his profile that ultimately pushed him out of the top 20. The Braves scooped him up and thus far he has been quite good. In fact, with Augusta this year he has been excellent with 18 walks to 14 strikeouts.
Compton was already a fringe prospect as an amateur, but he missed quite a number of games as a senior at Georgia Tech. He was more known for his power as an amateur, and he has showcase raw power as a professional, but he has more progressed in being able to make contact on a consistent basis. Still, he will be tested against higher level pitching as he tended to struggle against that in college, and it will be only then that we really get a gauge for any progress he has made. Compton will be a 1B/DH, so he will have to absolutely rake to make it the major leagues.
EJ Exposito
Exposito is a guy I would have considered a fringe prospect headed into this season, although not one that really took much time to whittle off of my list for the top 30. Exposito is an every day infielder who I do think can stick at shortstop and he has smooth and controlled actions in the field, though his arm is fringy and he is better served at second base. Exposito is a player that is well-liked by the organization and he does a lot of things fairly well, he just never really put anything outstanding onto tape.
Exposito’s biggest problem is a lack of contact and it followed him into 2024. He doesn’t recognize secondary pitches well and will get beat out of the zone too often, though he more than competent at hitting fastballs hard. Exposito’s raw power is a bit below average, but plays up as he has an upper cut swing that is built to chase power on the pull side, and he approaches every at bat looking to hit the ball hard to the pull side. This season he has done just that, leading the South Atlantic League in home runs. It’s a very narrow profile that probably gets beat by Double-A pitching, but it’s not impossible to see a jump in pitch recognition be enough for him to find his way onto a roster as a power-first bench infielder.
Robert Gonzalez
This is the one player from this group that has lodged himself firmly in my top 30, and it’s actually interesting that he is by far the worst performer from this group. Gonzalez is way too aggressive at the plate, consistently chasing breaking balls out of the zone and ending at bats swinging at pitches that don’t allow him to maximize his impact contact. Because of this he hasn’t hit for much power or drawn many walks as a professional, and Single-A pitchers have been able to get him strike out 27% of the time. And yet.
Gonzalez hits line drives at a high rate, and when he does hit them he is regularly reaching triple digit exit velocities. Despite not reaching a .100 isolated power in either of his seasons in domestic leagues, there is a lot of reason to believe that Gonzalez can grow into average or above average power. The swing is a bit long, but his hands are fast enough and he has the bat control to get away with. Nearly all of Gonzalez’s problems are based around an immature approach, something that is certainly fixable for a 19 year old. It’s going to take time, and is complicated by my belief that he ultimately moves off of center field and over to a corner, but there are definitely the tools in the arsenal for Gonzalez to be a major league regular.
Ian Mejia
Mejia has just been a consistently successful professional pitcher, and this season he has really taken over as the top gun so far in that Mississippi rotation. Mejia consistently puts up high whiff rates and great starts, and despite my skepticism that he can remain in a rotation he’s now having success against mid-level bats. Mejia does have a three pitch mix and all seem a touch sharper this season, with his ability to locate his pitches all allowing them to play up. His slider is clearly his best weapon and has been his primary source of swing and miss this season, though he has gotten away with more fastballs than in previous seasons.
Mejia’s three pitch mix and projectable frame certainly give him a chance to stick as a starter, though he rarely uses his changeup and his fastball has yet to add velocity as a professional. It’s a similar situation to Luis De Avila for me, as although I see the success I’m not sure the raw stuff is good enough to succeed against major league quality hitting. Still, unlike De Avila you will find that Mejia consistently hits his spots and is thus able to spin out of trouble and use his slider in any count.
Elison Joseph
The next two guys here are both of a similar profile, though there is a clear heirarchy with regards to their prospect status. Joseph signed with the Braves late in their 2019 international signing class, and was already two months from his 19th birthday, so because of this he didn’t debut for the system until he was already 20 years old. In the seasons since Joseph has been the same pitcher, a fire-balling right hander whose inability to find the strike zone inhibits his success. So far this season, however, Joseph has managed to make a successful jump to High-A where he has raised his strikeout rate to 37% and lowered his walk rate to 11%.
The good news is that in each of the past three seasons Joseph has done just that — raise his strikeout rate and lower his walk rate. The problem is that I don’t think the command has really improved significantly and he still throws strikes at a well-below-average rate. He’s 23 and still in A-ball, so it’s a bit hard for me to jump out of my seat for Joseph. Still Joseph throws an easy high-90’s, and he mixes in a slider that when located gets whiffs at a high rate. He is certainly as much a prospect as any reliever can be, though I am skeptical of how he will handle Double-A.
Rolddy Munoz
Rolddy Munoz has hit his stride in a major way this season, going from mostly being known as Roddery’s brother to a player I’m confident will make the major leagues in some regard. I’m not confident Rolddy’s command is good enough to stick at the major leagues, but his stuff is and he has been better and better at locating his fastball with each passing season. Then again he also was in his third trip to High-A, and at age 24 needed a test. He got that, and in his time in Mississippi I can report much the same.
Rolddy has led the system in strikeout rate among pitchers with 10+ innings, landing at 44.7% this season. He hasn’t slowed down at Double-A either, getting seven whiffs in his most recent game and having success with both his fastball and slider. Rolddy almost lulls you to sleep with a methodical wind up, then he strikes forward with electric arm speed and can beat good hitters in the zone with his fastball. His fastball has stepped forward and sits at 98 and hits peaks in the triple digits. Paired with a wipeout low-90’s slider he is approaching the territory where even I, someone who will go on the record as saying that I do not rank relievers highly unless they have elite traits, think he is on the border of top 30 contention. He’s been excellent this season, and the Braves are likely going to push him because that arsenal could get him stolen away in the Rule 5 draft this winter.
Bonus player to watch:
Kadon Morton has spent quite a few years with the organization displaying fantastic athleticism but a lack of feel for hitting. When he started the season in the Florida Complex League I got suspicious he was going to be converted to pitching — he has always had a great arm and many believed he was a better pitching prospect as an amateur. That turned out to be the case, and in his professional pitching debut Morton threw four scoreless innings with five strikeouts and two walks. From the reports I’ve gotten, Morton threw a fastball at 90-94 and a slider at 80-86. The hope is that as Morton continues to develop he can add pitching strength and perhaps velocity. It’s an outstanding physical toolset to build into and I will be tracking his development.