Top-5 Braves Prospects to Watch for in 2025
The Braves have a history of producing excellent Major League talent, but who's next in line to come help the Big League club?
Minor League Baseball is the lifeline of any MLB Club. You have to be able to draft, sign, and develop in-house talent to cover positions and needs that your team may not be able to cover through regular Free Agency. The Braves have had a history of doing this very successfully and turning players they developed into some of the best in the game. Players like Ronald Acuña, Ozzie Albies, Spencer Strider, Austin Riley, and Michael Harris are examples of players who the Braves have drafted or signed in International Free Agent classes and fully developed within the organization. So, who’s next? What minor leaguers are knocking at the door to get their shot at the Major Leagues and possibly helping the Braves win another World Series title? In this article and
discuss our picks for the top prospects we are going to be watching in the Braves system in 2025.1) Drake Baldwin, C
Ok, Ok.. we are starting with an obvious one here, as almost all of the Braves fandom knows who Drake Baldwin is at this point. The 2022 3rd-round pick has skyrocketed through the Braves system as a bat-first-catching prospect who loves to hit. In 2022, his final year of college at Missouri State, he played in 60 games with 19 HR’s, 70 RBI’s, .341/.448/.647 triple slash line, earning second-team All MVC and All-Tournament Team honors1 . Once, he was drafted by the Braves with the 96th pick, and he has done nothing but improve. 2023 was the year of the ascension when he played 3 levels of professional baseball (A+, AA, AAA) and hit at all three levels to a combined .270/.385/.460 triple slash as a 22-year-old. 2024 was arguably more impressive as he spent more time at AAA playing 72 games, hitting: 13 2B’s, 12 HR’s, .298/.407/.484 triple slash. He walked 52 times to only 54 strikeouts and proved that he has the bat-to-ball skills necessary to carry over to the Big Leagues.
He is the closest to a “sure thing” the Braves have in their system and if he continues to hit the way he has in 2023 and 2024 then he will be helping the Major League team much sooner rather than later.
2) Drue Hackenberg, RHP
Drue Hackenberg has a chance to be special. He has a five-pitch mix that consists of a 4-seam, slider, cutter, curveball, and change-up. Being a 2nd round pick out of Virginia Tech in 2023, Hackenberg is a fairly polished starting pitcher who had a rough final season of college baseball. He pitched to a 5.80 ERA in 85.1 innings. The base hits piled up against him, and he walked 26 batters as well. The Braves saw potential, though, and took him with the 59th overall pick in 2023. In his first full season of professional baseball, he went 7-5 with a 3.07 ERA and 144 Ks in 129 innings pitched. The most eye-popping stat, in my opinion, is the 0.14 HR/9, which equates to 2 home runs given up in those 129 innings. He was the only pitcher in Minor League baseball in 2024 to have an HR/9 under .2, K% over 26%, and more than 120 innings pitched. The one area of concern is his walks. He had an 11.3 BB%, so as long as he can reign that part of his game, he is a weapon. He limited hard contact and missed plenty of bats over the course of the season, and I expect him to make an impact in the Majors at some point in 2025.
3) Luis Guanipa, OF
Luis Guanipa was the Brave’s top International Free Agent signing in the 2023 class. He was known to be a work in progress when he came over from Venezuela and has done nothing to silence those thoughts since. His triple slash line from last season’s transition to full-season ball was .219/.286/.291 for an OPS of .577. He still has a ton of work to do. The one thing he has no problem with is speed. He grades out as a 70-grade runner on the 20-80 scale, according to Fangraphs, and played last year at A-ball as an 18-year-old. His season started at the Rookie League level, and he slashed .282/.346/.451. It was the jump to A-ball that really caused the downfall in numbers. He played 32 games at the higher level and was simply overmatched. His slash line of .184/.250/.200 was abysmal, and he will likely start the season back at that level to see how he handles himself after the cup of coffee last season. His Fangraphs future grades are still solid as he is projected to have a 55-grade Hit/Game Power/Raw Power, 70-grade speed, and a 60-grade Field. He just turned 19 in December, so he is still very young, but this will be a huge season for Guanipa as his development will look to take a step forward in 2025.
4) Lucas Braun, RHP
As I mentioned in a prospect highlight of Lucas Braun, the Braves drafted him out of Cal State Northridge, taking him in the 2023 draft. At 23, he’s yet another young Braves pitcher who could get a look in the bigs (possibly at some point this season). Overall, Braun has a 4-pitch mix: a fastball that is typically in the low-to-mid 90s, a hard slider in the low 80s, a curveball that sits in the upper 70s, and a changeup that is deceptive and in the low 80s. This dude has great command and gets strikeouts, folks! His first pro season in 2023 was a quick one. He started six games (27 innings) with a 2.67 ERA, .218 BAA, 32 K, and a 10.67 K/9. Last year was another solid season, as he really kicked things into gear in Double-A Mississippi. Overall, he finished last year with a 3.26 ERA over 24 starts (25 games), pitched 143.2 innings, had 162 strikeouts, a 1.14 WHIP, and a K/BB of 3.86. He also led all Braves Minor Leaguers in strikeouts! Not too shabby for the Braves #21 ranked prospect.
5) Didier Fuentes, RHP
The Braves signed Fuentes out of Colombia during the 2022 international signing period. MLB Pipeline considers his signing as a “bargain” for the Braves, and you’ll see why. Fuentes just completed his 3rd pro season in 2024, and why do I feel that’s worth pointing out? Well, he’s still just 19 years old! Fuentes has three pitches: a fastball that reached some 98 mph GAS, a slider, and a splitter. You may read from others that he could use some more commands, but what 19-year-old couldn’t use more commands, right? He’s still very dominant with the strikeouts. He was pretty solid down in rookie ball in 2022. He started 11 games (44 innings), had a 2.25 ERA, .217 BAA, 1.02 WHIP, 50 K, and had a 10.23 K/9. He did have a less than eye-opening 2023, only pitching in 10 games where he got smacked around a bit. 7.27 ERA and batters hit .330 off of him over the 26 innings he pitched that season. I wasn’t able to find “definitive” news about an injury he might’ve had, but his last game that year was in June, which leads me to believe it was either injury-related or perhaps performance-related (maybe both). However, moving on to last year, he took a big step forward. He started 17 games (18 appearances) with 75.2 innings pitched, a 2.74 ERA, .199 BAA, 1.02 WHIP, 98 strikeouts, and a cranked-up 11.66 K/9. Now, I should remind all of you that he is still just 19, so there’s absolutely no rush, and there is still room to develop and become more polished. I think he’ll start the season with High-A Rome, but if not, then he’ll start the season with Single-A Augusta. I do believe he gets a look in Double-A Columbus later in 2025 (don’t forget, the Mississippi Braves relocated to Columbus, GA Braves fans!). It’s cool to have a young stud pitcher on the rise with a few pro seasons under his belt before he even turns 20. He’s the #20 ranked Braves prospect, and he’s worth keeping an eye on for 2025.
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