Atlanta Braves: Leading the Way With Young Aces
By Adam McGill
The Braves were synonymous for amazing pitching in the mid 1990′s amidst all of their Championships, and they are sticking to the same formula that won the team five NL Championships from 1991-1999. The team currently has four quality, young arms at the front-end of their rotation; with Tommy Hanson, Jair Jurrjens, Brandon Beachy and Mike Minor. However, not many casual baseball fans may know about the other five they have in the making. The team has wisely spent the majority of their draft picks over the last decade on pitching prospects and it finally seems to be paying off again for the “House that Cox Built”.
Let’s take a look at the outstanding arms that are currently in the Braves’ farm system:
1. RHP Julio Teheran (21 years old) – The kid has breezed through Double-A and Triple-A, placing him at the top of all prospect lists for the past two years. He will instantly make an impact for the team and has drawn vast comparisons to Johan Santana. Teheran has topped out at 98 MPH so far and is really perfecting his two-seam fastball in the MILB. Teheran will be dominant at some point in his career, so it is better to grab him now while his value is at his lowest.
2. RHP Arodys Vizcaino (21 years old) – Vizcaino has missed significant time in the past due to nagging injuries, but had amazing control throughout the 2011 season. He registered 100 strikeouts in only 97 innings as a starter last year and had a strong 1.13 WHIP throughout the different stages of minor league ball. He ended up in the bullpen last year and will probably spend some time there this year, but his long-term future is as a starter.
3. RHP Randall Delgado (22 years old) – The Braves’ depth in their rotation will likely keep Delgado down for now, but the kid showed great poise as a 21-year old. He pitched 35 innings in the majors and finished with a glimmering 2.83 ERA. He only managed a 1-1 record, but that was mostly becasue he was only pitching 4-5 innings per start. Delgado remains the best strikeout prospect of the organization with three pro-style pitches. The team will remain conservative with the third of their prized prospects, but he will certainly be in the conversation for a rotation spot in the spring of 2013.
4. RHP Carlos Perez (20 years old) – Perez is the lesser known of the team’s top prospects. He struggled most of 2011 at Lo-A with an uninspiring 4-10 record and ERA over 4.5. Perez did settle down as the season progressed, but the team would have liked to have seen him rise up to Double-A by now. He still has a very crisp release of the ball, making sure that he consistently lets it go at a downward angle. Perez remains a top-five pitching prospect for the team and the kid will not even turn 21 until far after the end of the 2012 season.
5. RHP Zeke Spruill (22 years old) – Spruill will never stand out with spectacular strikeout totals, as he has only 108 K’s in 174.2 inning pitched between both Hi-A and Double-A. However, he is a great ground-ball pitcher, evident by the fact that his combined ERA was under 3.25 last year. He projects better as a back-end starter or a middle reliever, but is still a name worth taking note of.
Most rotations in the MLB feature five pitchers, but the Braves’ could eventually run into trouble with this many strong arms. It is more than likely that one or two of them will end up in the bullpen with this long of a list of contenders for the top five spots, but it is a problem that all teams wish they had. Atlanta is certainly looking towards the future with an array of quality right handed pitchers, and the team is right where they want to be.
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