Braves Executive Discusses Pitching Prospects, Gives Timeline for MLB Debuts
The Atlanta Braves have invested heavily in pitching prospects over the last few years - more than any other organization, in fact.
Atlanta's the only MLB team to devote more than 60% of their bonus pool to pitching over the last six drafts, at 61% of all dollars paid to draftees going to pitchers from 2018-2023.
But the fruits of that investment are evident - Atlanta's top prospects lists are littered with pitching, including the consensus top five. When might those pitching prospects 'ripen'?
MLB Pipeline's Jim Callis talked to assistant general manager Ben Sestanovich, who oversees Atlanta's player development, to get more info about the heavy focus on pitching and when the team expects those pitching prospects to make their major league debuts.
Sestanovich confirmed the intention to focus on pitching, explaining it came in 'layers' to Callis: "Last year in the Draft, we spent a bunch of our money up top on college arms. The year before it was more high school arms.
"You never have enough pitching, so having layers of arms coming is certainly the goal. And it has the added benefit of internal competition amongst them, which is a good thing."
Let's look at when Atlanta expects to have some of these players reaching the majors: