Braves Prospect Year in Review: Jhancarlos Lara Defies the Stats

The Atlanta Braves have a prospect who has serious potential if they can get his command under control

This is a pitcher that is considered to be better than the stats suggest | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

This will be one of the more polarizing Atlanta Braves prospect reviews yet. The stats aren't there, at least yet, but this is a pitcher that many remain high on. This is an attempt to properly review Jhancarlos Lara.

He possesses a fastball and a slider that many are fans of. However, he finished the season with a 7.73 and a 1.72 WHIP. It's a season where it would be wrong to say his season was a flop. However, it requires digging deeper to show why.

While it's complicated, his most recent time spent on the mound could be where we're finally seeing that promise show through.

At the time of this article's publication, Lara is the No. 21 prospect in the Braves farm system. Despite the lack of success by the numbers, he was promoted to Triple-A for the first time. They opted to put the work in with him as a project.

After primarly being a starting pitcher in the lower level of the minor leagues, Lara started to see more action out of the bullpen. He made 28 appearances and only nine were starts. Going forward, this is what we're expecting out of him. The times he made starts, it was to get him more innings simply so they could get more looks out of him.

For what it's worth, while still not great on the surface, his stats did improve as a reliever. His opponent average went down from .241 opponent average to a .145 opponent average. It dropped his WHIP from 1.84 to 1.45.

There was one issue. His walk rate was consistently high regardless of his role with the team. While he had a fantastic 13.8 strikeouts per nine innings and a rather respectable 5.3 hits per nine innings, his walks per nine innings was an abysmal 8.1. Free passes come back to bite you, and that was reflected in stats that the average person evaluates, such as ERA.

There is work to be done. The Braves brought him up to the majors to be mentored by other veteran pitchers. He didn't see any action. While walks are still an issue, that mentoring might have had some effect. His rate of allowing hits improved in the Arizona Fall League. He also kept the ball in the yard through out. As a result, he had 2.61 ERA in 11 appearances. His WHIP was still high (1.64) because of walks, but there is progress.

It's understandable why the Braves are willing to invest. There is something here if they can get Lara's command under control. If they can, he could be a lethal arm out of the bullpen. We'll see how he continues to come into his own during the 2026 season.

He'll likely see major league action at some point. It's hard to imagine he won't. However, it will take some improvements to make him a consistent presence in Atlanta.