Braves Briefing: Who is Atlanta's most improved prospect in 2023?

MLB.com dropped a list that shared the most improved prospect in every team's farm system.

Atlanta's most improved prospect in 2023? According to MLB.com, it's right-handed pitcher A.J. Smith Shawver. Here's what they wrote about him in the story.

Smith-Shawver entered the year as a former two-sport high school star coming off an uneven first full season of pro ball in 2022. Though he hasn’t thrown a ton of total innings this year (81 2/3 combined), he’s managed to rocket from High-A to impacting the big league pitching staff. His Minor League numbers (2.85 ERA, .174 BAA, 11.3 K/9) jump off the page, all amassed at age 20, which is why he’s now the top prospect in the organization and its lone representative in the Top 100.

NL Wild Card Standings

The Atlanta Braves have won the NL East and secured a first-round bye but we're closely watching the Wild Card race as Atlanta will play the winner of the Wild Card series pitting the top two wild card finishers in the Divisional Round.

Team	Record	Wild Card GB	Action Today
Philadelphia	83-69	+4.0	Hosts NYM
Arizona	81-72	+1.5	Off Today
Chi Cubs	79-73	-	Hosts Pittsburgh
Miami	79-74	-0.5	Off Today
Cincinnati	79-75	-1.0	Off Today
SF	76-76	-3.0	@ LAD

We wrote it

Braves Today's Lindsay Crosby led our coverage yesterday. In his takeaways, one of the things he noted was Bryce Elder's outing.

The righthander, who was so excellent in his first outing of the season against Philly, couldn't replicate that success this afternoon. Elder gave up four runs on three hits and a season-high five walks, striking out none and lasting only 3.2 innings. He just couldn't seem to get his stuff over the plate, and when he did, it got smacked by one person in particular: Nick Castellanos, who hit two home runs off of Elder, accounting for three of the four runs.

Here's the full list of takeaways.

What's next for Atlanta?

Atlanta is set to take on the Nationals in a four-game set starting Thursday night in Nationals Park. First pitch of the opener is scheduled for 7:05 PM ET, with Max Fried taking the mound for Atlanta.

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