The Legacies Being Built, Maintained by Braves Prospect Cam Caminiti

Cam Caminiti goes about his business with two legacies on his mind. The first is the family legacy.

When the Atlanta Braves took him in the first round of the 2024 MLB Draft, the last name was already familiar to many. His late cousin, Ken, was the 1996 National League MVP and a multi-time All-Star and Gold Glove winner.

Both the Houston Astros and San Diego Padres have Ken in their team Hall of Fames. While it was for part of his final season, Ken also donned a Braves uniform in 2001.

Carrying on the legacy started by his cousin holds strong significance to the 19-year-old lefty.

“It’s special to be a part of that,” Caminiti said. “I mean, people bring him up all the time. So, he was a special player, and I’m just looking forward to continuing that.”

At the same time, and rightfully so, there is a desire to establish that second legacy, an individual one that he builds on his own. It’s one where he establishes himself as part of the Braves' identity.

As a testament to his mindset, both hold significance and coexist.

From the jump, he’s been able to lay the foundation to maintain an established legacy while building another. He was immediately the Braves' top prospect, and no one has been able to detrone him.

At the end of the 2024 season, he was ranked the 92nd overall prospect in baseball. Now, he’s 44th.

Following a solid first full season with Triple-A Augusta and a healthy offseason and minor league camp back in the spring, Caminiti has found himself in High-A with the Rome Emperors.

The numbers don't standout immediately. The young arm owns a 4.48 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP through 14 outings, 13 of which are starts. However, there is plenty brewing underneath the surface and other elements to take into account.

His body is feeling good, something that wasn’t a luxury in the early going of last season. He developed a forearm injury in minor league camp in 2025, and everything last season was in relation to coming back from it.

Much of the season saw him having to build back up to full strenght. This season, meanwhile, he was Rome's opening day starter, and the body has felt good throughout.

A perk of this season has been the ability to pitch on a six-day schedule instead of a seven-day schedule. It brings the opportunity to pitch more frequently, which he enjoys, but there are other ways the change in schedule helps him.

"My day changes every week," he said. "So, it's not the same repetitive week every time."

It's not to say what he learned during the seven-day schedule hasn't carried over. Though it's now a slightly condensed version, the stretch and preparation routine is the same. A continuity has been maintained when a new challenge has come about.

Along with the new schedule, there is a new pitch he's been working on: the cutter. For now, the curveball is out while he takes the time to focus on his new pitch and have it work alongside his fastball and slider.

“Not trying to do too much throughout the season,” Caminiti said. “I'll work on the curveball in the offseason, and if I get it to the point that I want to throw it, then I'll continue to throw it, but right now, I'm just focused on the cutter."

The goal of adding the cutter is to help create quicker outs, which in turn will get him deeper into games. In the current situation the Braves are dealing with, any way a pitcher is looking to get more innings under his belt will be music to their ears.

The cutter in particular is helpful for quick outs because, when effective, it gets the type of chase that leads to grounds outs and pop ups as soon as the first pitch of an at-bat.

In time, this effort should begin to translate to the results that most will look at first. That's the benefit of being a young prospect in the lower minor leagues, those surface stats can take a backseat for a bit while the underlying work gets underway.

Hype around Caminiti is all the same like it is with other members of the Emperors. He leads the way on a team where a third of the Braves' top prospects are together at once.

Because they're all about the same age, 19 and 20 years old, there isn't a need to rush. They can all develop at the proper pace and work their way up. There is a want to see Caminiti continue his rise.

But as said before, there is a foundation to be built. Only then can the structure on top of it be built. The cement is drying and becoming sturdier. After that, more will start to sprout up and likely in a hurry.

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