In that regard, much of the mission has been accomplished. On scouting scales, eight - or 80 - represents the rare top ranking for a player’s specific tools.īraves officials insist it’s not a classic strip-it-down rebuild – after all, they did sign free-agent Nick Markakis to a $44 million deal and acquired a pair of former closers, Jason Grilli and Jim Johnson, to serve as setup men for all-everything closer Craig Kimbrel, whom Hart says the Braves have not discussed with any team as a potential trade piece.īut Hart, who took over as de facto general manager after Frank Wren was fired in late September, made it clear that that restocking an alarmingly thin farm system was the immediate top priority, particularly with pitching. They’re not looking for fives, they’re looking for six, seven, eight.” “And now, you see the guys that (president of baseball operations) John Hart and (assistant general manager) John Coppollela are looking for. Now it's at least in the top half according to Manuel, and the top 10 according to some evaluators.īefore this offseason, “the depth was just not there, and the impact potential was pretty hard to find,” Manuel said. The Braves farm system would've ranked 29th out of 30 major league teams in early November, Baseball America editor-in-chief John Manuel told me this morning in an hour-long chat we had about the state of the farm system. Among the reconfigured top 20 are all seven prospects the Braves got from the Padres and Astros in trades that sent Justin Upton to San Diego and Gattis to Houston.

2-3 spots on BA’s revamped prospect list, behind only second baseman Jose Peraza.įive of the top 10 and 11 of the top 20 were acquired in trades.

That haul includes a pair of pitchers, Mike Foltynewicz from the Astros and left-hander Max Fried from the Padres, who move into the Nos.

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