6 Braves lower-tier names that have put themselves on map with strong start to 2024

With any system, there is a tendency to focus solely on the best prospects, which is understandable given that those are usually the ones who will make an impact in the majors.

Still, occasionally players come out of nowhere to succeed, so I took a look at six Atlanta Braves prospects who did not make our preseason top 30 list but have looked great so far in 2024.

Drew Compton

Every season we cover features at least one Drew Compton. The Braves will send an advanced hitter to the minor leagues, where he will look like Tony Gwynn for a month before facing higher-level competition and proving why they were not ranked higher in the first place. Compton is likely one of those men. He went undrafted out of Georgia Tech, and while he was a great college player, his profile had limitations that put him out of the top twenty. The Braves signed him, and he has performed admirably thus far. In fact, he has been great for Augusta this year, with 18 walks and 14 strikeouts.

Compton was already a marginal potential as an amateur, but he missed a significant number of games as a senior at Georgia Tech. He was recognized for his power as an amateur, and he has demonstrated raw power as a professional, but he has made significant progress in making consistent contact. Still, he will be challenged against better level pitching, which he struggled with in college, and only then will we be able to assess his growth. Compton will be a 1B/DH, so he will need to rake to enter the majors.

EJ Exposito

Exposito was a peripheral potential heading into this season, but he didn’t take long to drop out of my top 30 list. Exposito is an every-day infielder who, in my opinion, can stick at shortstop. He has smooth and controlled moves in the field, but his arm is erratic, and he is best served at second base. Exposito is a player that is well-liked by the organization, and he does a lot of things well; but, he has never put anything exceptional on video.

Exposito’s biggest difficulty is a lack of contact, which has followed him into 2024. He struggles to recognize secondary pitches and is frequently beat out of the zone, despite his ability to hit fastballs hard. Exposito’s raw power is slightly below average, but it is accentuated by his upper cut swing, which is designed to chase power on the pull side, and he approaches each at-bat with the goal of hitting the ball hard to the pull side. This season, he’s led the South Atlantic League in home runs.  It’s a very narrow profile that probably gets beat by Double-A pitching, but it’s not impossible to see a jump in pitch recognition be enough for him to find his way onto a roster as a power-first bench infielder.

Robert Gonzalez

This is the only player from this group who has definitely established himself in my top 30, and it’s intriguing since he is by far the weakest performer in the group. Gonzalez is far too aggressive at the plate, often pursuing breaking balls out of the zone and ending up swinging at pitches that don’t allow him to make maximum impact contact. Because of this, he hasn’t hit for much power or drawn many walks in his professional career, and Single-A pitchers have been able to get him to strike out 27% of the time. And yet.

Gonzalez hits line drives at a high rate and consistently achieves triple digit exit velocities. Despite not reaching.100 isolated power in any of his domestic league seasons, there is plenty of reason to believe Gonzalez can develop into ordinary or above-average power. The swing is a little lengthy, but his hands are quick and he has good bat control. Nearly all of Gonzalez’s problems are based around an immature approach, something that is certainly fixable for a 19 year old. It’s going to take time, and is complicated by my belief that he ultimately moves off of center field and over to a corner, but there are definitely the tools in the arsenal for Gonzalez to be a major league regular.

Ian Mejia

Mejia has been a consistently successful professional pitcher, and this season, he has emerged as the top gun in Mississippi’s rotation. Mejia typically has good whiff rates and strong starts, and despite my doubts that he can stay in a rotation, he’s now having success against mid-level batters. Mejia has a three-pitch mix, and all of his pitches appear to be a little crisper this season, thanks to his ability to locate them all. His slider is unquestionably his finest weapon, and it has been his primary source of swing and miss this season, albeit he has gotten away with more fastballs than in prior years.

Mejia’s three pitch mix and projectable frame give him a shot to stick as a starter, but he rarely employs his changeup and his fastball has failed to gain velocity as a professional. For me, the scenario is similar to Luis De Avila’s, in that, while I see the results, I’m not sure the raw talent is good enough to compete with major league quality hitting. Unlike De Avila, Mejia hits his places consistently, allowing him to spin out of danger and use his slider in any count.

Elison Joseph

The next two guys have similar profiles, but there is a definite heirarchy in terms of potential rank. Joseph signed with the Braves late in their 2019 international signing class, two months before his 19th birthday, meaning he did not make his debut for the system until he was 20 years old. In subsequent seasons, Joseph has remained the same pitcher, a fire-balling right-hander whose inability to find the strike zone limits his success. So far this season, Joseph has made a good transition to High-A, increasing his strikeout rate to 37% and lowering his walk rate to 11%.

The good news is that Joseph has done just that in each of the previous three seasons: increased his strikeout percentage while decreasing his walk rate. The issue is that I don’t believe his command has much improved, and he continues to throw strikes at a rate that is well below average. He’s 23 and still playing A-ball, so it’s difficult for me to get out of my seat for Joseph. Joseph still throws an effortless high-90s and incorporates a slider that, when targeted, generates a high rate of whiffs. He is as good a prospect as any reliever, but I’m not sure how he’ll handle Double-A.

Rolddy Munoz

Rolddy Munoz has caught his stride this season, transitioning from being mostly known as Roddery’s brother to a player I believe will join the major leagues in some capacity. I’m not convinced Rolddy’s command is good enough to stay in the major leagues, but his stuff is, and he’s gotten better at finding his fastball with each season. Then again, he was on his third journey to High-A and, at the age of 24, needed a test. He received it, and I can confirm similar results from his stay in Mississippi.

Rolddy has the system’s highest strikeout rate among pitchers with 10 or more innings, with 44.7% this season. He hasn’t slowed down at Double-A, either, recording seven strikeouts in his most recent game and succeeding with both his fastball and slider. Rolddy’s slow windup almost puts you to sleep, and then he strikes forward with lightning arm speed, beating strong hitters in the zone with his fastball. His fastball has gone forward and now sits at 98 mph, with hits reaching triple digits.

 Paired with a wipeout low-90’s slider he is approaching the territory where even I, someone who will go on the record as saying that I do not rank relievers highly unless they have elite traits, think he is on the border of top 30 contention. He’s been excellent this season, and the Braves are likely going to push him because that arsenal could get him stolen away in the Rule 5 draft this winter.