Braves Minor League Affiliates Release Rosters for 2024 Season
With AAA Gwinnett starting their season last week, we knew where the Atlanta Braves prospects that were closest to the majors were starting their 2024 season.
But now that the rest of the minor leagues begin play today, we now have the rest of the prospect assignments for the Braves farm system.
Let's look at where the rest of the Braves minor-leaguers will start playing to open 2024:
Double-A Mississippi Braves
The Mississippi version of the Braves are starting play against the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, with one of the organization's top two pitching prosects, Hurston Waldrep, getting the ball for Sunday's game three.
Pitchers (15): LHP Luis De Avila, RHP Parker Dunshee, RHP Domingo Gonzalez, RHP Patrick Halligan, LHP Hayden Harris, RHP Jonathan Hughes, RHP Jorge Juan, RHP Zach Logue, LHP Jake McSteen, RHP Ian Mejia, RHP JJ Niekro, LHP Drew Parrish, RHP Trey Riley, RHP Hurston Waldrep, RHP Peyton Williams
Catchers (3): Drake Baldwin, Tyler Tolve, Javier Valdes
Infielders (7): Nacho Alavarez Jr., Cade Bunnell, Cal Conley, Bryson Horne, Keshawn Ogans, Geraldo Quintero, Yolbert Sanchez
Outfielders (3): Justin Dean, Cody Milligan, Brandon Parker
The big highlights here from the arms include both Waldrep and Luis De Avila, who made twenty-five starts for Mississippi last season and stands to compete with Waldrep for the honor of being called up to Gwinnett first; both pitchers made one start for the Stripers last season.
For the position players, a lot of the attention is rightfully going to go to the duo of Drake Baldwin and Nacho Alvarez Jr. Baldwin's coming off of the organization's Hank Aaron Award, given to the farm system's best offensive performer. Baldwin earned it by virtue of his .270/.385/.460 slashline and 16 homers across three levels,. Alvarez, meanwhile, is trying to show that he's capable of being the shortstop of the future for Atlanta, a position that is wide open behind incumbent Orlando Arcia.
There's going to be a lot of fireworks for announcer Chris Harris to call in the final season of Braves baseball in Mississippi, as the affiliate is relocating to Columbus, GA for the 2025 season.
Game one against the Blue Wahoos is Friday at 7:05 PM ET.
High-A Rome Emperors
It's the inaugural season for the newly-rebranded Rome Emperors, and they've got some intriguing prospects there in Rome for the 2024 season.
For pitchers, the staff is led by Owen Murphy and Drue Hackenberg, both arms that the Braves are high on as future starters. Looking at the position players, a lot of attention is going to go to the left side of the infield, where Amboris Tavares and Sebin Ceballos show that they can hold down shortstop - Ceballos, a college third baseman, will man the hot corner some as well but reports are that Atlanta wants to give him looks at shortstop as they work on organizational depth at the position.
The Emperors have named Gavin Booker as their new play-by-play voice and he'll be on the call as Rome kicks off their season tonight at 7:00 PM against Hickory.
Single-A Augusta GreenJackets
Augusta's got an interesting squad this year as they kick off play against the Columbia Fireflies.
The highlights for this team are going to start with outfielder Isaiah Drake. Playing in high school just last year, the speedster will have an acclimation period to professional baseball but has the physical tools to impress every single night. Don't sleep on Diego Benitez, either.
The arms in Augusta are probably my favorite collection of pitchers in the system, with Seth Keller, Cade Kuehler, Adam Maier, and Garrett Baumann all pitchers that I'm excited to see over a full season.
Augusta's also breaking in a new broadcaster this season, with Noah Adcock-Howeth joining the organization for 2024. He'll be on the call for tonight's 7:05 PM first pitch at home against Columbia.