Top pitching prospect AJ Smith-Shawver promoted to AA Mississippi
The Rome Braves, High-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, announced today that top pitching prospect AJ Smith-Shawver has been promoted to AA Mississippi.
Smith-Shawver, a 7th round pick out of high school in the 2021 MLB Draft, is considered by many outlets to be the #1 prospect in the Atlanta Braves system. On the 2023 season, he's made three starts for Rome, pitching fourteen innings with six hits, four walks, and twenty-three strikeouts. He's striking out 44% of batters faced on the season with a 37% strikeout-to-walk rate.
The righthander's commonly referred to as a "Spencer Strider starter kit", as he features two elite-quality pitches in his fastball and slider. The fastball, which averages 96 and has touched 99 this season, has both fantastic carry up in the zone and can cut or run at times, making it difficult for opposing hitters to square up. He pairs that with a traditional, two-plane break slider in the upper-80s that features late dive below the strike zone. His third pitch, similar to Strider's, is a changeup, but it's still a work in progress and sits in the same velocity band as the slider.
He's working on streamlining the mechanics - Smith-Shawver isn't entirely balanced through the finish of his delivery, and there's momentum that takes him off the rubber to the first-base side instead of imparting additional kinetic energy into each pitch.
(Here's Jake and I discussing it on Locked On Braves)
One of several prominent pitching prospects in the system, Smith-Shawver looks to be part of the next wave of potential starters to trickle up through the farm system and provide rotation reinforcements.
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