How Acquired
Owen Carey was selected in the 15th round of the 2024 MLB Draft. He was the overall 461st pick of the draft.
What Were Expectations?
There were some solid expectations for Owen as the Braves were able to agree to terms with him and sign him for $150K following the draft. Any time you have that kind of payout to a player later in the draft it indicates the teams willingness to bank on their scouting, and it’s safe to assume Owen made a lot of people happy with his 2025 performance.
2025 Results
The overall numbers might not stick out to you, as Owen hit .258/.330/.345 across 117 games for the Augusta GreenJackets but it was the in season adjustments, and notes from coaches and scouts that really paint a fantastic picture for Owen. What we saw was a young player showing a very mature approach at the plate, striking out just 15% of the time. He sprayed the ball to all parts of the park, and showed solid gap power with 25 doubles.
He provided good defense out in the field, with a strong arm. While you want the GB% to drop, as it sat at 49%, his fly ball rate was a solid 31%, and his line drive rate was nearly 20% – both really good indicators of a good swing. It was the summer months that saw his production dip, as he hit .231/.290/.286 in June, and .208/.315/.247 in July, but ended the season on a strong note – hitting .292/.370/.417 across the seasons final 6 games.
What Went Right?
A lot went right for Owen in 2025 – starting with him actually starting the season in full season ball – something you don’t typically see from 18 year olds. As noted above, he showed a very mature approach at the plate with a good strikeout rate. Of all the video I watched of him personally, he did a great job at not chasing breaking pitches – again something you don’t see too often from high school players. Owen also showed the ability to drive the ball to all parts of the park, while not expanding the zone too often.
What Went Wrong?
If I had to nitpick, you wanted to see a bit of a high walk rate (7.2%), but it was still pretty solid. His defense was good, his approach was good, his swing looked good – so again to nitpick it was the summer swoon that really was the only thing that you could say went wrong. But the thing is, that’s pretty much expected, as the season ramps on, teams have access to more data, and make adjustments to take advantage of perceived flaws. But the thing that sticks out about Owen was his unique ability to respond to those changes and finish the season strong.
2026 Outlook
I will be the first to say that I did not expect Owen to look as good as he did in 2025. He was an intriguing draft pick at the time of the selection because of his tools, but to see him play as well as he did was a huge boost to his stock, that will ultimately bring higher expectations coming into 2026. I fully expect Owen to start the season at Rome, potentially back in an outfield that features Isaiah Drake, and Eric Hartman – making it the most intriguing outfield for the Braves in quite some time. If all things remain the same and we see an increase and power, and decrease in ground ball percentage, a lot more people across baseball will be talking about Owen Carey.
