How Acquired
The Braves selected Cam in the first round of the 2024 draft. The selection was a bit of a surprise due to Cam actually being available with the 24th pick because of his lottery pick talent.
It was a selection the Braves were happy to make and so far it has almost exceeded expectations.
What Were the Expectations?
Cam had only made a single start in 2024, so it was an open world for Cam. Coming into the draft Cam was frequently praised for his ability to throw all of his pitches for strikes – a scenario you don’t often see coming from a 17 year old. So, coming into the season the main expectation was to see the sustained success of being able to locate pitches, and pitch surprisingly efficiently for, now, an 18 year old. His advanced pitchability painted a picture of someone that would pitch well in Low-A.
2025 Results
Cam lived up to every single bit of the hype that came with his draft status. His season got started a bit late because it took him a tad longer to get into game shape than expected. He made four starts in the FCL and put up strong advanced numbers. While the ERA sat at robust 7.24, he was striking out hitters at a 9.8K/9 rate, and limiting walks (1.32 BB/9). He was promoted to full season ball with Low-A Augusta in June and that’s when we got our first real look at the talented pitcher and goodness did he live up to the expectations.
The first thing we got to see was the game plan that the Braves had for him which was to focus on his sweeper. Cam essentially became a two pitch pitcher, ditching his best pitches, to focus on the development of his fastball and its command, along with that sweeper, and then added his changeup every now and then. Based on that you wouldn’t have the highest expectations on end of season numbers, but Cam excelled. He was able to locate his fastball to the upper third, becoming a dominant whiff pitch, and generate whiffs by LHB and RHB with his sweeper. While his command would leave him every now and then, highlighted by the 4.15 BB/9 rate, he would overwhelm hitters for periods of time.
What Went Right?
Given the paragraph above, it’s safe to say just about everything went right for Cam this season. He built up his pitch count into the 80s by the end of the season, he had long stretches of absolute dominance while using just two pitches, and overall showed just about everything you would want to see from an 18 year old pitcher making his full season debut.
What Went Wrong?
The biggest issue was the start of the season, or rather, the delay to it. It took Cam longer than expected to get into game shape which delayed his season just a bit. Reports from the beginning of the year hinted at some kind of annoying injury, but were never confirmed. But once he got started, everything went to plan.
2026 Outlook
After a full season debut like that, expectations will be very high for Cam going into 2026. The first big milestone will be his ability to withstand a full season, and pitch a bit deeper into games. He was capped around 75 pitches a game towards the end of the season, so there will be an expectation that we see an increase in that number. The second big milestone will be the Braves unleashing his curveball – the pitch Cam deems as his best pitch. The plan was for the development of the sweeper and we definitely saw that come in towards the middle of the season. But next season – the expectation should be to see the full arsenal. If Cam shows the same level of success with his command as 2025, the skies the limit.
