🎶It’s the most wonderful time of the year.🎶
The drolls of the everlasting January are finally over and we enter the month of February with hope in the air as players begin to collect in Florida as Spring
Training is right around the corner. Yesterday we saw who just missed out on top 30 list – a wide array of talent with a lot of promise. We’ve seen the Braves make sway away from the pitching dominant drafts from mere years ago, and shift towards adding much needed talent to the positional ranks. As a result, while the top of the list was pretty straight forward, we saw a much wider array of rankings – so without further ado let’s take a look at our Top 30. Make sure to leave comments, but the minor league crew will be also hosting a Q&A later this Friday.
30. Drue Hackenberg – RHP
How he got to the Braves: 2023 2nd round pick (59th overall)
At one point in time, Hackenburg looked like he could be a legitimate future piece for Atlanta in some capacity. Drafted in the 3rd round of the 2023 draft, Hackenburg immediately produced and showed great results in his first full pro season in 2024.
Over 25 starts and 129 innings, Hackenburg made his way from low-A Augusta to triple-A Gwinnett over the course of one season. During that stretch, he spun a 3.07 ERA, which resulted in him being listed in the top-20 Braves prospects on most lists by the beginning of 2025.
However, that all went south in 2025, as Hackenburg’s numbers took an abysmal turn.
While he was injured fairly often in 2025, when he was on the mound it didn’t go great for the righty. In 21 starts consisting of 74 innings, Hackenburg struggled mightily to an ERA of 6.81, striking out 67 batters with a brutal WHIP of 1.82. Hackenburg didn’t get demolished by batters in terms of the long ball as he only gave up nine homers over the course of the season. However, he was getting hit around on a fairly consistent basis, as opposing batters has an average of .279 on the season – a stark contrast from his organization leading number of .212 in 2024. Add to the fact he walked 54 batters in his 74 innings of work, and it’s not exactly a surprise the season went the way it did.
The book isn’t closed on Hackenburg by any stretch of imagination. There are a plethora of reasons you could chalk up one bad season, whether it be injuries, incosistent times on the IL and playing, etc. There’s still a decent chance he can right the ship and become a solid bullpen piece or a fringe rotation guy at the big league level. However, he’s going to have to show he can put last year behind him and bounce back in a hurry or else his prospect stock will take a huge nosedive once again.
29. Carter Holton – LHP
How he got to the Braves: 2024 2nd round pick (62nd overall)
A three year starter at Vanderbilt, Carter Holton finds himself at the back end of the list because after making one appearance in 2024, he was shut down and received Tommy John surgery. Coming in at 5’11” Carter doesn’t have the prototypical size for a starting pitcher which adds risk to his profile, add in the fact that he just had the surgery as well and…well it’s safe to say we don’t know what to really expect from Carter. Carter has a four pitch mix that is led by three average to plus off speed offerings – a plus slider, and an average to slight above average curveball and changeup. Having made just played one game it’s safe to assume he starts the season at Augusta, but at 23 years of age, expect a quick promotion should he succeed. That said, there are not high expectations for Carter to enter the season as the main goal will be to maintain health and getting used to being on the mound again.
28. Hayden Harris – RHP
How he got to the Braves: 2022 Un-drafted free agent
There’s no way to go about it – Hayden Harris had one of the most dominant seasons a Braves prospect has ever had last year. Across 43 games Hayden registered a 0.52 ERA, 13.67 K/9 rate, and 3.29 BB/9 rate. He absolutely mystified batters shown by his paltry .118 batting average against. Hayden was able to use his unique fastball in the upper third extremely well, generating strong whiffs against a pitch that comes in at 90-92 MPH. We knew about his dynamite splitter that drops out of the zone, but last year saw Hayden locate his sweeper much better to both sides of the plate making at bats against him even more difficult. All of this resulted in Hayden being named an All-MiLB first teamer, and named to the MLB Futures game. As long as that sweeper command continues, look for Hayden to continue to put up extremely strong strikeout numbers -numbers that could begin to accumulate in Atlanta.
27. Cade Kuehler – RHP
How he got to the Braves: 2023 2nd round compensation pick (70th overall)
There might not be a player anticipating the start of the season more than Cade Kuehler who sat out the 2025 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. His ranking this season comes as pure projection as nobody is quite sure what to expect from the former Campbell standout. Cade has a strong fastball, and slider to go with what we will call a developing splitter. Cade will be 24 most of the season so while health is the most important thing for him this season, he must also show improvement with his pitch mix because he did look like it regressed back in 2024 (which absolutely could have been because of the injury). Signed for over $1M, Cade will be given every chance to start a starter, but if the splitter doesn’t develop there is a chance he could be a fast moving reliever.
26. Dixon Williams – 2B
How he got to the Braves: 2025 4th round compensation pick (136th overall)
The Braves drafted Dixon Williams in the fourth round out of East Carolina based on the strength of his bat and the growth potential of a player who didn’t start to focus on baseball full-time until college. Williams is a high end athlete with a football background who has shown growth every year during his college tenure. He went from just 15 plate appearances as a freshman to a .896 OPS as a sophomore, followed by a breakout while winning the New England Collegiate League MVP that summer, followed by a 1.012 OPS during his draft season featuring career highs in both homers and walks. After signing he went to Augusta, where he hit .269/.395/.462 with a pair of homers and 16 walks to 35 strikeouts over his 114 plate appearances. Williams is a potential four tool guy, lacking the arm strength only, with enough versatility to play every spot in the infield as well as even some time in center field in college, who probably projects best at second base long term. He’s going to need some time to continue refining his hit tool and his defense, which is to be expected for a player newer to full-time baseball that hadn’t consistently played one position in college – however he has the tool set to develop into the Braves next starter at second base now that we’ve started to see his power emerge. He is likely going to open this year in Rome, but could get a shot to earn a way up to Columbus with a good start to his season.
25. Ethan Bagwell – RHP
How he got to the Braves: 2024 6th round pick (191st overall)
There might not be another prospect as excited for 2026 as Ethan who looks to make his name on the Braves farm system this year. Fully healthy, Ethan stands at 6’4” and an extremely muscle 230+ pounds – a specimen on the mound. Ethan worked in the low-to-mid 90s, and looked to be incorporating a two seam into his repertoire. Ethan features a dynamic slider, and a developing changeup to round out a very impressive arsenal that leaves a lot to like. While the whiffs weren’t there last season which resulted in a rough strikeout rate (6.86 K/9), Ethan did induce groundballs at a strong rate (47.5%), and was able to keep the walk rate down (2.9 BB/9). Ethan looks every bit the part of a starting pitcher, and should his newly incorporate two seam, and changeup continue to develop, there will be a lot more people talking about him.
