Wednesday, July 16

ATLANTA -- The Braves focused on pitching with their early selections from last summer’s MLB Draft. Here is how their first five selections have fared so far. 

LHP Cam Caminiti (Braves No. 1 prospect): The 18-year-old southpaw got a late start after battling arm discomfort during Spring Training. He has allowed 11 hits, surrendered eight earned runs, notched 11 strikeouts and issued two walks through his first three starts, each against the Rays in the Florida Complex League. He has steadily increased his workload, completing a season-high 4 2/3 innings in his most recent outing.

LHP Carter Holton (Braves No. 16 prospect): Braves scouting director Ronit Shah raised eyebrows when he told media members that Holton finished the 2024 season strong for Vanderbilt. The lefty recorded one out in his last regular-season start and wasn’t used during the SEC Tournament. He was used out of the bullpen in the NCAA Regional. He underwent Tommy John surgery last summer and is currently completing the long rehab process.

RHP Luke Sinnard (Braves No. 19 prospect): Sinnard is doing what a 22-year-old prospect should be doing at the Single-A level. The 6-foot-8 hurler has posted a 0.92 ERA while recording 41 strikeouts and issuing 12 walks over 29 1/3 innings for Augusta. It looks like the Braves were wise to take a chance on this righty after he missed the 2024 season with Indiana University while recovering from Tommy John surgery.

LHP Herick Hernandez (Braves No. 21): Hernandez showed his potential on Wednesday when he recorded 10 strikeouts and allowed just one run over six innings against Single-A Hub City. The 21-year-old lefty entered that outing with a 6.67 ERA through his first seven starts for High-A Rome.

C Nick Montgomery (Braves No. 22): The Braves provided an over-slot $997,500 signing bonus ($403,400 was the slot value) to Montgomery, who had committed to play at Arizona State. The introduction to the professional ranks has been challenging for the 19-year-old catcher, who has hit .174 with three homers and a .552 OPS over 140 plate appearances for Augusta.

As Ronald Acuña Jr. prepared to make his season debut on Friday, “What do you think he’ll do?” was a popular question bouncing through the press box. I said he’d have two hits with a double. Then, after Acuña hit a Statcast-projected 467-foot homer against the first big league pitch he’d seen in 362 days, I was thinking, why didn’t I make that prediction?

No player had previously homered in the first at-bat collected after missing 150 games. But that’s what Acuña does. He does the incredible and then tells us the leadoff homer he hit against Nick Pivetta unfolded exactly how he envisioned.

It would have seemed like B.S. if it had come out of any other player’s mouth. But as Matt Olson said after Acuña homered again on Saturday, “Sometimes, you’re just born with it, and he definitely was.”

Acuña’s power is ridiculous. He and Aaron Judge lead all MLB players with 13 460+ ft home runs, including playoffs, since the start of the 2018 season. Judge has played approximately 140 more games than the Braves right fielder during this span.

Still, if ranking Acuña’s tools, I might put his arm ahead of his power. You’ll see the outfield assists on the highlight clips. But when determining the arm’s total value, you must also account for how many times his reputation stops a runner from trying to advance from first to second, second to third or from third to the plate. 

Raise your hand if you thought Grant Holmes would be a better fit in the bullpen? I’d raise mine, but I prefer to type with two hands.

It has been fun to watch Holmes continue to prove us doubters wrong. He has pitched into the sixth inning in his past eight starts. More impressively, he has pitched into the seventh inning in four of his past five starts, including each of his past three. 

Holmes has a 3.62 ERA over his past eight starts and a 2.93 ERA over his past five starts. He spent 10 years in the Minors before reaching the Majors last summer. Proving doubters wrong is starting to be an old hat for him. 

“Unbelievable,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “You just look at what he's done, and it's like, holy cow.”

Who has hit the most home runs for the Braves at Philadelphia’s Citizens Bank Park, which opened in 2004?

A) Chipper Jones

B) Andruw Jones

C) Freddie Freeman

D) Brian McCann

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C. Freeman

Freeman hit 15 homers, including his career-first blast, over the 387 at-bats he collected for the Braves in Philadelphia. McCann ranks second with 13 in 303 at-bats. Chipper Jones (203 ABs) and Matt Olson (88 ABs) are tied for third with 11. Accounting for his years with the A’s, Olson has totaled 14 homers in 100 at-bats at CBP.  

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