Unexpected: Braves sign top man rated higher than Ronald Acuña Jr

ATLANTA BRAVES SIGN 8 TO MILB DEALS

While many are waiting on the big splash from AA this offseason, there have been several note-worthy MLB deals and AA, like usual, utilized the early offseason to wrap up contracts with both Pierce Johnson and Joe Jimenez. He also traded a plethora of castaways for LH relief pitcher Aaron Bummer. From there, he continued the focus on pitching and signed Reynaldo Lopez to a 3 year deal, role pending. While these 4 moves are not the big splash, altogether they make for quite a month for the Braves GM.

Anthopoulos has also been busy in the minor league front. And while many of the signings are just AAA fillers, there are a few that could surprise and make the MLB roster at some point in 2024. Let’s take a look at who AA has inked.

Alejo Lopez: Glove 1st guy that can play almost all positions. Played sparingly for the Reds over a 3 year period. Decent hit tool in MiLB but hasn’t translated to the bigs.

Tommy Doyle: 2nd Rd pick in the 2017 draft and a lifelong reliever, Doyle has had more downs than ups, but has a big fastball that he has a hard time controlloing.

Andrew Velazquez: An all-glove veteran that can play everywhere and hit nowhere. He’s a good 26th man for Brian Snitker.

Ben Bowden: Another CO guy, Bowden got a cup of coffee back in 2021 as a reliever, but had poor results and hasn’t made it back up since. He has great K-rates across his MiLB journey that unfortunately coincide with horrible walk rates.

Grant Holmes: Holmes was my pick to be placed on the 40-man this offseason, but wasn’t “Granted” that opportunity. He had a strong year at AAA and I feel as though it won’t be too long before he finally gets the call. 2024 will be his 10th year in pro ball without a callup.

Luis Liberato: This is likely the most exciting MiLB signing of the offseason. Liberato is a LHH OFer that can play all 3 positions. He’s also a big splits guy, carrying a .901 OPS against RHP at AAA and a .648 against LHP. If the Braves go the platoon route in LF, look for Liberato’s name to pop up a lot during spring training.

Luke Williams: Williams is the classic journeyman that has learned it all for the field, but couldn’t break a wet sack with the bat. He’s emergency depth and is likely getting an inflated MiLB salary in return for his up and down services.

Drew Parrish: Parrish showed promise after being drafted in 2019 as he carried a 4.21 K/BB rate in 98.2 innings between High -A and AA. Unfortunately, it’s been a downhill spiral for his ERA and his K-rate, but an uphill climb for his BB-rate. He’s finally made it out of the Royals org so that’s a start.

If I were looking at this list in terms of who could make it to the bigs, my top 3 would be Liberato, Williams, and Bowden.