Braves Double-A Starter Named To MLB Prospect Team of the Week

The Atlanta Braves have invested heavily in pitching recently - they're the only organization in baseball to devote over 60% of their available MLB bonus pool money to pitching prospects over the last five drafts. They've almost exclusively taken pitchers in the first rounds of those drafts, too, with several of those arms among the team's top prospects.

But they've also done a great job at finding talented arms in the middle rounds of the draft, and a 2023 6th rounder is already beginning to look like a potential star.

Righthander Lucas Braun was named to the MLB.com Prospect Team of the Week on Monday, his 23rd birthday. The Cal State-Northridge product started twice and allowed just one run while striking out twenty batters in his 13.2 innings last week.

On the 2024 season, Braun is 7-3 with a 3.38 ERA in 22 appearances (21 starts) divided almost evenly between High-A Rome and Double-A Mississippi. Sitting at 7-3 on the season with a 3.38 ERA, Braun has struck out 137 batters against only 33 walks in his 125.1 innings.

MLB Pipeline rated Braun as the organization's 21st prospect in their latest update , expressing concern about his ceiling due to the lack of a true "out pitch". He uses a four-pitch mix of fastball, slider, curveball, and changeup, but MLB Pipeline doesn't have any of them rated as more than a 50 (average) on the 20-80 scouting scale.

Instead, most of the ranking is predicated on his ability to throw strikes and the "feel for his craft" that gives him the pitchability to navigate lineups. Braun has a 67% strike rate this season in Double-A, holding opposing hitters to a .223 average and a paltry .584 OPS.