Over the past week, we’ve been pointing out the best performances in various levels of Atlanta’s minor leagues, starting with the Dominican Summer League and the rookie-level Florida Complex League.
Now the fun really begins. The next stop on our trip around the Braves minor league system takes us to full-season ball, starting with the Single-A Augusta GreenJackets.
Entering the season, this was probably my personal favorite team in the organization to keep tabs on. Many of Atlanta’s higher-ranked prospects made their way through Augusta at some point this year, making it one of the more interesting rosters in the system to follow from beginning to end.
Unfortunately for us spectators, and fortunately for the players, quite a few of those guys played their way into promotions to High-A Rome. That means some of the biggest names from Augusta ultimately spent a good chunk of their seasons elsewhere.
That is obviously a good thing. In fact, a few players on this list could easily find themselves in the running for our upcoming High-A and even Double-A pieces.
However, between the number of games they played in Augusta and the impact they made while they were there, this felt like the right place to highlight this group.
The Bats That Stood Out
Tate Southisene (2025 | R1 P22 | Basic HS | $2,622,500)
It would only be right to start this list with one of Atlanta’s top prospects and a Top 100 prospect in all of baseball, Tate Southisene.
When Atlanta selected Southisene with the 22nd overall pick in 2025, the selection was viewed by many as a massive reach. He eventually signed for just under $1.4 million under-slot, and his professional debut shortly after signing did not exactly quiet those concerns. It left plenty of people wondering just how high his ceiling actually was.
Well, let me tell you, that ceiling looks pretty high now. Southisene started the season in Augusta, where it didn’t take long for his improved approach at the plate to show itself. He batted .273 with a .933 OPS and four home runs during the first month of the season, immediately looking like a different hitter than the one we saw following the draft.
He stayed in Single-A until the beginning of June, ultimately slashing .297/.429/.500 with a .929 OPS and 152 wRC+. Most importantly, Southisene made massive strides with both his swing decisions and ability to make contact.
His zone contact rate jumped up from just 63.2% to 82.2%. His chase rate improved from 36.5% to 23.4%, while his whiff rate also dropped from 40.1% to 25.4%. Those improvements helped nearly cut his strikeout rate in half, falling from 40.9% to 21.3%.
Those are not small developmental wins, but rather a hitter fundamentally changing the way he handles an at-bat. With better swing decisions came significantly better contact and even a little more power than many expected to see this early.
Southisene’s .500 SLG with Augusta was the second-highest mark on the team, and he piled up 20 extra-base hits, including eight home runs. Even more impressive, his .429 OBP led the team.
Then there is the speed. If you know anything about Southisene, you know he possesses plus speed, and he put it to good use by stealing 36 bases in just 51 games at the level. When you combine that kind of speed with an improving hit tool, legitimate on-base ability, and more power than expected, you start to understand why his prospect stock has risen so quickly.
Southisene was eventually promoted to High-A Rome, where he slashed .255/.379/.428 with an .806 OPS across 38 games. Atlanta then pushed him again, this time to Double-A Columbus despite him still being just 19 years old. Unfortunately, the rocket ship was knocked off course almost immediately. In his first game with Columbus, Southisene was hit in the hand, effectively ending his regular season.
The good news is that he will play in the Arizona Fall League this year, so his recovery appears to be nearly complete. That will give him another opportunity to raise his stock while playing alongside some of the best prospects in baseball.
If he handles that challenge well, Southisene could begin next season with Double-A Columbus at just 20 years old. That would be an extremely aggressive assignment, but after what he showed this season, it would also be an incredibly exciting one for Braves fans.
Conor Essenburg (2025 | R5 P157 | Lincoln-Way West HS | $1,197,500)
If you have followed basically anything I have written about Braves prospects, you probably already know where I stand on Conor Essenburg. He’s been my flag plant since Atlanta selected him in the fifth round of the same draft that produced Tate Southisene.
Essenburg, along with prep lefty Briggs McKenzie, was one of the Braves’ primary over-slot signings after the organization opened the draft with several significant under-slot deals.
He played just eight games with Augusta this season before an oblique strain sidelined him for roughly a month. Once he returned in late May, however, he became one of the best offensive players in the entire minor leagues.
Across 51 games following his return, Essenburg slashed .298/.432/.586 with a 1.018 OPS, 167 wRC+, 19.1% walk rate, and 13 home runs. Among Single-A hitters with at least 200 plate appearances during that stretch, he ranked inside the top five in OBP, SLG, OPS, and wRC+.
This is where the Conor Essenburg profile gets really interesting to me. He has one of the best eyes in the entire Braves system. He is extremely patient, rarely expands outside of the zone, and posted a 23.7% chase rate that helped produce a ridiculous 19.7% walk rate with Augusta.
That patience does come with a tradeoff, though. Essenburg can sometimes let hittable pitches go by early in counts, which consistently puts him in more difficult situations. There is only so much damage any hitter can do while constantly battling from behind, and that is where some of the swing-and-miss begins to creep in. He finished his Augusta stint with a 32.3% whiff rate and 31.5% strikeout rate.
To me, that is the biggest developmental question with Essenburg moving forward. The approach is already there. The power is clearly there. If he can find the right balance between being selective and being passive, there is another level for this profile to reach.
Essenburg finished the season in High-A Rome, slashing .235/.412/.392 with an .804 OPS and 128 wRC+ across 29 games. The batting average was not necessarily there, but the underlying impact remained.
10 of his 24 hits went for extra bases, including three home runs. More encouragingly, he actually increased his walk rate to 20.6% while cutting his strikeout rate down to 23.5% despite facing better competition.
Next year is going to be a really fun one to watch for Conor Essenburg. He has the bat, the power, the eye, and even the arm in the outfield to really rocket up organizational and national prospect rankings. If he can continue limiting the swing-and-miss, I do not think a future Top 100 appearance is out of the question.
He and Southisene would be my two position players in the running for Braves Minor League Player of the Year.
Carter Beck (2026 | R1 P26 | Indiana State | $2,684,100)
Thanks to Drake Baldwin winning NL Rookie of the Year, the Atlanta Braves were awarded an additional first-round pick, 26th overall, while adding roughly $3.6 million to their bonus pool.
Atlanta used that pick on Indiana State outfielder Carter Beck, signing him under-slot as part of an early money-saving strategy that allowed the Braves to pursue high-priority prep talent later in the draft.
Beck’s college Savant page was about as red as you will ever see. At the same time, he was not viewed as a prospect with one obvious carrying tool. Instead, the profile was built around a collection of average to above-average tools that made him a relatively high-floor college selection.
Because of that, plenty of people questioned whether the overall package really warranted a first-round pick. Hand up, I was one of them. So far, however, Beck has done a pretty good job proving me wrong.
He opened his professional career by rattling off four consecutive two-hit games and added three more during his brief 11-game stay in Augusta. Beck collected 18 hits over those 11 games, although only two went for extra bases, with one double and one home run.
Still, that is about as encouraging a debut as you could ask for from a college bat entering Single-A. Beck showed exactly why his contact ability was so appealing coming out of Indiana State. He posted a 23.5% whiff rate, 24.8% chase rate, and an impressive 89.8% zone contact rate during his time with Augusta. That translated to only seven strikeouts while drawing six walks.
Beck was quickly promoted to High-A Rome, where things became a little more difficult. He recorded just 14 hits in 18 games, but we did start to see some power creep back into the profile. Beck finished his Rome stint with three doubles, a triple, and a home run.
It’s also worth remembering just how long of a season this was for him. Beck played 57 games with Indiana State before adding another 29 after being drafted. By September, it would be completely understandable for both his body and mind to be running on fumes.
Next year will give us a much better idea of what Atlanta has in Beck. I expect him to begin the season back in Rome, where he should have a runway to play every day and continue proving people like myself wrong. Luckily for the Braves, he will still be just 21 years old.
Luis Guanipa (2023 | IFA | VE | $2,500,000)
The crown jewel of Atlanta’s 2023 international signing class was Luis Guanipa, the No. 34 international prospect in the class according to MLB Pipeline. Signed for $2.5 million out of Venezuela, Guanipa drew attention because of his ability to provide legitimate offensive impact despite standing just 5’9.
He immediately debuted in the DSL as a 17-year-old in 2023, posting a modest .744 OPS while showing enough with his approach to earn a move stateside the following year. In 2024, Guanipa batted .282 with a .796 OPS across 20 games at the complex before earning his first promotion to Augusta.
His first stint there did not go particularly well. Guanipa struggled mightily across 32 games, but as an 18-year-old playing full season ball, there was absolutely no reason to panic. Unfortunately, injuries then limited him to just 35 games between the complex and Augusta in 2025.
This made 2026 a pretty significant season for Guanipa. Now entering his age 20 season, it felt like the point where he needed to start putting everything together if he was going to establish a legitimate path toward the majors. He did exactly that.
Across 91 games and 422 plate appearances with Augusta, Guanipa slashed .303/.365/.452 with an .817 OPS and 118 wRC+. More importantly, the power-speed combination that made him so intriguing as an international prospect really started to show itself. He finished with 17 doubles, 11 home runs, and 37 stolen bases.
Guanipa certainly comes with a more aggressive approach, posting a 56.0% swing rate, but he still managed an 85.0% zone contact rate. Despite being willing to swing, he limited his whiffs to 22.7% and ranked among the better hitters at the level with just a 12.7% strikeout rate.
There’s a difference between being aggressive and simply having poor swing decisions. Guanipa showed this season that he can be the former without necessarily becoming the latter.
After 91 games in Augusta, Atlanta promoted Guanipa to High-A Rome, where he struggled over the final 31 games of the season. He still recorded eight doubles, a triple, and three home runs, but batted just .217 with a .588 OPS.
That should not take away from the season he put together. Guanipa will likely begin his age 21 season back in Rome next year, with Double-A Columbus becoming a realistic goal at some point during the season. For a player who had essentially lost a year of development to injuries, what we saw in 2026 was a very, very positive sign.
Now the challenge is proving he can do it again against better competition.
Dalton McIntyre (2024 | R19 P581 | Southern Miss | $100,000)
The oldest prospect on this list is a lower-round, lightly hyped name in Dalton McIntyre. During his lone season at Southern Miss in 2024, McIntyre posted a .388 average, .920 OPS, and 126 wRC+. That production was enough for Atlanta to select him in the 19th round of the 2024 MLB Draft.
Last season, McIntyre spent most of his time at the complex, where he posted a .665 OPS and 102 wRC+. Atlanta gave him 36 plate appearances with High-A Rome at the end of the year, where he collected five hits, including one double.
This season, he once again opened with Rome and recorded four hits across 17 plate appearances in his first five games. Atlanta then sent him down to Single-A Augusta, and that is where McIntyre took off.
Across 29 games with the GreenJackets, he slashed .320/.386/.476 with an .862 OPS and 133 wRC+. Most of his production came through singles, but McIntyre also showed some pop with four doubles and four home runs.
The key to his profile is pretty simple: swing decisions and bat-to-ball ability. With Augusta, McIntyre limited both his whiff rate at 21.3% and chase rate at 25.0%, with both comfortably better than average. His 88.1% zone contact rate also fell into the well above average range. That contact-oriented profile naturally helped him keep the strikeouts down, finishing his Augusta stint with just a 16.5% strikeout rate.
Atlanta eventually promoted him back to Rome. After posting a .652 OPS across 13 games there, the Braves pushed McIntyre again, this time to Double-A Columbus. For a college bat, simply reaching Double-A that quickly is something I always like to see.
McIntyre posted a modest .625 OPS with the Clingstones, but continued displaying his ability to limit chase against more advanced pitching.
For a profile like his, I would like to see Atlanta start McIntyre back in Columbus next season. No, he did not replicate his Augusta production as he climbed the system, but as a college bat entering his age 23 season, I would rather see the Braves keep him close to his perceived age-to-level competition and find out how much the hit tool can carry him.
He might not be the flashiest prospect in the system, but players who consistently make good swing decisions and put the ball in play tend to give themselves opportunities to keep moving.
The Arms That Caught My Attention
Davis Polo (2022 | IFA | VE | N/A)
If Southisene and Essenburg are my top two offensive players in the Braves farm system this year, Davis Polo has a legitimate case to be in that conversation on the pitching side.
Signed for a small, undisclosed amount during the 2022 international signing period, Polo had been on a slow but steady climb through the organization before an injury sidelined him for the entire 2025 season.
He made 10 appearances in the DSL after signing in 2022, followed by 13 appearances at the complex in 2023. The following season, Polo made 15 appearances, including 12 starts, with the GreenJackets. Across his first three professional seasons, Polo posted a 4.86 ERA, 4.14 FIP, 1.24 WHIP, 21.0% strikeout rate, and just a 6.4% walk rate. Nothing there screamed future breakout, but the foundation was certainly interesting.
Upon returning from injury this season, Atlanta started him back with Single-A Augusta. That slow rise through the system quickly turned into a rocket ship.
Polo made 20 appearances with the GreenJackets, including 18 starts, and threw 99.2 innings. Both his starts and innings pitched ranked second on the team.
The 21-year-old took a massive step forward from his already solid pre-injury numbers, posting a 3.25 ERA, 3.90 FIP, 1.10 WHIP, 26.2% strikeout rate, and 9.2% walk rate. Each of those marks ranked within the top three on the team.
Atlanta rewarded him with a promotion to High-A Rome, where it took all of two starts for Polo to show he was ready for more. Across those two outings, Polo scattered six hits and allowed four earned runs while walking four and striking out an absurd 18 batters.
The Braves had seen enough. They sent him straight to Double-A Columbus, and Polo once again backed up everything he had done earlier in the season. He allowed just nine hits and three earned runs while walking four and striking out 13. He is slated to make one last appearance with Triple-A Gwinnett to end the season.
Across all three levels thus far, Polo posted a combined 3.15 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 27.6% strikeout rate, and 9.1% walk rate. He also maintained at least a 33% whiff rate and 27% chase rate at every stop, while keeping opposing hitters at a 75.0% zone contact rate or lower.
That is probably the biggest takeaway here. Polo didn’t just dominate younger hitters in Single-A and come back down to earth once the competition improved. His stuff continued missing bats as Atlanta aggressively pushed him up the system.
Going from missing an entire season to potentially touching four different levels in one year is quite the comeback. Being Rule 5 eligible this coming offseason, it is a likely scenario that Polo will be protected and added to Atlanta’s 40-man roster.
Daniel Brooks (2025 | UDFA | College of Charleston | N/A)
If there were a “Biggest Surprise” award for the Braves farm system this season, Daniel Brooks would undoubtedly get my vote on the pitching side.
Brooks went undrafted in the 2025 MLB Draft following three seasons at the College of Charleston. He made 39 appearances there, including 30 starts, and posted a respectable 4.84 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 9.6 K/9, and 3.7 BB/9. Solid numbers, but certainly nothing that suggested what was about to happen.
Brooks began his professional career at the complex this season, where Atlanta transitioned him into a relief role. Looking back now, that move seems like it may have been the beginning of unlocking something. His nine appearances there weren't much to write home about, but what Atlanta saw behind the scenes and in the underlying data was enough to earn Brooks his first promotion to full-season ball with the GreenJackets.
This is where the Daniel Brooks breakout really begins. In his first three appearances with Augusta, Brooks allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out eight without surrendering a single run.
Then he just kept doing it. Brooks eventually made 13 appearances with Augusta, producing a stat line that looks more like something you would put together in MLB The Show than something you would expect from an undrafted free agent: 27.2 IP, 14 H, 2 ER, 7 BB, 46 K.
Among Single-A pitchers with at least 20 innings, his 0.65 ERA ranked second, his 45.1% strikeout rate ranked third, and his 0.76 WHIP ranked fifth. One of the few pitchers at the level who matched that type of dominance was Seth Hernandez, one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball.
At that point, Atlanta really had no choice but to promote Brooks to High-A Rome. Yes, the dominance continued. Brooks made three appearances with Rome and allowed just three hits and zero runs across 10.1 innings. He walked two. He struck out 16.
There really is not much more you need to say about the breakout Daniel Brooks had this year. He went from a UDFA signing most Braves fans had probably never heard of to producing one of the most dominant relief seasons anywhere in the minor leagues. This is exactly the type of arm that can fly through a system.
As an alum of my wife’s alma mater, I will admit I am especially cheering for Brooks. But there is also a bigger organizational angle here that makes his development worth watching. The Braves have lacked consistent internal reliever development in recent years. At some point, you cannot keep building an entire bullpen through free agency and trades. Developing inexpensive, controllable relief arms internally makes everything else on the roster easier.
Brooks looks like one of the pitchers with a legitimate chance to change that. If he comes anywhere close to repeating what he showed this season, Atlanta may eventually have no choice but to find out what his stuff looks like against major league hitters.
Ethan Bagwell (2024 | R6 P191 | Collinsville HS | $822,500)
I could go on and on about the seasons Polo and Brooks put together, but they were not alone. Ethan Bagwell deserves to be mentioned right alongside them after quietly putting together one of the better seasons by any pitcher in the Braves farm system.
After Atlanta selected Bagwell in the sixth round out of Collinsville High School in 2024, the Braves gave him one start with Augusta to get his feet wet. The following season, he split time between the complex and Augusta as his professional development really began. Combined, he posted a strong 3.05 ERA and 1.03 WHIP.
This year, Atlanta sent him back to Single-A, and the now 20-year-old broke out. Across 13 starts, Bagwell posted a 2.78 ERA, 3.10 FIP, and 1.04 WHIP. His strikeout rate climbed roughly six percentage points to 25.5%, while he maintained a strong 8.1% walk rate.
What I like about Bagwell is that the profile is not simply built around trying to overpower everyone. He relies on pitchability, command, and his ability to consistently throw strikes. Bagwell generated an impressive 33.1% chase rate in Augusta while also posting a 50.1% zone rate that ranked comfortably among the better marks at the level.
When a pitcher can consistently land multiple offerings for strikes and avoid giving out free passes, hitters eventually have to start protecting the zone. That is when you can expand and generate chase.
Bagwell did exactly that. Atlanta eventually promoted him to High-A Rome, where he threw 40 innings across eight starts. Still young for the level, Bagwell posted a very respectable 3.83 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 22.5% strikeout rate, and 6.3% walk rate.
He was hit around a little more than he had been in Augusta and allowed five home runs, contributing to the higher ERA, but the overall performance at his age was extremely encouraging.
To really put his season into perspective, Bagwell was one of just two pitchers under the age of 21 in the entire minor leagues to finish with a sub-3.25 ERA while throwing at least 100 innings. Within those same parameters, he posted the lowest WHIP at 1.07 and fourth-best FIP at 3.25.
That is pretty impressive company for a pitcher who does not always receive the same attention as some of the bigger names in Atlanta’s system.
Next year, I expect Bagwell to begin the season back in Rome. If he is able to come anywhere close to repeating this performance, though, I would not expect him to stay there very long. Double-A should be firmly within reach.
Aiven Cabral (2025 | R18 P547 | Northeastern | $100,000)
The next pitcher on this list continues what has become a pretty noticeable theme: lesser-known, lower-drafted arms turning themselves into legitimate prospects.
Aiven Cabral was an 18th-round selection in the 2025 MLB Draft out of mid-major power Northeastern. The Huskies were coming off the best season in program history, and Cabral had been one of the mainstays of their rotation.
During his final season there, Cabral made 16 starts and threw 89.1 innings while posting a 2.92 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. He was not necessarily a huge strikeout artist, but his ability to throw strikes was obvious.
After Atlanta drafted him, Cabral made his professional debut this season with Single-A Augusta. That ability to pound the strike zone followed him directly into professional baseball.
Cabral made just 10 appearances, including four starts, before earning a promotion. During his time with the GreenJackets, he posted a 2.54 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 20.7% strikeout rate, and just a 6.6% walk rate across 49.2 innings.
Because Cabral was so consistently around the zone, opposing hitters knew they could not simply sit around waiting for him to beat himself. That forced them into swing mode earlier in counts, which allowed Cabral to begin expanding off the plate. The result was an impressive 37.9% chase rate.
Once promoted to High-A Rome, Cabral made 13 appearances, including 12 starts, and posted a 4.15 ERA and 1.22 WHIP. He still maintained just a 6.0% walk rate.
The jump in competition led to better contact from opposing hitters, but Cabral never lost the trait that got him there in the first place. He continued pounding the strike zone.
Next season, I would like to see Cabral return to Rome and continue learning how to manipulate his arsenal to generate weaker contact and more swing-and-miss.
This is not an electric, high-velocity profile, and I do not think anyone should pretend that it is. But there is real value in a pitcher who consistently throws strikes, limits walks, and forces hitters to beat him. If Cabral can pair that command with another way to miss bats, there could be something pretty interesting here.
Adiel Melendez (2025 | UDFA | University of Montevallo | N/A)
Finally, the last pitcher I want to highlight at the Single-A level is Adiel Melendez, another impressive unheralded find by the Braves organization.
After spending three seasons at Alabama State University, where he made just 17 appearances, Melendez transferred to the University of Montevallo. There, he made 13 starts and posted a 4.41 ERA and 1.50 WHIP. As a senior entering the draft with very little negotiating leverage, Melendez ultimately went undrafted before Atlanta signed him as an UDFA.
He made his professional debut this season directly at the Single-A level. Melendez didn’t start a game, but Atlanta leaned on him for 26 appearances out of the Augusta bullpen. He even picked up eight wins along the way, tying Aiven Cabral for the team lead.
More importantly, he pitched extremely well. Melendez finished his Augusta season with a 2.42 ERA, 3.81 FIP, 1.06 WHIP, and an impressive 79.0% left on base rate.
His profile, to me, is pretty simple. He is just a good pitcher.
There’s really no one metric you can point toward that immediately jumps off the page. He does not have absurd swing-and-miss stuff, but he still posted a 29.8% strikeout rate and 30.5% whiff rate. His command is very good rather than great, but he still recorded an above-average 62.7% strike rate and a manageable 10.2% walk rate.
What Melendez did better than almost anything else was simply get hitters out. His .190 batting average against was the third-best mark in the entire Braves farm system among the 40 pitchers who threw at least 50 innings this season. His 1.06 WHIP and 79.0% left on base rate both ranked third within those same parameters.
Sometimes we can make prospect evaluation more complicated than it needs to be. At some point, if hitters consistently struggle to reach base against you, there is something worth paying attention to.
Next season will be Melendez’s age-25 season, so there is not much reason for Atlanta to move slowly. Ideally, I would like to see him begin the season in High-A Rome’s bullpen. If he repeats what he did this year, a quick promotion to Double-A Columbus should absolutely be on the table.
From there, organizational need and how much Melendez can force Atlanta’s hand will determine how quickly he moves. Not every bullpen piece needs to be a free agent signing or trade acquisition. If Atlanta can turn a few of these unheralded arms into legitimate major league relievers, it gives the organization more flexibility everywhere else on the roster.
And after what we saw in Augusta this season, there are finally a few candidates worth keeping a very close eye on.
More good Work Luke
I'll put in my 2 cents.
Guanipa will never be more than a 4th outfielder.
I suspect they thought they could sign Beck for even less. Only to find out they HAD to pay him 75% of slot value. Well there was still underslot savings.
Just heard : Acuna's little brother, a 2028 shortstop, just reached a $3 million handshake agreement with the Phillies.
Braves have a $2 million deal with Acuna's cousin, a 2030 shortstop an exceptional defensive player.