To kick off July the good folks over at Baseball America have updated the top 30 prospects for every major league team, and the Atlanta Braves list features a familiar and predictable top three. Cam Caminiti’s dominance, and the hype he entered the season with, has landed him the top spot on the list that features eight pitchers out of the top nine and 22 out of the top 30. Caminiti has been a monster for High-A Augusta since returning from preseason forearm tightness that held him out until June. He has a gaudy strikeout rate of 36.4% and a contact rate against of just 68.8%, and outside of a hiccup in his second outing has commanded the ball well. He’s done much to answer the question surrounding whether his breaking balls will develop with the improvement of his slider, and he is looking like a steal at 24th overall.
JR Ritchie and Didier Fuentes make up the next two on the list, a predictable result given how good both players have been this season. Fuentes has had the unfortunate task of being the guy the Atlanta Braves have plugged in to fill a hole at the major league level, but at just 20 years old with a mid-90’s fastball and impressive sweeper there is hope that he will be able to stick long term. He was one of Baseball America’s notable rising prospects from the update. Ritchie is in his first full season back from Tommy John surgery, and so far has seen an uptick in his velocity and steady improvement in his command.
Jose Perdomo has made a major slide on the list, sitting all the way down at 17th after his poor start to his FCL career. Perdomo is young and still carries a lot of his amateur hype, but there are some physical concerns after the injuries he has faced and questions about his bat speed has popped up. Owen Carey and Rayven Antonio sit as additions to the back end of the list after both have had fantastic seasons in Augusta. Carey has been a consistent presence in the lineup and impressed with his hit tool, while Antonio’s velocity improvement and jump in strikeouts from 15% to over 25% have led to an influx of attention.