Ranking 2013 Braves prospects, depth chart and trade bait

Will Julio Teheran be the #5 starter for the Braves or will he be starting for another team come Opening Day?

There’s been a lot of rumors flying around about the Atlanta Braves recently and with good reason. They have tremendous depth in the minor leagues, and it all starts from the top position: pitching. Frank Wren will be after big names like Justin Upton, Josh Hamilton, Michael Bourn and Josh Willingham this winter and will be trying to fill either a third base/left field and center field. The Braves have had top pitching prospects for a few years now, and Wren knows that this year is the year, either start them or trade them. They’re ready and they’re at the highest value they will get by sitting in the minors. So, let’s examine the potential trade bait and current depth chart at each position.

Date of last update: November 19, 2012 – Removed Felix Pie from depth chart.

“Majors” next to a name means the player will be in the majors next year, either with Atlanta or elsewhere. An asterisk (*) means the player is considered trade bait or may not return next year (released, non-tendered, etc.).

Catcher

Brian McCann – majors
Gerald Laird – majors
Evan Gattis – ETA 2013
Christian Bethancourt (2012 #2 Braves prospect, #53 top 100 prospect) – ETA 2014
Bryan De La Rosa (2012 3rd round draft pick, #17  2012 Braves prospect) – ETA 2016
Jose Yepez*
Shawn McGill*
Josh Elander (2012 6th round draft pick)
Jason Christian
Matt Kennelly

First Base

Freddie Freeman – majors
Ernesto Mejia*- ETA 2013
Chris Garcia
Barrett Kleinknecht

Second Base

Dan Uggla – majors
Ruben Gotay*
Tommy La Stella (2011 8th round, #266 draft pick, #19 2012 Braves prospect) – ETA 2014
Brian Friday
Alden Carrithers
Rusty Ryal*
Philip Gosselin
Bobby Stevens
Jaime Pedroza

Third Base

Juan Francisco – majors
Joe Terdoslavich (2010 6th round, #194 draft pick, #7 2012 Braves prospect) – ETA 2015
Edward Salcedo (signed 2010, #9 2012 Braves prospect) – ETA 2014
Brandon Drury* (2010 13th round, #404 draft pick, #13 2012 Braves prospect) – ETA 2015
Joe Leonard
Kyle Kubitza (2011 3rd round, #115 draft pick, #16 2012 Braves prospect) – ETA 2016
Terry Tiffee*
Matt Weaver

Shortstop

Andrelton Simmons – majors
Paul Janish – majors
Taylor Pastornicky – majors
Josh Wilson*
Nick Ahmed* (2011 2nd round, #85 draft pick, #10 2012 Braves prospect) – ETA 2014

Outfield

Jason Heyward – majors
Martin Prado – majors
Jordan Schafer – majors
Jordan Parraz – ETA 2013
Josh Kroeger – ETA 2015
Jose Constanza* – majors
Stefan Gatrell*
Todd Cunningham (2010 2nd round, #53 draft pick, #12 2012 Braves prospect) – ETA 2013
Matt Lipka (2010 1st round, #35 draft pick, #11 2012 Braves prospect) – ETA 2015
Mycal Jones
Justin Black (2012 4th round, #149 draft pick)
Collin DeLome
Adam Milligan
Keenan Wiley
Tim Smith

Starting Pitcher

Kris Medlen – RHP – majors
Tim Hudson – RHP – majors
Mike Minor – LHP – majors
Paul Maholm – LHP – majors
Brandon Beachy – RHP – majors
Tommy Hanson* – RHP – majors
Randall Delgaldo* – RHP – majors
Julio Teheran -RHP – (2012 #1 Braves prospect, #24 top 100 prospect) – majors
Jair Jurrjens* – RHP – majors, non-tender candidate
Lucas Simms – RHP – (2012 1st round #21 draft pick, #3 2012 Braves prospect) – ETA 2016
J.R. Graham* – RHP – (2011 4th round, #146 draft pick, #5 2012 Braves prospect) – ETA 2014
Alex Wood – RHP – (2012 2nd round, #85 draft pick, #8 2012 Braves prospect) – ETA 2015
Sean Gilmartin – LHP – (2011 1st round #28 draft pick, #4 2012 Braves prospect) – ETA 2014
Mauricio Cabrera – RHP – (signed 2010, debuted 2012) – ETA 2016
Zeke Spruill*- RHP – (2008 2nd round, #70 draft pick, #6 2012 Braves prospect) – ETA 2013
Navery Moore – RHP – (2011 14th round, #446 draft pick, #14 2012 Braves prospect) – ETA 2013
Billy Bullock*- RHP – (2009 2nd round, #70 draft pick, #15 2012 Braves prospect) – ETA 2014
David Hale – RHP
Gus Schlosser – RHP
Cody Martin – RHP
Aaron Northcraft – RHP
Gary Moran – RHP
Jose Lugo – RHP
Ryan Weber – RHP

Reliever

Craig Kimbrel – RHP – majors
Jonny Venters – LHP – majors
Eric O’Flaherty – LHP – majors
Cristhian Martinez – RHP – majors
Luis Avilan – LHP – majors
Cory Gearrin – RHP – majors
Anthony Varvaro – RHP – majors
Juan Jaime – RHP – (signed 2004 by Nationals, #18 2012 Braves prospect) – ETA 2013
Ryan Buchter – LHP – ETA 2013
Erik Cordier – RHP – ETA 2013
Buddy Carlyle* – RHP – ETA 2013
Andrew Russell*- RHP – ETA 2013
Yohan Flande* – LHP – ETA 2014
Cory Rasmus – RHP
Dusty Hughes – LHP – ETA 2014
Daniel Rodriguez – LHP – ETA 2014
Jason Rice – RHP – ETA 2014
Brent Leach – LHP
Ryne Harper – RHP
Mark Lamm – RHP
Chris Jones – LHP
Cole McCurry – RHP – ETA 2014
Michael Tarsi – LHP
Benino Pruneda – RHP
Matt Chaffee – LHP
Brett Cammons – RHP
Chasen Shreve – LHP
Andrew Wilson – RHP