Notes of spring: Braves’ Dave Trembley on Kevin Maitan, Alex Jackson, Ronald Acuna, pitching assignments
By Sam Dykstra/MiLB.com
LAKE BUENA VISTA — For all the excitement that surrounds the Braves’ talented farm system, one of the biggest prospect-related questions is of a slightly different nature. Where is No. 3 prospect Kevin Maitan?
Atlanta signed the 17-year-old shortstop out of Venezuela last July 2 for $4.25 million, and he’s become one of the system’s most toolsy position player prospects before even playing his first official Minor League game. The Braves got MLB.com’s No. 32 overall prospect some time last fall in the instructional league, where he showed off above-average hit, power and arm tools, and brought him back to Florida from Jan. 8-March 4 for “strength and development training,” according to player development director Dave Trembley. But Maitan was sent to the club’s Dominican Republic facility to keep him from getting crowded out of baseball activities by the oncoming herd of Minor Leaguers reporting this month.
The plan is to have Maitan return stateside on April 5 for extended spring training followed by a assignment to the Gulf Coast League or Rookie-level Danville, once short-season campaigns begin in June.
“We’re going to play him 46 games in extended,” Trembley said. “That’s more baseball than he’s played in his life. He’ll tell us where he’ll go.”
More information from MiLB.com’s discussion with Trembley will come in this month’s Prospect Primer series, but a few more notes before then:
— The Braves acquired No. 24 prospect Alex Jackson last November in the deal that sent pitchers Max Povse and Rob Whalen to Seattle and, not long after, news spread that the 21-year-old would move from the outfield back to his high school position at catcher.
Trembley said he met with Jackson in his native San Diego to discuss the position switch and, after a few days of thought, Jackson consented to move back. To set the swap in motion, he worked with Braves catching instructor Jeff Datz on four occasions in person to prepare for the spring.
Playing in an intrasquad Minor League game Friday, Jackson still looked a little raw behind the plate with his one caught-stealing attempt at second base sailing into center field. But even though the Braves know they have a project on their hands, they’re hopeful Jackson can find a faster route through the Minors as a catcher and believe he should be an option to begin the season at Class A Advanced Florida.
“The way it looks for us — we’ve got [Ronald Acuna] and [Cristian Pache] and some pretty good outfielders coming up,” Trembley said. “Where we have a need at the Major League level looking ahead is behind the plate. His makeup is off the charts. He’s got power. We think with reps behind the plate — and we’ll monitor that because he hasn’t caught since high school. We’re not going to push him. He’s going to catch, but he’s going to DH. He’s going to get his 450 at-bats. But we’re going to get him a lot of time behind the plate.”
It’s worth noting that Jackson’s stock took the biggest hit because of his performance at the plate. The 2014 sixth overall pick hit .243/.332/.408 with 11 homers in his second season at Class A Clinton in 2016. But if he proves to be a serviceable catcher, the offensive bar will be significantly lower than that of a corner outfielder.
— Speaking of Acuna, the Braves’ No. 8 prospect has spent a significant amount of time with the big club in the Grapefruit League, despite playing only 40 games at Class A Rome last season. The 19-year-old outfielder’s time was limited by a broken thumb, but he made up for it in the Australian Baseball League, where he posted a .375/.446/.556 line with 13 steals in 20 games for Melbourne. He’s held his own with the Major League club this spring, going 6-for-17 with two doubles in nine games. Trembley sees it as just the start of the Braves’ attempts to test the Venezuela native in 2017.
“Ronny, he’s an advanced player for his age,” Trembley said. “He has really nice ability. He can make it look easy. He’s got power. He can throw it very well. He can run. He missed a lot of time when he broke his thumb. He’ll probably go back and forth between center and right. He has to refine his ability a little bit. But we’ve sent him over to the big league side to get him exposed to the level of play, just as much to get exposed to the routine because he has some maturity to go through yet.”
— Over on the main site, you’ll find a Q&A with five of the six starters who made up the bulk of the stellar Class A Rome rotation that won the 2016 South Atlantic League title. Of those six, Trembley said it’s the organization’s hope that No. 9 prospect Max Fried and No. 16 prospect Patrick Weigel begin the season at Double-A Mississippi, while No. 4 Kolby Allard, No. 5 Mike Soroka, No. 12 Touki Toussaint and No. 20 Ricardo Sanchez combine for another killer staff at Class A Advanced Florida. (No. 11 Luiz Gohara could be another Florida State League option, but he was not named explicitly by Trembley, as was the case with the other four.)
But what’s kind of amazing is that Rome should be stacked again. No. 7 prospect Ian Anderson (the third overall pick in last year’s Draft) is likely the headliner of the group headed to the SAL, but fellow 2016 picks No. 14 Joey Wentz (competitive balance round A), No. 17 Kyle Muller (second round) and No. 25 Bryse Wilson (fourth) are ticketed to join him in that rotation.
With No. 6 prospect Sean Newcomb slated for Triple-A Gwinnett, there should be reasons to get excited about each pitching staff at the Braves’ four full-season levels.
“We have depth, legitimate depth,” Trembley said. “They’re all going to be Major League pitchers — not all unfortunately for the Braves. But they’ll push each other and see who gets there.”
