One of the most exciting days of the MLB season — the trade deadline — came and passed earlier this week. The Braves weren’t the loudest team, but they did address all of their “needs” one way or another. It’ll be exciting to see how all the new pieces gel together. Nobody could have possibly predicted the type of impact last year’s additions would ultimately have, so who knows? Perhaps Robbie Grossman has an NLCS MVP up his sleeve.
This isn’t about the new guys, though. This is about the players we must say goodbye to — most of which have yet to reach the majors. With a weak farm system, it was overwhelmingly apparent that Anthopoulos wasn’t interested in moving the few top prospects at his disposal. A lot of these trades involved giving up very little, but let’s take a deeper look at the prospects the Braves did trade away at the deadline.
Trey Harris
In 2019, Harris was the Minor League Player of the Year for the Braves organization, hitting .323 with an .887 OPS over three levels. As a result, he skyrocketed into the top 20 of most Braves prospect ranks, and I thought there was a chance that he would eventually be at least a fourth outfielder on the major-league squad. Unfortunately, Harris has gone stagnant ever since moving to Mississippi. He’s hitting just .238 with a couple of homers in 59 games this season, and it became increasingly likely that he was never going to make it with Atlanta. Hopefully, a change of scenery will do him some good, and he can take the next step in his development with the Nationals organization. If he does, he should get a chance in the majors pretty soon.
Kris Anglin
Anglin is another prospect that was unlikely to make an impact in Atlanta. He’s a left-handed pitcher that was drafted in the 16th round last season. So far, throughout his brief minor-league career, he’s flashed the ability to strike guys out, but command is a major issue and has caused him a lot of trouble in A-ball. Even if Anglin does figure it out, it will be several years before he ever cracks a major-league roster.
Tucker Davidson
Just like last season, the Braves really only gave up one valuable prospect at the trade deadline. This time it was left-handed pitcher Tucker Davidson. Fans should remember him from last year when he filled in the rotation early in the season and had quite a bit of success, recording a 3.60 ERA over four starts. Unfortunately, forearm tightness caused him to hit the 60-day IL, and we never heard from him… until the Braves needed an emergency starter in Game 5 of the World Series. Davidson would only pitch two innings, allowing two earned runs, but it was yet another wonky moment amid one of the most improbable World Series runs in MLB history.
This year, Davidson seems to have taken a slight step back, which isn’t all that atypical for a young pitcher. He struggled in three starts with the Braves, posting a 6.46 ERA over four appearances (three starts). Davidson has also taken some lumps in AAA this season, and it began to look like it was going to be tough to find a role for him. The Braves have a lot of talented young arms, so parting ways with one for a premier closer became a necessary evil. I’ll miss Davidson, but he’ll always have that Braves World Series ring, and nobody can take those moments away from him.
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Photo: Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire
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