Could AJ Smith-Shawver join the Braves this season?

The Braves made quite the organizational move yesterday, promoting top prospect AJ Smith-Shawver to Gwinnett after just seven innings in AAA.

By every metric, Smith-Shawver is elite. He hasn’t given up a run in 21 innings, striking out 32 batters, and the Braves don’t seem to be wasting any time with him, despite the fact he’s only 20-years-old. That’s not atypical for this organization. In recent years, we’ve seen Spencer Strider, Michael Harris II, and Vaughn Grissom all aggressively moved up through the organization in just a year.

Could Smith-Shawver be next? If he makes his MLB debut this season, he will be far and away the youngest player in Major League Baseball, but the Braves have a desperate need for another reliable starting arm following the injuries to Max Fried and Kyle Wright, and there is no questioning the kind of talent AJ Smith-Shawver possesses.

On the latest episode of SportsTalkATL, we discuss the possibility of AJ Smith-Shawver making his way to Atlanta as early as this season and what he brings to the table as a starting pitcher.

You can find SportsTalkATL every Monday-Friday on the Fox 5 Streaming App from 9:00 PM-10:00 PM. Segments like these can also be found daily on our YouTube channel. 

—

Photo: Photo: Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire