Every season, a couple of times a year, we rank our Top 30 prospects in the Atlanta Braves system. However there are still prospects within the Braves system who have never made a Top 30 prospect list that are still interesting prospects to some extent. While a couple of these guys seem headed for our next Top 30, some of these guys might not have the highest upside, but they still have the tool(s) and/or production which could get them to Atlanta at some point.

In order to be eligible for this list a prospect has to have never appeared on a Battery Power Top 30 prospects list (that’s why Patrick Clohisy won’t be included). I am also excluding players who have not yet reached Low-A ball yet, as those guys don’t quite fit into what this article is about and will still have plenty of chances to make a Top 30 at some point in their careers. I am also going to exclude players who were never on a BP Top 30, but would have made a Top 30 for a previous team in their career (Jordan Groshans, Cade Doughty)

Cristobal Abreu, RHP

Cristobal Abreu is a 20-year-old pitcher who missed last year injured, but has intriguing stuff. He opened the year in Augusta and has spent his time between there and the FCL. To date he has thrown 29.1 innings (27 with Augusta), and pitched to a 2.76 ERA, though his WHIP is 2.49 thanks to the fact that he has 42 walks in those 29 innings. Abreu hasn’t missed bats the way his stuff should this year, with just 21 strikeouts, but if he is able to harness his stuff he could start to get interesting. Abreu has gone over 96 MPH with his fastball in games this year, and I have seen him over 98 MPH in workouts, and he’s got a promising slider as well. He is going to need work on that command and time to get there, but the arm is quite talented.

Daniel Brooks, RHP

I’ve been talking a lot about Daniel Brooks lately, but that’s because he is on an incredible run right now. An undrafted free agent from last year, Brooks opened this year as a FCL reliever, got promoted to Augusta, eventually earned himself a starting job, and just this past weekend made his first start with Rome. With a pair of pitches that both get whiffs, a fastball that is 92-93 with a Stuff+ grade of 100 due to the movement and extension, and a slider with a Stuff+ grade of 127, Brooks has allowed three total runs in 31.2 innings between Augusta and Rome, striking out 52. Brooks is a very strong candidate to make the next updated Top 30 list because of both the stuff and the results. His ceiling is still to be determined as we haven’t seen the rest of his arsenal yet and he is pitching on fairly low pitch counts due to being stretched back out into a starter role, but he does have a change and curve that could get used more frequently next season. Even if starting doesn’t work out, he just might be the best relief prospect in the Braves system right now – but it looks like they are going to give him a chance to start because of his dominance.

Aiven Cabral, RHP

In the 18th round last year the Braves took Aiven Cabral from Northeastern, after he was the ace of the team who made a surprising run in the NCAA Tournament. He didn’t make his pro debut until this year, where he has spent half the year split between both Augusta and Rome. His Augusta numbers are slightly better than the Rome numbers, but they are fairly similar. Combined he has a 3.01 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, and 79 strikeouts in 104.2 innings. His stuff isn’t big, but he’s a pitchability guy who excels at pitching to contact. The hope with him is that his stuff might tick up as he moves into a future bullpen role for shorter stints. His three-pitch mix is all mostly fringy to average, but he is comfortable with switching between his pitches and moving locations. If his fastball could gain another 1-2 MPH from topping out at 93 MPH, he might have a chance in a relief role.

Logan Forsythe, RHP

Logan Forsythe was the Braves 13th round pick out of Louisiana Tech last year. He previously pitched at Mississippi State, but never got much playing time there because of struggles with his command. Forsythe is a power armed reliever, though one with command question marks to answer. In Augusta this year he has a 4.03 ERA, 1.58 WHIP, and 55 strikeouts in 51.1 innings. He has also walked 45 hitters in that time. When he’s on he can be hard to make contact against, as his 6.3 H/9 ratio shows, which makes him worth tracking. This year his fastball has been up to 96-97 MPH with a sweeper that also gets swings and misses, and he could possibly be holding back a little bit on his stuff in order to be able to command it better. What he could become is fully dependent on where he is able to improve the command to, but he is worth the team taking a flier on.

Kevin Kilpatrick Jr., OF

A toolsy outfielder, Kevin Kilpatrick Jr. is in the middle of his best pro season for Columbus. As of today he is hitting .247/.328/.373 with six homers, 19 extra base hits, and 27 steals with 27 walks to 76 strikeouts in 287 plate appearances. Those numbers may not jump off the page, but since May 29th he is running a .774 OPS after a slow start to his season. Kilpatrick is going to turn 26 this winter, so he is probably not going to hit enough to end up as a big league regular. However if the gains he has made with the bat can make some additional progress, he would have a chance to be a fourth or fifth outfielder. That is because he is a speedy player with a little bit of pop in his bat and is capable of playing all three outfield spots. It’s not the sexiest profile, but he could potentially work his way to the big leagues.

Carter Lovasz, RHP

Carter Lovasz was an eighth rounder out of William & Mary last year who pitched for a short time in Augusta last season. He started in Augusta and pitched to a 3.56 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, and 55 strikeouts in 48 innings. He was promoted to Rome and has allowed one run in 5.2 innings over two appearances so far. Lovasz is a pure reliever – all 29 of his appearances this year are as a reliever, and only eight of his career college appearances were starts over four years, but looks like a reliever capable of going multiple innings in a Brent Suter-like role. Similar to Suter, Lovasz doesn’t touch 90 MPH, but he has a five pitch mix that he is able to mix and match with and use his pitchability and command to succeed without the biggest stuff. Because of his lack of velocity he is going to need to prove himself at every level of the minors to keep moving up, but he does stand a chance.

Cooper McMurray, 1B

Last year the Braves signed Cooper McMurray as an undrafted free agent after an impressive college career. In his last three years at Auburn he hit exactly 14 home runs every year with an OPS of at least 1.053 in each season. He struggled in 21 games last year with Rome and got sent to Augusta to open this season. Things looked like he might not last very long as a pro early this spring as he had an OPS of .488 after April, following a .498 last summer with Rome. However that’s when things started to change, and he has an .853 OPS since May 1. Overall he is hitting .250/.373/.399 with 15 doubles, a triple, 10 homers, and 64 walks to 128 strikeouts over 391 plate appearances. In order to have a future as a bench bat he is likely going to need to continue to cut down on the strikeouts, though he has seen some growth with his hit tool this year which gives hope for that.

Davis Polo, RHP

Davis Polo came into this year as a bit of a mystery after missing last year due to injury. However he has looked so good that he is putting himself in position to be a part of our next Top 30, pitching to a 3.25 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, and 9.6 K/9 in 99.2 innings with Augusta – though a 1.99 ERA and 0.95 WHIP over his last 45.1 innings. He has a four pitch mix led by a fastball that touches 94, but is more of a sinker/slider pitcher who can get swings and misses. He uses his pitches fairly evenly overall and has solid feel for his command of them. Of course due to the injury and missed time he is already 21 and Rule 5 eligible after this season, but there is #3/4 starter upside in there, and a chance we could see even more from him next year as he gets another year out from surgery.

Brett Sears, RHP

A cheap senior sign in the 7th round of the 2024 MLB Draft, Brett Sears has been on an incredible run for the past two years. Last year he started in Augusta and ended up reaching Gwinnett, posting a combined 3.65 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and 9.5 K/9 between the four levels. This year he has made 17 of his 19 appearances with Columbus, with single appearances in both Gwinnett and the FCL, posting a 3.11 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, and 10.9 K/9. His stuff isn’t the biggest, but it has slightly improved from last year. His six pitch mix now has a fastball that touches 94 MPH, and his command and pitchability help it to play up from its velocity. Sears ceiling is probably a backend starter to potentially a multi-inning reliever, but it is hard to ignore his performance. Ideally he’d have more time in Triple-A by now since he is 26, but he is only two years out from being drafted.

Tanner Smith, C

The Braves signed Tanner Smith out of Miami as an undrafted free agent last year. However prior to his year as a Hurricane he had spent three years catching at Oregon State and brought 619 college plate appearances with him to pro ball. He got eight games last year split between Augusta and Rome before opening this year back in Augusta. With Augusta he hit .234/.309/.440 with 11 homers and 22 walks to 84 strikeouts in 243 plate appearances. He has since been promoted to Rome, though he only has three games played there so far. Smith isn’t a particularly high upside prospect, but he is a catcher with good intangibles, a history of being a winning player, and does bring some pop in his bat. The ceiling is probably a backup catcher, and even that would require he cut down the strikeouts and increase some walks – but the offensive bar is a little lower for backup catchers, so it is a possibility.

Luis Vargas, RHP

Luis Vargas has been in the Braves system since making his pro debut back in 2019, but only converted into a reliever last year. This is his second season as a reliever and he has looked good in that role. With Columbus he has pitched to a 3.51 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, and 86 strikeouts over 56.1 innings – good for a 13.7 K/9, and even better than last year’s 12.0 (though just 21 innings). At this point he is mostly a two pitch pitcher, with a fastball that has touched 98 MPH and a nasty slider. His command can come and go, and he isn’t always consistent with the shape of his slider, but there is a real chance that Vargas could become a power arm out of the pen for the Braves in the next year or two.

Derek Vartanian, RHP

The Braves signed Derek Vartanian as an undrafted free agent out of Campbell after the 2024 season – a season where he appeared in just three games before getting injured. Prior to that he spent two years in JUCO. That injury caused him to miss all of last season, so he entered this year with 11 innings of D1 experience plus a two year layoff due to injury. So far he has pitched to a 4.12 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, and 97 strikeouts in 102.2 innings for Augusta in his first year back from injury. He has touched 95 MPH on his fastball with good movement and has a solid four-pitch mix that he is comfortable in using all of his pitches. It’s a bit soon to say what Vartanian is, but he is a guy I am interested in watching next year, once he gets another year out from injury plus a full healthy offseason.

Adam Zebrowski, C

Zebrowski was a 13th round pick out of a small college in New York back in 2021, and until this year seemed to be more of an organizational depth piece. But he’s hit 15 homers in 46 Double-A games this season, plus three more in 21 games with Gwinnett. Zebrowski probably isn’t going to be a big league starter, but the power is very real and he hits the ball very hard. He could potentially get a look as a backup catcher, one who is there for his power bat more than anything. He might need to start to take more walks to increase his OBP to reach that ceiling, but he has a .350 OBP with Columbus this year, which is his highest mark since Augusta back in 2022. I wouldn’t be surprised if he ended up getting sent to the Arizona Fall League this year to see how he fares against that level of pitching.

Yonatan Henriquez

Week: 5 G, 25 AB, .360/.429/.920, 9 H, 2 2B, 0 3B, 4 HR, 3 BB, 3 K, 1/1 SB (High-A)

2026 Season: 87 G, 353 AB, .212/.273/.363, 75 H, 22 2B, 2 3B, 9 HR, 28 BB, 100 K, 21/30 SB, .266 BABIP (High-A)

It has not been a good season for Yonatan Henriquez. Assigned to the Brooklyn Cyclones for the entirety of the season, missing roughly a month early on because of an injury, the utilityman has hit .212/.273/.363 with 9 home runs, 21 stolen bases, a 7.1% walk rate, and a 25.9% strikeout rate.

Given a $104,000 signing bonus when he initially signed with the team out of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic on January 15, 2022, Henriquez was valued for his athleticism and versatility; the 17-year-old did not stand out in any one specific facet of his game, but because he could do so many things well enough, there variety of ways he might develop His career path highlights that, when a player so young lacks a true carrying tool, career progression can sometimes be a true uphill battle.

The 17-year-old Henriquez made his professional debut a few months after signing, hitting .247/.390/.344 in 31 games with the DSL Mets 1 with 3 doubles, 2 home runs, 5 stolen bases, and 18 walks to 27 strikeouts. In 2023, he came stateside, assigned to the FCL Mets and appearing in 43 games with them, hitting .221/.353/.300 with 8 doubles, 1 home run, 7 stolen bases, and drawing 29 walks to 34 strikeouts. He remained in the Florida Complex League for most of the 2024 season, appearing in 40 games and hitting .289/.464/.377 with 6 doubles, 2 triples, 0 home runs, 15 stolen bases, and 34 walks to 23 strikeouts. He was promoted to the St. Lucie Mets at the beginning of August and spent the last month of the season there, appearing in 26 games and hitting .169/.245/.202 with 3 doubles, 0 home runs, 0 stolen bases, and 7 walks to 26 home runs.

In 2025, the 20-year-old began the season with St. Lucie and appeared in 104 games with them, hitting .264/.354/.395 with 18 doubles, 2 triples, 8 home runs, 33 stolen bases, and drawing 51 walks to 72 strikeouts. He was promoted to Brooklyn at the end of August and appeared in 7 games for the Cyclones, going 7-28 with 1 double, 1 triple, 2 stolen bases, and 4 walks to 8 strikeouts.

At the plate, Henriquez has some pretty unique pre-swing mechanics, and as a switch hitter, he has different mechanics from either side of the plate. As a left-handed hitter, he stands extremely open and holding his bat low at the letters, almost perpendicular to the ground. As he begins his load, he closes off and raises his hands into proper hitting position. As a right-handed hitter, he also stands square, with his hands at the letters, almost resting the bat on his shoulders until his load. He has had more success in his career from the left-side, and is currently is hitting .226/.288/.383 in 274 at-bats as a left-handed batter and .169/.226/.299 in 77 at-bats as a right-handed batter.

Henriquez is a true Swiss army knife defensively, playing second base, third base, shortstop, left field, centerfield, and right field this season. This season, he has 182.0 innings at second, 213.2 at third, 35.0 at short, 63.0 in left, 201.0 in center, and 41.0 in right. He has been used similarly since turning pro and, in total, has accrued most of his time in the field in center (854.2 innings), with a third base a not-so-distant second (730.1 innings). His quick-twitch athleticism, reactions, and speed help both at the hot corner and in centerfield.

Xzavion Curry

Week: 2 G (2 GS), 9.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K (Triple-A)

2026 Season: 13 G (11 GS), 61.0 IP, 57 H, 26 R, 26 ER (3.84 ERA), 14 BB, 36 K, .249 BABIP (Triple-A) / 7 G (0 GS), 16.0 IP, 14 H, 5 R, 5 ER (2.81 ERA), 7 BB, 10 K, .250 BABIP (MLB)

Xzavion Curry had a week bookended with two strong starts, throwing five scoreless, no-hit innings on Tuesday against the Worcester Red Sox and then coming back on Sunday and pitching an additional 4.2 scoreless. In total, he pitched 9.2 innings without allowing a run, scattering 2 hits, walking 1, and striking out 4.

The 28-year-old right-hander was signed to a minor league contract back at the beginning of May. He had elected for minor league free agency in November 2025 but received no offers at the time and signed a contract with the Tigres de Quintana Roo of the Mexican League when the 2026 season began. He has been one of Syracuse’s most consistent starters since. Additionally, not only has Curry looked good with Syracuse, but in the handful of MLB opportunities he has been given this season, he has been effective; appearing in 7 games out of the bullpen, the right-hander has a 2.81 ERA in 16.0 innings, allowing 14 hits, walking 7, and striking out 10.

The right-hander, who was initially drafted by the Cleveland Indians in the 7th round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of Georgia Tech, feels like he should not be having the success that he is, but yet here he is. All of his pitches- he throws a four-seam fastball, slider, splitter, curveball, and sinker- are hittable, he walks more batters than you’d like, his strikeout rate is nearly non-existent, and his batted ball breakdowns are extremely problematic. Everything says that Curry should be a lot worse than he has been, but the right-hander has almost 80 combined innings at the highest levels of professional baseball this season and he’s been making it work. I have no personal knowledge regarding how the Mets feel about the right-hander or if they might be interested in having him return for the 2027 season, but given how Curry has been able to thrive despite so many factors saying he shouldn’t, it might be worth looking into.

Players of the Week 2026

Week One/Two (March 27-April 5): Hayden Senger/Cam Tilly

Week Three (April 7-April 12): A.J. Ewing/Christian Scott

Week Four (April 14-April 18): Randy Guzman/Jose Chirinos

Week Five (April 21-April 26): A.J. Ewing/Channing Austin

Week Six (April 30-May 3): A.J. Ewing/Jonah Tong

Week Seven (May 5-May 10): Ryan Clifford/Jonathan Santucci

Week Eight: (May 12-May 17): Jacob Reimer/Zach Thornton

Week Nine: (May 19-May 24): Ryan Clifford/Channing Austin

Week Ten: (May 26-May 31): Ryan Clifford/Jose Chirinos

Week Eleven: (June 2-June 7): Vincent Perozo/Frank Camarillo

Week Twelve: (June 9-June 14): JT Benson/Nicolas Carreno

Week Thirteen (June 16-June 21): Nick Morabito/Jonathan Santucci

Week Fourteen (June 23-June 28): JT Benson/Daviel Hurtado

Week Fifteen: (June 30-July 5): MJ Melendez/Daviel Hurtado

Week Sixteen: (July 7-July 12): Daiverson Gutierrez/Jonathan Santucci

Week Seventeen (July 13-July 19): MJ Melendez/Noah Hall

Week Eighteen: (July 21-July 26): Ronny Mauricio/Conner Ware

Week Nineteen: (July 28-August 2): Mitch Voit/Jonah Tong

Week Twenty (August 3-August 9): Mitch Voit/Noah Hall

Week Twenty-One (August 11-August 16): Elian Peña/Jose Chirinos

Another day in the feast part of the feast or famine season for the Cubs is just fine by me. The nail biters will return any day. When we aren’t in nail biting season, I’ll take a fairly comfortable Cub win any day. Like the Sunday blowout of the Mariners, this one was largely closer than the final score makes it appear. This one got comfortable a little faster, reaching 5-0 in the sixth and its final score by the seventh. Still, I was up late enough to not feel totally comfortable when I went to bed (they were up 2-0).

Am I crazy for thinking that this is the deepest Cub team I’ve ever seen? The top four Cubs in the lineup, generally their most productive this season, were a combined 2-for-18 with a double, two walks, an RBI and two runs scored. If we ignore the runs and runs batted in part which are largely context statistics that largely rely on contributions from other players, 2-for-18 with two walks and a double feels like you are going to lose a game. Obviously a large part of this win falls on the pitching staff throwing a shutout. But, seven runs behind an off night from the whole top of the lineup? That’s because the bottom five in the order were a combined 8-for-18 with a double, a triple and two homers. They drove in five and scored six.

The big hat tips at the bottom of the order go to Pedro Ramirez who became a regular on this team when Dansby Swanson was injured, and Michael Conforto. Conforto has been a bench piece, but now he and Tyrone Taylor are more or less splitting the DH spot (very effectively). I just can’t decide if this is actually a deeper team or if it is just like an oasis in the desert. Afterall, these last couple of years, it’s felt like there wasn’t one usable piece on the Cub bench. Most days, it has felt like the Cubs have 11 or 12 interchangeable parts this year that will all help contribute on any given day. That’s a nice luxury to have. With the addition of Taylor, once Matt Shaw is healthy, this team gets really long.

This team was built to reach the playoffs, no question about it. I’ve often talked about the regular season being largely about how deep your roster is. In the regular season, it’s about how strong your roster is from 21-40 and your ability to go past 40 to fill in gaps in the roster. You win by being able to keep your roster productive over the grind of the season. Injuries will happen. Prolonged slumps will happen. You need a village essentially to reach the playoffs. Then it becomes more about how strong you are 1-20, 1-15, 1-10 on your roster.

Stars shine at the biggest times. We’ll all remember the contributions that some end of the bench guy made in the post season. If the series goes seven games, the odds that somebody down past 20 on your roster has a significant role. In the most important Cub game played in any of our lifetimes, Albert Almora, Jr. who was somewhere past 20 on the pecking order of that team, had one of the most significant contributions to the win. Mike Montgomery might have eked into the top 20, but got the most important out in Cubs history.

Those are the exceptions though. A key starter might largely will a win for you by themselves along the way. Again, thinking about the 2016 Cubs World Series run, there was the Kyle Hendricks game to send them to the World Series and the Jon Lester game against Johnny Cueto to get things started. Your slugger might hit a couple of homers and give you a comfortable win along the way. The stars do the heavy lifting in the postseason.

I posit that as rough as the Angels teams were through the years when Mike Trout and Shohei Ohtani were together, that they would have had a punchers chance in a playoff series. That’s where those guys might really shine. They are incredibly hard to just shut down. In that vein, once this Cub team reaches the postseason, it’s going to matter a ton what Pete Crow-Armstrong can do on the biggest stage. We know he won’t shy away from the moment. Can Seiya Suzuki get hot? Can Michael Busch look more like the 2025 version? Has Alex Bregman found the fountain of youth?

It’s also going to matter an awful lot if the Cubs can get some effectiveness from their rotation. Kevin Gausman gave the Cubs a huge lift Monday night. That was great to see after a bit of a unicorn game for the Cubs on Sunday. Usually when the Cubs win, they get a reasonably decent start. But that wasn’t the case Sunday. Aaron Civale came in and turned that game around when it looked like the game might have been lopsided the other way. While it looks like the Cubs just swing their way to every victory they get, there is usually pretty good pitching early on the nights where they win.

It’s a whole lot of fun when both halves contribute like this. Hopefully, Gausman can continue rounding into form along with the other big trade deadline acquisition, Clay Holmes. Always remember, with trade deadline acquisitions, the production you get in August and September is a bonus. They are acquired to help you win games in October. So these two months are about getting them right. To that end, I’ll hat tip Ryan Zeferjahn for working a totally boring inning Monday night. The game was lopsided and perhaps that was a good time to slow things down and just post a good result. He certainly has the stuff to be a difference-maker.

Three Positives:

• Kevin Gausman turned back the clock to a time when pitching ruled the day. Three hits, one walk, six strikeouts. Dominant performance against an offense that is pretty good.
• Michael Conforto was unstoppable. Three hits, one a homer, another a double. He was walked, drove in two runs and scored two.
• Pedro Ramirez drove in the first run with a triple in the second. Added another hit on top of that and scored a run. This offseason, we are going to have some fun conversations about how to handle Ramirez and Matt Shaw.

Game 132, August 24: Cubs 7, Diamondbacks 0 (76-56)

Reminder: Heroes and Goats are determined by WPA scores and are in no way subjective.

THREE HEROES:

• Superhero: Kevin Gausman (.331). 7 IP, 24 BF, 3 H, BB, 6 K (W 7-11)
• Hero: Michael Conforto (.225). 3-3, HR, 2B, BB, 2 RBI, 2 R
• Sidekick: Pedro Ramírez (.116). 2-4, 3B, RBI, R

THREE GOATS:

• Billy Goat: Pete Crow-Armstrong (-.125). 0-5
• Goat: Alex Bregman (-.065). 1-5, R
• Kid: Nico Hoerner (-.058). 0-3, SF, RBI

WPA Play of the Game: The Cubs were up to when Michael Conforto’s two-run homer in the sixth inning blew the game open. (.147)

Diamondbacks Play of the Game: Corbin Carroll’s steal of third base with two outs in the fourth, when the Cubs were only up one. (.143)

Cubs Player of the Game:

Game 131 Winner: Ian Happ received 55 of 93 votes.

Rizzo Award Standings: (Top 5/Bottom 5)

The award is named for Anthony Rizzo, who finished first in this category three of the first four years it was in existence and four times overall. He also recorded the highest season total ever at +65.5. The point scale is three points for a Superhero down to negative three points for a Billy Goat.

• Pete Crow-Armstrong +25
• Alex Bregman +23
• Trent Thornton +13.5
• Carson Kelly +12.5
• Javier Assad +12
• Seiya Suzuki/Nico Hoerner -11
• Edward Cabrera -12.5
• Jameson Taillon -13
• Dansby Swanson -17
• Caleb Thielbar -18.5

Scoreboard Watching: Quiet night around the league and in games that affect the NL postseason. The D-backs loss drops them a full seven games behind the Cubs. The Padres lost (five back). The Phillies lost (three back). So the Cubs gained at least half a game on everyone. A nice nudge in the right direction after a long weekend.

Up Next: Another late one Tuesday night in Arizona. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, it’s the last 2026 game scheduled to be played past my bedtime here on the East Coast. Clay Holmes (5-6, 2.49) starts for the Cubs. He is 1-2 with a 2.81 in 16 innings as a Cub. He was a tough luck loser in the last one, allowing only a run over 5.1 innings to the White Sox. His one road start was his only rough one as a Cub. Let’s hope that was more rust than a road thing and he can give the Cubs another good start.

27-year-old Brandon Pfaadt (7-1, 3.39) spent some time in the Diamondbacks bullpen and was briefly demoted to Triple-A this year after a rough start to his season. He has been back in the rotation since June 30 and has really turned his season around. He had a 5.92 ERA through June 3. He came back to the majors and won his first five starts after returning. In fact, in nine starts between June 30 and August 14, he pitched at least five innings in every game and didn’t allow more than two runs in any start. The last five of those starts were all quality starts. Then in his last start, the Red Sox put five runs on him in 5.2 innings in Boston. So he’s coming off of his worst start of the year after nine good to great starts.

Pfaadt has been very good as the D-backs have made a playoff push. This is a tough game. I like to peek at Fangraphs for curiosity. They have the Cubs essentially getting a slight edge in a coin flip game. This one could be a pitcher’s duel. Not sure how I feel about that on the road in a place where the Cubs often struggle.

Rangers 11, White Sox 2

• That was a long game.
• And a lot happened in it.
• And the Rangers won.
• Not only did the Rangers win, but they got back to .500.
• And not only did the Rangers get back to .500, they took sole possession of first place in the American League West, moving a half-game up on the Astros, who did not play.
• Kumar Rocker had a kinda fascinating game. He didn’t seem to have it going on early, allowing a hit in the first and what would have been a home run, had Brandon Nimmo not made a great leaping catch to bring the ball back, and a single, a homer, and another single in the second. In the third, he allowed an infield single to start things on a hard hit ball that Jake Burger couldn’t handle, along with a pair of walks sandwiching a groundout.
• The Rangers were up 5-2 at that point, but with the bases loaded, one out, and Rocker looking shaky, that lead seemed tenuous. Rocker seemed destined to get the hook before too long.
• Two strikeouts by Rocker got him out of the jam, the start of ten straight batters he retired before walking Chase Meidroth with two outs in the sixth, the last batter he faced.
• Robby Ahlstrom and Jordan Montgomery took it from there, retiring all ten batters they faced.
• So in all, the Rangers pitchers didn’t allow a hit over the final 21 outs they recorded, and allowed just one baserunner over the final 20 outs.
• The bats, meanwhile, put up a season-high 11 runs in the game.
• Rangers got on via the hit (14 of them). They got on via the walk (8 of those). They got on via the hit by pitch (two of them).
• One of the HBPs was Elias Diaz, who was hit by Jose Urquidy on a 3-2 pitch in the third, and there was some talking that then went on, including, apparently, yelling from the Rangers bench.
• Joc Pederson, who had tried to challenge a called third strike the previous inning, was told he had done so too late, got ejected a few batters later, supposedly for banging bats.
• I remember Pederson, last year, discussing the addition of new hitting coach Bret Boone, said that he liked to talk sticks. Apparently he likes to make them talk, too.
• The Rangers scored in every inning except the fourth and seventh, though they didn’t put up more than two runs in any inning, which seems kinda odd.
• Corey Seager was 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles and an intentional walk before being lifted late for Nicky Lopez.
• Since coming off the injured list the first time, back in early June, Seager has slashed .308/.393/.533.
• Wyatt Langford drew a walk and had a pair of hits, including a homer with two outs in the ninth that led White Sox manager Will Venable to bring in old friend Luisangel to get the final out.
• Jake Burger had a pair of hits, including a homer! And walked twice!
• Cody Freeman had a pair of hits!
• Ezequiel Duran had a pair of hits and walked!
• In fact, every Ranger starter had a hit except for Joc, who only had two plate appearances due to being thrown out of the game. Pederson did draw a walk to start the game, though, and scored the Rangers’ first run.
• It was a fulfilling game, the time that makes you feel all warm inside.
• And it was a good way to start a road trip.
• Kumar Rocker hit 95.7 mph with his fastball, averaging 94.3 mph, and 96.3 mph on his sinker, averaging 93.9 mph. Robby Ahlstrom touched 96.4 mph with his fastball. Jordan Montgomery’s sinker reached 92.6 mph.
• Jake Burger had a 108.3 mph double and a 108.2 mph home run. Brandon Nimmo had a 107.8 mph groundout. Corey Seager had a 106.9 mph double. Justin Foscue had a 105.0 mph double. Ezequiel Duran had a 104.2 mph double. Wyatt Langford had a 103.0 mph home run.
• Onward, hopefully in a way that retains first place.

I usually like to wait a day to digest bigger news stories. It pays to take a little bit of extra time to make sure all of the emotional baggage has cleared. Dana Brown officially failed as a general manager. However, professional sports is a failure business. Most general managers and managers are hired to eventually be fired. We can use the officially approved phrase “mutually agreed to a parting of ways,” but we know that it is a firing.

I like to break up a general manager’s job into three equal parts. The first part is the easiest one to track: what moves did the general manager actually make? Were they good moves? Obviously, those are loaded questions. As we have stated before, there is a difference between whether a move made sense at the time and whether it ended up working out. The second category is whether certain objectives were met. In other words, what moves did the general manager fail to make? Finally, you have scouting and player development. Let’s start with the first one.

What moves did he make?

Recency bias is a thing. When you look at the bulk of moves in 2026, they haven’t worked out. Obviously, the span of time may make us look at these moves differently. There were five major moves this season and none of them have worked out to date. The trade for Mike Burrows and the signing of Tatsuya Imai have both flopped so far. We might look at those differently next year and beyond, but he simply didn’t have the time for those moves to work out.

The Mauricio Dubon and Jesus Sanchez deals also did not work out. Joey Loperfido has not been a positive influence for the most part because he is languishing in Sugar Land. Should he be there? That’s a different question entirely. Nick Allen has been okay in comparison to his career norms, but he has not been Dubon. Obviously, both deals freed up some money, but that ends up spilling us into the second category. Finally, we have the Daulton Varsho trade. We are nearly a month in and the results aren’t pretty.

In spite of these problems, I would simply point out that most of these acquisitions made more sense at the time then what they ended up being. Maybe that is bad luck. Maybe it is something else. The Kyle Tucker trade was a positive mark on his record. Trading for Justin Verlander and Yusei Kikuchi were also generally positive. Christian Walker might be a wash depending on your perspective, but we can debate that one on a different day.

The most significant negative is probably the extension given to Cristian Javier. I for one will not blame him for that one as that is something most of us likely would have done at the time. So, for the most part I tend to give him a passing grade in this area. Every general manager will have misses. The question is whether you have more hits than misses and he seems to be batting about .500 there.

What did he fail to do?

When Brown was signed on we were told he was good at two things. He would be good at scouting and development and he would ink up our controllable players to team friendly deals. Four years later we have one extension and it was a bad one. Would have signing Jeremy Pena, Hunter Brown, Cam Smith, Yainer Diaz, or Bryan Abreu been good moves? Obviously, we would need to see the deals and evaluate those on a case by case basis. The fact that he accomplished virtually none of that is damning.

Two trade deadlines in a row this team came in with acute hitting and pitching needs and two years they really didn’t address the pitching and the hitting adds were questionable. We can hear the excuses now because they sound eerily familiar. This is where only Jim Crane and company can answer the nagging question. How much authority did Brown have to make deals? Of course, it will be a nagging question moving forward.

Two years in a row this team had one of the worst outfields in baseball. Three years in a row he has been hunting a lefty bat like Captain Ahab has been hunting his white whale. Granted, those don’t grow on trees, but it falls under the column of things he failed to do. The last two points here involve Framber Valdez and the previously mentioned Dubon and Sanchez deals. Why wasn’t Valdez dealt at the same time as Tucker? Imagine what two or three additional players could have done for the present situation.

Finally, you get the inane utterances of “we’re not done” following the Dubon and Sanchez deals. Yes you were. You did nothing of significance with the financial savings. The trade of a franchise icon netted you Varsho. Call me underwhelmed. Again, we don’t know how much autonomy Brown had to make deals, but he clearly isn’t a good chess player. A good chess player would have deals in mind before dealing Dubon and Sanchez. You wouldn’t make the move simply hoping something would come available. In this regard, Brown was playing checkers while everyone else was playing chess.

Scouting and player development

Even this is more complicated than it sounds. You can split into two halves. Scouting is the acquisition of players while player development covers what you do once you get them. None of these factors are cut and dried and a lot of this is conjecture/projection. What could have Cam Smith done with a year in the minors? If this were his rookie season would he be better? Worse? The same? it is impossible to answer because life is not a choose your own adventure book, but most people believe he would have been better off with another season in the minors.

The same could be true of guys like Zach Cole, Brice Mathews, and others that have been promoted fairly quickly. Are the quick promotions in their best interest? This is where both questions intersect into one. The Brown years were characterized with a lot of toolsy players that also have a ton of swing and miss in their game. Can proper development coach that out of a player or is that who they are?

It is one thing to announce or pronounce failure. It is another to start probing why the failure is occurring. This is where Crane and the other decision makers have to look more closely at what is being done. Is it a player selection problem or a coaching/development problem? Simply based on success at the big league level and prospect rankings, this has to be marked down as failure.

Final thoughts

Brown was frustrating at times, but that was more based on his public comments that sounded like the utterings of a used car salesman. He did not do much to actively torpedo the franchise. He was not a buffoon on the level of Spec Richardson or with the inane reasoning of an Ed Wade. He was a middling executive that simply didn’t do enough to thread the needle that Crane and company asked him to. There is the kind of sports hate where you hate someone with the heat of 10,000 suns. Then, there is sport irritation. That is the category Brown lives in. Most of us wish him success somewhere, but that will not be here.

As for Crane, he needs to do some soul-searching. Simply handing over the keys to a Jeff Luhnow type is probably a no go. However, a puppet general manager is probably a no go as well. That means he must thread the needle to find a guy that views the baseball business the same way that he does but is also willing to incorporate a little more science into the operation. It’s a tough ask, but every problem also presents an opportunity.