By John A. Tures, Professor of Political Science, LaGrange College

Ever since I began writing for the Cobb County Courier, I’ve done an article about the national baseball “experts” critique of the Atlanta Braves minor leaguers. And every year, the Braves come up with rookie-of-the-year candidates. This year, it’s Alex Anthopoulos (A.A.) vs. A.I. And the Braves seem poised to show-up the experts again.

If you went to Google A. I. this Spring, you would find a stinging critique of the Atlanta Braves farm system, ranking it the third worst in Major League Baseball. Yet here we are again, with the Atlanta Braves sporting two rookie-of-the-year candidates. And more stars may be headed to Cobb County’s Truist Park in the future.

“The Atlanta Braves’ farm system is considered low-ranked by some sources, such as Keith Law of Sports Illustrated, who ranked them 28th out of 30 teams,” Google A.I. notes. “Keith Law’s rankings in 2025 placed the Braves at the bottom of the rankings, with only the Astros and Angels finishing lower.”

Google A.I. does note that MLB.com gives the Braves a little more credit than that. But there’s no rookie of the year promises. Now, Catcher Drake Baldwin and Pitcher A.J. Smith-Shawver are making the list of Rookie-of-the-Year candidates for the National League.

Baldwin has been a hot hitter at the plate, and seems to be handling the catching duties well. Even with having to split time with Sean Murphy at the backstop, Baldwin is still producing at a great clip. He’s hitting .340 with just under 100 at bats, with 10 runs, 15 RBIs and five home runs. Given the offensive struggles since hitting coach Keith Seitzer was dismissed, the Braves badly need those hits. During the Phillies game, the networks ran the statistics showing that several of those extra-base-hits and RBIs have occurred in the seventh inning or later, showing that he’s a clutch player.

Smith-Shawver is off to a pretty good start. Baseball experts should have seen this coming, as he flashed some good potential before an injury last year. He’s won three games already, with two losses and a 3.67. In his first meeting with the Washington Nationals, he was stellar on the mound. The next week on the road, it was a different story. Smith-Shawver will need to bounce back to keep pace with Baldwin. He has a tough outing against the Philadelphia Phillies on the road tonight.

And there’s more where that came from. Pitchers Cam Caminiti, Hurston Waldrep and J.R. Ritchie are waiting their turn, while infielder Nacho Alvarez wants another turn. And MLB.com is excited about a righty named Didier Fuentes who is climbing the charts.

But this has been a theme of my Spring writing for the Courier. Every year, the baseball critics unload on the Atlanta Braves farm system. Then I write about how the Braves had some good prospects that barely crack Baseball’s Top 100, or don’t. At the end of the 2022, we were watching outfielder Michael Harris II and starting pitcher Spencer Strider battle each other for N.L. Rookie of the Year honors, when both were ignored by the experts at the start of the year. Then there’s starting pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach last season, who garnered plenty of wins and strikeouts, helping the team to keep their playoff streak going since 2018. Even when the Braves don’t have an R.O.Y. candidate, they used prospect Vaughn Grissom in a trade with the Boston Red Sox to land Chris Sale, who won the 2024 Cy Young Award for the Braves.

With all of the Braves success, Atlanta might move out of the bottom three in farm system ranking next year. You never know.

When John A. Tures is a professor of political science at LaGrange College in LaGrange, Georgia. His views are his own. He can be reached at jtures@lagrange.edu. His “X” account is JohnTures2.