I want to say that we've gone the entire year month to this point and not one single Atlanta Braves prospect has appeared on the Baseball America Prospect Hot Sheet (unless Tommy Hanson was on there). It's at least been a long time since I've seen a Braves prospect [UPDATE: not named Hanson, Heyward, or Medlen] on there, until now. Here is what BA says about Randall Delgado:
Team: low Class A Rome (South Atlantic)
Age: 19
Why He's Here: 1-0, 0.00, 6 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 SO
The Scoop: The majority of Latin American players come from the Dominican Republic or Venezuela, but the Braves are among the most active teams scouting in Panama and Colombia. The Braves spent $600,000 last year on catcher Christian Bethancourt, while Delgado, a fellow Panamanian, is garnering scouts' attention higher up the ladder with low Class A Rome. Delgado's ERA is up there at 4.91 through 51 1/3 innings, but the projectable righthander also has struck out 56 batters with a fastball that can get into the low-90s. His control needs work, but with Tommy Hanson in the big leagues and Jeff Locke now in the Pirates system, Delgado is one of the best minor league arms the Braves have.
Delgado jumped on the scene last year at Danville as he out-pitched Julio Teheran (at the same age), and just about everyone else, including college pitchers.
We'll be redoing the Talking Chop Braves Top Prospect list over the All-Star break, but in thinking about it and the performances of many of our prospects so far this season, it's going to be interesting as no one has really stood out or made any significant improvement. If I had to list the top-5 guys right now it might be worth putting Delgado in there, he's at least in the top-10.
BA also listed Freddie Freeman "in the team photo:"
1B Freddie Freeman (Braves) struggled in April, but since then the 2007 second-round pick has hit .343 in May and June. Now, Freeman is riding a seven-game hitting streak for high Class A Myrtle Beach and has hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games. For an 18-year-old, Freeman has an advanced bat and stayed hot last week, hitting .458 with two home runs...
This is not meant to start a "prospectbation" thread where everyone throws out their top-whatever, lets save that until the All-Star break once all the draft picks have signed and the short-season leagues have begun, but start thinking about it now.