Braves willing to trade pitching prospects to add impact hitter

The Braves have spent the last nine months adding pitching talent to their organization. As the July 31 trade deadline draws closer, general manager John Hart could be looking to flip some of that talent to add a quality bat that's controllable for the foreseeable future.

Jayson Stark of ESPN tweeted this early Friday morning:

Teams that have talked to #Braves say their deals in last 24 hours could be a template for their approach to more trades in July. . . .

— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) July 3, 2015

#Braves have let clubs know they're open to dealing from pitching prospect depth in a trade for a bat. They've asked about young catchers

— Jayson Stark (@jaysonst) July 3, 2015

We've heard the Braves have checked in on Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy but that's about it as far as rumored names go.

Manny Banuelos, Max Fried, Mike Foltynewicz, Tyrell Jenkins, Shelby Miller, Ricardo Sanchez, Touki Toussaint and Matt Wisler are just some of the guys added since the 2014 season ended. Alex Wood looks mighty good, too, and who knows what happens with Julio Teheran. Jason Grilli and Jim Johnson could also be flipped for prospects.

My main takeaway from this is the Braves must be losing faith in Christian Bethancourt rather quickly. He was so bad -- both offensively and defensively -- during the first two months of the season.

After watching Hart and John Coppolella operate these last few months, it would seem the Braves will continue to be extremely active in July. These guys work quick, for better or worse. It should be a fun month.