Braves Prospect Weekly: Sears Dominates at Triple-A, Hackenberg Finds His Groove at Double-A
By JT Murphy ·
Braves Prospect Weekly covers the last 7 days of action for the Braves farm system.
Sears Puts Up a Six-Inning Gem at Gwinnett
Brett Sears (AAA, RHP, Rank: 34) was the best pitcher in the Braves system this week by a clear margin, throwing six innings of one-hit, scoreless ball against Triple-A competition. He struck out 10, walked one, and generated 15 swinging misses on 93 pitches, throwing 57 for strikes. That is a dominant outing by any measure for a pitcher whose arsenal tops out at 95 mph and relies on a 55 command grade to make the profile tick. Over the last 30 days at Gwinnett, he has pitched to a 0.79 ERA in 22.2 innings with a 34.1 K% and a 5.7 BB%, walking five batters all month. His season combined ERA across levels sits at 2.82 with 145 strikeouts against 29 walks in 118 innings, and the walk rate of 6.2% for the year is the clearest evidence that the command is a real tool rather than a paper number.
The projection here is a long reliever or up-down arm, and the scouting profile is honest about why: the four-seamer sits at 91-95 mph, the cutter grades at 40, and neither the curveball nor changeup is clearly plus. But weeks like this one reveal what makes Sears functional above his stuff grade. The low-80s slider is a genuine bat-misser, and his ability to sequence four pitches with above-average command means hitters cannot sit on any single offering. After struggling at Triple-A last season with a 10.24 ERA in two starts before being sent down, this year's Gwinnett numbers look nothing like that version: a 0.92 ERA in four starts, a 33.8 K%, and zero home runs allowed. The Double-A-to-Triple-A transition has gone about as cleanly as a fringe-average velocity starter could hope, and the last 30 days make a compelling case that the stuff plays up in context even if the individual pitch grades are modest.
Hackenberg's Best Columbus Stretch Is a Different Story Than Gwinnett
Drue Hackenberg (AA, RHP, Rank: 19) threw eight innings against Columbus hitters this week, allowing four hits and one earned run while striking out nine and walking two, generating 18 swinging misses on 96 pitches. It was his fifth start back at Double-A after an extended Triple-A stint that produced a 6.06 ERA and 1.73 WHIP in 52 innings at Gwinnett. The contrast between levels is stark and consistent: in five Double-A starts this season he has allowed three earned runs in 28 innings with a 4.7 BB%, while the Triple-A numbers show 32 walks in 52 innings and a 13.2 BB%. Those are not small-sample aberrations; they are reflecting the same issues that showed up in last week's column when he was sent back down, and the difference in command between levels points directly to the 45 command grade doing more damage when sequencing gets compressed at Triple-A.
The arsenal is not the problem. A two-seamer with arm-side run, a curveball graded at 55 that shows two-plane depth in the low-to-mid 80s, and a 94-96 mph four-seamer give Hackenberg a starter's mix on paper. The curveball in particular has been a usable chase and put-away option at Double-A, where the whiff rate over the last 30 days sits at 26.5% despite the modest 19.8 K% in that stretch. The changeup remains fringe-average and limits his options against left-handed hitters, but the bigger issue is whether the delivery can repeat well enough to work on Triple-A counts. His 2025 combined line at Double-A was a disaster, a 6.99 ERA with a 16.1 BB%, so the 2026 version is a genuine improvement in process. The 45 command grade still feels accurate given the Gwinnett sample, but the September Double-A work at least provides a cleaner finish to a complicated season.
Quick Hits
Owen Murphy (AAA, RHP, Rank: 6) · threw 5.2 innings, allowing two hits and one earned run while striking out five and walking three, with 11 swinging misses on 85 pitches. His Triple-A ERA sits at 3.07 across 96.2 innings this season, and the last 30 days have been genuinely sharp: a 1.06 ERA over 17 innings with a 0.76 WHIP at Gwinnett. The walk rate in that stretch has climbed to 10.9 BB%, which is worth watching given that the changeup is still below average and the command grade is a 50. The slider-fastball pairing is the core of the profile, a No. 4 starter projection with legitimate stuff, and Atlanta already gave him three MLB appearances this year.
Cam Caminiti (AA, LHP, Rank: 2) · worked six innings against Columbus hitters, giving up three hits and one run while walking three and striking out four, with 13 swinging misses on 85 pitches. The walk total is the recurring story with Caminiti: a 12.5 BB% at Double-A this season and 11.0 BB% over the last 30 days reflect the 45 command grade doing real work against him, even as the fastball sits at 94-98 mph and the Double-A ERA checks in at 2.01 in 31.1 innings. He is 20 years old with a 55 fastball and three secondary pitches that all grade at 50, and the stuff is not in question. The strike-throwing is the variable that will separate the No. 4 starter ceiling from the up-down outcome.
Garrett Baumann (AAA, RHP, Rank: 11) · threw five clean innings, scattering four hits and striking out four without issuing a walk, on 71 pitches. The no-walk line is notable because his Triple-A season ERA sits at 7.48 in 10 starts with a 17.1 K%, a rough stretch driven by 11 home runs allowed in 43.1 innings. The last 30 days have looked considerably better: a 1.61 ERA in 22.1 innings at Gwinnett with a 5.4 BB%. A 55 fastball with downhill extension and a usable changeup give him a back-end starter skeleton, but the home run issues need to shrink for the projection to hold.
Rolddy Muñoz (AAA, RHP, Rank: 26) · threw three scoreless innings in relief this week, striking out five and walking one with 10 swinging misses on 43 pitches. That followed a brief MLB recall in which he allowed three runs on five hits in two innings before being optioned back to Gwinnett. The season at Triple-A is more representative of where he is: a 3.51 ERA in 48.2 innings with a 32.1 K% and a 12.7 BB%, an outcome that tracks with a 96-98 mph four-seamer and a 55 slider paired with a 40 command grade. The whiff rate of 38.7% for the season is real. The walk totals are also real. The up-down path is playing out as advertised.
Eric Hartman (AA, OF, Rank: 1) · went 1-for-23 with five walks and eight strikeouts in a difficult week at Columbus, driving in one run. The season contact rate of 68.7% and 31.2 K% over the last 30 days at Double-A illustrate the adjustment he's been working through since the promotion. His 56 combined stolen bases and 24 home runs earlier in the year made him a compelling breakout story in the system, and per reporting he crossed the 25-HR/50-SB threshold this season, becoming only the second Braves prospect to do it alongside Andruw Jones. The tools are legitimately plus across speed and athleticism, and a rough week at the plate does not change the profile. The swing-and-miss against advanced spin is the developmental variable worth following going forward.
John Gil (AA, SS, Rank: 5) · put together six hits in 23 plate appearances with a double, three RBI, and a walk against three strikeouts. That is a smaller output than his last 30-day run at Columbus, where he is slashing with a .324 average, a 9.5 BB%, and a 14.7 K% over 116 plate appearances. The contact rate of 77.7% and 60 stolen bases on the season are the tools that define his value; the 40 power grade keeps the ceiling where it is, but a 20-year-old shortstop holding a 16.8 K% at Double-A is doing something useful at the margins regardless of what the slugging line says.
Duncan Davitt, RHP, Giants (AAA, Sacramento) · #655 Overall · was claimed off waivers by the San Francisco Giants on September 9. He had appeared in six games at Gwinnett this season with a 6.43 ERA in seven innings before the move, and his combined organizational line across Double-A and Triple-A showed a 6.22 ERA in 59.1 innings at Charlotte earlier in the year. He threw three innings for Sacramento after the claim, allowing nothing and striking out two.