With the season in the rear-view mirror, it’s time to move forward and start looking at what the team can do to win next year and in the future.
Although Atlanta’s team strength on the major league level was its pitching staff, they have an incredible number of young and talented hurlers both already in the majors and waiting in the minors to make an impact in the future.
In order to make it onto this “future” pitching staff, a player must be currently in the Braves system and 25 or younger at the present date.
It’s not just an arbitrary number; the logic behind 25 is that ages 26 to 30 are typically considered a player’s prime years.
Anyone who is currently 25 would be right in the middle of that (28) when the contracts of Derek Lowe and Tim Hudson come off the books (thus allowing more of our youngsters to get the call).