This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman's Braves Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
ATLANTA -- Nacho Alvarez Jr. spent the past two months as Atlanta’s third baseman. Once the regular season ends, the 21-year-old prospect will be among the players representing the Braves in this year’s Arizona Fall League.
Alvarez missed most of Spring Training with a left wrist ailment and remained sidelined into June. Two weeks after joining Triple-A Gwinnett, he suffered an oblique strain that sidelined him for another two weeks. He has remained healthy since the middle of July. But the Braves want him to make up for lost time by collecting at-bats in the AFL, which primarily consists of top prospects from each MLB franchise.
The Braves’ Top 30 prospects competing this year are RHP Drue Hackenberg (No. 10) and RHP Luke Sinnard (No. 16). Atlanta’s other representatives include OF Patrick Clohisy, INF Jim Jarvis, LHP Jacob Kroeger, RHP LJ McDonough and RHP Cory Wall.
All of Atlanta’s representatives will play for the Glendale Desert Dogs.
Alvarez has made a combined 247 plate appearances between Triple-A and the Major League level during what has been a chaotic season. One day after returning from the oblique injury, he was sent to the Majors because Austin Riley had just been sidelined by an abdominal strain.
After returning to Gwinnett’s lineup on July 26, with the hope of finally finding some continuity, he was again rushed back to the Majors. His return was necessitated when Riley suffered a season-ending abdominal injury on Aug. 2.
Alvarez has impressed with his defense, but he hasn’t shown enough power to confidently project him as an everyday corner infielder at the big league level. He has hit .232 with no homers and a .612 OPS over 168 plate appearances for Atlanta.
While Alvarez’s future might be as a utility player, the plan is for him to primarily play third base while playing for Glendale.
• Hackenberg was coached by Hall of Famer Billy Wagner during his high school years. The 23-year-old right-hander has struggled since the Braves took him in the second round of the 2023 Draft. He showed some promise late last year, posting a 1.52 ERA over four starts at Triple-A. But he had a 6.99 ERA over 18 starts at Double-A Columbus this year.
A two-month stint on the injured list didn’t alter the trajectory of his season. He posted a 6.97 ERA over 10 starts (41 1/3 innings) after being activated.
• Sinnard had a 4.19 ERA over nine starts for High-A Rome. Taken in the third round of the 2024 Draft, the 22-year-old righty completed 72 1/3 innings combined with Rome and Single-A Augusta this year.