A lot can change in a few years time. A short while ago, Braves Country was salivating at the thought of an Atlanta outfield headlined by Ronald Acuna Jr., Christian Pache, and Drew Waters.
Fast forward a few years and we are looking at Pache and Waters struggle to stay in the majors. Waters was traded to the Royals for the 35th pick in the MLB draft and resides in Kansas City’s farm, but Pache hasn’t stuck anywhere he’s been since leaving Atlanta.
Pache was initially moved in the Matt Olson trade but was flipped to the Phillies at the start of last year, with Philadelphia mostly keeping him on the bench since he is out of options. The former Braves top prospect was then moved to the Orioles at the trade deadline and was just designated for assignment.
After being one of the top prospects in all of baseball during his time in Atlanta’s system, his bat never translated. He has hit .181/.244/.274 in his first 546 major league plate appearances.
He’s still one of the best outfielders in baseball and extremely young, so there’s reason to believe he’ll get another chance at some point down the road. However, his journey is a stark reminder that prospects are better seen as trade chips and not as sure-fire All-Stars as many Braves fans would have you believe.
With that being said, Alex Anthopoulos is among the best in the business when it comes to identifying talent to keep and to move at trade deadlines. Most recently, it’s Spencer Schwellenbach that clubs want in return, but the Braves president of baseball operations refused to move the potential star.
Christian Pache will surely catch on somewhere in a bench role or potentially an everyday role with a club that moved a lot of pieces at the deadline.
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David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire
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