With the Atlanta Braves’ draft position locked in last week, it’s now time to take a look at some of the potential targets for the team in the 2026 MLB Draft. This series looks at 10 players who have some chance of being available for the team with the ninth pick. We’ll skip the four guys who have no chance of falling that far at this point, the top three shortstops (Roch Cholowsky, Grady Emerson, Justin Lebron) and the top pitcher (Liam Peterson).
We’ll continue our series with the next best shortstops from the Top 3, going to the first of the big bats in AJ Gracia. This group of players is based on what things look like for the spring, as players could see their stocks or even their play change significantly over the next eight months.
AJ Gracia is an outfielder at the University of Virginia who spent the last two years at Duke before following his coach this season. He is a 6-foot-1, 195-pound prospect who both hits and throws left-handed. In his first year at Duke, he hit .305/.440/.559 with 14 home runs and 14 doubles, as well as 48 walks to 55 strikeouts in 278 at-bats. He followed it up by hitting .293/.449/.558 with 15 home runs, 10 doubles and 57 walks, to just 36 strikeouts in 285 at-bats. He has also added 13 steals in 15 attempts over the years.
His plus power is definitely his best tool, but he also has a chance to become an above-average hitter — which is certainly possible based on the way he cut his strikeouts last year while continuing to run at a high pace. He messed with his swing mechanics a bit and had some cold spells, but showing that he could tinker with them and come into the season well is certainly a plus for his feel as a hitter. Defensively, he’s more of an edge runner with an edge arm, but he has solid instincts and could potentially stay in the middle – although he doesn’t really have the arm to be on the right side if he were to move to a corner position.
Gracia could be a mid-range hitter who hits both medium and power, which is what gets him drafted high. He could be an adequate defensive centerfielder or a strong defender on the left, which would potentially give him good value if he were solid defensively. He has what it takes to be a top draft pick, even having some success in a 19-plate performance in the Cape Cod League with wood bats in 2024 to prove he’s not just a product of the college bats.
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