The Atlanta Braves had already picked up a win before they even took the field Wednesday night against the Twins. Turning Lucas Harrell and Dario Alvarez—two guys who wandered in off the street, essentially—into an honest-to-goodness prospect was John Copplella’s best bit of sorcery yet.
Travis Demeritte was the starting second baseman for the United States in the MLB Futures game a couple of weeks ago—opposite Dansby Swanson. Harrell was released by Detroit May 16, Alvarez by the Mets nine days later. Suddenly, that’s the going rate for a potential right-handed power bat ranked 20th by MLB.