atlanta sports tagged interest

The Atlanta Braves added to their young core of pitching talent Sunday when they selected high-schooler Cam Caminiti in the first round of the MLB Draft.

Caminiti went 24th overall to the Braves, who picked up a high-value player that MLB.com ranked as the No. 15 available prospect. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound left-hander from Saguaro (Ariz) High is the cousin of former National League MVP Ken Caminiti.

“I know they’re a great organization and they win a lot of games,” Caminiti told MLB.com. “They’ve got a lot of great young talent. I’m excited to be a Brave.”

Caminiti is one of the youngest prospects in the draft — he won’t turn 18 until Aug. 8 — after reclassifying from the Class of 2025 to the Class of 2024. He is an LSU commitment.

As a pitcher, he throws four quality pitches and touches 98 mph on a fastball that sits in the 93 to 95 range. He also was a prospect as a hitter and was athletic enough to play center field when he wasn’t on the mound.

“[Caminiti] has got a huge arm,” Braves scouting director Ronit Shah told MLB.com. “You’ll see him sit mid-90s, and I’ve seen him gear up to throw 96 or 97 at the end of a high school game, which is super impressive. I think what impresses me most is how easy he does it.”

Atlanta used its second-round pick Sunday on another left-handed pitcher, Vanderbilt junior Carter Holton. The 5-foot-11, 191-pounder played high school baseball in Georgia at Benedictine before three productive seasons at Vanderbilt, where he relied on a four-pitch arsenal as a starting pitcher.