The Major League baseball site is a bit slow updating their Winter Leagues pages, especially the roster pages, but on the ones that are updated I've been able to find quite a few Atlanta Braves players and prospects competing this off-season in fall and winter leagues.

In the Mexican Winter League, which starts today, the Braves have four prospects representing Atlanta, pitchers Brett Butts and Tim Gustafson and outfielders Concepcion Rodriguez and Matt Young. It's worth keeping an eye on all of these guys, as the pitchers could figure into our future bullpen mix and the outfielders could at least become candidates as future major league backups. We might see a few other guys participating, but not all of the rosters are available yet.

In the Venezuelan Winter League, which also starts today, the Braves have several participants; catchers Osman Marval and J.C. (automatic yearly invite to spring training because he's a catcher) Boscan, who are not really prospects, and first baseman Ernesto Mejia, who is certainly a prospect to keep an eye on. Left-handed starter Jose Ortegano will be another prospect to watch, and he is joined on the same team by outfield prospect Luis Sumoza.

Gregor Blanco also makes his annual appearance in the VWL, and Martin Prado is listed on the roster of one of the teams, so hopefully he gets to spend some time close to his family while getting some extra work in (I wonder if he'll play right field <<big gasp>>).

Of course, the Arizona Fall League starts Tuesday with the elite Braves prospects participating. The Braves top two prospects Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman highlight the position players, along with shortstop Brandon Hicks. Top draft pick Mike Minor gets his first taste of upper-level minor league competition, as he fronts the Braves pitching contingent of closer candidate Craig Kimbrel and relievers Lee Hyde and Jeff Lyman.

Matt and CB will be spinning up daily Fall/Winter League recaps starting next week so that everyone can keep up with our prospects this off-season. So check back daily for the latest on the next generation of Atlanta Braves.

Here are the Braves farm hands who will be representing Atlanta in the 2009 Arizona Fall League:

Jason Heyward, OF:  The top prospect in baseball will be on display in the premier Fall/Winter league for prospects. Coming in as the top prospect, there will be a lot of eyes on him. This will be a good test to see if he can handle the pressure.

Freddie Freeman, 1B:  He was put on the disabled list today with an injured wrist, so his status in the AFL is currently in doubt. The Braves will probably take a wait and see approach, and make a last minute decision as to whether he should participate.

Brandon Hicks, SS:  The once-promising shortstop prospect has struggled this season, succumbing to strikeouts and a lack of power. Can he bounce back in the hitter friendly AFL?

Mike Minor, LHSP:  The Braves top pick in the 2009 draft will get his first big showcase, and face a tough test in the hitters paradise of Arizona. Can he survive that level of competition unscathed?

Craig Kimbrel, RHRP:  The Braves top relief prosepct will get yet another chance to prove he can help the club in the bullpen in 2010.

Jeff Lyman, RHRP:  A real under-the-radar guy who is having a solid year after converting from a starter to a reliever.

Lee Hyde, LHRP:  This 2006 4th-rounder is bouncing back from surgery last season. He has been terrific in relief at Myrtle Beach, and was only recently promoted to double-A. It looks like the Braves want to try and move him fast.

What, no Matt Young this year?

The Atlanta Braves top pitching prospect, Tommy Hanson, is the first pitcher to win the Arizona Fall League MVP award. I have a feeling that this won't be the last award Tommy Hanson will win:

For the first time in the league's history, a pitcher was the recipient of the award and it would be hard to argue that anyone other than Braves right-hander Tommy Hanson should have gotten it.

"It's definitely an honor especially with the other guys in the running," said Hanson, who was at the Winter Meetings to accept the award, "and especially being the first pitcher. It's pretty neat to be the first one."

Even more reason to keep him on the "untouchable prospect" list.

From Baseball America's writeup of the top-20 prospects in the Hawaiian Winter League, our lefty starter Jonny Venters was ranked as the 14th-best in the league:

Venters ranked as the league's second-best lefthander (among U.S.-affiliated players) for several observers, trailing only [Jeremy] Bleich. A draft-and-follow signee, Venters has taken his time to develop but showed three average pitches in Hawaii. His fastball sits in the 87-90 mph range, at times touching 92. His slider remains too inconsistent for some scouts, but others saw it as an average pitch that flashed plus at times. His changeup is his best pitch, and he projects as a back-of-the-rotation starter.

"His fastball is deceptive and heavy," Cole said. "He hides it well, and his change gives him a putaway pitch."

Nice review of Venters, though I think the jury's still out on him, and even with a good year in Mississippi next season he will likely only turn into next year's James Parr. Gosh, it sure seems like so many of the young pitchers the Braves had high hopes for are turning into back of the rotation starters. Even guys like Chuck James, Horacio Ramirez, and Kyle Davies, who had strong starts to their careers fell into a back-end of the rotation starter mold at best. While I like the good news on Venters, I'm still not going to get too excited about these kinds of guys... I'm waiting on Tommy Hanson.

In 8 games, 7 starts and 31 innings pitched, Venters had a 2.90 ERA, 33 hits, 1 HR, 8 walks, and 26 strikeouts. He is elidgible for the Rule V draft this year, though it's unlikely anyone will take a chance on him.

The Atlatna Braves number-one pitching prospect will go to the hill one more time this year. Tommy Hanson gets the start in the Arizona Fall League championship game for the Mesa Solar Sox today at 2:30pm ET. Hanson has been blowing away everyone in the AFL this year and leads the league with 5 wins, a 0.63 ERA, and 49 strikeouts in 28 2/3 innings.

Hanson will not be the only Braves prospect in the game. The team was asked to vote on who should get the start and they chose four Braves to fill out the starting lineup (including Hanson):

1. Matt Young (ATL) LF
2. Jason Donald (PHI) SS
3. L. Morrison (FLA) DH
4. Jeff Larish (DET) 1B
5. Tyler Flowers (ATL) C
6. S. Cousins (FLA) CF
7. C. Wells (DET) RF
8. Van Pope (ATL) 3B
9. Will Rhymes (DET) 2B

This is an important start for Tommy Hanson, as we'll get to see what kind of big-game pitcher he is. He's already shown some of big game creds when he struck out seven in three hitless innings in the AFL Rising Stars game last month.

If you have a subscription to MLB.TV the you can watch the game here.

From deep within the bowels of DOB's blog, and update on Atlanta Braves prospect Jordan Schafer:

Just learned that [Jordan] Schafer hurt a finger in winter ball, got hit by a pitch, and he’s come home. Not broken, but it’s banged up and he’s supposed to rest it three weeks and then rehab it a few weeks.

He’s done for the winter, but he did himself a favor by going to play down there, left a good impression with the bosses. Wren told me Schafer played well while he was in Mexico.

Indeed Schafer was doing "well" in Mexico, not good, but well. He hit .276/.369/.343 in 27 games. That's a decent batting average, good on-base, but a pretty sub-standard slugging percentage. He may not have been focusing on power as he hit mostly leadoff, but with that good on-base percentage and nine stolen bases in ten attempts I suppose he performed "well" in that role.

This injury may also eliminate any doubt as to who will be offered up in trade talks, Schafer or Gorkys Hernandez. Though Schafer should heal by the time spring training rolls around where he will get the first crack at the center field job.

Tommy Hanson and Tyler Flowers are just sick, sick, sick. Their lines from today's game:

Hanson's line - 5IP, 1H, 0R, 2BB, 10SO, I'll repeat that, 10SO! (49SO in 28.2IP)

Flowers' line - 3-for-4 with a HR and 3RBI, BB (his 12th HR this fall)

I'm beside myself that these two keep doing this good. This is likely Hanson's last start this fall unless the Mesa Solar Sox make the playoffs, and that could very well happen. Today's win was the Sox' sixth win in a row, and they remain tied at the top of their division. If they win their division, Hanson could make the start in the championship game on Saturday.

Here is a link to what they did last week.

In case there was any doubt about how good Atlanta Braves prospects Tommy Hanson or Tyler Flowers are, they provided more proof today in the Arizona Fall League:

Hanson's line - 5IP, 3H, 1ER, 1BB, 9SO (leads the AFL in SO)

Flowers' line - 3-for-4 with 3 homeruns and 7 RBI (leads the AFL in HR)

With the recent news that the Padres want Tyler Flowers added to the Jake Peavy deal, this latest performance might make the Braves not only balk at trading Hanson, but also Flowers. In a system starved for power hitting prospects, we now have several very good potential major league power hitters in Flowers, Freeman, and Heyward.