Paul McKenzie didn’t just grow up watching the Braves from North Carolina. He grew up wanting to be one of them.
That dream became real after Atlanta took the left-hander in the fourth round of the 2025 Draft and gave him an over-slot bonus of $3 million, roughly late first-round money, to keep him from LSU. Since then, the climb has been fast.
McKenzie made only three starts in the Rookie-level Florida Complex League in May before the Braves sent him to Single-A Augusta for his full-season debut on June 5. He responded with five scoreless innings and eight strikeouts, then got the kind of office call that can make a young pitcher’s stomach drop.
“They said, 'McKenzie, we gotta talk to you,' very straight-faced,” McKenzie recalled. “I thought, to be honest, I got traded or something, just based off their reaction.
“And then they said, 'Congratulations, you're going to [High-A] Rome,' and my heart dropped and I was pumped up after that, so that was pretty cool.”
That promotion put him in rare company. McKenzie was one of only four high school pitchers from the 2025 Draft class to reach High-A this season, and now he’s the youngest pitcher in the Arizona Fall League in 2026.
He’s also the first pitcher to appear in a game there at age 19 since Alessandro Ercolani of the Pirates in 2023. McKenzie turned 20 on Oct. 11, and his first start after that birthday may have been his sharpest yet.
On Oct. 16 for Glendale, McKenzie worked four-plus hitless innings, retiring 12 of the first 13 batters he faced. He piled up six strikeouts, with five coming on his two fastballs, the four-seamer and sinker. His velocity sits around 92-93 mph, but the pitch plays up because of his 6-foot-2 frame, his extension, and the way he repeats his delivery.
McKenzie said the mindset is simple.
“I was kind of an old school guy, so I always liked Nolan Ryan, the way he attacked,” said McKenzie. “Obviously, I don't look like Nolan Ryan out there, but, as far as being [going toward] the batter and coming at him, that was kind of the mindset I had.”
There’s also a look to him that catches your eye right away. From behind the plate, his delivery and arm slot bring to mind Chris Sale, and McKenzie said he leaned into that influence.
“He was somebody that I picked up immediately,” said McKenzie of the 10-time All-Star. “Being a lefty, I dropped my arm slot a little more when I got here. I wanted to kind of have similar shapes and stuff.”
The breaking ball is the pitch that really made McKenzie known as a prep arm. Back then, he was drawing attention with a devastating curveball sitting in the 75-78 mph range. MLB Pipeline grades it as a 60 on the 20-80 scale, and it’s tied for the best breaking ball in Atlanta’s system, helping push him to No. 8 on the Braves’ Top 30 Prospects list.
In the Fall League, the pitch has shown more velocity and more horizontal movement, with spin in the 2,800-2,900 RPM range, and it’s been charted as a slider. McKenzie views it more as a slurve for now, something he can move around during an outing before eventually separating it into two pitches.
Braves area scouting supervisor Al Skorupa, who has followed McKenzie since his prep days, sees exactly why the organization was so interested.
“It’s one of those breaking balls where your eye just can't track it,” said Braves area scouting supervisor Al Skorupa, who watched McKenzie dating back to his prep days. “Even from the stands, you're like, 'How did it go there?' And he dots it both corners low, whenever he wants.”
That command matters, and it fits the Braves’ recent track record of developing high school arms such as AJ Smith-Shawver, JR Ritchie, Cam Caminiti, Owen Murphy and others. McKenzie’s path has also included a setback.
After three starts with Rome, he missed the rest of the regular season because of nerve irritation in his left forearm, leaving him with just 26 regular-season innings. The time away gave him space for things he enjoys off the field, including fishing, and it also gave him a reset before the Fall League.
Skorupa says the appeal goes well beyond the stuff.
“The person beyond the player is such a big part of his appeal,” said Skorupa of McKenzie. “Just a tough-nosed kid who loves the game, plays for the right reasons, handles adversity extremely well. And just competes his butt off.”
McKenzie says the formula is straightforward: trust the arsenal and stay aggressive.
“I just know it's really hard to hit and I've got good stuff, so I just want to throw my best stuff,” said McKenzie. “I feel like the games that I kind of get myself into trouble is when I almost give the hitters too much credit and I try to paint corners and be cute. So when I just go into attack mode and throw my best against their best, I usually have good results.”
For McKenzie, the Fall League is practical after the lost innings, but it also carries a meaning that goes deeper. Every time he takes the mound, he gets to wear the gray road uniform with “Atlanta” across the chest or the home whites that say “Braves” - the sight he imagined as a kid in North Carolina.
“It’s a blessing,” said McKenzie. “It feels right. It's where I'm meant to be.”
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