The Braves took Harper in the 14th round of the 2022 draft, using the 425th selection to take the righty out of the University of Southern Mississippi. He received a signing bonus of $140,000 to join the organization.
What were the 2025 expectations?
Landon Harper had perhaps the most underrated 2024 season of any of Atlanta’s pitching prospects. In 32 appearances between Rome and Mississippi, Harper pitched to a 2.43 ERA while striking out 64 and only walking 14 in 77.2 innings pitched.
During his pro career, Harper has shown excellent command, but has not been able to miss a ton of bats, which doesn’t exactly make his prospect profile jump out to most.
Coming into 2025, which would be his first full season at double-A, it would be interesting to see whether he could continue to show off that same command while also striking out a few more batters along the way.
Coming off such a stellar season in which he also participated in the Arizona Fall League, Harper was poised to take that next step.
Overall, the 2025 season was a bit up-and-down for Harper — both in the literal and metaphorical sense. Since he was drafted in 2022, a majority of Harper’s appearances have come as a reliever.
However, in 2025 he went back and forth between starting (14 starts) and being used as a reliever, making a total of 26 appearances, all with Columbus.
Over that stretch, Harper understandably saw a career-high in innings pitched with 107.2. While the ERA also jumped to 3.59 on the year, Harper still managed to keep the walks down, issuing only 21 free passes while striking out 105 batters over the course of the season.
There’s a legitimate chance Harper has a future in a big league bullpen as sort of a swingman-type role. His stuff isn’t going to be flashy and his numbers will most-likely always hover around the middle of the pack, but he is efficient and uses his pitches extremely well.
As for where he goes in 2026, it’s a bit difficult to say. If the organization wants to continue stretching him out as a starter, there’s a good chance Harper begins the next season back with double-A Columbus to make a few starts. If he is going to be used primarily as a reliever, Harper will probably be sent straight to Gwinnett to kick off the year.
There will always be a need for guys who can throw strikes and limit the number of walks they issue, so there’s a good chance that even if Harper doesn’t end up in Atlanta some day, he will probably get a shot on a big league roster somewhere down the line.
