By: TJ Hartnett

TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services

By necessity of having 30 major league teams with four or five minor league teams each, the MLB draft is a long and often fruitless exercise. However, the fruit that does bear can ripen into Chipper Jones, so let’s see what the Braves have done in 2017.

I’ll just be focusing on the top three draft picks (since their scouting reports were much easier to find), so if you’re related to the 1,070^th overall pick Chase Blueberg as were hoping for a paragraph dedicated to him, I apologize. That one sentence will have to suffice.

Just a week before the draft many were expecting Kyle Wright to jump all the way up to Minnesota and go first overall in the draft. Two days before the draft it began to be discussed that Wright could drop all the way to five with the Braves and that is just what happened.

After going undrafted out of high school due to signability concerns, Wright went to Vanderbilt University where he quickly rose to the top of a strong college pitching rotation.

After three years in a Vanderbilt uniform he will now move on to join the deep Braves system.

I love this pick. Wright may not be an ace, but he’s a safe bet to have a long and good big league career as a starter. He has everything needed to be a true number two starter and should be at least a solid number three. Worst case scenario is that he’s a number four. He’s also fairly advanced and could be in Atlanta for good two years from now as we get ready for the 2019 MLB Draft.

The Braves were long rumored to be linked to Mark Vientos and Tristan Beck in the second round but instead had a former local five tool outfielder introduce the draft choice of a new local five tool outfielder.

Drew Waters is a switch hitter who shows quite a bit more power from the left side against right handed pitchers. He’s a capable hitter from the right side against lefty pitchers but he shows more gap power from that side right now. However, it’s not out of the question that changes as he gets more reps against quality lefties.

He’s a well-rounded player who can hit, produce power, run the bases, field his position well and keep an opposing run game in check from the outfield. There is a lot to like with Waters and if the Braves don’t rush him I would think he goes on to a solid career.

Freddy Tarnok was a bit of a surprise pick at number three for the Braves, but he’s an under the radar type of pitcher with upside, which certainly fits the Braves plans.

Freddy Tarnok is an athletic 6’4” and 185 pound right handed pitcher who converted from being a shortstop within the past year and a half. Tarnok is a fresh, raw, projectable arm with athleticism and the ability to throw strikes. Factor in the fact that he’s already capable of hitting the mid 90’s with his fastball and it’s easy to see what the Braves were thinking when they scouted him.

In summation…literally anything could happen. The MLB draft is the least exact science of all the pro drafts, a fact which was proven when 1,390^th overall pick (and only then because Tommy Lasorda owed his dad a favor) Mike Piazza went into the Hall of Fame last summer. Just to double up on evidence: the Braves were one of TWENTY-FOUR teams that passed on Mike Trout in 2009. So that should keep you up at night.

That being said, talent does tend to prevail and the Braves managed to score a good crop this year. Let’s see what it becomes.