Braves Pitching The Draft
By: TJ Hartnett
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The MLB draft is never as hyped up as the NBA or NFL drafts, and that’s somewhat fair because baseball has such an extensive minor league system that it is exceptionally rare that player makes the jump directly from the draft to a Major League roster.
There’s also far fewer safe bets in baseball. Top prospects often never go on to be All-Stars in baseball. It’s much more of a crap shoot. That being said, it is always interesting to see how teams draft, both on the level of individual players and on a macro level of what they were looking to do in a broad sense.
Despite the heavy penalties MLB slapped the Atlanta Braves with at the end of 2017, new GM Alex Antholopoulos had the task of drafting a new crop of talent to add to his already stocked pool last week.
Granted, most of the penalties involved were directed at the Braves’ ability to target international prospects (as that’s where former GM John Coppollela spent most of his illicit energies), but the Braves still lost their third round pick this year.
Those penalties did add a new wrinkle, however, as Atlanta needed to replace the 13 international prospects they had to release into the wild.
So, as to not lose years off of the farm system’s development, the Braves drafted 34 college players out of 39 total picks. Only Carter Stewart in the first round and Victor Vodnik in the 14th came out of high school before the last three rounds, where the final three were selected.
As a top 10 draft pick, all eyes will be on Stewart as he moves through the minors in the coming months and years. He is just the kind of player the Braves have coveted as of late, a prep school hurler with high upside.
Stewart’s prize possession is a nasty curveball, possibly the best in the entire draft class. He also has a fastball that sits in the low 90s, though he’s been clocked as high as 98.
At 6’ 6” and only 18 years old he has room to add muscle and apparently that process has already begun, as he has followed my lead and added on 30 pounds since last August.
He likely sealed the deal as the Braves’ choice with an 18-strikeout no-hitter earlier this year.
There were also some fortunate draft picks by the rest of MLB, leaving a player like right-handed pitcher Tristan Beck available in the fourth round, especially after they had to skip the previous one.
They also adhered to the time honored ideal that there is no such thing as too much pitching. They picked up 22 pitchers in the draft, including five lefties, alongside four outfielders, 9 infielders, and 4 catchers.
That might frustrate some folks, and I can understand why. The Braves are going to need position players in the near future (and right now at third base) and they could have filled those gaps with college batters who will be ready for the majors much sooner.
A third baseman (or someone who could be moved for a third baseman) would have solved an immediate need in Atlanta and before too long the Braves will need to look to replace the likes of Nick Markakis, Tyler Flowers and Kurt Suzuki. However, Atlanta stayed true to their beliefs and picked up pitching in droves.
The last bit of business the Braves completed was a heartfelt one. In the 40th round the Braves drafted Mick Mangan, son of Braves groundskeeper Ed Mangan. Don’t sleep on this pick just because it was a nice gesture. The Dodgers once drafted somebody’s son as a favor in the last round too and Mike Piazza is in the Hall of Fame.
