John Hart looks into the draft crystal ball and tries to pull out major league players Please credit Grpahic created by Fred Owens for Tomahawk Take from multiple sources
Here are the selections that the Atlanta Braves made for rounds four through 10 of the draft.
Draft Round Four
The Braves fourth round draft pick is RHP Josh Graham.
Graham is a 6’0″ 210 pound converted catcher and he pitches like that. He has a short quick release like those you see when a catcher throws to second. He delivers a low 90s fastball that tends to be flat.
In 65 IP including 6 starts and 19 games for Oregon this season working primarily as a reliever. He posted a 2.63 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP striking out 64 and walking 26. He gave up only one homer but was called for three balks.
He’s 21 and started pitching late and is built like a tank so it’s hard to say what his upside is but he looks like a late inning reliever.
Draft Round Five
The fifth round draft pick is RHP Ryan Clark.
The 6’6″ 220 pound Clark is athletic righty whose fastball runs 90-95 with sink. he has a tightly wound breaking ball but his arm angle is inconsistent when throwing it reducing its effectiveness. His command is an issue but his raw stuff is good enough to allow a potentially a back-of-the-rotation arm or a power armed reliever.
Draft Round Six
Matt Withrow
As you may have guessed Matt is the brother of Chris Withrow whom the Braves recently obtained in a trade. Matt is also a flame thrower and like Chris he’s has his injury issues. According to a story on MRT Sports Withrow’s 2014 off season began with a trip to the doctor for what was diagnosed as a stress fracture and required surgery
"“I don’t really know how it happened, I always had a little weirdness in my elbow kind of thing, but it wasn’t until I was playing summer ball that it started bothering me.”"
The I always had weirdness in my elbow comment does not engender confidence for me, YMMV.
Withrow was converted to a reliever this season and struck out 25 hitters in 22 1/3 IP while walking 11 and pitching to a 3.63 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP.
Jim Callis said on the streaming MLB Draft show that Withrow still had pins in his arm though I’ve been unable to confirm that.
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