Atlanta Braves Make New Scouting Hires
Mar 1, 2014; Port St. Lucie, FL, USA; A close up view of the Jugs Gun which measures the speed of the pitch during the spring training game between the Miami Marlins and the New York Mets at Tradition Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Barr-USA TODAY Sports
Kiley McDaniel
Based on the title, McDaniel, 30 years old, will report to Billy Ryan, the current Director of Baseball Operations.
If you peruse the pages of fangraphs.com at all, you have probably come across McDaniel’s byline. Over the past few years, he has been writing for that site. More on that in just a bit.
If you’re only thinking “the Braves hired a blog writer??”, then you haven’t paid enough attention. McDaniel has already been in the grind of the actual baseball world, having held positions with the Yankees (2005-07), Orioles (2010), and Pittsburgh (2011).
McDaniel is best known today for his work on fangraphs, where he had made it his business to know everything there is to know about every baseball prospect between here, the Caribbean, and occasionally Korea and Japan.
McDaniel regularly posts lists of the top draft prospects, the top international draft prospects, and stories about the progress of both – in addition to conducting chat sessions about all of the above.
He thus naturally wrote his own “farewell” piece that appeared today on that site.
The fit for McDaniel is very interesting: as he explained, he already knew Coppolella from their days together with the Yankees. He probably also ran into George Blakeley there as well, and that speaks toward what the Braves expect him to do for them.
With fangraphs, he was actively scouting… everybody. This included trips to the Caribbean to check in on the business, the people and the players of the international market. I expect his frequent flyer miles and his passport will continue to get a significant workout as he’s going to be doing the very same things – though this time with a more directed, purposeful intent: to assess and bring to the Braves the very best talent he can find.
Here is one sample of the kind of work McDaniel has recently provided to fangraphs. Part 2 of that effort is here.
Additionally, noting that John Coppolella is known to be a strong statistical analytics aficionado, adding McDaniel to his staff will only add to that kind of mindset – joining Matt Grabowski, the current Assistant Director of Scouting and Analytics.
There’s yet another reason why this hire should be exciting to Braves’ fans: it’s about the projected international market in 2016. Ben Badler of BaseballAmerica wrote about this in a piece entitled “Why 2016 is the Year to Break Your International Bonus Pool” and it seems that the Braves are ready to do so.
Having more eyes on those players is a great idea, especially if you intend to “go big”, so it’s good to see the Braves add someone who has already immersed himself into checking out the talent.
The bad news? This hire severely cuts our own resources for future prospect information to deliver to you, our readers! But if the Braves have all that information… then I can live with that.
Welcome aboard to Braves Country to all of these new hires, and congratulations to those promoted as well.