Atlanta Braves Draft Review – Who Did We Get?!

Atlanta Braves Draft Review – Day 3

Pick #319 – Matt Rowland, RHP, Georgia HS – Lean bodied righty with excellent stuff, can touch mid-90s with a highly-regarded slider. Will need to fill out and be consistent in his delivery as he moves up. Already signed with the team.

Pick #349 – Brandon White, RHP, Lander – Reliever with excellent stuff in the mid-90s and a cutter/slider with movement.

Pick #379 – Brandon White (seriously, same name!), RHP, Davenport – Low 90s fastball with some good sink, but more of a command/control guy presently with projection to play up in relief or even add velocity with good coaching.

Pick #409 – Ramon Osuna Sanchez, 1B, Walter State CC – Big (6’3, 240) guy with a very leveraged swing, but gets good contact with it. Ball leaps off when he makes barrel contact. Played outfield, but not quite the defender the Braves seek in the outfield, so likely to stick at 1B.

Pick #439 – Zach Becherer, RHP, Rend Lake College – Injury selection out with TJS for this season. Big fastball that could have gone in the first 3 rounds if he had remained healthy.

Pick #469 – Josh Anthony, 3B, Western Oklahoma State – One of my favorite picks of day 3 with raw power and speed and more than enough defense to stick at 3B. Will have to buy him out of his Auburn commit.

Pick #499 – Devan Watts, RHP, Tusculum College – College reliever with very good numbers using a low-90s heavy sinker and a wicked slider.

Pick #529 – Zachary Rice, LHP, UNC-Chapel Hill – CBWilkins, formerly of Talking Chop, loves this kid, and has really talked him up as a very loose arm that was misused at UNC and could be a huge steal here for the Braves. Low 90s fastball with a four pitch mix.

Pick #559 – Tucker Davidson, LHP, Midland College – Ace of the Midland staff, but works with a low-90s fastball and curve and slider. Will be interesting to see how he profiles with the Braves, whether as a reliever or a starter.

Pick #589 – Gabe Howell, 2B, Tennessee HS – Has played around the infield, so could profile a number of positions, but has a very good feel for the barrel to the ball and developing power.

Pick #619 – Dalton Carroll, RHP, Utah – Feel guy who is more a pitchability guy than a stuff guy, but had good success in Pac-12 ball. Likely cheap senior sign.

Pick #649 – Alex Lee, 1B, Samford – Braves scouted teammate Heath Quinn quite a bit, so likely caught plenty of gap power. Very good stick from the left side, but not really a defensive position to play other than 1B, and there’s some Freeman guy in Atlanta at that position.

Pick #679 – Griffin Benson, 1B, Texas HS – Right handed power hitter with a big frame and a huge power swing, Benson has played 3B in a Japan tour he took in high school, so he could even possibly work some at the hot corner. Very raw swing right now, but the power is noteworthy.

Pick #709 – Matt Hearn, OF, Mission College – Slap-hitting defensive outfielder with a very slight build out of JuCo.

Pick #739 – Ryan O’Malley, 3B, Sonoma State – Plays around the infield with good contact skills, added power this season.

Pick #769 – Alan Crowley, C, Reedley College – Good size, arm strength for a catcher, not much for results in JuCo at the plate.

Pick #799 – Corbin Clouse, LHP, Davenport – Second pick from Davenport, tremendous numbers, but hard to find scouting reports on his stuff.

Pick #829 – Nick Shumpert, 2B, San Jacinto North – Drafted in the 7th round last year by the Tigers, Shumpert is the son of Terry Shumpert. Power upside with defensive skills to stay up the middle at 2B.

Pick #859 – Jackson Pockorney, OF, Indiana HS – Switch-hitting outfielder that played three sports up until his junior year of high school. Has played in wooden bat showcases as well, so should transition well. Projectable body with power upside.

Pick #889 – Cameron Stanton, RHP, St. Edwards – Small build senior sign righty with very good numbers and a lot of innings. Low-90s velocity, but able to handle a big workload. Son of former Brave Mike Stanton.

Pick #919 – Cameron Jabara, RHP, California HS – Good frame HS arm that runs his fastball into the low-90s. May not be an easy sign away from Oregon commitment.

Pick #949 – Ryan Schlosser, RHP, Century College – Big kid with a very solid sinker that keeps the ball in the park, but lots of work to do coming from a tiny Minnesota college.

Pick #979 – Handsome Monica, C, Northwest Florida State – Originally an Arizona commit, he crushed the ball this season. May stick behind the plate as well. Easily my favorite name of the draft. Gives me a Jonathan Morales sort of vibe of a guy that could really be more than you’d think for where he’s selected.

Pick #1009 – Jared James, OF, Cal Poly Pomona – Previous infamous pick from the same school was JoJo Reyes. James has a good eye and good contact skills at the plate, but may not have much projection left.

Pick #1039 – Michael Gizzi, RHP, Florida Manatee-Sarasota – The draft has him listed as a pitcher, but he threw all of 2 innings all season, so perhaps the Braves intend on converting the JuCo outfielder to the mound.

Pick #1069 – Andres Perez, C, Georgia HS – Coach Eddie Perez‘s son is a monster (6’7, 260), yet I’ve found two scouting reports that both say he is agile and fluid behind the plate and could possibly remain there! He’s absolutely got a booming swing, and I truly hope the Braves get him into the organization because his raw power is tremendous from the right side, even though he does have some load to the swing.

Pick #1099 – Zac Kristofak, RHP, Georgia HS – Two-way player with a low-90s fastball, but a slight build (5’11, 175). May stick with his Georgia commit.

Pick #1129 – Dayton Tripp, RHP, Rend Lake – Threw only 23 innings as a long reliever out of the bullpen with a 5.48 ERA, so the Braves must see something here that I can’t find!

Pick #1159 – Parker Danciu, LHP, Marshall – Pitched a lot for Marshall, but not all that well, and the stuff just isn’t that special. Perhaps could play up in the bullpen.

Pick #1189 – Dylan Beasley, RHP, Georgia HS – Signed to play for his father at Berry College, so unlikely to sign.

Next: Braves Minor League Database

So, here are some news things for you…

Coming up this month, I’ll be getting back into doing scouting reports, starting with Kolby Allard, Akeel Morris, and Jonathan Morales this week, and then continuing with two per week (and any acquisitions) through the rest of the season outside of one week in July when I’ll be out of town, oddly enough getting to see the Braves and Twins in person – yes, I’m a glutton for punishment.

The second week of July, I will be releasing my top 50 prospects list in the Braves system. That will NOT include anyone drafted this weekend or any player signed on July 2nd. I tend to wait to talk with scouts after the season to get their impressions on a guy before I include them into rankings.