Atlanta Braves 2016-2017 Top 100 Prospects: 61-70

68. Josh Graham, RHP

Graham was a late-comer to the mound, moving to the mound from catcher as a college player. In fact, there are “draft prospect” videos of Graham as a catcher, which tells you how late into the process he finally made the transition.

The Braves tried him as a possible starter last season in shorter stints, and that did lead to a number of places assuming he would be in the rotation going forward, but from those I talked with that was never in the cards, and his performance in 2016 showed his role in the bullpen could be a dynamic one!

Originally drafted as a catcher in 2012 by the Twins out of high school in the 22nd round, Graham instead went to the University of Oregon, where the Braves plucked him from in the 4th round of the 2015 draft.

He went to Danville last season, and he threw 17 1/3 innings, posting a 2.60 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, and a 3/21 BB/K ratio. To say he was dominant would be putting it quite lightly.

The Braves placed Graham into the Rome bullpen this season, and he had some moments of up and down, but in the end his season stats were 3.40 ERA and 1.11 WHIP over 42 1/3 innings, with a 12/50 BB/K ratio.

Graham shows his background as a catcher in his arm action. It’s short and sometimes “punchy” like a catcher throwing the ball to second, not the longer delivery one is used to out of a pitcher. However, he generates upper-90s velocity out of that delivery.

Graham features a fastball that’s a touch straight, but when he locates it well, he gets hitters off of it. His biggest issues with contact all came on the fastball, which does run to upper-90s, but sits more like 93-94. Due to the lack of movement on his fastball, hitters getting a good look at it can really square it up.

To keep hitters off the fastball, Graham offers two off speed options. His slider is average and flashes above-average, probably a pitch that would grade 55-60 on a 20 to 80 scouting scale. What it does do, however, is mimic his fastball well, and that helps it to play up.

His change is a surprising weapon for a reliever, with excellent arm action to mimic the fastball and just a touch of movement that mimics his slider. It has a great ability to get hitters absolutely frozen, and he gets hitters staring at the pitch frequently, not quite sure what they just saw!

Graham profiles as a guy who could work well at the back of the bullpen. 2016 was the first full season he worked as a reliever, so he will likely be given a chance to move up quickly in 2017 as he’s 23 at this point, so he’ll likely start at High-A or Mississippi and be pushed up quickly as his performance dictates.

67. Luis Mora, RHP

Talk about a guy whose stats don’t tell the whole story! Mora dwelled with the DSL squad for two seasons, pumping up high velocity but also struggling to keep the ball in the zone.

Mora was another of the Braves’ “older” prospect finds in the Latin market, starting his pro career at 19. He opened with two seasons in DSL, 2014 with a 10.18 ERA and 2.18 WHIP and 2015 with a 3.80 ERA and 1.18 WHIP. That big improvement in 2015 gave the Braves good feeling to push Mora past GCL to Danville.

With Danville this season, I don’t know how many guys told me that the best arm the Braves had was Mora. His 6’4 frame produces easy triple-digit velocity with two scouts quoting me 101 velocity readings at performances of Mora’s.

So how on earth can you rank a guy with a 7.42 ERA and 1.62 WHIP in the top 70 prospects of a team with such incredible depth in their minor league system?

For one, most of Mora’s damage was done in only two starts. 2.25 runs of ERA and 0.30 points of WHIP were added in those two starts alone! He only allowed 4 home runs on the season, and 2 were in those starts.

Mora works with a fastball that routinely touches 99+ and sits in the mid-90s. He has a 3/4 arm slot that he stays tall through his delivery on, which allows for good plane on the pitch.

However, he has incredibly long arms and legs for his height, and he is still very raw in instruction, so he often gets off track in his delivery. When he does, he can drop that arm slot to a lower 3/4 that feels like a “fling” of the ball toward the zone, leaving the ball looking like a hanging slider.

Mora throws a slider and change as well, and I’ve heard that he was working on a curve in side sessions. He’s got such a loose and live arm that I could absolutely see the Braves working on more pitches with him along the way, but he’s also 21 already, so I’d wager they put him at Rome in 2017 to see how he works there.

He could have an elite future as a reliever if he can’t make it as a starter.

Next: #66 & #65