74. Carlos Salazar, RHP
Salazar was drafted as a pick from high school in California in the 3rd round of the 2013 draft pick. He was a very raw arm when drafted, featuring a big fastball that could touch 97, but very inconsistent offerings otherwise.
Salazar worked as a starter for a year and a half with minimal success, before the Braves moved the electric arm to the bullpen midway through 2014. After spending time in Danville in 2014 working as a reliever, he moved to low-A Rome in 2015 and moved up to Carolina at the end of July.
While his strikeout rate was excellent as a reliever in 2014 and 2015, his walk rate was of concern. He walked hitters at a 18.2% rate in 2014/2015 out of the bullpen, and while his velocity and now-electric slider were possible back-end weapons, he just couldn’t get them under control.
Salazar repeated Carolina in 2016, and the 21 year-old may have posted an ERA that had many skipping by his name, but under the hood was something very, very notable. Salazar had made impressive strides in his control and repeating his delivery.
These strides made Salazar’s hard fastball straighten out a touch as his erratic mechanics would give his fastball late life. The issue was that he couldn’t control that life often and frequently left the ball out of the zone. Now, he was using his slider more, and frankly, that led to some growing pains as he worked to control the incredible bite his slider got.
Salazar posted a 23.8% walk rate, which would normally make someone run the other direction, but the improvements in his delivery and mechanics also led to an increased strikeout rate, bumping up to 29.5% from 22.2% at the same level the previous year. His walk rate was actually a 10% IMPROVEMENT over his number from Carolina the previous year.
With his electric stuff, it’s easy to dream on Salazar, and he has a very, very bright future, especially at just 21 years old. I would imagine he starts 2017 at AA Mississippi, and he could be a guy who fits in at the back-end of a bullpen going forward as he masters his mechanics and, therefore, his control.
73. Jared James, OF
The Braves pursued James fairly intensely, drafting James twice, once in the 30th round in 2014 out of community college, and then again in 2016 in the 34th round out of Cal Poly Pomona. James comes from a family that Braves fans will find familiar, as his father is former major leaguer Dion James, who played with the Braves from 1987-1989, tallying a .283/.374/.402 slash line over 329 games before he was traded for Oddibe McDowell.
James probably has more of the athleticism of McDowell than his father, though he played more left field than center with the Braves system in his first year as a professional, but that has as much to do with elite center fielders being present as James’ defensive issues.
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James is a lanky guy for 6’1, with longer arms and legs than you’d think at that height, and it sometimes hurts in his swing getting long. He still was able to show enough to push his way to Rome, and he was good enough to end up being the starting left fielder for Rome in their championship run.
Between two levels, James hit .300/.379/.420 with 4 home runs, 11 stolen bases, and a 21/30 BB/K ratio over 242 plate appearances.
He also paired with Ronald Acuna and Ray-Patrick Didder in the Rome outfield to be an absolutely elite defensive outfield.
James’ long legs mean that his excellent speed takes a bit to access, so he’s probably never going to be an elite base stealer, in spite of being as fast at top end as most anyone in the system. He will be a guy who does very well with balls in the gap, however, and that can be a very valuable skill, especially with his solid bat path through the zone that creates solid line drive contact.
I’d wager we’ll see James pushed a bit in the system as he’s going to be 23 as spring training opens in 2017, so he could be a guy that jumps high-A and goes directly to Mississippi to really see what the team has in James, but it’s clear that the team found a gem here that few other teams (if any) were on.
Next: #72 & #71