House That Hank Built
Fansided

Atlanta Braves 2016-2017 Top 100 Prospects: 21-30

By Benjamin Chase

Apr 4, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; The teams lineup and the flag is pulled across the outfield prior to the game between the Washington Nationals and the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 4, 2016; Atlanta, GA, USA; The teams lineup and the flag is pulled across the outfield prior to the game between the Washington Nationals and the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field. Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 6
Next

28. Max Povse, RHP

Povse’s Twitter handle labels him a “tall wall”, and the tall part is certainly no surprise when you see Povse, but the wall part may be stretching things. Maybe tall post?

Povse has struggled in the past with consistency due to his length and height. It’s a very common issue for tall pitchers to struggle in repeating their delivery, which is why you often see taller pitchers end up in the bullpen.

Povse has tremendous control, though his command can suffer at times, which is why you see him get hit hard at times in spite of excellent pitches. In 2016, he held his delivery for a longer stretch than he had at any point in his career so far.

The Braves drafted Povse out of University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2014 in the 3rd round. He threw well with Danville in his draft season, posting a 3.42 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, and 11/37 BB/K over 47 1/3 innings.

Povse moved up to Rome in 2014 and threw 59 2/3 innings with a 2.56 ERA and 1.11 WHIP and 16/50 BB/K before moving up to high-A Carolina, where the delivery got way off track, and he seemingly could never get it back again. He finished his time in Carolina with a 9.33 ERA over 18 1/3 innings, with a 1.69 WHIP and a 7/10 BB/K ratio.

2016 started out very well for Povse with two shutout starts, throwing 13 innings and walking only 2. He then went through a four start stretch where he had his delivery one start and not the next every other. Then he had a three-start stretch of shorter starts with excellent results before struggling again with his delivery and control over the next three starts.

All in all, Povse ended up putting up a much better season in Mississippi, where he seemed to have random individual rough starts rather than patches like his season with Carolina. However, with his height and elongated delivery, he will always have that risk.

Povse gets good plane on his fastball that can run into the mid-90s when he hits his delivery well. He also offers a change and a curve.

Povse’s fastball straightens out quite a bit when he misses his landing spot, and his change loses its deception as well.

In spite of all those concerns in his profile, Povse has elite control, and that will allow him to play up an otherwise concerning chance that he gets off kilter in his delivery. I’m still a fan of Povse for sure, and if he can begin to have those “issue” days more like he did with Mississippi and they’re a once in a while thing rather than strung together, he’s got a chance to make it to the majors as a starter.

He’ll likely start 2017 in either Mississippi with a quick bounce up to Gwinnett or start straight out with Gwinnett.

Feb 22, 2016; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves outfielder Braxton Davidson signs autographs during spring training workouts at ESPN
Feb 22, 2016; Lake Buena Vista, FL, USA; Atlanta Braves outfielder Braxton Davidson signs autographs during spring training workouts at ESPN /

27. Braxton Davidson, OF

Davidson decided to do some training on his own last winter, and he showed up looking like he’d done the quintessential “bro” workout, with his arms developed and legs way behind.

This drastically affected Davidson’s swing, and he opened the season looking very rough. In April, he hit .192/.261/.308 with one home run.

To his credit, Braxton took direction on the season and by the end of the year, he was swinging well, though he did have a rough August/September, but I honestly think part of that had to do with exhaustion as Braxton was noted to be putting in a lot of extra time to get himself back on track from his offseason missteps.

If Braxton can hit like he did in June/July, he would be doing even better on this list. He hit .238/.371/.453 with 8 home runs over those two months.

Davidson’s swing is long, and he’ll always struggle to make consistent contact due to that. However, he has the impressive hands and lower body strength to put a drive into a ball when he gets ahold of it.

It wouldn’t surprise me to see Davidson repeat high-A as he did not face a single pitcher younger than him the entire season. He could get his feet under him that way as he’s been aggressively promoted the last two seasons.

Next: #26 & #25

Home/Braves Minors