Atlanta Braves May Have to Sweat Out 2017 Draft

3 of 3

Nov 8, 2016; Scottsdale, AZ, USA; Atlanta Braves general manager John Coppolella during the MLB general managers meeting at the Omni Scottsdale Resort. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /

About the Braves

More from Tomahawk Take

Atlanta’s draft policy is ‘take the best player available’. That said, they tend to shy away from collegiate players at the top of the draft.

So while the best on BaseballAmerica’s draft board still available at this point could be J.B. Bukauskas, a right-hander from North Carolina, the best high school prospects might be these:

#4: Austin Beck, OF, N Davidson HS (NC)
#7: Royce Lewis (if available; see above)
#8: Nick Pratto, 1B, Huntington Beach HS (CA)
#12: D.L. Hall, LHP, Valdosta HS (GA)
#13: MacKenzie Gore, LHP, Whiteville HS (NC)
#14: Jordan Adell, OF, Ballard HS (KY)
#15: Heliot Ramos, Leadership Christian Academy (Puerto Rico)

Right now, if I were to place bets on the Atlanta pick, it would be for either Beck or Gore. BaseballAmerica has selected Beck for the Braves in both of their mock drafts thus far.

Gore is rocketing up the ranking charts in a hurry, and Jim Callis had an extended discussion about him just yesterday in answer to a question from @BravesHerbert. He’s listed at 6′-1′”/185 (but somehow looks taller) and obviously gets his legs involved early with a big kick during delivery.

BA has Gore going 7th to the Diamondbacks, while noting that he is “ahead of Greene as the top prep arm on many boards. He’s a supremely athletic pitcher with impressive polish for a prep”.

So do not sleep on MacKenzie Gore at all for the Braves. Heck, it would not shock me if the Rays snapped him up in the 4 slot in a move that might break Brian Bridges’ heart.

Austin Beck looks very good at the plate, and in this video had better pitch recognition than the umpire. The video has him driving two balls to the opposite field – one for a double, the other for a trot around the bases. He then hit another bomb pulled out to left field.

The power is real, and this kid might be the one exception to the rule that the Braves have been living by for the past few drafts.

The Braves have a targeted amount of $5.707 million for their first draft pick and a total pool of $9.88 million for the first 10 rounds.

Next: Catching Up on Interesting Notes

Obviously it’s still way early in the process, though it appears likely that at least one of these players (between Beck and Gore) will be available at position 5. Even if not, the Braves’ first draftee would be happily selected from among one of the others noted above.

Home/Braves News