Atlanta Braves Midseason Top 50 Prospects: 11-20
20. Drew Waters, OF, GCL Braves
When the Atlanta Braves nabbed righty Kyle Wright with the #5 overall selection in the draft, many thought that would end up being the focus of the entire draft due to the likely high bonus number that he’d require. Instead, the Braves went out and got the #1 overall player from the state of Georgia as well.
Waters is from Woodstock, Georgia, and he’s been part of the showcase circuit most of his teen years. He’s a switch-hitter, and he’s physically not far off from his projection at 6’2″ and 190 pounds, with a frame that will likely take on 10-20 more pounds in his peak before adding “old man” weight as he ages (don’t you hate THAT weight?!).
Waters has impressive tools across the board, with scouts willing to go to a plus current grade on his speed, arm, and defense, and his raw power has drawn a future plus grade along with plus bat speed. His biggest variance among scouts is the power aspect.
I got two offensive comps on Waters that I thought showed that divergence in opinion, but I think Braves fans would be supremely happy with either outcome – former Orioles infielder Brian Roberts, and former Yankees outfielder Bernie Williams. If his power ends up more “pound the gaps” power like Roberts (who AVERAGED 46 doubles per season from 2004-2009) or if he develops more into a contact and medium power guy like Bernie was for a decade and a half, that would be premium outcomes in both directions.
19. Brett Cumberland, C, Florida Fire Frogs
I understand that many will feel this is too low on Cumberland, but he’s also a guy who has moved up from #44 to #19 in a half season so far, so that’s a big jump already, and it’s almost exclusively on his bat at this point.
Cumberland came to the Atlanta Braves as a switch hitting catcher that’s under 6′ tall and filled out (listed 205 pounds, could be a hair larger than that), so he was expected to hit immediately and need to work on the catching. Instead, hitting was even a struggle in his draft year last year, hitting .216/.317/.340. Even through April, he was struggling with the bat, with a .10/.371/321 line for Rome.
He turned it on in May with an incredible power display along with patience at the plate that generated a .357/.520/.757 line on the MONTH of May. Thus far, however, Cumberland has spent more time at DH than at catcher, with excellent defender Lucas Herbert on hand in Rome and his bat also taking off.
Cumberland has shown the raw skills, especially in the run game, to be a quality catcher. He’s still working on his framing and lateral movement behind the plate, and he’ll split the catching duties evenly now in Florida with easy access to the Braves’ catching instructors now that all levels of the minors are playing.
Next: 18, 17