Atlanta Braves and the 1990 MLB draft
The second in an occasional series, this is a review of the 1990 MLB draft, which was significant in Braves’ history for one particular player.
The 1989 Atlanta Braves were… terrible. They finished 63-97 that season, 28 games behind the San Francisco Giants in the NL West.
Yes – the NL West. For those who might have just gotten here, baseball had 24 teams then and Atlanta was forced to travel a lot more since MLB never bothered with a realignment after the Braves relocated from Milwaukee… 24 seasons earlier.
So while the teams of the 80’s generally weren’t that memorable anyway, constant road trips to San Diego, Houston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco weighed heavy. But in this season, Atlanta not only finished last, but 11 full games behind 5th place Cincinnati.
But the Detroit Tigers were actually even worse… 59-103 that year. So they got the 1st overall draft pick, right?
Not so fast. This was also an era or separate leagues and no inter-league play. So just as the practice with hosting the World Series, the National and American leagues traded draft priorities from year to year.
1990 would be the National League’s turn at the top, and thus the top pick belonged to Atlanta. The end of the story is “they picked Chipper Jones.”
The Wild, Wild West
The draft was a different beast back then, too. This one lasted a record 101 rounds. Today, the rounds are capped at 40. In 1990, teams pretty much kept picking players until they lost interest and left the table.
The Astros picked 100 players that year, Seattle 75, the Yankees 74, Montreal 71, and then the Braves 67.
Another oddity is that 2 minor league teams also participated in the draft… somehow. the Miami Miracle (a AA club) selected 16 players. I have no idea how high they were picked, but I can’t imagine that these clubs would be involved until major league organizations started to bail. Oddly enough, the Miracle was said to have signed 15 of their own picks.
Normally, I would like to review other notable picks from this draft class that the Braves selected and developed into productive major leaguers. Turns out there really weren’t that many, but here’s a few names you might remember:
- SS Ed Giovanola – 301 ML AB’s, 104 with the Braves
- OF Brian Kowitz – 24 ML AB’s, .167
- INF Tony Graffanino – A pretty nice career: in the majors for 13 seasons through 2009 (omitting 2008), hitting .265 with 58 homers in 3161 plate appearances, playing for 6 clubs.
The Braves’ second round pick was a third baseman named Lansing Marks… probably a good trivia question to ask and answer as ‘the Braves’ next pick after Chipper Jones’. Unfortunately, he never got the hang of pro ball and was out of the game after 1994 – never getting past the A+ level.
The other name you’d recognize is their Round 20 selection… Ralph Garr Jr. He also never made it beyond A level and was out of baseball after 1993.
But the rest of the rounds were essentially forgettable. Here’s a few top picks…
- 3rd round – OF Johnny Walker. Chose to play football with the University of Texas instead.
- 4th round – C Joe Ayrault – 5 MLB ABs, 1 hit
- 5th round – 3B Kenny Reed – not beyond the Sally league
Others of note from this draft’s 1st round:
- OF Tony Clark (Tigers), now MLBPA Chief
- C Mike Lieberthal (Phillies)
- P Mike Mussina (Orioles)
- SS Steve Karsay (Blue Jays)
There Really Wasn’t a Choice
There has been a lot written about the decision Atlanta made to lead off that draft. One thing is for certain: if Todd Van Poppel had not told the Braves that he would prefer going to the University of Texas rather than signing with them, Atlanta would undoubtedly have picked him first overall.
Van Poppel, it turns out, pretty much wanted to dictate the terms of the draft. And that gave the Braves no leverage.
Here’s a couple of snippets from a UPI story from August of that year:
Atlanta is seen as lied to under this scenario. Overlooked is the fact it drafted a fine high school shortstop, Chipper Jones, who may eventually prove to be far superior to Van Poppel as a major league player.
That turned out to be a substantial understatement.
We know how the Chipper Jones pick turned out. 12 more teams passed on Van Poppel before Oakland called his bluff. He signed a major league contract with the A’s.
Professionally, though, Van Poppel could not rustle his control and then ended up hurting his shoulder early during the 1992 campaign. Turns out that he had forced Oakland to put him on the 40-man roster when signed, and that forced the A’s to promote him way before he was ready due to options rules.
He ultimately hung around through the 2004 season (at age 32) with 907 innings and a lifetime 5.58 ERA and 4.6.
Postscripts
That UPI report on the draft had a few interesting nibbles in it as well. Seems that things were not entirely settled in the oganization:
This is the year the Braves were supposed to show progress under General Manager Bobby Cox‘s directing hand. They haven’t.Not only that, the manager was fired over the resistance of the general manager, who was ordered to take his place in the dugout. The whole scenario smacks of one designed to force Cox’s resignation from the organization at the end of the year. So the Braves can start another five-year plan.
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We already know the end of this story. Cox – told to dismiss Russ Nixon and run the team himself – kind of stuck around for a while.
Also, there’s this:
The Braves are supposed to have all these young pitching prospects — but all they are to date are reputations. None has emerged as a star.
For the 1990 season, those top pitching prospects would have been these:
Funny how hindsight always seems to work out.