Atlanta Braves quick to sign power hitting outfielder Greyson Jenista

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Representatives from the Atlanta Braves and 29 other Major League Baseball teams fill Studio 42 during the MLB First-Year Player Draft at the MLB Network Studio in Secaucus, New Jersey. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /

The official Atlanta Braves Twitter account announced second round draft pick Greyson Jenista officially signed late Thursday afternoon.

As usual the Atlanta Braves did almost nothing draft prognosticators predicted. Until draft day Nolan Gorman was the name on almost every mock draft; suddenly Carter Stewart appeared.

Like Stewart, Jenista’s name didn’t appear on any mocks I saw. Although he seemed to appear out of nowhere, Jenista’s the real deal.

Accompanied by Area Supervisor Nate Dion and Director of Amateur Scouting Brian Bridges, @greysonjenista officially becomes a member of the #Braves organization.

Welcome to Braves Country, Greyson! #ChopOn pic.twitter.com/7AE5qEq36U
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 7, 2018

Greyson Jenista

BA Rank 29 MLBPipeline Rank #58

In Jenista’s senior year at Desoto (KS) High School, Perfect Game ranked #244 nationally, the tenth at first base while Prep Baseball Report ranked No. him #186 nationally and #6 at first base. Yet no one drafted him and he moved on to Wichita State.

During his three years at Wichita State, he consistently slugged over .470 and never failed to hit .300.

Scouts started to pay attention in 2017, his second year in the Cape Cod league. Playing for the Cotuit Kettleers, Jenista hit .310/.391/.401/.796 with three homers and four doubles in 142 AB.

He followed that up with a string senior campaign when he struck out a a15% rate while walking at a 19% clip

SEASON	G	AB	HR	BB	SO	Avg	OBP	SLG	OPS
2016	57	172	5	31	27	.326	.431	.471	.902
2017	58	228	9	32	46	.320	.413	.509	.922
2018	56	204	9	50	41	.309	.446	.475	.921
Total	171	604	23	113	114	.318	.430	.487	.917

(Statistics from The Baseball Cube)

In the link above. MLB Pipeline characterized Jenista’s bat like this.

. . . exceptional hand-eye coordination . . .repeatedly barrel balls. . .can get fooled by breaking balls . . . swing presently is geared more to line drives, but his size and strength create plenty of raw power. . . a patient hitter who’s not afraid to work deep counts and will take walks

What about defense?

Jenista played 81 games at first Wichita as well as 24 games in right during his first two seasons and 32 in center his senior year.

I characterized him as a slow runner on draft day even though he grades at 55 for speed and was taken to task in comments.

Jenista’s a big man, an inch shorter and 20 pounds heavier than Freddie Freeman. His current speed may grade 55 in bursts but like Freddie he’s no speedster nor is he a center fielder.

Here’s part of BA’s scouting report, you decide what they mean.

At 6-foot-4, 220-pounds most scouts believe that Jenista will be a corner player. . .with a high-maintenance body. He currently runs well for his size (with) occasional above-average run times, but evaluators believe that will back up (to) a 40 or 45-grade runner.

The money

As I write this we don’t know the size of his signing bonus. The $1.45M slot value allocated by MLB has nothing to do with the amount he’ll get.

Slot allocations are a way of determining a team’s draft pool and breaking it down so anyone can understand it. Here’s the cliff notes version from Baseball America.

1. Each top 10-round draft pick comes with an individual bonus slot value. The sum of the slot values is the team’s spending pool

2. The pool may be distributed among any players that team acquires in the draft—including non-drafted free agents.

3. Teams that exceed the pool by 0-5 percent will pay a 75 percent tax on the overage. For every thousand dollars above the pool limit teams pay a tax of $750.

4. Teams that exceed the pool by 5-10 percent pat the 75 percent tax and lose a first-round pick next year.

5. Teams that exceed the pool by 10-15 percent pay a 100 percent tax and lose a first and second round pick next year.

6. Teams that exceed the pool by more than 15 percent will pay a 100 percent tax and lose first-round and second picks in the next two drafts.

The punishments are clearly aimed at the deep pocket teams who could afford a 100% penalty but wouldn’t want to lose future draft picks.

Remember the Braves already have debt issues that could trigger MLB oversight if not corrected. They are unlikely to do anything so ill-advised as bust the bonus pool by more than 5%.

Why the Atlanta Braves drafted the way they did

According to Braves scouting director Brian Bridges in an interview with Tori McElhany, the draft strategy aimed to fill the void left by the 13 players lost in last year’s scandal.

“When . . .you lose 13 players, . . .It sets your organization back, so… you try to jump-start it and infiltrate (sic) it with players who have the ability and upside.”

That’s why this draft resulted in 34 college selections out of 39 total draft picks.

That’s A Wrap

Jenista’s the only the second genuine power bat drafted in the early rounds by the Atlanta Braves since Evan Gattis. While fans clamored for more bats, the Braves stuck to their plan

I hope the restocking works as some of the players we had that looked good last year are struggling this year

Next: Pick a peck of pitchers. . .

When we hear the size of the signing bonus and/or more players sign we’ll let you know the details here at the Take.

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