Atlanta Braves draft signings update : Cameron Kurz signs

Brandon Chapman

Brandon Chapman signed with the Atlanta Braves as an undrafted free agent on June 11.  A Sarasota Florida native, the 6’,  200-pound right-hand hitting catcher played varsity baseball for George Washington College every year.

According to his bio page at GW, last year Chapman started 54 games at catcher and set single-season career highs for hits, home runs, walks, and RBI.

Chapman played some summer league ball in the Cape Cod League during 2016 and the Coastal Plain League in 2017. His number there are similar to those shown above from the GW site, Chapman’ looks like a glove-first catcher and organizational depth.

June International signings

There’s little information available on these players. Even Baseball America gets confused. I searched their pages for mentions of these four prospects and received “No results found”  more than once. Later a Google search took me to a couple of player pages there.

Randi De La Cruz OF – born 8/15/2001, 16-years old, 6’1-180 pounds. Signed by the Braves, June 2 and assigned to the DSL Braves.  Appeared in 12 games to date hitting .237/.356/.3160.674 ( 9 for 38) with 9 Ks.

Carlos De La Cruz, RHP – born 9/12/1996, 21-years old, 6’-1, 170 pounds.  Signed by the Braves June 11 and assigned to the DSL Braves. Carlos is the fourth De La Cruz in the system; no appearances yet.

The Phillies and Diamondbacks also feature a player by that name – Phillies: 18-year old, 6’- 8, 210-pound outfielder, Diamondbacks: 20-year old, 6’-4 179 pounds, RHH outfielder (DSL- D-backs2).  The Dominican version of John Smith … we should start the all Carlos De La Cruz league. Or, maybe just a De La Cruz league.

Joselin Vallejo RHP – born 6/5/2000, 18-years old 6’-2, 175 pounds. Signed by the Braves June 11 and assigned to the DSL Braves. He’s made one appearance so far, 3 IP, 2 hits, a run, and a strikeout.

Ronaldo Alesandro RHP – born 5/7/98, 20-years old 6’, 170 pounds. Signed by the Braves June 11 and assigned to the DSL Braves. He’s made one appearance so far, 2 IP, 3 hits, no runs, no walks and four strikeouts.

Kelvin Pena C – born 7/4/2000, 17-years old, 5’-11, 210 pounds. Signed by the Braves June 14. Not assigned to any team yet but the DSL Braves seem the most likely landing spot.

Regardless the talent available, I suspect the Braves to use that money as leverage when trading for the pieces needed to fix the roster now. Speaking of now, AA and crew signed a few more free agents.

The Atlanta Braves signed five minor league and undrafted free agents this month as well.

Marcos Almonte

The same day they released Ezequiel Cabrera, the Atlanta Braves signed Marcos Almonte

The 22-year old middle infielder/utility man signed with Houston as an international free agent in 2014. He began this season with the Quad City Bandits,  his second year in the  A-ball Midwest league.

In two A-ball seasons, he put together a .241/.274/.316/.635 line with nine homers, 19 doubles, and a triple.  The Astros released Almonte on May 5.

He showed some power in 2017, aside from that he’s been a light-hitting utility man and looks like organizational depth.