House That Hank Built
Fansided

Atlanta Braves recent draft history, Part 1: position players

By Fred Owens

ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 29: Third baseman Chipper Jones #10 of the Atlanta Braves signs a ball for a Girl Scout before the game against the New York Mets at Turner Field on September 29, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA - SEPTEMBER 29: Third baseman Chipper Jones #10 of the Atlanta Braves signs a ball for a Girl Scout before the game against the New York Mets at Turner Field on September 29, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Mike Zarrilli/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 4
Next
Atlanta Braves
ATLANTA – APRIL 11: Catcher Brian McCann #16 of the Atlanta Braves bats against the Washington Nationals on April 11, 2009, at Turner Field in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images) /

Atlanta Braves drafts since 2001

This review covers draft years 2001 through 2012. The sample size after that isn’t significant when answering the question; excluding them eliminates skewed numbers as much as possible. The table below shows the raw totals for the selected years and a positional breakdown.

Pos # Sgnd % Sgnd MLB MLB%
All 606 322 53.1% 61 18.9%
Pitchers 332 173 52.1% 40 23.1%
Position 274 153 55.8% 21 13.7%
LHP 97 57 58.8% 13 22.8%
RHP 235 116 49.4% 27 23.3%
C 56 26 46.4% 3 11.5%
1B 26 15 57.7% 2 13.3%
2B 17 10 58.8% 2 20.0%
3B 25 17 68.0% 3 17.6%
SS 52 30 57.7% 5 16.7%
OF 98 51 52.0% 6 11.8%

Keep in mind that while the Braves selected Tyler Flowers as a catcher in round 27 of the 2004 draft, he didn’t sign.  That decision didn’t turn out well (for him):  the following year he fell to the Braves again and they selected him as a first baseman in round 33.

The question:

"I’d like to know the success rate for those within the top 100 picks and outside of the top 100. I would define success at three different levels:"

"Making it to the majors;"

"Becoming a starter for at least two seasons;"

"Making an all-star team or being in the top 10 in significant positive statistics, either offensive or defensive and I’ll defer to your judgment on what those are, though I personally rely a lot on OPS and WHIP."

Instead of trying to sort out which players of the 127 signed players selected were our top 100, I took the easy way out and used all of them.

The top ten rounds provided 44 of the 61 players (72%) who shook hands at least once on a major league roster.

Pos RD 1-10 MLB MLB % MLB > 10 MLB %
LHP 25 10 40.0% 3 12.0%
RHP 44 17 38.6% 10 22.7%
C 9 2 22.2% 1 11.1%
1B 4 1 25.0% 1* 25.0%
2B 6 2 33.3% 0 0.0%
3B 10 3 30.0% 0 0.0%
SS 13 4 30.8% 1 7.7%
OF 16 5 31.3% 1 6.3%
Totals 127 44 72% 17 28%

*Tyler Flowers

I looked at national rankings as much as possible using Baseball America as a source. BA is the only one consistently available over that period, and their staff is among the best in that business.

Of the 136 players selected:

  • 2 ranked in the top 25 (Heyward #9, Francoeur #22)
  • 9 ranked from 26-50
  • 10 ranked between 51-75
  • 17 ranked between 76-100
  • 20 ranked between* 101 – 200
  • 2 ranked in the 300s* (324 and 329)
  • 1 ranked 474*
  • 74 weren’t ranked*
  • 4 ranked players did not sign.
    • J.P. Howell #86, second round, 2001
    • Kris Harvey #79, fifth round, 2002
    • Josh Fields # 58, second round, 2007
    • Colby Shreve #185, eighth round, 2007*

*Available rank data – top 100  2001-2002, top 200 2002 –2011, Top 500 2012

Ranks above 200 are shown for general information and are problematic at best.

Home/Braves Draft