Atlanta Braves draft history part two: pitching prospects

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The Atlanta Braves pitches selected Chuck James in the 20th round of the 2002 amateur draft. James spent four seasons with Atlanta before retiring in 2001. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images) /

Answers please

Let’s get the easy bit out of the way. Here are numbers for pitchers who reached the majors and qualified as regulars by Ken’s criteria grouped by their round of selection.

Rnd.	Pitched	Qualified	Active
1	5	3	2*
1.1	4	2
2	4	2
3	3	3
4	4	2
7	2	1
8	2	2
10	3	2
11	2	1**
14	1
15	1
16	1
17	1
19	1
20	1	1***
22	3	1****
33	1	1*****
*Active round 1: pitchers Sims and Gilmartin
**Qualifying round 11 pitcher: Chasen Shreve
***Qualifying round 20 pitcher: Chuck James
****Qualifying round 22 pitcher: Tommy Hanson
*****Qualifying round 33 pitcher: Jonny Venters

While the two active pitchers from Round 1 still might qualify someday, it doesn’t appear likely right now.

Ten pitchers posted an fWAR of at least 1.0. Together they provided 74.3 fWAR; four of those pitchers have contributed 64.7 fWAR.

	fWAR		fWAR
Craig Kimbrel	19.0	Kyle Davies	4.6
Alex Wood	14.1	Jeff Locke	3.7
Mike Minor	11.2	Brett Oberholtzer	2.7
Kris Medlen	9.1	Corey Gearrin	1.4
Matt Harrison	7.5	Macay McBride	1.0

Three pitchers posted an fWAR between zero and one; five pitchers posted a negative fWAR

Roles and awards

Three of that list of ten were always relievers; Kimbrel, Gearin, and McBride. We know Kimbrel’s the most successful; here’s why.

Since 2011, among relief pitchers who threw 400 innings, Kimbrel:

Pitched 512 IP, faced 1999 batters, struck out 828 and walked 189
- #1 in total strikeouts, in a virtual tie with Aroldis Chapman (0.4%, 465 1/3IP) and a virtual tie for highest K/BB ratio with Kenley Jansen (by 0.3%) (521 2/3 IP)
Held batters to a .154/.243/.24/.486 line and a .224 wOBA
- That makes him # 1 in BA, SLG, OPS and wOBA among 32 pitchers who threw at least 400 innings and in a virtual tie with Jansen for #1 in OBP (.008)
Posted a 1.97 ERA, 1.98 FIP, and o.91 WHIP

Pitchers with more career saves than hits allowed (minimum 2 saves):

Craig Kimbrel 333 Saves, 285 Hits
That's it.
— Christopher Kamka (@ckamka) January 17, 2019

In case you’re curious, new (unanimous) Hall of Famer Mariano Rivera give up roughly 50% more hits than his 652 saves.

Two of the starting pitchers have had substantive careers to date; Alex Wood and Mike Minor.

The only pitcher in any role with a significant award so far is Kimbrel. He won Rookie of the year in 2011, He also came in at #9 In Cy Young voting that year, #23 in MVP voting and named to the first of seven All-Star team rosters.

Kimbrel continued to appear on Cy Young ballots, finishing #5 in 2012, #4 in 2013,#90 in 2014 and #6 in 2017 while also holding multiple Fireman of the Year awards.

Wood and Harrison each had a top ten Cy Young finish; they have one All-Star appearance each as does Locke.

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