House That Hank Built
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MLB Draft: Atlanta Braves add pitchers on a day of eclectic choices

By Fred Owens

SECAUCUS, NJ - JUNE 5: Commissioner Allan H. Bud Selig announces the fifth overall pick of Nick Gordon by the Minnesota Twins during the MLB First-Year Player Draft at the MLB Network Studio on June 5, 2014 in Secacucus, New Jersey. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
SECAUCUS, NJ - JUNE 5: Commissioner Allan H. Bud Selig announces the fifth overall pick of Nick Gordon by the Minnesota Twins during the MLB First-Year Player Draft at the MLB Network Studio on June 5, 2014 in Secacucus, New Jersey. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /
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Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta continued to shop in a rather unusual manner on day three MLB First Year Player Draft. (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

The Atlanta Braves continued their seemingly randomly ordered player-selection on day three. I know they have a plan, but it looked like impulse buying.

Pitching came to the fore as the Atlanta Braves began stocking up on more low or unranked arms.

They added 12 RHP and three LHP; one of the lefties is a pure reliever. They also added three catchers, three first basemen, two second basemen, two shortstops, six outfielders, and a partridge . . . wait, forget the partridge, I got distracted.

It’s impossible to get all 30 prospects in a post and provide anything useful in the form of information, so I’ll break it up into a series of posts.

There are seven players in this post and, as I did for day two, I’m piecing together scouting information from multiple sources, including Baseball America (BA), MLB Pipeline, Perfect Game (PG) and the Baseball Cube — as well as schools and online news pages.

Some players have more data available than others; the farther a player is from the 500 best prospects I get, the harder it is to find anything.

As I get to the end, it’s possible all I’ll have is a name and school data.

For those you who want to see a list of every player drafted, I’ve included a link to MLB’s’ draft tracker.

Vaughn Grissom SS R/R 6-3 180 BA Rk 408

Round 11 overall pick 337

Perfect Game describes Grissom as having a “large frame with excellent present physicality.”  I’m not sure they meant physicality; at least I hope not.

BA says “Grissom has a solid set of tools, though teams are mixed on how well he’s able to get the most of them” and calls him an unconventional runner. I’m not sure what that means either.

It sounds like he’s not the most nimble player and makes everything harder than expected. Both confirm he has the glove to play what they view as his eventual home, third base.

BA questions whether his hit tool will develop into one that fits the position.

PG says he’s “showing more power now than he has in the past; serious offensive upside.”  They think he will hit.

After reading both a few times, I think it means, it depends on how well he grows into his long-limbed frame and improves his agility.

The video doesn’t show that, and his swing isn’t awful either until he gets into a game situation.  Then the swing looks off; not badly timed, but like he’s not recognizing the pitches early.

Here’s a link to his swings in a game.

The Braves are betting on his bat and hoping the glove comes along.

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