Atlanta Braves fans will love their newest lefty Jared Shuster

Ask who’s the comp for the Atlanta Braves lefty, I immediately thought of Mike.

Walsh compared Shuster to Johan Santana. The former Twins and Mets lefty is shorter than Shuster and pitched in the low nineties, so I assume he based the comp on the Santana’s devastating changeup. Watching video of Santana in his prime, I see why Walsh chose him,

My immediate thought was Mike Minor. Minor is a smidge taller than Shuster and didn’t find his velocity until late in his career. Minor came up with a superb changeup and an 89-92 fastball, as well as a sinker and a curve. Shuster is more akin to 2019 Minor who pushes a 92-95 heater and still has the change,  For Braves fans Minor is the comp.

If you want a compare Schuster to a young star pitcher in today’s game, how about Matthew Boyd? Boyd is shorter and lacks the velocity Shuster displayed this spring, but looking from the batter’s box, you’ll see that same motion and the same attack on hitters.  Shuster doesn’t have Boyd’s control, but give him some time.

This Atlanta Braves add other value

Discussing this last night, I suggested that Shuster is also a below-slot pick that allows the Braves to have money left to pay more to better prospects in rounds three through five. Dana Brown told Mark Bowman exactly that in today’s post.

"Strategically, we feel we were able to get a good left-handed pitcher (and) Maybe we could save some money (to) potentially sign some . . . high ceiling players that may slide in the draft. That could make up the gap of not having a second-rounder.”"

Losing the second-round pick hurts, but not so much if you can entice a high ceiling hard-to-sign player to come on board.  So, who might be on the Braves list? I don’t know.

Cole Wilcox will surely go before the Braves pick at 97 if he’s signable [UPDATE: he did… to San Diego at pick #80]. Carson Montgomery looks the same.

That’s a wrap

That the Atlanta Braves went off script with Shuster isn’t a surprise, particularly if you remember what happened last year.

I like the look of Shuster a lot. Time will tell if he exceeds his projection as a third starter, but we’ve seen others do it.