Atlanta Braves prospects Q and A with Kiley McDaniel
By Fred Owens
Atlanta Braves catching prospects ranked.
Q: Everybody is talking about (our) catchers . . . Alex Jackson probably going to back up this year. . . then we’re sitting on William Contreras and Shea Langeliers, . . . after that . . . the system sort of looks pretty thin until we get down (to) AA level or single-A. . . Are the catchers worth it? Which one will make it, and is the system going to collapse on itself when we get these guys out of the way?
"Kiley McDaniel: . . . I think it was the Atlanta Braves and the White Sox were two teams I had pinpointed in today’s article saying they’re going to crater just because they have a bunch of guys that are about to graduate and not a ton of depth behind them . . .part of that is . . .the international sanctions . . . but also (the system is) very concentrated at the upper levels and there wasn’t a lot of (support) incoming via trades (and) nothing incoming via prospects. The draft classes have been fine but not like amazing. There’s (no) Drew Waters type, taken (late) overall, and then shoot up to be (top) 30 something in baseball. It’s Shea Langeliers by the way. He’s the guy that could be the everyday guy. Again, catchers… get injured more. It’s tougher to protect them. They have to learn more. . . If everything goes to like 80th, 90th percentile outcome for him he’ll (play at ) AA by the end of the season (and) could be an answer by end of next season; could conceivably take that starting job from d’Arnaud (if signed again, but) I think he’d probably be another year behind that."
(That’s 2023 for Langeliers. ED)
"William Contreras and Jackson (are) going to get looks this year . . . (Teams think) Jackson . . . at this point . . . he has 80-raw power and is a 20-hitter . . . and a 50-defender . . .it’s going to be real feast or famine . . . kind of . . . the last guy on your roster. He can catch if you need him to, (be a) bench bat . . .that kind of thing . . . I wouldn’t expect a ton out of him right now, but there is potential for more. But he’s also getting older. . . .William Contreras was a top-100 guy at one point. Looked like he was going to be more like his brother than (projected) when he was signed for I want to say $100k . . . He’s regressed a little bit . . . instead of like a bunch of average to above average tools, it’s more sort of fringe to average . . . . . . he’s trending more as like a backup, but he’s now at the upper level, so you can kind of judge him by his stats. But I would expect more of a backup that maybe has a good season or two sort of in that Tyler Flowers-ish area in terms of outcomes . . . So I would say Langeliers is definitely like the one to watch there."
(Watching Contreras in-game action, he’s not rounded into the defender I thought he’d become last year. Right now, I believe the catcher who hits gets to stay with the Atlanta Braves in April. ED.)