Atlanta Braves draft day two: Pitchers, infielders, and others… “oh my”

The Atlanta Braves started the second day of the 2021 draft by continuing to stockpile pitching talent while adding middle infield help as well

The second day of the draft saw the Atlanta Braves add more pitching and depth up the middle. Before you reach for your keyboards to complain that The Braves take too many pitchers, In my pre-draft post, I explained why and said “everyone does it”… and today they did.

Every year fans complain that the Atlanta Braves take too much pitching. On day two, teams selected 276 players:

• 1 Utility man
• 5 first-basemen
• 9 second-basemen
• 14 third-basemen
• 21 Catchers
• 23 Shortstops
• 52 LHP
• 107 RHP

As I noted in the pre-draft post, everyone takes a lot of pitchers. How Many? Through round ten:

• The Angels had ten picks and selected ten pitchers
• The Indians had 11 picks and selected ten pitchers
• The Giants had ten picks and selected nine pitchers
• The Dodgers had nine picks and selected nine pitchers
• The Mets and White Sox had ten picks and selected eight pitchers
• The Tigers had 11 picks and selected eight pitchers
• The Blue Jays had nine picks and selected eight pitchers
• The Cardinals had 11 picks and selected seven pitchers
• The Diamondbacks, Rockies, and Royals had 11 picks and selected six pitchers
• The Phillies, Rangers. and Yankees had ten picks and selected six pitchers

Meanwhile, the Braves had ten picks and selected five pitchers.

Seconds away, round 2

The Atlanta Braves’ first pick in round 2 was Spencer Schwellenbach (ESPN number 46,  MLB Pipeline number 54, BA number 20), a 6’-1, 200-pound shortstop / RHP out of Nebraska. The Braves announce Schwellenbach as a pitcher. (Scouting grades from MLB Pipeline.)

FASTBALL: 60  SLIDER: 60   CHANGEUP: 55  CONTROL: 55  OVERALL: 50

A shortstop until the 2021 season, Nebraska treated his arm gently but used him effectively. He appeared in 18 games out of the pen, threw 31-2/3  innings at a 0.57  ERA. 0.947 WHIP and striking out 34, walking eight, and recording 10 saves.

Schwellenbach features an easy 94-97 fastball that touched 99 but lacks movement, a mid-80s slider, and an average changeup throwing all for strikes. He’s a smart pitcher with good command of all pitches.

He had his UCL repaired as a result of a non-throwing injury, but his velocity indicates that his arm strength is back and impressive.  Like the Braves, most scouts prefer him as a pitcher.

MLB Pipeline notes that everyone loves Schwellenbach’s pure stuff on the mound and scouts have noted some parallels to Jacob deGrom, who barely pitched before his junior year at Stetson.