Atlanta Braves Draft: Bats to Watch as College Season Nears an End

The college baseball season is coming to a close, so now is the time to get one last good look at some bats the Atlanta Braves could take in the MLB Draft. 

Even though we still have a long way to go in the current MLB season for the Atlanta Braves, the college baseball season is coming to an end.

This is a great time of year to watch some of the top college prospects as there will be a lot of games on for conference tournaments, the NCAA Tournament, and then the College World Series over the next month.

The college arms are a bit of a mess because a lot of the top-pitching prospects are injured. But the field is loaded with a lot of intriguing bats.

Let’s quickly list off the college bats likely off the board by the time the Braves draft at 20: Brooks Lee (Cal Poly), Jacob Berry (LSU), Jace Jung (Texas Tech), Kevin Parada (Georgia Tech), Daniel Susac (Arizona), Gavin Cross (Virginia Tech).

The Major League Baseball draft is very unique, and just like the game itself, it’s highly unpredictable.

But if any of those players are available at 20 Atlanta better jump all over them.

Here are some college bats that will likely be available.

Jordan Beck (OF) — Tennessee: The number one team in the country has many good-looking prospects, and Beck is up there. A solid corner outfielder with a good arm, he’s slashing .292/.378/.556 with 13 home runs for the Volunteers this year.

Drew Gilbert (OF) — Tennessee: Another Tennessee outfielder, Gilbert has enough speed and a plus-plus arm to stick in center field. He leads the Vols with a .385 average while also showing some power potential with 8 home runs.

Jud Fabian (OF) — Florida: Someone who looked like a top 10 pick entering the 2021 season, he fell flat at Florida last year and decided to return to college to try and regain some stock. He’s still hitting just .249 with 56 strikeouts, but he has an OPS of 1.030 with 20 home runs. Jud is a great power-speed combo as he’s also swiped 10 bags and is a Gold Glove defender in center. He kind of fits the mold of current Braves hitters who are all-or-nothing, but at least brings some other plus tools with speed and defense.

Logan Tanner (C) — Mississippi State: If the Braves wanted to restock the system with a big catching prospect, Logan Tanner would do. A leader behind the plate, he helped the Bulldogs win their first College World Series in 2021. This year he’s hitting .285 with 7 home runs. He has the power to hit 20-25 home runs at the big league level and might just be the best defensive catcher in the draft.

Brock Jones (OF) — Stanford: Like Fabian, Jones seemed like a consensus top-five pick entering this season. But he got off to a dreadful start and fell down many draft lists. He’s been great lately though, and his numbers are starting to look just as great as they were last year. Jones is slashing .330/.468/.675 with 16 home runs and 14 stolen bases. Again, very similar to Fabian, Jones has a great power-speed combination but there is a lot of swing-and-miss in his game.

Those are five college bats to keep an eye on as conference tournaments begin this week. We’ll write another article focussing on the best college arms, which is probably what the Braves will draft because they always do.