Atlanta Braves and the 2022 draft: who ya got?

Predicting the MLB draft is a tougher task than picking horses in a random undercard race at the Kentucky derby.  But let’s guess about who the Atlanta Braves might be interested in anyway.

In a normal year, we would be talking in earnest about the MLB draft this week.  However, the Atlanta Braves and the rest of MLB have opted to push the date of the draft beyond the end of the College World Series.

The NCAA expects to have that event wrapped up by June 27th; the MLB draft, will begin almost 3 weeks later on July 17.

As you might expect of the (MLB) World Series champs, the Braves are picking quite a bit down in the 20-round draft, but it’s not nearly as bad as you might think:  they are in the 20th position between Oakland and Seattle.

Compensation and Competitive Balance picks push their 2nd round selection to the 57th slot, but they do get an extra selection with the 76th pick… thanks to losing some guy named Freeman.

After that:  96 (Round 3), 125 (Round 4), and every 30 picks in sequence from there.

That’s the setup… now let’s look at the prospects for their first pick.

No Druw for You

Andruw Jones’ son Druw is still the #1 rated draft prospect this Summer, and at the moment, Baseball America (BA) believes that he’ll be the second pick overall… going to the Diamondbacks.

(No, I doubt they’re gonna trade him to the Braves like they did Dansby Swanson)

So having that kind of legacy back in the Atlanta Braves system looks extremely unlikely… so we’ll have to keep track of Druw’s progress from afar.

Overall, BA thinks this is a “hitters draft” with premium position players being quite a bit more abundant than pitching.  So naturally… they peg the Braves to select a pitcher.

Let’s see what they think and also look at some other possible options for Atlanta as the calendar marches along toward the 17th of July.