Atlanta Braves and the 2022 draft: 10th round takeaways

The Takeaway Trends

BLOODLINES

If you’re draft-eligible and related in some manner to a major leaguer (or former major leaguer), then you probably got a call within the past 24 hours to let you know that you’ve been drafted.

Here’s a sampling:

• Pick #1:  Jackson Holliday, son of Matt Holliday
• Pick #2:  Druw Jones, son of Andruw Jones
• Pick #12:  Jace Jung, brother of Josh Jung
• Pick #17: Justin Crawford, son of Carl Crawford
• Pick #19:  Daniel Susac, brother of Andrew Susac
• Pick #72:  Robert Moore, son of Royals GM Dayton Moore
• Even in Round 8 (Pick 233):  pitcher Mason McGwire was selected… the son of Mark McGwire

FAR-FLUNG GEOGRAPHY

The Atlanta Braves didn’t exactly stay at home when scouting players… here’s the places players were found (so far):

• Riverside (and Brookfield), Illinois
• Bainbridge Island, Washington
• Boerne, Texas (NW of San Antonio)
• Auburn, Alabama
• Springfield, Missouri
• Charlotte, NC
• Riverside, California
• Mechanicsville, Virginia
• Eugene, Oregon (this kid is actually Canadian)
• Athens, Georgia
• Cape Girardeau, Missouri

That’s quite literally “all over the map”, omitting perhaps the Northeastern part of the US… and that’s not exactly a hotbed for baseball (with apologies to Ian Anderson and Tom Glavine, for starters).

There’s 4 high school kids, one from a Junior College, and then college players with only one pair even in the same conference (the SEC).

THE BRAVES STRATEGY

Alex Anthopoulos told Jeff Schultz (paywalled source link) what they wanted to do:  begin replenishing the farm system:

“We want to try to restock a little bit,” said Anthopoulos, whose team also owns the 20th pick of the round. “We’ve graduated a lot of players to the big league level. We’ve made trades. From a farm system standpoint, our (player development) is at first base because we used guys we drafted to get (Olson), it’s in center field (Harris) and it’s on the mound. In a non-contending year, there’s no chance Strider and Harris are at the big league level. They’re probably getting more development time, building up innings, building at-bats. We would’ve done level-to-level.”

That appears to be exactly what’s happening, but it’s not just ‘adding draft picks’… it’s a conscious effort to select players with “upside”… kids that project to be future major league talents.

How so?  With the pitchers, there’s a couple of key markers common amongst most of them:

• Athletes.  Most play (or have played) multiple sports.  There’s an all-state hockey player.  There’s a high-school quarterback.  There’s a 2-way baseball player… although that extra role is said to be coming to an end.
• Command.  None of these pitchers seem to have been challenged to a significant degree as they completely dominated their competition.  That said, the strikeout-to-walk ratios are almost off the charts.
  • Even Blake Burkhalter at Auburn struck out 71 collegiate hitters in just 46 innings while walking a scant 7.
  • Owen Murphy has 4 no-no’s and 2 perfect games to his credit.  He also caught attention by mastering elite competition during last Summer.
  • All of them can rush a fastball up in the upper 90’s… and then come back with a nasty slider or slurve that will make knees buckle.

That phrase/name “Tommy John” also appears on the resume of a couple of these guys, but while that adds risk, it doesn’t take away from the potential upside that their “stuff” promises.

I am intrigued by another player, too:  UNC Charlotte’s David McCabe.  He’s a brute at 6-4/230 and had a 2022 slash line of .386/.513/.784, giving him a 1.297 OPS.

McCabe walked more than he struck out.  Heck, he had more extra-base hits than strikeouts!  I have no idea if he’ll be able to do anything other than slug as a DH, but it’s that hitting that has me intrigued.

But then there’s the need to trust the system… let’s talk about that, too.

The Braves have eyes everywhere

In the past, we fans could gain some comfort in the draft scouting process thanks to knowing the track records of men like Roy Clark and Brian Bridges.

After Alex Anthopoulos came to town, there were some changes, and those eventually reached into the scouting department.  He installed “his people”, which included a new Vice Presidents of scouting Dana Brown.

Brown is said to have been instrumental in getting AA’s attention on the subject of Michael Harris this year.  He drafted Harris in the 3rd round of the 2019 draft, but without prodding, Harris might still be toiling at Double-A Mississippi.

Likewise, Spencer Strider was picked up in the 4th round of the 2020 draft.

You don’t “hit” on every draft prospect, but where would the 2022 Atlanta Braves be right now without these kids?

But it’s not just Dana Brown.  We’re told that second pick JR Richie was found and scouted by former Braves pitcher Cody Martin.  Detailed reports from a college pitching coach named Tim Hudson led Atlanta to draft Blake Burkhalter.

You see, the network is wide (remember that geography lesson earlier?), but it’s also being effective.

My first gut instinct was that Atlanta had taken some kids in these early rounds that they would still have been able to get a pick later in the process.  That might be true, although there was some public “shock” expressed that Richie was still on the board at position 35.

That tells me that these were the kids this draft team wanted to get and that they were solid on their own evaluations.

Honestly at this point… I think this new scouting crew has earned the right to make those calls based on their performance so far.  They certainly have done the leg work needed… which means I’ll never be able to guess along with them in any draft, for they are clearly operating at a whole ‘nother level.

There’s another 10 rounds to go tomorrow. Most of these kids will be used to “fill out” the organization for as long as they last. Beyond that, the team will likely fan out and try to sign some undrafted free agents that escaped detection… perhaps up to a dozen kids will be added in that manner.

There’s not usually a lot of expectations that any added from here onward will make the majors… but every now and again, that “norm” is challenged.

With these scouts, though… you almost have to expect the unexpected. It’s been a Braves Thing for a generation.