Atlanta Braves draft: 17 picks and 4 UDFA signed in four days
The Atlanta Braves moved quickly to ink their selections in the draft, signing 11 picks from the 1st 10 rounds in three days.
Atlanta Braves GM Alex Anthopoulos didn’t waste any time getting his newest players’ names on the dotted line.
As Alan noted yesterday and updated late last night, the Braves now have eleven of the players selected in the first ten rounds and two comp rounds. The only player from those rounds yet to sign is fourth-round selectee David McCabe, a catcher out of UNC Charlotte. The club also signed six or the ten players selected in rounds 11-20.
The pools they are – or were – a changin
Shortly before the draft, MLB made a slight change to everyone’s slot values that slipped by largely unnoticed. I’ve yet to see an explanation for the change; maybe MLB used Steven Colbert’s calculator.
Crunching the numbers on Trump’s voter fraud claims #LSSC pic.twitter.com/hkL3p4TcZe
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) February 7, 2017
No matter the reason, my calculations show that the net effect for the Braves was a $24,500 reduction in the draft pool.
| New Pool | Original Pool | Change by slot |
| $3,409,200 | $3,400,000 | $9,200 |
| $2,203,200 | $2,200,000 | $3,200 |
| $1,307,300 | $1,310,000 | ($2,700) |
| $860,100 | $895,700 | ($35,600) |
| $635,800 | $635,500 | $300 |
| $478,900 | $478,700 | $200 |
| $357,400 | $357,200 | $200 |
| $275,100 | $274,900 | $200 |
| $215,400 | $215,200 | $200 |
| $176,400 | $176,300 | $100 |
| $159,800 | $159,700 | $100 |
| $151,000 | $150,900 | $100 |
| $10,229,600 | $10,254,100 | ($24,500) |
(Updates slot values from SpoTrac)
Braves avoid the penalty box
I wrote about the penalties a team incurs for exceeding their draft pool allocation last week, and looking at the way the Braves used their pool suggests the club is attempting to use funds more strategically.
I’ve closely tracked tracking Braves’ spending for five years and looked back through first-round signings from 2010 using Baseball America’s draft database ($), but I’ve never seen first-round bonuses as low as those for rounds eight, nine, and ten this year.
Atlanta Braves draft so far.
Here are the Braves’ signings I’ve heard about to date.
| Name | Slot Value | Actual | |
| 1 | Owen Murphy | $3,409,200 | $2,556,900 |
| 1s | JR Ritchie | $2,203,200 | $2,400,000 |
| 2 | Cole Phillips | $1,307,300 | $1,497,500 |
| 2s | Blake Burkhalter | $860,100 | $647,500 |
| 3 | Drake Baldwin | $635,800 | $635,800 |
| 4 | David McCabe | $478,900 | |
| 5 | Ignacio Alvarez | $357,400 | $497,500 |
| 6 | Seth Keller | $275,100 | $697,500 |
| 7 | Adam Maier | $215,400 | $1,197,500 |
| 8 | Jason Franks | $176,400 | $2,500 |
| 9 | Cory Acton | $159,800 | $2,500 |
| 10 | Andrew Keck | $151,000 | $2,500 |
| 11 | Ian Mejia | $125,000 | $1,000 |
| 12 | Justin Janas | $125,000 | $125,000 |
| 13 | Cedric De Grandpre | $125,000 | |
| 14 | Landon Harper | $125,000 | |
| 15 | William Silva | $125,000 | $75,000 |
| 16 | E.J. Exposito | $125,000 | $100,000 |
| 17 | Kevin Kilpatrick | $125,000 | $125,000 |
| 18 | Noah Williams | $125,000 | |
| 19 | Christian Jackson | $125,000 | $125,000 |
| 20 | Keshawn Ogans | $125,000 |
The Atlanta Braves have agreed to $10,563,700 in total bonus money. The club’s pool-limited bonuses total $10,137,700, leaving $91,900 in the basic pool and approximately $593,150, factoring the club exceeding the basic pool by 4.95%.
The Braves went over-slot on five picks, including the pick they recently received for Drew Waters and Andrew Hoffman, and saved money on slots one,2S 8, 9, and 10.
I’m seen reporting that the money from the trade paid for the Braves’ biggest over-slot signing, Adam Maier, at $982,100 over slot.
Maybe somebody’s math supports that conclusion, but the numbers I’ve seen say that isn’t accurate. The Braves received a reported $2.2M with the slot. They paid JR Ritchie and $197K over-slot $2.4M. That looks like a wash to me.
McCabe and beyond
McCabe’s fourth-round selection has a slot value of $478.900; unless McCabe makes an unexpectedly large demand, the club should sign him with a few bucks to spare.
Any bonuses for Rounds 11-20 (or the undrafted free agent signings over $125K) count against the draft pool. So far, we haven’t seen any over-slot signings in those rounds, and I don’t believe we’ll see any significant overpays this year unless it’s to a draft-and-follow player.
Draft-and-follow returned this year as part of the new CBA. A player selected in rounds 11-20 who doesn’t sign before August 1, and attends a JUCO, is eligible to sign later for up to $225K without busting the team’s bonus pool.
Atlanta Braves UDFA
The Atlanta Braves have agreed to terms with four undrafted free agents so far.
- OF Bryson Worrell East Carolina
- LHP Hayden Harris Georgia Southern
- C Nick Clarno Lenoir-Rhyne (Hickory, NC)
- RHP Hunter Riggins Southern Mississippi
According to a spot on The Reflector, Bryson Worrell turned down a $20K UDFA offer in 2021 and returned to Eastern Carolina hoping for a better deal in 2022 and played like a man in his walk-year, raising his 2021 line of .262/.356/.490/.846 to .335/.401/.631/.1032 with 20 homers in 2022.
According to Georgia Southern’s website, Harris appeared in 19 games, including seven starts, and struck out 36 batters in 26.2 innings of work this year.
According to a post on the Savanna Banana’s website, the Braves tried to contact him on draft day to select him in the draft, but Clarno was lounging beside the pool without his phone. When he did pick up and return the Braves’ call, they signed him as an undrafted free agent.
A post on the Southern Miss website says Hunter Riggins made 16 starts for Southern Miss in 2022, pitching to a 2.59 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, striking out 85, and walking 21 in 97-1/3IP.
Riggins threw 7-1/3 shutout innings, striking out seven to earn a spot on the Conference USA All-Tournament team, and was selected for the ABCA/Rawlings All-South Region Second Team.
That’s a wrap
The Atlanta Braves proved once again that any writer who says he knows who they will select is dreaming. The club also continued to select players in the lower half of the pool rounds they believe will sign well below slot, to pay players, they absolutely have to have.
Next. Movin on up!. dark
That strategy makes sense when you take those players in the first ten rounds as they did with their largest over-slot selections – Maier and Keller. All over-slot bonuses signed so far went to pitchers. Time will tell if that was the right decision.