Most fans are aware of the fact that the Atlanta Braves' farm system has seen better days. Most of that is due to having too many success stories and promotions in recent years and that is a great problem to have. However, the Braves' talent development and specifically their strategy in the MLB Draft has played a significant role as well.
This week, MLB finally released the draft bonus pool amounts for every team in the league. We already knew that that the Braves wouldn't have the most money to spend given that they are picking at #22 overall and that was confirmed as Atlanta's 2025 bonus pool sits at $9,081,100 which is the eighth lowest in all of baseball.
So we now know where the Braves are picking and how much money they have to spend in the draft. As to who they are going to select with that money and if it is good idea, that is a tougher prediction make.
Braves draft strategy should be under the spotlight after some notable draft pick whiffs
The Braves have certainly gotten value out of the MLB Draft in recent years with Spencer Strider, Spencer Schwellenbach, and Michael Harris II being some notable examples. They do seem to have some traits they look for that can result in quality big leaguers, but that hasn't exactly translated to draft success with their first round picks.
Since 2019 which spans the scouting director tenures of both Dana Brown and Ronit Shah, here are all of the players Atlanta has spent first round picks on.
- 2019 - Shea Langeliers - Not great and no longer with the organization, but a big leaguer
- 2019 - Braden Shewmake - Career hanging on for dear life, no longer with the organization
- 2020 - Jared Shuster - Now a bad reliever with the White Sox, no longer with the organization
- 2021 - Ryan Cusick - Cannot find the strike zone whatsoever, no longer with the organization
- 2022 - Owen Murphy - Interesting prep arm, but coming off an injury. Far away from the majors.
- 2022 - JR Ritchie - Interesting prep arm, but coming off an injury. Far away from the majors.
- 2023 - Hurston Waldrep - College arm with a great splitter but crummy fastball.
- 2024 - Cam Caminiti - Interesting prep arm dealing with injury of unknown severity. Far away from the majors.
See the problem? The best thing the Braves have gotten from their last eight first round picks is some trade capital and only one of those guys (Langeliers) got moved for an impact player in Matt Olson. There is still time for some of these most recent picks to work out and there is real talent, but the payoff with these early picks has not been there.
Some of this is a function of picking later in the first round and having to pick up other teams' scraps, but that hasn't stopped the Braves from finding talent in later rounds. Atlanta needs to expand to scope of the types of players they will consider in the first round including Boras clients and picking some position players here and there would be great as well. What is clear is that what they are currently doing just isn't working.