If we know anything about the Atlanta Braves, it is that they love to draft pitchers in the first round. They haven't drafted a position player in the first round since 2019 and before that you have to go all the way back to Austin Riley in 2015. The Braves know what they are best at and lean into that expertise as much as possible. As we close in on the 2025 MLB Draft, it looks like yet another talented high school arm could be in the running for their pick.
Now that the amateur level has a bunch of games through this spring, the hierarchies of draft prospects are finally starting to reveal themselves and it looks like the best players available when the Braves pick at #22 are likely to be high school players including Kruz Schoolcraft (what a name) who the experts at MLB Pipeline connected the Braves to in their latest mock draft.
MLB Pipeline mocks high variance prep arm Kruz Schoolcraft to Braves
Let's start with the good news. Schoolcraft is a prep lefty with a frame and stuff for teams to dream on. At 6'8 and 229 pounds, he is only a little bit smaller than peak Randy Johnson. His fastball has been clocked at 97 MPH albeit lacking ideal movement and his two-plane slider is a legitimate out pitch. Somewhat surprisingly for a prep arm, Schoolcraft also already has a good changeup in his arsenal which gives him a weapon against righties.
In terms of upside, there might not be an arm in the draft with more than Schoolcraft, but he comes with risk. High school pitchers are the demographic with the highest failure rate among first round picks and Schoolcraft's stuff this year was down at the start of the season before he ramped back up to normal. Depending on when the Braves saw him, they could be higher or lower on Schoolcraft's stock than others.
This is now the second MLB Pipeline mock draft that has the Braves taking an arm. This could just be basing their early mocks on Atlanta's historical trends, but the Pipeline guys are as plugged in as anyone. They could know where the Braves have been sending top officials and hearing whispers about early talks with players. If that is the case, there is absolutely a world where Schoolcraft could be their pick.