2021 MLB Draft

[clvclv]

Braves' picks:
x = Signed or agreed to terms
(Final tally: 19 of 20)
x 1st Round - #24 Ryan Cusick RHP (6-6, 235) Wake Forest. ($2.7 M)
X 2nd Round - #59 Spencer Schwellenbach RHP (6-1, 200) Nebraska ($1 M)
X 3rd Round - #96 Dylan Dodd LHP (6-3, 210) SEMO ($122.5 K)
X 4th Round - #126 Cal Conley SS (5-10, 185) Texas Tech ($422.5 K)
X 5th Round - #157 Luke Waddell SS (5-9, 180) Georgia Tech ($247.5 K)
x 6th Round - #187 Justyn-Henry Malloy 3B (6-2, 212) Georgia Tech ($297.5 K)
x 7th Round - #217 AJ Smith-Sawver RHP (6-3, 205) Colleyville Heritage (Tex.) HS ($997.5 K)
x 8th Round - #247 Tyler Collins OF (6-0, 176) Boyd HS McKinney (Tex.) ($447.5)
X 9th Round - #277 Liam McGill C (6-4, 225) Bryant (R.I.) College ($7.5)
X 10th Round - #307 Dylan Spain RHP (6-6, 205) Hawaii-Hilo ($17.5 K)
x 11th Round - #337 Adam Shoemaker LHP (6-6, 205) St. Benedict Secondary School, Cambridge, Ont. ($480 K)
X 12th Round - #367 Andrew Hoffmann, RHP (6-5, 210) Illinois ($125 K)
x 13th Round - #397 Adam Zebrowski C (6-3, 230) St. John Fisher College ($125 K)
x 14th Round - #427 Caleb Durbin SS (5-8, 175) Washington ($ TBA)
x 15th Round - #457 Christian Robinson OF (6-2, 211) Stanford ($125 K)
x 16th Round - #487 Kris Anglin LHP (5-11, 175) Howard College (Tex.) ($TBA)
x 17th Round - #517 Tyler Tolve C (6-2, 180) Kennesaw State ($125 K)
x 18th Round - #547 Austin Smith RHP (6-3, 198) Arizona ($80 K)
x 19th Round - #577 Samuel Strickland RHP (6-2, 218) Samford ($100 K)
20th Round - #607 Ty Evans OF (6-2, 195) Lakeland (Fla.) Christian School

Signing deadline: August 1st.

[DirkPiggler]

Braves' picks:

1st Round - #24
2nd Round - #59
3rd Round - #96
4th Round - #126
5th Round - #157
6th Round - #187
7th Round - #217
8th Round - #247
9th Round - #277
10th Round - #307




Local Names To Watch:

Brady House, 3B, Winder-Barrow HS - questions abound following a subpar summer. Above-average power to all fields with a big arm, but swing got long. Sounds a little like Riley. Draws more-athletic Gallo and Gorman comps.
Harry Ford, C, North Cobb HS - mentioned as a Craig Biggio type. Good enough to stay behind the plate if needed, but could potentially handle 2B, 3B, and CF as well.
Jonathan Cannon, RHSP, Georgia - heavy 92-96 fastball with change as his next-best offering.




Who The "Experts" Have The Braves Picking:

Ryan Cusick, RHSP, Wake Forest - fastball sits 95-97, touches 99. Serious stuff with serious RP risk. (Baseball America)
Joe Rock, LHSP, Ohio - gets Paxton comparisons. 6'5" and expected to sit 94-96 with a plus breaker and above-average change. (Prospects Live)
Benny Montgomery, OF, Red Land HS (PA) - elite speed, strong arm, power. Sounds a little like Waters. (Baseball Prospect Journal)
Jackson Jobe, Heritage Hall HS (OK) - top slider in the HS class, mid-90s. Kiley mentions slider is over 3000 rpm. (mymlbdraft.com)
Kahlil Watson, Wake Forest HS (NC) - big-time loft and plus power from left side of plate. Good approach, expected to have no trouble sticking at SS. (Prospects 365)




Keep An Eye On:

Jaden Hill, RHSP, LSU - how far does TJS cause a Top 10 prospect with a 95-97 mph fastball (touching 99) and a plus change to fall???

RE: Jaden Hill. His production has never matched his talent. I don't know if that is indicative of the coaching he's received at LSU (they've underachieved mightily since he's been there...something's not right), or something else. Either way I'd hope the Braves steer clear, unless he falls way down the list.

[CJ9]

If we're going to look at tendencies for the first pick, it feels like we can pretty much ignore high schoolers.

[clvclv]

If we're going to look at tendencies for the first pick, it feels like we can pretty much ignore high schoolers.

Kinda like Kahlil Watson though - especially if they feel both Grissom and Tavarez are going to eventually move off the position. He'd give you someone that should be ready 3-4 years after Shewmake. If he's "for real", you'd have all those guys (plus Ball) as infield options when the current group isn't around anymore. Plus, if they're starting out as SSs, you have to figure they'll all have enough athleticism to potentially be converted to OFs down the line.

[cajunrevenge]

God help me if they take yet another ****ty college prospect. I will predict they troll me by picking a HS player whose only two qualities are that he runs fast and throws the ball far but cant make contact to save his life. That is the other type of prospect that grinds my gears.

[Southcack77]

The draft will be 20 rounds this year.

The Astros after forfeiting their 1st and 2nd round picks will have a draft pool of 2.94m.

[Southcack77]

On the bright side, after going winless and making a QO to Freddie Freeman, the Braves should have a really nice draft pool in 2022.

[bravesfanMatt]

MLB punished the braves harder than the Trashstros for voting laws versus cheating to win World Series. Like I always say Dickfred is a joke of a commissioner. I don’t care what side of the whole Allstar game you stand on. Robbie is a joke.

Wonder how much money the team has spent on promotional and infrastructure in preparations for the all star game that will never be refunded. Has to be millions one would think.

[NYCBrave]

MLB punished the braves harder than the Trashstros for voting laws versus cheating to win World Series. Like I always say Dickfred is a joke of a commissioner. I don’t care what side of the whole Allstar game you stand on. Robbie is a joke.

Wonder how much money the team has spent on promotional and infrastructure in preparations for the all star game that will never be refunded. Has to be millions one would think.

MLB has to do the right thing and compensate the organization in some way behind the scenes. I mean the Braves literally did nothing wrong and are being penalized here.

[bravesfanMatt]

MLB has to do the right thing and compensate the organization in some way behind the scenes. I mean the Braves literally did nothing wrong and are being penalized here.

Agree. Punish the fans so they might vote based on their anger. Make your political statement. Voice your opinion. But don’t punish a team for just being in a city. It is wrong.

[mfree80]

I am going to predict that in the long term, this move by MLB will turn out to be a monumental blunder. They truly did not think through the unintended consequences and who would be hurt and damaged by it. A lot of damage done to people who had nothing to do with it and it really will end up not hurting those who did.

Really poor form

[Deester11]

We heard about investigations into the same crap the Braves got hammered for. The Stankees still keep signing top international prospects..punkax Manfred penalized the Braves as a whole for Coppys Teflon Don act. I don't care what version of the Voting act you're on...Manfred stinks and he ain't going to do back to the Boston and Stankees. I want to fight that dude.

[clvclv]

MLB has to do the right thing and compensate the organization in some way behind the scenes. I mean the Braves literally did nothing wrong and are being penalized here.

Did MLB give the Dodgers money since they didn't get to have their ASG last season with the lockdown going on?

Can't possibly imagine there's a reason for MLB to "make the Braves whole" in this situation.

Does it suck for the organization if they spent a bag of money preparing for the game? Sure. Maybe the legislature should have considered that when passing the law - the other MLB clubs certainly shouldn't be on the hook for that money unless they privately voted to split the profits 30 ways at some point.

The law is the reason the game was moved - not because somebody really doesn't like AA or doesn't want those funds to go toward Freeman finishing his career here.

The Padres didn't swing the bat the other night when Tatis got hurt - should the other 29 teams bail them out of that contract if the injury ruins his career?

[bravesfanforlife88]

Did MLB give the Dodgers money since they didn't get to have their ASG last season with the lockdown going on?

Can't possibly imagine there's a reason for MLB to "make the Braves whole" in this situation.

Does it suck for the organization if they spent a bag of money preparing for the game? Sure. Maybe the legislature should have considered that when passing the law - the other MLB clubs certainly shouldn't be on the hook for that money unless they privately voted to split the profits 30 ways at some point.

The law is the reason the game was moved - not because somebody really doesn't like AA or doesn't want those funds to go toward Freeman finishing his career here.

The Padres didn't swing the bat the other night when Tatis got hurt - should the other 29 teams bail them out of that contract if the injury ruins his career?

Difference was because of the pandemic there was no all star game held anywhere. This year it’s being moved for politics

[cajunrevenge]

I know it's not really relevant but MLB has about a 30 year history of ****ing over the Braves. Adding wild card to the playoffs likely cost us 1 or more championships. With the playoff format we had wild card teams won a lot because their teams were better built for a sprint than a marathon. They forced us to share TBS money with all other clubs evenly and then forced TBS to pay more leading to no more Braves on TBS. This was in the name of stopping the yankees and it hurt no one but us. We were one of if not the best team at draft and follow so naturally they changed that rule. Then theres one I STILL want MLB to answer for and that's giving a secret loan to the Nationals about 6 years ago when their payroll was 160 million and ours was like 115 million. If you cant afford the players trade them. If nothing was wrong about it why wasn't it publicly announced? Why was it a secret? It was only uncovered by a beat writer mid season. Do they even win the world series last year if they didnt get that loan and had to reduce payroll at that time? Who knows.

[NYCBrave]

Difference was because of the pandemic there was no all star game held anywhere. This year it’s being moved for politics

And the Dodgers are also getting the all star game back I believe in a year or two. No guarantee the Braves will

[clvclv]

Difference was because of the pandemic there was no all star game held anywhere. This year it’s being moved for politics

That's always the funny thing though - it's always convenient to scream "politics" when your side seems to be getting the short end of the stick. (Not singling you out personally, just following your point.)

EVERYTHING involves politics. McConnell and the Republicans are all for corporations having rights and speaking up to support their side of an issue as long as they're raising money for them, but the second those corporations speak out against them (Coke and Delta in this particular instance) McConnell (and Trump) look for every microphone and camera to tell the same corporations they need to "stay out of politics" and beg people to boycott them - even though they accepted huge amounts of campaign funds from those corporations. Can't have it both ways, sorry - stop being hypocrites.

If Georgia legislators didn't want all this blowback they shouldn't have passed the law - there's no way they're stupid enough to not have seen this coming. They knew how many people would have a problem with this.

Again, the Georgia legislators cost the city that lost revenue - not MLB.

[DirkPiggler]

That's always the funny thing though - it's always convenient to scream "politics" when your side seems to be getting the short end of the stick. (Not singling you out personally, just following your point.)

EVERYTHING involves politics. McConnell and the Republicans are all for corporations having rights and speaking up to support their side of an issue as long as they're raising money for them, but the second those corporations speak out against them (Coke and Delta in this particular instance) McConnell (and Trump) look for every microphone and camera to tell the same corporations they need to "stay out of politics" and beg people to boycott them - even though they accepted huge amounts of campaign funds from those corporations. Can't have it both ways, sorry - stop being hypocrites.

If Georgia legislators didn't want all this blowback they shouldn't have passed the law - there's no way they're stupid enough to not have seen this coming. They knew how many people would have a problem with this.

Again, the Georgia legislators cost the city that lost revenue - not MLB.

The Braves and the city should not be punished for something the legislature did. First, because they had nothing to do with it...they give money to both sides, just like any other well-run corporation.

Second, the law does not do what you or its other opponents claim it does. That is clear to anyone who has read the bill without an agenda one way or the other. If a Democrat-led legislature had passed the exact same law to be signed by Governor Abrams, the national media would be lauding Georgia for expanding voting rights, and for being the most progressive and forward thinking southern state. The attack on this law is nothing more than another battle in the war to try to turn Georgia blue. MLB fell for it, along with the corporate sponsors that pressured them into this unjust decision.

[Tapate50]

That's always the funny thing though - it's always convenient to scream "politics" when your side seems to be getting the short end of the stick. (Not singling you out personally, just following your point.)

EVERYTHING involves politics. McConnell and the Republicans are all for corporations having rights and speaking up to support their side of an issue as long as they're raising money for them, but the second those corporations speak out against them (Coke and Delta in this particular instance) McConnell (and Trump) look for every microphone and camera to tell the same corporations they need to "stay out of politics" and beg people to boycott them - even though they accepted huge amounts of campaign funds from those corporations. Can't have it both ways, sorry - stop being hypocrites.

If Georgia legislators didn't want all this blowback they shouldn't have passed the law - there's no way they're stupid enough to not have seen this coming. They knew how many people would have a problem with this.

Again, the Georgia legislators cost the city that lost revenue - not MLB.

Yeah shame on them for thinking voters could read and understand opening up more opportunities to vote would cause such blowback

They over estimated the intelligence of the general public and their ability to think and process information

[JohnAdcox]

If Georgia legislators didn't want all this blowback they shouldn't have passed the law - there's no way they're stupid enough to not have seen this coming.

You don't give them nearly enough credit.