2015 June Draft Results Thread

We have gone after position players lately. Yepez was our #1 international signing this past year at a reported $1 M. We gave significant bonuses to Albies and Peraza. Davidson was our top draft pick last year. We have taken two position players in the second round this year. We traded for Ruiz, Smith and the two Petersons.

I think though there is an issue. Which is that there is no one in the system that approaches being able to fill the shoes of Justin Upton or Jason Heyward. I think the front office may not have had a full appreciation of how scarce those types of players are, especially when you consider their ages at free agency.
 
chop2chip said:
I don't see how you can argue otherwise. Allard was a slam dunk at 14. Everyone loves that pick. From that point on they went 2 hitters and 2 pitchers. That seems rather balanced.
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I think simply stating the position vs. pitcher number of draft picks can be misleading. I mean, they could have reached for a sign able position player at 28 instead of a signable pitcher. But, if that guy was truly BPA, sobeit. The first position player they drafted Riley was a significant reach at 41. Herbert appears to be a slight reach at 54, but I'm not against drafting prep catchers by any means. Especially ones that show some defensive skills and pop.

This draft is kind of odd because it's doesn't really have the upside of other drafts, but is deep. So you may get someone at 25 that is not all that much talented at 75. If the pitchers were truly BPA, then I applaud them for drafting them. I just don't think that's the case based on viewing what other transactions the team has made and hearing them make statements about the focus on acquiring pitching.
 
nsacpi said:
We have gone after position players lately. Yepez was our #1 international signing this past year at a reported $1 M. We gave significant bonuses to Albies and Peraza. Davidson was our top draft pick last year. We have taken two position players in the second round this year. We traded for Ruiz, Smith and the two Petersons.

I think though there is an issue. Which is that there is no one in the system that approaches being able to fill the shoes of Justin Upton or Jason Heyward. I think the front office may not have had a full appreciation of how scarce those types of players are, especially when you consider their ages at free agency.
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Three of the four players we got for Justin Upton are position players and my guess is all three will play at the major league level at some point.
 
Now hearing everyone chiming in it certainly appears the Braves have focussed on hitting as much as they have pitching. Thank you all for your inputs.
 
I think we would have been in spectacular shape if we had made every move we've made except one of the Upton/Heyward trades and found a way to extent that guy. That would have allowed us to field a playoff contending team this year even while building for the future. As it is we are faced with finding a middle order hitter/corner outfielder or third baseman at a time when those types of players are very difficult to find and very expensive. I also think we have created an issue with the fan base with the way the 2015 team has been constructed and marketed.
 
gilesfan said:
I think simply stating the position vs. pitcher number of draft picks can be misleading. I mean, they could have reached for a sign able position player at 28 instead of a signable pitcher. But, if that guy was truly BPA, sobeit. The first position player they drafted Riley was a significant reach at 41. Herbert appears to be a slight reach at 54, but I'm not against drafting prep catchers by any means. Especially ones that show some defensive skills and pop.

This draft is kind of odd because it's doesn't really have the upside of other drafts, but is deep. So you may get someone at 25 that is not all that much talented at 75. If the pitchers were truly BPA, then I applaud them for drafting them. I just don't think that's the case based on viewing what other transactions the team has made and hearing them make statements about the focus on acquiring pitching.
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I won't argue against the ominous feeling that we reached with our picks. I stated that earlier. But who the hell knows? It's the baseball draft. Drafting Piazza in 20th round would have been considered a reach. I'll grade the FO on the results, and hammer them to death on the process if it fails.

From that standpoint, I feel justified calling this a balanced draft. I'm just glad they didn't reach to draft GA prep players. I have been afraid of that since I heard that this was a Georgia heavy draft.
 
nsacpi said:
I think we would have been in spectacular shape if we had made every move we've made except one of the Upton/Heyward trades and found a way to extent that guy. That would have allowed us to field a playoff contending team this year even while building for the future.
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Braves aren't having issues scoring though right now and they will be able to further improve the everyday lineup soon.

Pitching is the issue right now...specifically the bullpen.
 
nsacpi said:
I think we would have been in spectacular shape if we had made every move we've made except one of the Upton/Heyward trades and found a way to extent that guy. That would have allowed us to field a playoff contending team this year even while building for the future. As it is we are faced with finding a middle order hitter/corner outfielder or third baseman at a time when those types of players are very difficult to find and very expensive.
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I think you do that and not sign Markakis and the short and long terms mesh together nicely. I still think we needed pitching going into 2015 (and Miller has been nothing short of fantastic to this point) and the return from either of those would have had to address that.

Curious to see what J. Upton gets on the open market over the winter.
 
50PoundHead said:
I think you do that and not sign Markakis and the short and long terms mesh together nicely. I still think we needed pitching going into 2015 (and Miller has been nothing short of fantastic to this point) and the return from either of those would have had to address that.

Curious to see what J. Upton gets on the open market over the winter.
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Hard to gauge right now because he is so hot. He will slump slightly but I would guess around 24 per year.
 
chop2chip said:
Potential top 100 prospects:
Ruiz
Davidson
Peraza
Albies

Guys that are on the periphery:
Dustin Peterson
Mallex Smith

We have at least average depth. That's far from "completely dry".
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What team can't say they have a handful of "potential" top 100 position prospects? Its not like you can look at that group and say we certainly have potential everyday starters in the future like we could in years past. (heyward, Freeman, McCann, Franchise (lol), Simmons, KJ, Salty, etc.) The group we have now doesn't compare.
 
50PoundHead said:
What is lost a bit in the discussion is that the Braves supposedly have the inside track on two highly-ranked position players from Latin America: SS Darian Cruz and OF Cristian Pache. The Latin American market is a little bit more like the Wild West because things aren't nailed down until the ink is dry on the contract (and there is all sorts of monkey business from scouts), but how we do there really augments the draft. I don't think one can truly separate the two.
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And next year they're gonna be in the market for perhaps the 2 biggest hitters that have hit the international market in years!
 
chop2chip said:
What move have they made in the name of philosophy do you disagree with? For the sake of avoiding dead horses, let's omit all answers that include keeping Heyward/Upton.
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I feel like I've already said this... Each trade was fine from a value perspective on their own... but in aggregate, i think we will be kicking ourselves that we did not use on of Heyward/Upton/Gattis/Kimbrel to obtain an impact hitting prospect

(out before thethe informs me that Mallex Smith is a future GOAT)
 
thethe said:
Braves aren't having issues scoring though right now and they will be able to further improve the everyday lineup soon.

Pitching is the issue right now...specifically the bullpen.
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Well we have done ok in scoring because of timely hitting. Hitting with RISP and pinch hitting. Don't fool yourself into thinking this is a sustainable basis for building an offense. And the nice stretches of hitting from KJ, Cunningham and Uribe are not something you want to bank on for sustainable success. Remember Brooks Conrad's magic season. Lots of pixie dust there. Same thing so far this year for the offense. It is fun to watch while it lasts. But don't let it fool you.
 
gilesfan said:
What team can't say they have a handful of "potential" top 100 position prospects? Its not like you can look at that group and say we certainly have potential everyday starters in the future like we could in years past. (heyward, Freeman, McCann, Franchise (lol), Simmons, KJ, Salty, etc.) The group we have now doesn't compare.
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Peraza is on Klaw's top 20 list and Albies might end up there as well if he maintains his current pace. We have high upside guys at literally every level of the system.

I'm not saying they have the deepest position player pool, but it's far from "completely dry", and it's certainly vastly improved since Hart took over (which is the primary point anyways).
 
thethe said:
Hard to gauge right now because he is so hot. He will slump slightly but I would guess around 24 per year.
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Close to 30 M in AAV for 8-10 years. That's the market. And that's why if you get a chance to extent someone like that for 25M you do it.
 
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