BRAVES FINAL DRAFT SIGNING BOARD: Backstrom on board!

[jpx7]

A user over at TC posted the link to the GCL roster, and noted both Chad Bryant and Greg Leban are listed on it; so I guess they’ve signed.

Still waiting for the good news on Backstrom and Estes.

 

[IowaBrave14]

Apparently we signed an undrafted SS from a D3 school here in Iowa. Garrett Saunders, gonna start in Danville. I’ve played slow pitch against him.....solid glove, pushes to right field.


I have no baseball scouting report.

 

[rico43]

Bryant was an Alabama signee; feel strongly he was another overslot sign.

 

[Super]

Apparently we signed an undrafted SS from a D3 school here in Iowa. Garrett Saunders, gonna start in Danville. I’ve played slow pitch against him.....solid glove, pushes to right field.


I have no baseball scouting report.

what's his beer choice. tells you a lot about a person.

 

[rico43]

Apparently we signed an undrafted SS from a D3 school here in Iowa. Garrett Saunders, gonna start in Danville. I’ve played slow pitch against him.....solid glove, pushes to right field.


I have no baseball scouting report.

Pennsylvania native, played at Marietta College. Is/was a geology major. Has apparently graduated.

Worked as a front desk attendant at the Marietta College Recreation Center.

 

[IowaBrave14]

what's his beer choice. tells you a lot about a person.

I am not sure how much you know about Iowa....but its most likely Busch Light all the way. There is a actually a very strong local brewery craft scene in Iowa, but Busch Lattes carry the torch.

 

[nsacpi]

By my calculation we still have about 400K to play with (and over 900K if we are willing to go up to 5% over our pool total). Still holding out hope we sign both Estes and Backstrom.

 

[bravesfanMatt]

By my calculation we still have about 400K to play with (and over 900K if we are willing to go up to 5% over our pool total). Still holding out hope we sign both Estes and Backstrom.

Talking chop has ~750k left with 5% overage.

 

[rico43]

2019 draft picks on the GCL Braves roster:

PITCHERS
Chad Bryant (25th)
Ricky DeVito (8th)
Jared Johnson (14th)
Greg Leban (31st)
Tyler Owens (13th)
Andy Samuelson (12th)
Davis Schwab (37th)
Darius Vines (7th)
Peyton Williams (20th)
Justin Yeager (33rd)

CATCHER
Javier Valdes (21st)

INFIELD
Cade Bunnell (40th!)
Vaughn Grissom (11th)

OUTFIELD
Michael Harris (3rd)
Kadon Morton (19th)
Stephen Paolini (5th)

 

[nsacpi]

Talking chop has ~750k left with 5% overage.

still doable

 

[nsacpi]

2019 draft picks on the GCL Braves roster:

PITCHERS
Chad Bryant (25th)
Ricky DeVito (8th)
Jared Johnson (14th)
Greg Leban (31st)
Tyler Owens (13th)
Andy Samuelson (12th)
Davis Schwab (37th)
Darius Vines
Peyton Williams (20th)
Justin Yeager

CATCHER
Javier Valdes (21st)

INFIELD
Cade Bunnell (40th!)
Vaughn Grissom (11th)

OUTFIELD
Michael Harris (3rd)
Kadon Morton (19th)
Stephen Paolini (5th)

I like that outfield...will be fun to track those 3 the next few years

 

[zbhargrove]

2019 draft picks on the GCL Braves roster:

PITCHERS
Chad Bryant (25th)
Ricky DeVito (8th)
Jared Johnson (14th)
Greg Leban (31st)
Tyler Owens (13th)
Andy Samuelson (12th)
Davis Schwab (37th)
Darius Vines (7th)
Peyton Williams (20th)
Justin Yeager (33rd)

CATCHER
Javier Valdes (21st)

INFIELD
Cade Bunnell (40th!)
Vaughn Grissom (11th)

OUTFIELD
Michael Harris (3rd)
Kadon Morton (19th)
Stephen Paolini (5th)

GCL will be a fun team to watch this year.

 

[jpx7]

Looks like Estes has signed:

[tw]1142511256575737856[/tw]

Hope Backstrom’s right around the corner.

 

[chop2chip]

Looks like Estes has signed:

[tw]1142511256575737856[/tw]

Hope Backstrom’s right around the corner.

Man. Whether you agree with the strategy or not, you have to admire the execution. This is quite impressive to sign your top 20.

Edit: a couple thoughts on Bridges

I think Brian Bridges was a terrific scout and his drafts were excellent. But managing the draft pool was an issue (e.g., I think to that Auburn catcher that we couldn’t sign because Bridges promised more money than what we had available).

You have to wonder if AA had envisioned wanting to implement this sort of draft philosophy moving forward and identified Bridges as lacking the administrative skills to execute it. It would explain why he fired him despite his good track record.

 

[50PoundHead]

Man. Whether you agree with the strategy or not, you have to admire the execution. This is quite impressive to sign your top 20.

Edit: a couple thoughts on Bridges

I think Brian Bridges was a terrific scout and his drafts were excellent. But managing the draft pool was an issue (e.g., I think to that Auburn catcher that we couldn’t sign because Bridges promised more money than what we had available).

You have to wonder if AA had envisioned wanting to implement this sort of draft philosophy moving forward and identified Bridges as lacking the administrative skills to execute it. It would explain why he fired him despite his good track record.

One of the problems there is that Bridges (or whoever) thought the team could move the difference in money from an initial agreement with a draftee to the actual signing bonus and you can't do that. That is what caused the whole problem with Josh Anthony (who was never drafted again). Rowland needed surgery right out of the gate and they had signed him for $400,000. Becherer was another draftee whose initial agreement was $275,000, but he was also injured and I believed he signed for considerably less. Unfortunately for the Braves, MLB goes by the amount agreed to initially. At least that is my recollection of what happened. The bigger problem to me was the failure to detect injuries, or, in the case of Becherer, recovery possibilities.

PS--I have felt for awhile it was going to boil down to either Estes or Backstrom and not both. Glad to see Estes on board and hope that I am wrong in my assessment. Like others, we will see if the overall strategy produces, but it has been executed well.

 

[thethe]

One of the problems there is that Bridges (or whoever) thought the team could move the difference in money from an initial agreement with a draftee to the actual signing bonus and you can't do that. That is what caused the whole problem with Josh Anthony (who was never drafted again). Rowland needed surgery right out of the gate and they had signed him for $400,000. Becherer was another draftee whose initial agreement was $275,000, but he was also injured and I believed he signed for considerably less. Unfortunately for the Braves, MLB goes by the amount agreed to initially. At least that is my recollection of what happened. The bigger problem to me was the failure to detect injuries, or, in the case of Becherer, recovery possibilities.

PS--I have felt for awhile it was going to boil down to either Estes or Backstrom and not both. Glad to see Estes on board and hope that I am wrong in my assessment. Like others, we will see if the overall strategy produces, but it has been executed well.

Why is it either/or? I don't follow the draft at all as well as our bonus pool. Do we not have enough funds to allocate to meet Backstrom's demands?

 

[Jay212033]

Why is it either/or? I don't follow the draft at all as well as our bonus pool. Do we not have enough funds to allocate to meet Backstrom's demands?

If it was either or I'd much rather have the hitter over the pitcher.

 

[clvclv]

PS--I have felt for awhile it was going to boil down to either Estes or Backstrom and not both. Glad to see Estes on board and hope that I am wrong in my assessment. Like others, we will see if the overall strategy produces, but it has been executed well.

I had that same feeling at times, but someone mentioned earlier that "the TC guys" were hinting that both had signed. Given that they were right (even though I've seen no mention of either signing on their site) about Estes, it's definitely worth holding out hope.

 

[jpx7]

Why is it either/or? I don't follow the draft at all as well as our bonus pool. Do we not have enough funds to allocate to meet Backstrom's demands?

Just depends on the bonuses; the Braves had around $750k left, which seems like enough to give both a reasonable “over-slot” bonus (~$350k each, for instance, would only count $450k against the remaining pool). But there are some later college guys like Chad Bryant that may be somewhat (though much less) over $125k, as well.

 

[rico43]

Still looking for the number on Estes. All we know is he signed between June 20 and 22. That should say they are making a full-court press on Backstrom, and signing the Louisville outfielder Campbell along the way (he should be at worst slot).