2023 MLB Draft Thread

Super said:
I’m sure the Braves realized he could play SS. This is precisely where the “don’t think you know a player because you read a couple available scouting reports” comes in. The Braves likely had a different analysis of him than the scouting reports from BA…not sure how that can be declared a “whiff.”
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If he'd added the weight like the Braves were hoping then there's a good chance his defense would have been affected. But he hasn't been able to bulk up much and so has kept more agility than expected.
 
It is important to remember that Shewmake's pre-draft ranking was all over the place and some services liked him (but a lot of those services aren't all that great). MLB.com had him at #32 and Fangraphs had him at #71. A minor reach from one service and a massive reach from another. Of course, Fangraphs raised Dodd and Shuster to 50s after spring training. Just important to note that no one is perfect in this realm.
 
atl717 said:
They whiffed because he’s terrible.
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Teams miss on guys all the time. Every single team has whiffed on 1st round picks.

The context “whiffed” was being used in was not just his talent. Striker said they whiffed because he became “basically the opposite of what he was meant to be.” We have no idea what the Braves scouts expected him to be, but I’d bet they thought he could stick at short. We don’t know what their scouts thought in that regard. We can’t figure out what the Braves org thought by reading scouting reports.
 
Super said:
Teams miss on guys all the time. Every single team has whiffed on 1st round picks.

The context “whiffed” was being used in was not just his talent. Striker said they whiffed because he became “basically the opposite of what he was meant to be.” We have no idea what the Braves scouts expected him to be, but I’d bet they thought he could stick at short. We don’t know what their scouts thought in that regard. We can’t figure out what the Braves org thought by reading scouting reports.
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You are correct about the context. My post was about him being the opposite of what was expected.

As for what the Braves thought, we have some data:

https://youtu.be/l9pHA08qIfc

The Braves definitely thought he was going to put on weight and tap into more power which didnt happen.

They also really liked his defense at SS but acknowledged he might end up playing all over the field. My interpretation of this is that they knew of he put on weight it could impact his defense.

So they were right about his defense being above average. His defense has held up which may or may not have been expected by the team.
 
Keith Law this AM.


Atlanta – Hurston Waldrep, RHP, Florida

This feels low given Waldrep’s pure stuff, with a splitter that’s one of the best offspeed pitches in the entire draft, but there seem to be only a few teams in the teens that are strongly on him, and he’s probably going after Lowder, Dollander, and now perhaps Floyd. Atlanta is linked to a bunch of player types – I’ve heard it with Mitchell, Wilken, Peete of course as a local kid – and some fairly random names for later rounds like North Carolina prep catcher Luke Stevenson and California prep shortstop Boston Baro.
 
Kiley this morning:

24. Atlanta Braves
Ty Floyd, RHP, LSU

I don't think the Braves are looking at over-slot options here, and they are mostly on position players. As mentioned in my updated rankings, there's a faint whiff of Spencer Strider to the Georgia native Floyd's operation on the heels of his College World Series heroics, so the savings here (Floyd was eligible last year and this is about as high as he projects to go, floor around pick 40-50) would give the Braves flexibility down the board to take multiple over-slot swings.

59. Atlanta Braves: Kyle Karros, 3B, UCLA

70. Atlanta Braves: Carson Roccaforte, CF, Louisiana Lafayette
 
IslandBrave said:
Keith Law this AM.


Atlanta – Hurston Waldrep, RHP, Florida

This feels low given Waldrep’s pure stuff, with a splitter that’s one of the best offspeed pitches in the entire draft, but there seem to be only a few teams in the teens that are strongly on him, and he’s probably going after Lowder, Dollander, and now perhaps Floyd. Atlanta is linked to a bunch of player types – I’ve heard it with Mitchell, Wilken, Peete of course as a local kid – and some fairly random names for later rounds like North Carolina prep catcher Luke Stevenson and California prep shortstop Boston Baro.
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The write up on Baro is pretty interesting. Baseball America has him No. 99 in the draft class:

Baro intrigued on the summer showcase circuit but was behind his peers physically and not considered a top draft prospect coming into the year. He spent the offseason getting stronger, transferred from a small, private school to Capistrano Valley (Mission Viejo, Calif.) High to face better competition and emerged as one of the spring’s biggest risers as he performed throughout the year. Baro is a lefthanded-hitting shortstop with solid tools across the board. He has a sound, line-drive swing and a natural feel for finding the barrel. He is still wiry and not overly physical, but he flashes the ability to loft to his pullside and has a chance to grow into average power as he fills out. Baro is a sound defensive shortstop with clean footwork, natural actions and above-average arm strength. He is a fringy runner with questionable footspeed and range, but his glove and instincts should allow him to remain at short and be an average defender. Baro requires a lot of physical projection, but he has a chance to be a lefthanded-hitting shortstop who is productive on both sides of the ball if everything clicks. He is committed to UCLA.
 
Also Braves related from Keith Law's mock draft:

He has Ty Floyd going 17 to Baltimore, and his blurb on Houston at 28 says this: "Everyone thinks they’ll take Floyd if he even gets here, knowing GM Dana Brown’s preference for college pitchers with great fastball characteristics, and if he’s not I believe they’ll go to the college ranks regardless."

Just noting that based on it being our first year without Brown here, but I'd also imagine AA and company will still be drafting with a similar approach as when he was here.
 
I wouldn't be surprised (and I'm not surprised by the latest mocks pointing in that possible direction) if a college pitcher is taken in the first. I don't fully buy into what Anthopoulos has done in extending the core offensive players to as long contracts as he's done, but it is what it is and while a team shouldn't ever draft for need, I think the large scale blueprint is such that the team may be betting on developing hitters from the batch that is currently in the lower level of the system (especially now with the lifing of the international sanctions) and giving them development time while the core is under contract and go heavy on pitching early in the draft. They went with high school pitchers last year, but they may want a couple of early draft picks that can hit AA by mid-to-late 2024 and be in the mix for 2025.

They obviously know more than me, so I'm just along for the ride.
 
50PoundHead said:
I wouldn't be surprised (and I'm not surprised by the latest mocks pointing in that possible direction) if a college pitcher is taken in the first. I don't fully buy into what Anthopoulos has done in extending the core offensive players to as long contracts as he's done, but it is what it is and while a team shouldn't ever draft for need, I think the large scale blueprint is such that the team may be betting on developing hitters from the batch that is currently in the lower level of the system (especially now with the lifing of the international sanctions) and giving them development time while the core is under contract and go heavy on pitching early in the draft. They went with high school pitchers last year, but they may want a couple of early draft picks that can hit AA by mid-to-late 2024 and be in the mix for 2025.

They obviously know more than me, so I'm just along for the ride.
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I will think they will take a college pitcher first until the end of time, or until I see otherwise.

That just seems to be the plan. College pitching early and then position guys later. Lots of college pitcher senior signs.
 
Russ2dollas said:
I will think they will take a college pitcher first until the end of time, or until I see otherwise.

That just seems to be the plan. College pitching early and then position guys later. Lots of college pitcher senior signs.
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I guess when it stops working we can't bitch too much... They have pretty much home grown talent all over the field.
 
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