DRAFT IN PROGRESS THREAD ... What's past is preamble

clvclv said:
This seems to always be an issue around here, and has absolutely nothing to do with defending the front office. The reason the farm system was so devoid of talent was the previous regime's focus on high-floor guys - players who never projected to be much more than utility infielders/4th or 5th OFs/MOR to back-end SPs. So the new group takes over and immediately begins stocking up on high-ceiling talent who at least have a shot at becoming better than average major league ballplayers, several who even have star upside. Are some of them going to reach their ceilings? Hopefully. Some will become average or better at their positions. Some will absolutely bust, no question. The problem that so many of those who criticize every single move refuse to see is that you can't develop stars if you don't gamble on players with chances they'll bust.

Every legitimate pundit out there agreed on one thing about this draft class - there were NO impact bats that were remotely close to being big league ready. Period. There were questions about every one of the bats - including Senzel, Ray, and Lewis. Not a single one of those pundits projected any of those guys to be stars. So many people love to complain that we have very little "elite" talent in the system, yet they're unable to understand that none of those guys would have changed that one bit. Certainly not soon, and definitely not without a lot of luck. Senzel might hit for average power as a 3B for the Reds, but only because he'll be hitting in a bandbox. If Ray turned into a 15 HR LF, would he scare anyone hitting behind Freeman? Not likely. Could Lewis turn into a 20-25 HR threat? Sure. Apparently we weren't the organization that doesn't believe he won't be that any time soon.

Yes, we desperately need a couple of impact bats, but the only way we're getting them is to sign Cespedes or Desmond this winter or trade pitching to get them. There wasn't a single hitter available in this draft that would change that, like it or not.

So what do you do to try to get "elite" talent? Keep drafting the players with the highest ceilings and hope as many of them work out as possible. You then package the "excess" to obtain elite talent where you have holes.

Callis and Mayo had Anderson (#13 - with helium), Wentz (#16), Muller (#24), and Cumberland (#69) on their board before the draft. According to them, we got 3 of the 24 best players available. Law had both Anderson and Wentz in his 11 best players available. Seems pretty successful to me.
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I have to agree with pretty much all of this. I wanted Lewis, but I was probably a little blinded by my desire to watch an offensive stud climb his way to Atlanta that I didn't care to notice all the warning signs about him. Apparently, 10 teams agreed about Lewis and passes on him.

If there were no impact hitters worthy of the #3 pick, then it makes sense to grab several top 25 guys. We will find out soon enough if Lewis is the real deal. I suspect he will either set a rookie league on fire and make us all cry in our Cheerios, or he will struggle and post a very mediocre ~750 OPS.

I do think the plan was to take a hitter at 40/44, probably Kieboom, but when he was gone they had to go with Muller as plan b. I have no source, it's just a hunch.
 
CJ9 said:
As a Florida fan, I feel like it's important for me to get this out of the way. Schwarz should not be a 1-1 candidate next year. Numbers have significantly dipped this season, and he's barely catching this year. There are rumors he'll be the full time 1B next year.

His name keeps being brought up because it's a position of need and there aren't many big time college bats as of now that are in the 1-1 conversation, but Schwarz isn't going to be in the conversation there.
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The top two reported college bats for the 2017 draft are both catchers who did not catch much in 2016. JJ Scwartz and KJ Harrison. IMO, if either are favored in the top 5, they have to be able to stick behind the plate. Like I said, I don't think their bats are as good as what Luken Baker at TCU and Seth Beer at Clemson have shown to this point.
 
The Braves just drafted Eddie Perez's son, Andres Perez.

http://www.forsythnews.com/archives/27175/

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Looks like a taller version of his dad.
 
KB21 said:
The high upside bat everyone is wanting will be signed in the J2 signing period next month. Atlanta will also likely have their choice in the 2017 draft of an elite high school bat in Mark Vientos or an elite college bat in JJ Schwartz. Vientos has drawn comparisons to Manny Machado.

If it were me, I'd go with Vientos and his upside, as I feel Schwartz and KJ Harrison are not quite the college bats that Seth Beer and Luken Baker are.
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Which is why we shouldn't win another game all season. It was extremely annoying that we had a chance to have the worst record last year but kept winning down the stretch, and ended up with the 3rd pick.
 
KB21 said:
The high upside bat everyone is wanting will be signed in the J2 signing period next month. Atlanta will also likely have their choice in the 2017 draft of an elite high school bat in Mark Vientos or an elite college bat in JJ Schwartz. Vientos has drawn comparisons to Manny Machado.

If it were me, I'd go with Vientos and his upside, as I feel Schwartz and KJ Harrison are not quite the college bats that Seth Beer and Luken Baker are.
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Let the record show that the hype seems to have dried up on Vientos. I don't know that I've seen anything on him since that article by Kiley and he's not even ranked first in his HS class in the various outlets I've seen. I was all aboard the Vientos hype train as well, but I just don't see it currently.
 
KB21 said:
I'd rather deal with Boston and get Moncada and Benitendi. I'm not sure Bregman can handle 3B long term defensively, and he would be behind Swanson and Albies in the MIF. If our scouts think he can handle 3B full time, then sure. Deal Teheran and Viz to Houston for Alex Bregman, Kyle Tucker, and Daz Cameron.
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I can hear the laughter all the way from Houston on that proposal. It would have to be Teheran, Toussaint and maybe Sims.
 
I see they drafted Terry Shumpert's kid--Nick--out of San Jacinto JC in the 28th round. He was a 7th round pick last year out of high school by the Tigers in 2015. Didn't have eye-popping stats as a freshman at San Jacinto, so my guess is he'll head back to school and try to build up his stock.

Braves also drafted another kid out of Century College (JC) in Minnesota named Ryan Schlosser (unlikely he's related to Gus). Braves drafted a LHP--Jared Dettman--out of Century a few years back. Probably he same scout working the area.
 
On top of Wentz we're also getting Paco Rodriguez back next year. Makes the whole Olivera trade somewhat more tolerable.
 
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