June Rule IV pre-draft Thread

rico43

rico43

<B>Director of Minor League Reports</B>
With the Braves expected haul out of this year's June draft, there will be various things of import in these days leading up. Let's start with this key question from today's Baseball America draft chat:

Patrick (Lake Forest, CA): For the first time in a while, my Braves are in a position to really do something significant in the draft. I feel as though they are one of a few teams that could potentially move some money around due too their large bonus pool and pick up one of the pitchers that have fallen due to injuries. Do you see this happening or is it more likely they will just use the picks to add depth to a pretty poor system? Thanks!

Teddy Cahill: The Braves active offseason included the acquisition of some extra draft picks and they now hold five of the first 75 selections. That has greatly increased their bonus pool and puts them in a position to be creative in this draft. I think grabbing an injured pitcher (or any other player who slides on draft night) is certainly possible. There’s also a bumper crop of talent in the Atlanta area. The Braves have a long history of success in drafting Georgia high school players. This would be a good year to revisit that strategy as well.
 
Didn't have time to participate in the chat unfortunately, but I was thinking the exact same thing. The only question I have is whether we may have to reach for one of them with the #14 pick as opposed to waiting assuming we want to make sure we get one of them.

I'd think that at least 8 of the teams picking between #15 and #28 could be legitimate threats to gobble them up - the Yankees, Giants, Pirates, A's, Royals, Cardinals, Tigers, and Dodgers all are in a pretty good position to take a gamble that they might land an "Ace" picking at the back end of Round 1 even if they'd have to wait a year to get their hands on him. You could probably add Baltimore to that list as well.

Brady Aiken and Michael Matuella have slipped to the #21 and #22 spots on BA's latest Top 100 list, so my guess is that if we wanted one of those two we'd have to be willing to spend the #14 pick on him. If Hart & Company are willing to plunk down the money to maximize the talent scooped up in those first few picks (rather than save extra money for later rounds in the event someone slides) our best bet might be to go with Ashe Russell or Kolby Allard at #14 (there's your high school arm with big upside), scoop D. J. Stewart up with #28 where he currently sits on their newest list (there's your college OF bat with power who could move fast), and then hope Jacob Nix slides just a few spots to us at #41.

You want to talk about an organization that would be SERIOUSLY overflowing with high-ceiling Pitcher depth? Adding Russell or Allard and Nix to what we've already stockpiled probably makes us the envy of the rest of baseball.
 
Sorry if this has already been posted: http://www.baseballamerica.com/draft/injuries-lack-track-record-scramble-2015-draft-class/

It’s a great draft if you like drafting high school players. The Astros (the first-place Astros in mid-May, thank you) have two of the first five selections and have the largest bonus pool, and they’ll be active in the prep players. But the team sparking the most chatter in the industry is the Braves, who have acquired competitive balance picks and have six of the first 89 selections, with more than $10 million in their bonus pool.

General manager John Hart promoted Brian Bridges from crosschecker to scouting director, brought back former director Roy Clark to the organization as a special assistant and has helped Clark re-assemble many of the scouts who helped build the Braves into a scouting juggernaut in the 1990s and the first decade of this century.

Our draft lists attempt to reflect the industry consensus. Expect the Braves to buck that consensus early and often.
 
Thanks for the info guys. Keep it coming.

I love how the baseball community acknowledges what a great job the Braves did at rebuilding the scouting wing of the organization.
 
Speaking of injured (or possibly injured pitchers), I've been following Mac Marshall a bit this spring. Instead of going to LSU, he opted for Chipola (FL) JC and was pitching fairly well. But he hasn't pitched much lately and I was wondering if anyone knew what was up with him.
 
50PoundHead said:
Speaking of injured (or possibly injured pitchers), I've been following Mac Marshall a bit this spring. Instead of going to LSU, he opted for Chipola (FL) JC and was pitching fairly well. But he hasn't pitched much lately and I was wondering if anyone knew what was up with him.
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Yeah, Marshall is intriguing. I'm liking him quite a bit, but he was out with a broken thumb and it caused him to miss conference play. Prior to the injury, Marshall had a 2.67 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 27 innings.
 
Deester11 said:
Yeah, Marshall is intriguing. I'm liking him quite a bit, but he was out with a broken thumb and it caused him to miss conference play. Prior to the injury, Marshall had a 2.67 ERA and 40 strikeouts in 27 innings.
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Have said all along I think Marshall is one of those guys they'd potentially target a little lower if he slid slightly. Much to our benefit (potentially) his injury pops up at a rather opportune time and drives him down most boards a bit. Mac now sits at #85 on BA's latest list, meaning we could easily wait as late as the 3rd round to pounce if he's still there.
 
Manuel's Mock 1.0 is up now - would love to see the 1st Round shake out the way he's got it. We'd then be able to target one of the injured guys even later. I completely agree with his rationale that we'd strongly consider Tyler Stephenson at #14 given the pitching depth we've already acquired and the chance to gamble on one of the injured guys later. He only has one of them currently going off the board in his 1st Round (Aiken to the Giants) with the Yankees, Tigers, Cardinals, Dodgers, and Orioles passing on the others.

If only we could be so lucky - Stephenson at #14 (the local high school impact Catcher), D. J. Stewart at #28, Matuella or Nix at #41, a high school arm at #54 (like Nick Niedert from Peachtree Ridge HS in Suwanee), a high school OF like Jahmai Jones from Norcross at #75, and Marshall in Round 3 would be one *elluva haul IMO.
 
Carp said:
What about Mike Cameron's kid? Is he projected to go before our 1st pick?
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I saw two mock drafts today and both had him going in the top 5.

By all accounts that seems like a reach with, but there is a small chance he's there at 14.

John Manuel and Kiley both say that if Tyler Stephenson makes his way to the Braves that we will take him.
 
Carp said:
What about Mike Cameron's kid? Is he projected to go before our 1st pick?
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Yeah - I'd kinda hoped all along that Daz would somehow slip to us at #14, but like chop2chip mentioned, just doesn't look like there's much of a chance.

He's about the only position player I could imagine we'd take over Stephenson if he was still out there, and I'm not sure they'd scoop him up even then now that they've seen Mallex for awhile. Stephenson fills a bigger organizational hole, and they could still get an early OF bat like Stewart with pick #28. Stephenson just makes too much sense IMO.
 
I am hoping Stephenson falls to us but I think it more likely someone takes him ahead of us, Philly seems to be leaning towards doing so but I doubt they're the only team that pick earlier than us looking at him.
 
BBA Mock Draft 2.09 has Stephenson moving up to Reds at No. 11, then with Braves going after Clarksville, Tenn., pitcher Donny Everett, a Boras client who can hit 100 mph.
 
Everett and Kolby Allard (who they have us scooping up at #28) would definitely top us off in the "high-ceiling arms" department. Not sure if I could pass if both were available, but also not sure ONE of those picks doesn't need to be spent on a position player (although there could still be a couple pretty good gambles on those when we pick at #41).
 
BA's mock draft has six consecutive pitchers going in picks 12-17. We pick 13. So it would seem that the talent around where we are picking is skewed toward pitching. I'm ok with picking a pitcher there, but hope there will also be some position players taken with our early picks.

Three guys I'd be interested in with our next pick (#28) would be DJ Stewart, Chris Betts and Donnie Dewees. Interestingly, BA has them going in picks 25-27.
 
Ugh, I'd love to see Dazmon drop. Obviously Stephenson would be an extremely solid selection there too. I'm just not crazy on a prep arm with the first pick.

Why not Brady Aiken at 28? BA speculates him to land with LAD at 24, but all they say is, "L.A. seems as likely as any team to take on the injured pitchers, but that’s more hunch than inside info."
 
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