June Rule IV pre-draft Thread

John Manuel's (Baseball America) latest Mock Draft

14. Phil Bickford, RHP, College of Southern Nevada
28. Ashe Russell, RHP, Cathedral Catholic HS, Indianapolis, IN

BA mentions other high school arms that the Braves are interested in as well such as Tristan Beck, Triston McKenzie, Mike Nikorak, and Dakota Chalmers.

I have been thinking that this was going to be a pitching heavy first 6 picks for Atlanta since they have gone back to the Paul Snyder philosophy on drafting.
 
KB21 said:
John Manuel's (Baseball America) latest Mock Draft

14. Phil Bickford, RHP, College of Southern Nevada

28. Ashe Russell, RHP, Cathedral Catholic HS, Indianapolis, IN

BA mentions other high school arms that the Braves are interested in as well such as Tristan Beck, Triston McKenzie, Mike Nikorak, and Dakota Chalmers.

I have been thinking that this was going to be a pitching heavy first 6 picks for Atlanta since they have gone back to the Paul Snyder philosophy on drafting.
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I have little doubt that most drafts under the new regime will more closely resemble those we'd become accustomed to years ago - pitching-heavy as well as typically more high school oriented. The recent rash of Pitcher injuries and change in the game to pitch limits and specialization in the bullpen more-or-less dictates that mid- and small-market teams will have little choice but to have stockpiles of capable arms if they want to build sustainable success. No matter how good your staff is at the beginning of a season, you'll need to go through as many as 10 more Pitchers to get through any given year.

That said, I could still see us taking Stephenson or Cameron at #14 if one slips and Randolph at #28 if he happened to slip as well and then go with 4 Pitchers. I'm personally not sold on Randolph at #14, so if both Daz and Tyler are gone one of the high school arms would make sense there, with another arm at #28 if Cornelius isn't there either (Chalmers perhaps). You'd still have a chance at sneaking in a couple local position player prospects at #41 and #54 like Jalen Miller and Alonzo Jones.
 
Im not against adding more pitching given the Braves are better at scouting pitching than hitting.

And do agree we're not quite in a position to trade one of Wood/Miller/Folty/Julio just yet.

But still think we need to use one of the top 2 picks on a hitter.
 
Oh, I agree that Tyler Stephenson is probably their top target. They have a clear weakness at catcher in the system right now, and Stephenson fits the mold that Roy Clark has targeted early before. The two catchers Roy drafted in the top 2 rounds in his previous tenure in Atlanta were Brian McCann and Jarrod Saltalamacchia. Both are offense oriented, power hitting catchers. The hope would be that Stephenson is closer to McCann than Salty. His body is similar to Salty, but he reportedly has a 1.9 pop time to second and a good base of defensive skills.

Man! I really miss Brian McCann being on this team.
 
Heyward said:
Im not against adding more pitching given the Braves are better at scouting pitching than hitting.

And do agree we're not quite in a position to trade one of Wood/Miller/Folty/Julio just yet.

But still think we need to use one of the top 2 picks on a hitter.
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I agree and furthermore I think they will target a catcher early. I don't think Stephenson will be available at #14. But Betts might be at #28.
 
Stephenson checks a lot of boxes: a) Offense B) Position of need C) Prep D) Georgia, so he makes a lot of sense at 14. Even if he's off the board by that pick, I'm hoping the Braves are still able to nab a bat (Cameron/Betts/Randolph) ... it appears a number of interesting arms could easily slide to the mid/late 20s. Get that first arm there.
 
Never draft for need in MLB. IMHO there are not a lot of impact bats in this draft. There's a lot of high end pitching though unless one of the top bats slide go pitching.
 
Jay212033 said:
Never draft for need in MLB. IMHO there are not a lot of impact bats in this draft. There's a lot of high end pitching though unless one of the top bats slide go pitching.
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Agreed. The first ten rounds you need to go for the best player on your board. After that you fill in positions of need, but at the minor league level not the majors.
 
Jay212033 said:
Never draft for need in MLB. IMHO there are not a lot of impact bats in this draft. There's a lot of high end pitching though unless one of the top bats slide go pitching.
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I agree in a general sense, but a lack of high-impact bats is all the more reason to grab one or two if you can.

And I haven't heard that there is a lack of bats; the main thing lacking is college pitching.

But while you don't draft for need specifically, you do try to find places where your system is weaker and improve, especially if the weakness is as vast as 'any impact bats'.
 
The draft features plenty of intriguing bats within the first 50 picks, after that it's almost always a crapshoot anyways.
 
Jay212033 said:
Never draft for need in MLB. IMHO there are not a lot of impact bats in this draft. There's a lot of high end pitching though unless one of the top bats slide go pitching.
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I agree. The thing is, there are a lot of needs for this farm system. Probably the only thing they don't "need" is middle infield.

My drafting philosophy would be to take the highest rated player that fits my system, and if it is a tie between a pitcher and a hitter, go with the pitcher.
 
BA Mock 4.0

14. Braves
3ds_braves79
With multiple selections, the Braves have been tied to plenty of players, especially in the high school class. The prep pitching and hitting classes are so muddled, though, that Atlanta won’t have to reach up for one at 14. The Braves can wait, let the crowd sort itself out a bit and strike with players they have conviction on (and deals with) at 28 and 41, and 54 and 75, and get players of very comparable value. Few organizations have had as much success with junior-college players in the last 15 years as Atlanta.

Selection: Phil Bickford, rhp, JC of Southern Nevada

28. Braves: This is where Atlanta could get creative with prep arms such as Nikorak, Indiana’s Ashe Russell, Beck, McKenzie or Georgia’s Dakota Chalmers.
Selection: Ashe Russell, rhp, Cathedral Catholic HS, Indianapolis
 
Tapate50 said:
BA Mock 4.0

14. Braves
3ds_braves79
With multiple selections, the Braves have been tied to plenty of players, especially in the high school class. The prep pitching and hitting classes are so muddled, though, that Atlanta won’t have to reach up for one at 14. The Braves can wait, let the crowd sort itself out a bit and strike with players they have conviction on (and deals with) at 28 and 41, and 54 and 75, and get players of very comparable value. Few organizations have had as much success with junior-college players in the last 15 years as Atlanta.

Selection: Phil Bickford, rhp, JC of Southern Nevada

28. Braves: This is where Atlanta could get creative with prep arms such as Nikorak, Indiana’s Ashe Russell, Beck, McKenzie or Georgia’s Dakota Chalmers.
Selection: Ashe Russell, rhp, Cathedral Catholic HS, Indianapolis
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Not sure that Bickford would be our first pick. Power arm to be sure, but he's profiled as a reliever before and I think I'd rather a high profile starter type or definitely one of the bats that could fall.
 
Given that Stephenson is unlikely to be there at #14, the choice is likely to be a HS pitcher. The high ceiling college arms will be gone by then, and the ones left will be more of the low ceiling-high floor types. We should avoid those in the first round. There is no college hitter that appeals around pick #14. Someone might drop unexpectedly, in which case you would have to ask why they are dropping.

There are quite a few high upside high school arms that figure to go around #14 or later: Nikorak, Allard, Nolan Watson (rising fast according to BA), Everett and Russell. I think we'll have several to choose from and will take one of them with our first pick.
 
I just hope we don't go all pitching with our early picks. We have some intriguing bats in the low minors and we're in on some good international hitting prospects, but we are so thin at power-hitting prospects that I hope we can hone in on a couple of them.
 
50PoundHead said:
I just hope we don't go all pitching with our early picks. We have some intriguing bats in the low minors and we're in on some good international hitting prospects, but we are so thin at power-hitting prospects that I hope we can hone in on a couple of them.
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Ideally, I'd like two potential stud pitchers and two potential good bats. With 5 top picks, we should easily accomplish that while taking a chance on someone we all won't know quite as well as the Braves Scouts do. On the international front if they sign 1 of the 2 top bats and get a few more...you're talking about a GREAT, not good offseason completion by Hart and co.
 
50PoundHead said:
I just hope we don't go all pitching with our early picks. We have some intriguing bats in the low minors and we're in on some good international hitting prospects, but we are so thin at power-hitting prospects that I hope we can hone in on a couple of them.
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It honestly wouldn't hurt my feelings if they go after Pitching with those early picks IF the guys the really want (Stephenson, Betts, etc.) aren't there. If the available bats don't fit the profile they've been targeting, keep stockpiling arms.

It's always been and always will be easier to trade pitching for hitting.

Hart all but said they fully intend to make a BIG splash in the international market following this year's signees when most of the big-market clubs won't have an opportunity to bid on anyone - they've obviously identified several targets.
 
50PoundHead said:
I just hope we don't go all pitching with our early picks. We have some intriguing bats in the low minors and we're in on some good international hitting prospects, but we are so thin at power-hitting prospects that I hope we can hone in on a couple of them.
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I guess these things are cyclical, but we seem to be in a period where power hitting is very hard to find.
 
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