First 5 rounds: Kyle Wright (1-5), Drew Waters (2-41), Freddy Tarnok (3-80), Troy Bacon (4-110), Bruce Zimmerman (5-140)
Also notable: Landon Hughes (7-200), Hagen Owenby (12-350), Cade Cavalli (29-860), Chris McMahon (33-980)
The Braves already have arguably baseball's top farm system, and that's no surprise because they usually draft well. This year was no different, at least with their first few picks, after which they started to take a bunch of players I'd never heard of. They employed an interesting bonus strategy, drafting low-cost seniors from rounds 5-10 and saving almost $1.2 million total on those six picks. The Braves develop pitching better than almost anybody else, so it's no surprise they leaned pitching in this draft, though they did take a high school outfielder in the second round, a college third baseman in the sixth, and a college shortstop in the ninth. Another interesting thing was that each of their first nine picks come from the southeast, all within the states of Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
1-5: RHP Kyle Wright (my rank: 2)
The Braves must have been ecstatic when Wright fell past the Twins, Reds, Padres, and Rays in the first four picks. The Vanderbilt ace has one of the best combinations of upside and floor in this draft, and with the way the Braves develop pitching, he has a real chance to be an ace. Wright throws his fastball in the mid 90's, and he comes in with one of the deadliest slider/curveball combinations in the draft. The curve in particular has filthy, two-plane break, and all three pitches could be plus at the major league level. His changeup is coming along and shows promise, so not only does he have ace upside, but he has a relatively high floor as a power reliever. On the downside, Wright didn't quite dominate the SEC the way teams wanted him to this year (5-6, 3.40 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 121/31 K/BB), though he did rack up the K's. He grew up a Braves fan, and he signed for $7 million, which is nearly $1.3 million over slot.
2-41: OF Drew Waters (my rank: 21)
This is a great pick. Waters was arguably my favorite player (when normalized to general consensus) in this draft, coming in with easy first round upside. He's a risky pick as a high schooler, but so were the similarly tooled up Austin Beck and Jo Adell in the top ten picks, so I would have gladly taken Waters 20 picks higher. He's a great athlete and should be able to stick in center field, which takes the pressure off his bat, even though I think the bat is special. A switch hitter, he shows great bat speed from both sides of the plate, though his two swings aren't exactly the same. From the right side, he's more of a contact hitter, spraying line drives to all fields with a clean, quick swing. From the left side, he is more raw and has more moving parts, but he also has more loft and can launch the ball a mile. I think he has 20-20 upside with a chance to hit for average as well once the minor swing and miss issues are ironed out. Another local guy, Waters comes from the Atlanta area, giving them back to back (presumably) Braves fans with their first two picks. Waters signed for $1.5 million, which is actually $174,600 below slot, and I think that could be the steal of the draft here in the second round.
3-80: RHP Freddy Tarnok (unranked)
I'll admit to not knowing much about Tarnok before the draft, as he missed MLB.com's top 200 and ranked #170 on the Baseball America 500. I watched some video, and he's an athletic, projectable 6'4" right hander out of the Tampa area, with a terrible delivery that he still manages to reach the mid 90's from. Tarnok has a sharp curve with hard break, though it's inconsistent and the break is fairly early. Tarnok is a project, but he has high upside once the Braves fix that awful delivery. He signed for over $1.4 million, coming in at $736,000 over slot.
4-110: RHP Troy Bacon (unranked)
Bacon is a JuCo right hander with a projectable frame and easy low 90's heat and a good breaking ball, but he's already a reliever so his stuff has already taken that "jump forward" that comes with the transition from starting to relief. He could be a solid seventh inning guy, but I have heard negative remarks about his attitude. Bacon signed for $400,000, which is $87,400 below slot.
33-980: RHP Chris McMahon (my rank: 92)
McMahon won't sign here, and will instead attend Miami, where he could turn himself into a high pick. McMahon, a Pennsylvania high schooler, has a fairly unexciting tools package, as he throws in the low 90's with some movement and a decent arsenal which could help him start in the major leagues. Essentially, he knows how to pitch and has the tools to succeed, so he just needs to put them to work. He is likely a #3 or #4 starter at the major league level if all goes right.
Others: 7th rounder Landon Hughes pitched two years at JuCo powerhouse Wallace State, which also produced Craig Kimbrel, before transferring to Georgia Southern and spending two years as a vital member of their bullpen. Combining his two years in Statesboro, the projectable, 6'5" righty went 11-4 with a 2.49 ERA and a 0.89 WHIP, striking out 113 batters and walking 30 in 105 innings. 12th rounder Hagen Owenby had a successful three year career at East Tennessee State, serving as the catcher and slashing .347/.426/.584 with 37 home runs in 163 games. 29th rounder Cade Cavalli is a high-upside high school pitcher from Oklahoma, one who only came to pitching recently. In the 29th round, it's highly unlikely that he signs, and instead he'll likely head to Oklahoma. He can hit the mid 90's despite his lack of experience pitching, and he could emerge from three years in Norman as a high pick.
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