Chris Reed on the Braves’ top ten prospects. He likes them. The big question, as I see it, is if the Braves can find a kid with real ace ability to head the rotation. Adam Wainwright is a great prospect, but he hasn’t pitched above A-ball yet. None of the guys who have pitched above A-ball look like they have ace ability except Matt Belisle, and he’s been hurt.
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It’s because the Braves draft high school pitchers for some reason. If they would draft college pitchers, like the A’s, maybe the Braves wouldn’t have to worry about losing Glavine.
Alright, it’s a stretch, but I saw some future prospects for some team today; I watched the Univ. of Hawai’i beat UCLA 8-3 in lovely 80-degree weather at one of the best college stadiums in the country. The hot dogs and peanuts were good, too.
Yes, yes…I’m a mean nasty rotten person; I know. 😉
I don’t know if it’s still the case, but a few years ago Myrtle Beach was an extreme pitchers’ park. Now, at some level that may make life easier on the arms of developing prospects. But it also seems to mean we go through the continuing appearance of having a lot of great pitching prospects at A-ball, after which they struggle more up the ladder.
Maybe they should switch Richmond and MB – makr it appear like all our AAA pitchers kick ass, then trade them for stars 😉
Colin
Of course if all we had ever drafted was college pitchers we never would have had Glavine in the first place.
I think the point is to draft a mix of players: relatively known quantities in college players that will ‘fill in the pieces’ and prevent you from having to sign those Keith Lockharts. Take Mark Derosa as an example. He’s never going to be ARod, but he won’t embarress himself, either.
Then spice it up a bit with high-upside, high-risk high schoolers: Wainwright, Chipper, etc.
The Braves seem to have it half-right (their high school prospects seem to do better than most and their Latin American scouting is strong), but could use some improvement on the college end.
4. Macay McBride – SP – DOB: 10/24/82 – ETA: 2006
Notes: McBride has a three pitch repetoire, headlined by a nasty slider. He struck out 7.9 batters per inning in the Low A-SAL, a solid rate for a southpaw.
Holy crap! 7.9 strikeouts per inning and he’s only the fourth-best prospect? Let me be the first to say, no one will EVER score on this guy.
😉
I know, typos are hell. I do them all the time. That’s why I make so much fun of them when other people do them.
Right, balance in drafting is good. Balance in anything is good. However, in the world of sabermetrics where the only judgements are snap judgements, there seems to be a prevailing wisdom that teams that draft high school pitchers in high rounds are crazy or stupid or both.
When I read stuff like this the contrarian in me like to point out stuff like the 1995 World Champion Atlanta Braves had the Top 4 starters of Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux, and Steve Avery.
All of the guys were high round draft picks straight out of high school. Granted teams take to many high school pitchers early in the draft these days, but what is needed is moderation not extinction of the high round high school fireballer.
Robert,
Two of that list were not drafted by the Braves. I’m not sure how Maddux having once been a second round choice of the Cubs is relevant to a reasonable talent acquisition plan.
Also, John Smoltz was a 22nd round draft choice. Now IIRC the draft doesn’t even go that deep. Not exactly Scott Kazimir or Brien Taylor here.