Braves confident in farm system's pitching depth after MLB Draft
ATLANTA -- Twenty-five of the Atlanta Braves' 43 draft picks in the 2015 MLB Draft were devoted to pitching, and, in the aftermath, there was a sense that team scouting director Brian Bridges would have been comfortable with even more.
There are other storylines to discuss in this Braves draft haul -- the preference for multi-sport athletes, the numerous local angles, the franchise holding draft rights to a player training to become a Navy fighter pilot and another that is a top in-state football recruit -- but there was a singular focus. Bridges and the front office stockpiled pitching by the dozens.
Aside from the sheer volume, 12 of the team's first 14 selections were pitchers, including top picks Kolby Allard and Michael Soroka.
"We just had a plan going in and that's kinda what we stuck with," Bridges said after the conclusion of the draft's third and final day on Wednesday. "Pitching is hard to find and we wanted to go that route and stayed with it from the start."
Scouts and executives do not emerge from draft war rooms admitting failure -- all teams, in all sports, project public confidence in their annual hauls -- but the Braves' unwavering devotion to improving the system's pitching depth in both numbers and top-end talent is difficult to ignore. Accurate evaluations and draft grades are years away, but if Atlanta hasn't landed at least one front-end pitching prospect in the John Hart era it will not be due to a lack of effort.
The team ended up drafting 17 right-handers and nine southpaws, emphasizing power arms throughout.
The offseason spree of blockbuster deals brought in at least six highly regarded pitching prospects -- Mike Foltynewisz, Matt Wisler, Max Fried, Manny Banuelos, Tyrell Jenkins and Ricardo Sanchez stand out -- to go along with the likes of former top pick Lucas Sims, altering the national perception of the team's minor-league talent pool in the process. Now, there's 25 more names to throw into that mix.
(Then, of course, there's always Shelby Miller, who is performing at an All-Star level after coming over in the Jason Heyward deal.)
The baseball draft rarely yields immediate dividends. Five of Atlanta's top sox picks were high-schoolers (Allard and Soroka are 17-year-olds) and while the team went on a Day 2 run of college arms, Bridges was non-committal on if any could immediately jump into the upper minor-league ranks like Double-A.
Still, with the infusion of young talent over the past seven months, not to mention the big-league club featuring 24-year-olds Miller, Alex Wood and Julio Teheran at the top of the rotation, it's clear the franchise feels its future on the mound is bright.
"I personally think we have to rank in the top five," Bridges said of the Braves' farm system pitching depth in relation to the other 29 MLB teams. " ... I think it's something that we will attack every year. You never can have enough pitching. It puts our front office in a good situation moving forward with the organization. I think it's the lifeblood of the organization. The more pitching you have, the better off you are.
"And we have the people in place -- (minor-league pitching coordinator) Rich Dubee and our minor-league coaches -- to facilitate and move these guys along through the system."
