ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Braves have been preaching reversion for months. The 2015 MLB Draft, in the words of the organization's front office, was yet another step toward past methods, the first attempt at rebuilding from the ground up following an offseason of blockbuster trades, scouting department renovating and farm system restocking.
On the first draft night under general manager John Hart, the Braves selected left-handers Kolby Allard and A.J. Minter, right-hander Michael Soroka, third baseman Austin Riley and catcher Lucas Herbert.
The top two picks, in particular, aimed to build upon the franchise's self-appointed trademark. Despite the team's well-replenished stock of arms, head of scouting Brian Bridges & Co. directed their attention on pitching at the top of the draft, selecting Allard and Soroka with the Nos. 14 and 28 picks. The moves were not out of the norm, nor unexpected. Prior to Monday night, under former general manager Frank Wren, the Braves selected pitchers with five of their past seven first-round picks. It's their calling card.
However, three of those arms were of the collegiate variety -- and that was not part of the plan this time around.
In the days leading up to the draft, the Braves front office often referred to the source of their draft's greatest hits: the high-school ranks. From Chipper Jones to Tom Glavine to Dale Murphy to Brian McCann, among others, the Braves seem sold on the idea that their best draft picks have bypassed the college game. Bridges noted the likes of present-day stars Mike Trout and Bryce Harper to drive home the point. It's difficult to argue with those names. All things held equal, the organization said it would lean toward youth.
And Atlanta made good on its promise to focus on prep talent.
Owning more top-75 picks than any other MLB team, and baseball's fourth-largest bonus pool (more than $10.6 million) thanks to 13 picks in the top 10 rounds, the Braves added four high-school prospects to its system. Minter, the 75th and final pick of the night, hails from Texas A&M.
Allard, who could have become a top-10 pick were it not for a now-healed stress fracture in his back during his senior season, fits the profile buy-low profile of many Braves acquisitions over the past few months. The undersized 17-year-old UCLA commit boasts electric stuff -- Bridges called his curveball the best in the draft -- while Soroka, a 6-foot-4 projectable righty, followed an interesting prep career out of Canada to win over the Braves' scouts.
Those two, along with Minter, join the ranks of Atlanta's impressive pitching depth. The organization traded for top prospects Mike Foltynewisz, Matt Wisler, Max Fried, Manny Banuelos, Tyrell Jenkins and Ricardo Sanchez in offseason trades with the Padres, Astros, Yankees, Cardinals and Angels, and now there are three more first-day selections to enter into the mix, although the high-schoolers are, by design, years away from contributing at the major-league level.
Still, given the team's abundance of quality arms and its lack of high-end position prospects, it was interesting to see the franchise stay the course. (The decision was apparently made easier when Georgia prep position players Cornelius Randolph and Tyler Stephenson were taken a few picks ahead of No. 14.)
When asked about the focus on pitching early on, Bridges threw out the age-old baseball cliche the Braves have thrived on in the past: "You can never have enough pitching."
The Braves didn't completely ignore the offensive side of the ball, though.
Their third pick, the No. 41 overall selection acquired from the Padres, went after a bat that was not expected to be a Day 1 pick. Riley was a two-way player with decent stuff on the mound, but he enters the fold as a 6-foot-3 third baseman with plus power. Then there was the narrative pick: Herbert (No. 54) was the high-school teammate and battery mate of top pick Allard. It also appears the Braves received great value on the Herbert selection as he's considered one of the top defensive catchers in this class.
The battery stays together? UNREAL @Braves pic.twitter.com/83qHp3OwOq
— Kolby Allard (@KolbyAllard) June 9, 2015
Such were the early returns on a draft months in the making. The Braves loaded up on picks via trades with the Padres and Diamondbacks and by offering restricted free-agent pitcher Ervin Santana a qaulifying offer, a route the team will not likely shy away from in the future under this regime, and then flipped those picks for long-term investments.
All in all, the Braves stuck to the plan.
They wanted malleable high-school talented, and they went out and got it.
