With the 35th pick, The Atlanta Braves Select Matt Lipka

With their first selection in the 2010 MLB draft, the Braves drafted Matt Lipka, a shortstop from Texas that also had a very nice career as a Wide Receiver on the Football Field. Lipka has made it known that Baseball is his first love and although he has committed to play baseball at the University of Alabama, it appears at this juncture that there won’t be any difficulties in signing the youngster to a contract.

See Lipka grew up a Braves fan having been born in Snellville before moving to Texas when he was eight years old. He grew up idolizing Chipper Jones and Andruw Jones and pulling for the Braves.

The Braves say that Lipka projects to be a shortstop or perhaps a center fielder down the road with lead off potential. He has a ton of speed and was rated third in the draft by Baseball America in terms of speed. During his senior year he hit .411 with eleven doubles, eight triples, a .588 on base percentage, and was 15 of 15 in stolen base attempts.

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Braves scouting director Tony DeMacio had this to say about Lipka:

"“He’s got a plus arm, he’s a plus fielder, and he’s got makeup off the chart,”“He’s a kid who is going to show up for you every single day,”“He’s going to make everybody else better around him. He’s a winning-type guy. He’s just a great young man.”"

The Braves selected Lipka in the supplemental round due to the Baltimore Orioles signing former Brave Mike Gonzalez to a contract. The Braves lost their first round pick due to the Billy Wagner signing. However, the Braves did pluck prized shortstop Edward Salcedo out of the Dominican Republic earlier this year who possesses first round talent. The Braves gave Salcedo a 1.6 million dollar bonus which is the equivalent of first round money. Currently Salcedo is playing in the DSL due to visa problems. The Braves anticipate him being stateside by early July and will likely begin playing at Danville or Rome.