Would Drafting Brady Aiken In 2015 Be A Good Idea For The Atlanta Braves?

The 2015 Major League Baseball draft begins on June 8th and goes through June 10th.  The Atlanta Braves have three picks in the first 41 picks of the draft and six in the first three rounds.  Pitcher Brady Aiken is back in the draft pool.  Should the Braves select Aiken with one of their draft picks?  Would he be available when Atlanta is on the clock?

With the NFL draft starting on Thursday, it’s about time to start looking at the MLB draft in June.

If you are unaware who Brady Aiken is, let me remind you.  Aiken pitched on the United States national baseball team in 2013 and help lead them to the gold medal.  The highly rated pitching prospect out of Cathedral Catholic High School in San Diego, California was the first pick of the 2014 MLB draft by the Houston Astros.

After health scares with inflammation in his throwing elbow and agreements over the signing bonus, the Astros weren’t able to sign Aiken by the July 18th signing deadline.  He was the first number one overall draft pick to not be signed by a team since Tim Belcher in 1983.

Aiken has since enrolled at the IMG Academy’s postgraduate baseball program in Bradenton, Florida and was prepping for the 2015 draft when this happened…

“The truth is, over the last nine months, I didn’t dwell too much on what happened over the summer, Aiken said in his blog.  “I was looking toward the future.  I just put my total focus into preparing for the 2015 Draft.  My workouts were the best they had ever been.  I was throwing better and harder than I had ever before.  And then, in my first game for IMG Academy last week, I threw a pitch and something felt a little wrong.”

In his first appearance on the mound for IMG, he left the game with elbow discomfort.  And on March 26th, it was announced he underwent Tommy John surgery.

On College Baseball Live ESPN Insider, Keith Law talked on Aiken…

“No shot at going number one again,” Law said when asked if Aiken had a shot at going number one again.  “After the questions over his medical from last year that caused the Astros to back out of their pre-draft agreement and also now since he’s had Tommy John surgery and will not be able to pitch at all for teams.  He really didn’t even pitch at all this spring so teams can’t get him to a private workout before the draft just to see what he looks like on a mound.”

This is a highly talented left handed pitcher who is still only 18-years-old.  The Braves have six draft picks in the first three rounds – #14, #28, #41, #54, #75, #89

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Will Aiken be available this late in the draft and be on the board when Atlanta picks?

“Unfortunately I think he falls to the back of the first round or even to a team with extra picks after the first round,” Law continued with.

Without this injury, Aiken would have probably again been a top pick in this years draft, but now he becomes a gamble.

With this being said, Aiken could be available for the Braves with the #14 or #28 draft picks.  He could be a franchise ace for an organization if he returns healthy.  And we all know how much the front office loves their Tommy John pitchers.

I’d say if Brady Aiken is available, Braves should take this high risk, high reward pick.

“When I woke up after surgery yesterday, my surgeon at HSS, Dr. David Altchek, told me that the operation was a success,” Aiken finished his blog with.  I already have a plan in place to rehab my arm, and I plan to come back better than ever.

Here is a photo that Aiken posted on twitter