Atlanta Braves Report To Camp, NCAA Baseball Games Start
By Jeff Schafer
Spring Is In The Air, Baseballs Are Hitting Mitts…It’s A Great Time Of The Year!
Today is the day!! The Atlanta Braves pitchers and catchers (and others) have reported to the Wild World of Sports in Orlando, Florida!! Though I’m sure the guys will be on the field today, their official first practice will be tomorrow. This morning, Alan updated us with tweets about the Braves reporting to camp.
The first day of pitchers and catchers reporting is always an exciting day, but today marks the day for something else as well….it’s the NCAA college baseball season!
Why is this that important? Why should we be keeping an eye on the top prospects? Well, if you’re not a fan of college baseball, it’s because the Braves have the number three pick in the 2016 MLB Draft.
Not only do the Braves have the third pick, but they also have number 40, 44 and 80 in the first three rounds. That’s a lot of talent that the Braves can bring in…again!!
The MLB draft will be on June 9th in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Braves haven’t had this high of a draft pick since 1991 when they drafted outfielder Mike Kelly with the second pick. Kelly had a six-year MLB career and two with the Braves, but never lived up to that draft pick slot expectations. He’s not the only one though, many high draft picks don’t ever turn out to be quality picks.
That’s why this period of time is extremely important for the Braves scout team to find the right talent.
Many college baseball teams are playing at some point today on NCAA Opening Day and you can follow all the action on this link to NCAA.com.
Let’s take a look at the top 10 preseason NCAA players according to Baseball America…obviously this all can and will change
A.J. Puk – LHP from Florida….lefty who stands 6’7″. Wow, if he’s available, would the Braves and John Coppolella be able to lay off? I’m not sure.
Alec Hansen – RHP from Oklahoma…righty who stands 6’7″. Very interesting…Braves love pitchers, but we already have too many…can you have too many??
Corey Ray – OF from Louisville…left-handed that plays centerfield and only 5’11”. Preseason top outfielder though.
Buddy Reed – OF from Florida…switch hitter who’s 6’3″ and can run. Reminds me a little of Jason Heyward, but plays left field. I bolded his name because well, yes please!
Nick Senzel – 3B from Tennessee…righty that’s 6’1″. Interesting stat, he wasn’t drafted out of high school.
Kyle Funkhouser – RHP from Louisville…6’3″, 225. He was drafted by the Dodgers last year, but decided to go back to school.
Connor Jones – RHP from Virginia…6’3″, 200. We saw lots of him and the Virginia pitching staff last year with their run in Omaha.
Kyle Lewis – OF from Mercer…6’4″ who wasn’t drafted out of high school and goes to a smaller less-known school.
Matt Krook – LHP from Oregon…6’3″ pitcher who was drafted in the first round supplemental out of high school in 2013. He decided to go to college, good for him.
Robert Tyler – RHP from Georgia…6’4″ Georgia-boy. Braves love homegrown talent.
Next: Who's In The Rotation For The Mississippi Braves?
It’s rumored the Braves are looking for a college outfielder who can help the team in the near future. Let’s look at the top talented outfielders according to Baseball America.
Corey Ray
Buddy Reed
Kyle Lewis
Bryan Reynolds – Vanderbilt
Ryan Boldt – Nebraska
Nick Banks – Texas A&M
Jake Fraley – Louisiana State
Stephen Wrenn – Georgia (Braves drafted him in 2013 in the 28th round) ((No, not related to Frank Wren))
Heath Quinn – Samford
Jacob Heyward – Miami (Jason Heyward’s brother) ((Braves drafted him in 2013 in the 38th round))
Anfrenee Grier – Auburn
Kel Johnson – Georgia Tech (ranked 74th by BA, could he be one of our later picks??)
Gio Brusa – Pacific
Andrew Calica – UCSB
Willie Abreu – Miami
Ronnie Dawson – Ohio State
That’s all the outfielders listed on BA’s top 100 NCAA prospects. Yes, these names will fluctuate throughout the season, but this gives us an idea of the names to look out for. Everyone should probably keep an eye on the Florida Gators as they have many talented upperclassmen.