Atlanta Braves Draft Day Two – Power Arms and Character Players
By Fred Owens
Since 2015 the Atlanta Braves have drafted power relievers in the late rounds. That continued today with an occasional position player thrown in..
First out of the box from the Atlanta Braves was a name that had the expects on the MLB.com stream scratching their heads; Freddy Tarnok. Tarnok wasn’t an unknown BA ranked Freddy Tarnok the #29 prospect in Florida early this month and yesterday’s BA list of 2017 MLB Draft Position Rankings: Righthanders he’s ranked number 65.
The move just caught the experts buy surprise, something that continued all day.
Looking at Atlanta Braves #3 pick Freddy Tarnok
Tarnok listed at 6’3” but is reported to be close to 6’5, 184 pound righty out of Riverview High School in Brandon Florida. Baseball Prospectus watched him last month and filled a comprehensive report.
". . . plus projection remaining; could fill out upper half easily. Pitches from the stretch only; . . .low-effort . . compact arm action; above-average arm speed; three-quarters slot. FB 88-96;. . .2S FB from time to time; 1st IP 93-95 (t96). . .Lots of swing/miss in the zone. . . (velocity dropped but) arm action looked consistent . . .arm strength. . .CB 78-80 (t81); shows hard, downer action . . inconsistent feel for it; . . (will develop into) an average offering. . . .lots of swing/miss with FB early ."
Team one scout describes Tarnok as having a . . .72mph change with good depth and run. That contradicts BP’s thoughts.
That all sounds like a late inning reliever in the making to me. The video has a nice look at his motion.
He also played SS (shock) and Prep Baseball Report and said he has soft hands with a loose, above average arm . . quiet (at the plate) .. . . has a smooth, flat swing through the zone and gets great leverage. . .. Hard line drives to all fields and more power to come . . .
The Braves took him as a pitcher so unless that flops we’re unlikely to see him in the infield.