Atlanta Braves Top 100 Prospects – #21 Andrew Thurman Scouting Report

Atlanta Braves Right Hander Andrew Thurman

Who Is He?

Thurman was a 2nd round selection from University of California-Irvine by the Houston Astros in 2013. He was not even selected out of high school, so many viewed his selection as a “signability” pick to allow the Astros to overpay top pick Mark Appel. In his draft season, the Astros sent him to the New York Penn League Tri-City team where he appeared in 12 games, making 5 starts and throwing 39 2/3 innings. He accumulated a 3.86 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, and 11/43 BB/K ratio.

The Astros moved Thurman to their A-level Quad Cities team in the Midwest League. He struggled with consistency, producing a 5.40 ERA over 26 appearances, 20 starts, throwing 115 innings with a 1.41 WHIP and 40/107 BB/K.

Next: Thurman's scouting report

Thurman was viewed as the “throw in” piece to the Evan Gattis deal between the Astros and Braves in the 2014-2015 offseason, and he came out to start 2015 like he was the jewel of the deal. The Braves started him at high-A Carolina, and before the bus crash, Thurman was looking like an excellent pitcher, with a 2.51 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, and a 7/23 BB/K ratio over 32 1/3 IP. Heck, his last three starts before the crash totaled 16 1/3 innings, 1 earned run, and a 4/14 BB/K ratio. His injuries from the crash kept him off the mound for nearly 2 months, and he didn’t return to Carolina for over two months. He then made 5 starts for Carolina that were widely varied due to his injury recovery before the Braves promoted him to AA Mississippi to end the season. His overall numbers combined were 19 games, 18 of them starts, with a 4.12 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, and 28/66 BB/K ratio over 89 2/3 innings. The Braves sent Thurman to the Arizona Fall League to attempt to make up for the innings he missed on the season, but he was still obviously injured and exhausted, and his results showed it as he allowed 11 earned runs in 7 innings while walking 5 and striking out 7, all thrown in relief.