Atlanta Braves Scouting Report on Catcher Joseph Odom

The Atlanta Braves sent Joseph Odom to the Arizona Fall League last October and then saw him break out in Carolina this year. Was the breakout real or a mirage?

Who Is He?

Odom was the Atlanta Braves 13th round selection in 2013 out of Huntingdon College in Alabama. In his draft season, Odom split his time nearly even between the GCL and Danville. Combined, he hit .216/.310/.257 with a 10/23 BB/K ratio over 87 plate appearances, but he flashed high end defensive ability in spite of a low caught stealing percentage (9% on the year combined between the levels on 22 attempts).

The Braves skipped Odom over low-A Rome to high-A Lynchburg in 2014, and he flashed his power bat and defensive skills, but the bat stayed stagnant with the jump in levels, as he hit .205/.313/.341 with a 29/48 BB/K over 220 PA. He threw out 25% of runners, so there was some improvement there, but his excellence defensively is based in his framing and lateral movement behind the plate, not his arm.

He repeated high-A in 2015, but the Braves had moved their affiliate to Carolina. The results weren’t much different offensively, as Odom hit .222/.285/.403 with 16 doubles, 7 home runs, and a 20/53 BB/K ratio over 243 plate appearances. His defense remained solid for what it was. He was sent to the Arizona Fall League as the Braves were required to send a catcher, and he was on the taxi squad most of the AFL season, making only 30 plate appearances with very poor results, but the Braves had him working on his swing to be able to improve going forward.

The results of that work in the AFL were seen as Odom repeated Carolina one more time in 2016 and hit .292/.349/.500 with 8 home runs and 12 doubles over 213 plate appearances, sporting a 15/40 BB/K ratio, showing more power and actually having his best strikeout rate of his career. He was using a notably different swing path that put more balls into the air, using his strong swing, but also shortening the swing so he could make better contact in the zone as well. He was able to see a jump in his BABIP, but not to an unsustainable rate when you look at how it was happening (putting more balls in play at a higher rate of balls in the air).

Odom was promoted to Mississippi on June 23rd, but he went from a two-catcher split in Carolina with Tanner Murphy to a three-headed catching monster in Mississippi for the rest of the season, and it affected his ability to stay consistent, though his rate stats stayed consistent. He hit .259/.294/.333 with 8 extra base hits over 143 plate appearances with a 7/27 BB/K ratio.

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