A review of multiple current Atlanta Braves mock drafts

DraftSite.com

Link to their most recent mock draft (updated occasionally)

Their pick for the Braves:  Graeme Stinson, LHP Duke (6’5”, 215)

He’s got a prototypical size of a pitcher, no doubt. Fangraphs’ quickie evaluation credits him with the ‘nastiest 2-pitch combination in the draft’, but fears that 2-pitch limitation might make him a reliever and not a starter.

Well, that’s kind of where Max Fried is today, though with emerging secondary offerings. If the Braves – or any other club – thinks that they can teach those to Stinson, then maybe that might entice a pick above some rankings I’m seeing.

Despite much pre-season hype, his stats for Duke thus far aren’t going to leap of that page and scream ‘Draft me!’, but it can be hard to figure on the success of pitchers at the collegiate level. A 4.58 ERA in roughly 20 innings isn’t great, but a 26/9 K/BB ratio is pretty good.

Uh-Oh

Unfortunately, there’s more to this story.

Turns out, there’s an arm issue of some ilk, and Stinson is almost certainly not going to be taken in the 1st round as a result as Duke has shut him down indefinitely.

If there is a Braves’ future coming for him, it could be in a later round depending on his prognosis.

We know this kind of thing has happened, and somebody – whether Atlanta or not – will probably take a flier on the Duke ace sometime between rounds 3 and 5.

The Braves have new management in the draft room, so I can’t speak for their style and strategy:  under Brian Bridges, my expectation is that Atlanta would pass on him since he’s already almost 22 and could take time to get back to health.