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Atlanta Braves MLB Draft: Top 5 college bats to target

By Jake Mastroianni

BREWSTER, MA - AUGUST 13: Hunter Bishop, right, and AJ Graffanino of the Brewster Whitecaps celebrate in the seventh inning during game three of the Cape Cod League Championship Series against the Bourne Braves at Stony Brook Field on August 13, 2017 in Brewster, Massachusetts. The Cape Cod League was founded in 1885 and is the premier summer baseball league for college athletes. Over 1100 of these student athletes have gone on to compete in MLB including Chris Sale, Carlton Fisk, Joe Girardi, Nomar Garciaparra and Jason Varitek. The chance to see future big league stars up close makes Cape Cod League games a popular activity for the families in each of the 10 towns on the Cape to host a team. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BREWSTER, MA - AUGUST 13: Hunter Bishop, right, and AJ Graffanino of the Brewster Whitecaps celebrate in the seventh inning during game three of the Cape Cod League Championship Series against the Bourne Braves at Stony Brook Field on August 13, 2017 in Brewster, Massachusetts. The Cape Cod League was founded in 1885 and is the premier summer baseball league for college athletes. Over 1100 of these student athletes have gone on to compete in MLB including Chris Sale, Carlton Fisk, Joe Girardi, Nomar Garciaparra and Jason Varitek. The chance to see future big league stars up close makes Cape Cod League games a popular activity for the families in each of the 10 towns on the Cape to host a team. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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ATLANTA, GA – MARCH 29: A general view of SunTrust Park during the National Anthem prior to the game between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies on March 29, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GA – MARCH 29: A general view of SunTrust Park during the National Anthem prior to the game between the Atlanta Braves and the Philadelphia Phillies on March 29, 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

With the 2019 MLB Draft just a couple of weeks away, we focus on five college hitters who the Atlanta Braves should target in the first round.

The Atlanta Braves have taken a pitcher with their first pick in the MLB Draft four straight years. The last time they didn’t, they selected a high school hitter in Braxton Davidson — and that was a 32nd overall pick.

Taking high school players early in the MLB Draft is always risking, but even more so for hitters as they’re almost impossible to project against Major League pitchers.

With high school pitchers you can typically get a good idea by their mechanics (are they repeatable) and their stuff (how hard they throw and can they command their off-speed pitches).

That’s why you typically see college players taken early in the MLB Draft because you have a better idea of how those players will do at the Major League level.

And this year there are a ton of college hitters who are projected to go early in the 2019 MLB Draft.

This is a very good draft for hitters, and it is not very deep with top-end pitchers. I’m not sure if there is a pitcher in this MLB Draft that many think will become a top of the rotation arm some day.

We’re still going to look at the top college arms available next week, but if I were a betting man, I’d put my money on the Atlanta Braves taking a bat at nine — whether high school or college.

I’m going to take the top two college bats out of the equation as I don’t think there is any way Adley Rutschman or Andrew Vaughn will fall as far as 9.

Rutschman, the catcher for Oregon State, is projected to be the first overall pick by just about everyone.

Vaughn likely won’t fall outside of the top five, and he’s better suited as a DH in the American League as he can only play first base and we have a pretty good one of those for a while.

But there are still several other bats at the college level who the Atlanta Braves can target at nine and 21.

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