Atlanta Braves MLB Draft: 3 College Pitchers to Target in 1st Round

As we continue to prepare for the upcoming MLB Draft we look at three college players the Atlanta Braves could target.

The 2020 MLB Draft might be the only baseball activity we get this summer, and there won’t be a ton of activity for the Atlanta Braves.

With them signing Will Smith and Marcell Ozuna this past offseason they lost two draft picks — although they got one back when the Minnesota Twins signed Josh Donaldson.

The Braves will have their first-round pick at 25th overall and then they won’t pick again until the third round at 97 — that’s not ideal.

It’s very important that the Braves hit on their first-round pick in this draft and with that, it’s much safer to go with a college player, which I think they will do.

Also, I believe some of the top high school players will pass on this year’s draft and possibly go the JUCO route to make more money in a future draft, but we’ll see how that plays out.

With the college baseball season getting cut short just like everything else, we really don’t have a ton to go on.

But I’d like to give you three players that I think could be available at 25 that I really like in this draft.

Tanner Burns, Auburn, RHP

You can call me a homer on this one picking someone from my alma mater, but I think Tanner Burns has the ability to be just as good as his former rotation mate in Casey Mize who went first overall a couple of years ago.

Burns has electric stuff and would normally be a top 10 pick, but injuries have held him back and scared teams away. If he falls to the Braves at 25 — and recent mocks make me thing he easily will — this could be a high-upside guy who could be a top ofo the rotation arm.

At the very least, I think Tanner has the stuff to be a dominant closer one day.

J.T. Ginn, Mississippi State, RHP

You can pretty much copy and paste everything I just said about Burns in here for Ginn. A former first-round pick, Ginn went to Mississippi State and was dominant when healthy, but health has been a big issue.

He suffered an injury early in the 2020 season that was going to keep him out for the rest of the season anyway. Again, like Burns, that’s the only thing keeping Ginn from being a top 10 pick in this draft.

I have a feeling Ginn could potentially be someone who sits out this draft and tries to regain his value. But then again, with his injury problems, he may try to take the money while he can.

If healthy, Ginn has a little bit of a higher ceiling than Burns. Personally, I just hope both of them can stay healthy because they are so much fun to watch pitch.

Bryce Jarvis, Duke, RHP

Jarvis was off to an incredible start in 2020 with Duke, including a perfect game. MLB.com has him ranked as the 25th best draft prospect, so he very well could still be there for the Braves.

The only issue with Jarvis is he’s a little old even for a college player at 22 and doesn’t have a long history as a starter.

I really question whether or not he’ll be a starter longterm, but that wouldn’t keep me from drafting him at 25 because I view him as a guy who can come out of the bullpen multiple times a week and throw multiple innings.

With the way the game is going, it’s possible Jarvis could be a really great opener for a team.

Those are three college arms I’d like to see the Braves target at 25. Let me know in the comments below who you think they should go after.