Brooks Conrad

by gondeee on Dec 26, 2008 9:55 AM EST in Braves Minor League News

A note was passed along to me by our SBN Padres blogger, Dex, who said his brother-in-law had signed a minor league contract with the Atlanta Braves. There's no mention of the signing of second baseman Brooks Conrad over at Baseball America's minor league transactions, so waddayaknow, breaking news. Here's how Dex described him:

Second baseman, drafted by the Astros in 2001 out of ASU. Got stuck in their minor league system in that period of time where they were letting most of their minor league talent rot on the vine (Jason Lane, Chris Burke, Todd Self, among others). He led the minors in extra base hits a couple of years ago. Played in the A's system last year, but struck out too much to be a proper guy off the bench. He's always been a Baseball Prospectus favorite. Hits for power for an "undersized" guy. Good clubhouse guy, especially now that he's basically a minor league vet. His last year with the Astros and his one season with the A's, he basically played all the positions. Even started a couple of games at catcher. They won the AAA championship last season. He made the last out with a nice sliding play at second.

That seems to jibe with much of what Baseball Prospectus has said about him. Last November they gave him a lengthy writeup, and seemed to like him, and echoed the fact that he seemed to have gotten lost in the infield shuffle in Houston's organization.

He appears to me to be a carbon-copy of Dan Uggla, though a copy that never got the chance at a major league job like Uggla did. Conrad got a cup of coffee last year with the A's -- into only six games -- didn't get much of a chance to impress -- though he did prove he can strike out with regularity, and like Dex said, that's been the knock on him throughout his minor league career.

How he fits in with the Braves I don't know. I imagine he's not more than minor league filler for the Gwinnett Braves, but I bet he'll get plenty of at-bats during spring games. With the way our off-season has played out, he may have chosen the right organization, though one problem with him has been his defense at second base, so that combined with the strikeouts might keep him in the minors. Still, his power is intriguing and certainly something the Braves could use if it translates to the major league level.

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Nice info gondeee. I remember seeing something about Conrad earlier this offseason and being surprised that he had only just now made his major league debut. He was around the Astros for so long I figured he had gotten called up at some point. But hey, it never hurts to have good ballplayers in AAA.

by cbwilk on Dec 26, 2008 10:31 AM EST reply actions

MLB.com’s Hot Stove Tracker confirms this signing, by the way: http://atlanta.braves.mlb.com/mlb/news/hot_stove/y2008/free_agent_tracker.jsp?teamAct=atl.

I don’t want to make a mundane minor-league signing into some sort of conspiracy, but could this be a further sign that one of our middle infielders is on the way out? I could certainly see where the Braves might be planning to trade Martin Prado, and where they brought in Conrad to fight Diory Hernandez for his vacated utility job. Or if KJ’s on the way out, and Prado is “promoted” to the starting job, there again Conrad could be a candidate to fill that 2B/3B utility job.

I like Conrad a lot, as an NRI. He’s not going to hit for a high average but he plays all over the place and has some sock. He’s no better than a bench bat, but good bench bats are always useful.

by tgthree on Dec 27, 2008 9:15 PM EST reply actions

It’s an interesting theory, but I doubt there’s any thoughts that if they sign this guy then they can trade somebody. That’s just not how signing minor league free agents work. They’re just adding depth, and it looks like some good depth.

by cbwilk on Dec 27, 2008 10:15 PM EST up reply actions

Oh, I understand that Conrad is nothing more than depth, but I just think it’s interesting that they are adding depth to a position where they might be making a move anyway.

by tgthree on Dec 27, 2008 10:29 PM EST up reply actions