7. Atlanta Braves: Wheeler is the obvious choice here due to Atlanta's affinity for local talent, but don’t assume the Braves will stay away from the high school route if he's gone. Alex White generates wildly varying opinions; some think he's a steal here, and some think he's an overdraft.
Pick: Alex White, RHP, University of North Carolina
Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus mocks up the draft
Here's White, once again. He didn't have the Orioles taking Wheeler, but then he had the Giants taking him. The more I hear White as the consensus choice at #7, the more I think it will be someone else. The Braves usually have their own playbook.
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gondeee
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White
Assuming Wheeler and Matzek are gone, why would we take White and not Crow or Scheppers??
Keith Law said Mike Minor, which would really disappoint me.
A name I like as a dark horse is Bobby Borchering
Hopefully this is a repeat of 2007
And the Georgia boy can fall to us, even when there seems to be a minuscule chance of that happening.
Braves are pretty conservative in their drafts, so I doubt they’d go Scheppers. Crow is a year older and hasn’t pitched much recently, perhaps the Braves just saw something they liked with White. If the real White is what he showed last season and at times this year, with the fastball up around 94, the slider working, etc., I like him better than Crow who’s secondary stuff was in question last season.
Minor would be a bit of a cop-out and I’d be pissed unless they went slot or lower with him and went over-slot a lot later. On the off chance Matzek, Green, Wheeler, and White are off the board, I’d be fine with Borchering.
read
Clark is a UNC guy. White is a UNC guy. you do the math.
by apoxonbothyourhouses on Jun 9, 2009 4:06 PM EDT up reply actions
I just hope Matzek falls to us and we cough up the money for him. The only scenario that would beat that would be Ackley falling, and you can just about stick a M’s uni on that guy.
Q: If on-base pct is so important then why don't they put it on the scoreboard? -Failcoeur
A: Because the Braves don't want to show their fans how bad you suck.
My thinking is that we can’t be assuming we’ll be drafting #7 or better for a long time, so we better damn well get the best fucking talent on the board. If Matzek falls gotta grab him. Be an amazing lefty compliment to our righty talent (Jurrjens/Hanson) in a few years. I think he has a chance to be a Bumgarner type that just dominates at every level all the way up.
Q: If on-base pct is so important then why don't they put it on the scoreboard? -Failcoeur
A: Because the Braves don't want to show their fans how bad you suck.
Question
Why wouldn’t we pick Scheppers? It seems like he’s a good prospect and highly rated but never mentioned in the same breath as the braves
I just can’t envision us taking a college arm, period.
Maybe we take White, but I don’t really like taking anybody with starter/reliever question marks. Drafting this high you gotta take pitchers with enough pitches to be starters.
Q: If on-base pct is so important then why don't they put it on the scoreboard? -Failcoeur
A: Because the Braves don't want to show their fans how bad you suck.
He has injury history and he’s a college arm. The only reason people are saying we’re in on White/Minor is there aren’t any affordable HS arms left unless we want to reach for Hobgood. Braves are probably more comfortable with a guy who’s just made ~13 starts in the SEC/ACC than a guy whose been injured and making a few starts in indie ball for the last twelve months.
I don't mean this as an offense to any of you
But some of you getting worked up over who we should/shouldn’t take (mainly going off other people’s scouting reports) are kind of silly. Baseball drafts are notoriously unpredictable, and HS arms are typically the most unpredictable lot of them all. Given that the Braves FO has a pretty good track record of drafting well, I have faith they’ll come out with someone they feel is a solid pick. It seems kind of senseless to believe that HS Arm X is going to undeniably be a better major leaguer than College Arm Z or College Bat Q at this point.
(I have no idea what happened on the last two posts… my broswer freaked out a bit.)
This
and yeah, my browser has been dorking it up today too.
"Actually, Justin was right."
by bigjoe on May 15, 2009 9:04 AM PDT
by justincredubil02 on Jun 9, 2009 4:18 PM EDT up reply actions
KLAW's chat
CC (Atlanta)
The Braves seem to be in a bad spot at #7 since Wheeler and and Matzek will likely be gone. Is Alex White their best bet? I’m not liking that.
Keith Law
He’s the next guy on their list – him or Minor. Rumor, unconfirmed by anyone in ATL, has Roy Clark asking for the cash to take Purke, and someone above him (possibly Wren) saying ‘No.’ The same problem would apply to Miller, whom they’re also on.
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