For those of us excited about prospects, or who just like to see the Braves succeed, it seems like each day brings more good news from the Atlanta scouting department. The Braves continue to restock their ranks with prominent scouts in the wake of Frank Wren's firing, and these past few days have been no different. Baseball America has the scoop on the latest crop of hires.
• Shaun Rooney will be a national scout after serving as a Northeast supervisor for Kansas City and most recently Oakland.
• Reed Dunn, a former Nationals’ area scout, will serve as Atlanta’s Southern supervisor. Dunn is considered to be a rising star in the scouting world.
• Greg Morhardt, a national crosschecker with the Angels, will oversee the Northeast region of the country as an area scout for the Braves while also handling some crosschecking responsibilities and special assignments. Morhardt signed Mike Trout, among others, with the Angels.
The Braves also brought aboard a pair of first-year scouts. Nate Dion, who played five seasons in the Tampa Bay farm system in the early 2000s, has been hired as an area scout for the north Texas and Oklahoma region. Kevin Martin will be an area scout in Southern California while working out of San Diego and came highly recommended by [West Coast crosschecker Tom] Battista.
As a prospect guy, it's almost impossible to convey how fantastic the last few weeks have been. Atlanta continues to bring quality scouts in to the fold; the subpar Rule IV drafts of recent years seem a distant memory already. Regardless of who is ultimately calling the shots in the front office (between Hart and Coppolella), the Braves should be in good hands for years to come with all these hires.