A few nuggets of Atlanta Braves news from Our Sports Central today. First, the Braves have signed a minor league shortstop:

Coastal Bend Thunder's Amadeo Zazueta has been signed to a contract with the Atlanta Braves organization.

The transaction between the Thunder and the Braves was announced by Thunder field manager Al Gallagher.

The native Mexican was recently named one of the "Top 10 Talent" in independent league baseball by Baseball America.

Zazueta, 23, from Culiacan, Mexico, was originally signed by the Houston Astros. He played two years in the Venezuelan Summer League and was his team's Most Valuable Player in 2005.

Baseball America ranked him as the eighth-best Independent League player, and said he has a chance to be a major league shortstop (even though he is already 23). He's one of those all-field, light-hit shortstops. This is likely just minor league depth, but it's also insurance against injuries to either Yunel Escobar and/or Diory Hernandez.

Here is a link to Zazueta's stats.

In other OSS news, our old pal Rico Brogna was named manager of the Mobile Bay Bears, the double-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. Brogna was a minor league field coordinator for the D'Backs last year.

The Atlanta Braves have named Dave Wallace minor league pitching coordinator and Garey Ingram the hitting coach at Class-AA Mississippi. We already knew about the Wallace hiring from a Seattle newspaper, but here is the official announcement:

Atlanta Braves Director of Player Development Kurt Kemp announced today that the Braves have hired two new staff members, as Dave Wallace has agreed to terms to become the Club's Minor League Pitching Coordinator and Garey Ingram has been named the hitting coach at Mississippi (AA). Wallace, who was given a two-year contract through the 2011 season, replaces Kent Willis. Wallace's primary responsibility will be to oversee the progress and development of the Braves' minor league pitchers at all levels.

The rest of the release is after the jump.

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The Atlanta Braves have an ex-Baltimore General Manager in Frank Wren, and now we have an ex-Baltimore Scouting Director in newly promoted Tony DeMacio. DeMacio replaces Roy Clark, who left Atlanta for Washington (which is becoming the new Atlanta). Wren and DeMacio both started with the Orioles in 1999. Of course, Wren was forced to leave after one season, but DeMacio stayed on until 2004. I was looking over some of his drafts in Baltimore and they don't look pretty, including the Orioles 2000 draft in which no one from that class until the 32nd round made it to the majors.

He's also worked in some other poor drafting frachises like the Cubs and the Pirates, but he's also worked in the Clevland scouting department, which generally does a good job of drafting players. 

He comes from the scouting ranks, originally with the Braves, and his biggest claim to fame is that he was credited with signing Tom Glavine in 1984 and Chipper Jones in 1990. He has been affiliated with a Major League baseball organization for the last 26 years, and at the 2008 Winter Meetings he was honored with the Scout of the Year award, which is given to those who have devoted at least a quater century to the scouting profession.

This seems like a decent choice, but more than that it symbolizes the continuing new direction that this franchise is taking. This selection is Frank Wren's selection. Yes, DeMacio has a history with the Braves that dates back to 1983, but there's no denying his connection with Wren in Baltimore. Yes, the Orioles had other problems which prevented them from succeeding, so maybe we shouldn't hold that against Wren, but the success of a draft is used to judge the quality of a scouting director, and DeMacio's years as the Orioles' scouting director are not impressive. One has to hope that will not follow him to Atlanta. The draft is one of the key components that maintain the Atlanta franchise, and an integral part of the organization's success. 

On the heels of catcher Christian Bethancourt being named the top prospect in the Gulf Coast League, one of the top pitching prospects in the Atlanta Braves organization, Julio Teheran, has been named the top rookie in the the Appalachian League. Teheran is only 18 and considered to be talented enough to be a future ace pitcher.

Other Braves prospects that were ranked in the Appy League top-20 were last year's second-round pick pitcher Tyler Stovall at #16, this year's fourth-round pick shortstop Mycal Jones at #17, and last year's eighth-round pick pitcher Brett Oberholtzer at #20. Also considered for these rankings were two of the best break-out performances in the league, first baseman and league MVP Riaan Spanjer-Furstenburg, and lefty Chris Masters, who almost won the league ERA title. It's surprising they were left out, but they were both college pitchers and a bit older for the league.

Danville is usually a hotbed of prospect activity for the Braves, as they play talent that is usually below them, and therefore we often see some anomalous good performances. It is good to see Teheran thought of so highly, especially after the injury struggles of last year. He should spend most of next season in one or both of the A-ball leagues, and with a good performance there, he could be catapulted into being considered our top prospect and one of the top-25 in all of baseball.

Here is a collection of top plays from the Gwinnett Braves, put together by their PR folks:

The Atlanta Braves announced their 2009 Minor League Pitcher and Player of the Year award recipients today. The players will be honored at a ceremony prior to this Friday's home game.

Not too many surprises here -- maybe Campusano, but there's hardly anyone else at Rome to give it to. Some guys get left out because of promotions and such. Adam Milligan certainly should be listed somewhere, but he didn't stay put long enough at any one level (Still, he should have won it for Rome). Freddie Freeman should also be listed somewhere, but his equal time between hi-A and AA cost him great stats at any one level for a season.

The Atlanta Braves top prospect, and the top prospect in all of baseball, Jason Heyward, has been named Baseball America's Minor League Player of the Year. It's a long article chock full of good info on Heyward. They got out of their way to compare Heyward to Jeff Francoeur, comparing the way in which the Braves brought each of those two players along.

Heyward started the year in advanced A-ball at Myrtle Beach where he hit .296/.369/.519 in 49 games. He was then promoted to double-A Mississippi and proceeded to blow those numbers away by hitting .352/..446/.611 in 47 games. It's hard to imagine that Heyward actually improved as he advanced up the organizational ladder. That improvement continued in triple-A Gwinnett where he spent just 3 games, and managed to hit .364/.462/.364 -- the only thing not emerging was his power.

Heyward is not an all-or-nothing slugger either. He walked 51 times on the season, and struck out only 51 times on the year. He also stole 10 bases, while only getting caught once. All of these stats also overlook the fact that during his first 100+ plate appearances at double-A, Heyward sustained a .400 average. This shows that he really came into his own this year.

He is currently playing in the International League playoffs with Gwinnett, and will compete next month in the Arizona Fall League, which last year hosted Atlanta's top prospect, Tommy Hanson, who became the MVP of the league. Can the Braves have back-to-back MVPs come out of the AFL if Heyward puts on a show like he did the second half of this season?

The Braves have had one other Baseball America Minor League Player of the Year, and that was Andruw Jones, twice. Once in 1995 and then again in 1996.

After the jump I'll present some choice quotes from the Baseball America article:

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It's hard to believe that Jason Heyward started this year in A-ball, but after tearing up double-A for two months to the tune of a .352 average, the Braves will test his skill in triple-A. The promotion gives Heyward a chance to play in the playoffs for Gwinnett, should the G-Braves win tonight (or tomorrow). Heyward is the Braves' top prosepct, and he was ranked as the number-1 prospect by Baseball America in their mid-season rankings. He will also participate in the Arizona Fall League in several weeks, so it is uncertain if the Braves will call him up to the majors after the Gwinnett season is over. That is unlikely however, as the Braves would have to create a roster spot and risk starting Heyward's arbitration clock.

Photo of Jason Heyward courtesy of Chip Jett.