After picking Anthony Guardado who most pundits had only just become aware of this past spring, in the 4th round (120th overall) the Braves selected another "under the radar" guy when they selected RHP Josh Graham out of the University of Oregon.
Prior to pitching in the UO rotation, Graham was a catcher for two season before getting moved to the bullpen. After having a good bit of success in the bullpen, the Ducks moved him into the starting rotation. While he still likes being a catcher, his tools foretell a future on the mound, probably as a late inning reliever.
Graham features an 95 MPH fastball and offspeed pitches that seem to improve every single start, in particular his slider. He is another "pop-up" guy that scout's started getting on board with late in the process. He also showed an ability to be a consistent pitcher (with one hiccup against Oregon State) who has a nose for the strike zone and won some big games for the Ducks in the college playoffs.
For the rest of the picks today, we are going to be making a couple of aggregate posts where we will list a few picks and talk a bit about them, highlighting certain players and talking a bit about the Braves draft strategy thus far in the draft.
