The wheels of the "acquire pitchers of some renown" bus never stop turning in the Atlanta Front Office, as they have now swung a deal to acquire minor league left-hander Jed Bradley from the Brewers in exchange for cash or a Player To Be Named Later (PTBNL).
#Braves acquire LHP Jed Bradley from the #Brewers in exchange for a PTBNL or cash.
— Robert Murray (@RobertMurrayBBE) June 3, 2016
Jedidiah Custer Bradley hails from Huntsville in Alabama and played college ball at Georgia Tech. The Brewers selected him with the 15th pick of the first round in 2011. (He's also "only" 6'4".) According to our own Garrett Spain, he was potentially supposed to be a fast riser, but that didn't quite work out for him or the Brewers.
His minor league career has had ups and downs but mostly downs. He didn't pitch particularly well in A-ball, with ERAs and FIPs above 4.00, and suffered a shoulder injury that knocked him out for a chunk of 2013 as well. He made the jump to AA in 2014, and then was converted to a reliever prior to the 2015 season.
After half a season in AAA last year, where he gave up a run per inning but had an okay FIP (4.10), he was busted back down to AA to begin this year, where he had put up a 6.20 ERA and a 4.00 FIP, which suggests that he's either getting unlucky (.361 BABIP-against might further confirm this) or is giving up really hard contact.
This mostly just feels like another roll of the dice on something close to organizational depth, but he is a former first round pick, so there's at least some chance that he could provide major league value of some sort in the future. Also, he throws with his left hand, which is near-lifetime employment somewhere, apparently.
According to former Fangraphs prospect guru and current Braves Front Office member Kiley McDaniel, Bradley was a "guy to watch" pre-2015, and McDaniel wrote that he can hit 95 in short stints coming out of the 'pen. (But, since he was ranked below Kyle Wren... well.. you can draw your own conclusions as to likely value here.) There's also an older (2013) interview with Bradley here, if you are so inclined.