Today has been a busy day on the news front for the Braves as they made several announcements. In addition to a roster move that sent Kevin Gausman to the IL and brought back reliever AJ Minter as well as the announcement that Sean Newcomb will likely make a start this weekend, it was also revealed that the team had signed their third round pick Michael Harris and he was making media appearances today at SunTrust. Their highest pick, Baylor catcher Shea Langeliers, had already signed.
Well now, it appears as though the team has come to terms with their other first round pick.
The #Braves today signed INF Braden Shewmake, the 21st overall pick in the 2019 First-Year Player Draft.
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 11, 2019
We don’t have the figures on how much Shewmake is signing for, but most assume at this point in time that it was an underslot deal. It has been speculated widely that the Braves had saved some bonus slot money with their early picks and that was confirmed when Langeliers signed to a below slot deal. The slot value of the 21st pick in the draft was $3,132,300.
Shewmake had a very productive college career at Texas A&M playing primarily shortstop (although he did see time at other positions). His calling card is having a solid set of tools all around and having strong instincts in the field. In 56 college games in 2019, Shewmake slashed .309/.364/.480 with six home runs and 46 RBIs.
Shewmake spoke with the media prior to Tuesday’s game against the Pirates.
"It was a really cool feeling. I tried to hide it as best as I could from my family, but it was really hard to do."
— FOX Sports: Braves (@FOXSportsBraves) June 11, 2019
-- Newly-signed Braden Shewmake on being taken by @Braves with No. 21 pick.#Braves | #ChopOn pic.twitter.com/78yz4HPDUY