Happy MLB Draft Day

I am a draft nerd.  This is my favorite day of the year.  I fondly remember in high school and college watching the first streaming broadcasts of the draft on my laptop during the warm summer afternoons in Georgia.  The draft has become more mainstream with the advent of MLB Network, and now is broadcast from MLB Networks Studios in Secaucus, New Jersey.  One day hopefully the draft telecast will be more available to the public like the other professional league drafts because MLB Network Studios is just a ten-minute drive from my apartment.

The Braves do not pick until pick 32 this year, having forfeited their original pick when signing Ervin Santana.  I was not a fan of giving away the first round pick when Ervin signed, but it seems as if Santana has pitched well enough this season that the Braves likely will offer him a qualifying offer and will recoup the pick if Santana leaves for greener pastures. 

I wish the Braves had traded for a compensation pick or two, since some teams appear to undervalue those picks and the flexibility they afford.  In that post, I posited hypothetical scenarios for the Marlins to essentially trade up and acquire an impact talent.  The Braves could be in a similar position if they acquired a compensation pick.  They are not in that position, however, so I will wait until 2015 when the Braves should have multiple picks to outline a fun scenario for the Braves.

This year the Braves are linked to the type of players which are always linked to the Braves.  High school lefties Kodi Medeiros and Foster Griffin have been mentioned.  Neither is likely to fall to 32 (the Royals are heavily linked to both and have two earlier picks), but Medeiros would not fall past Atlanta at 32.  Next are the Georgia players: RHP Spencer Adams, IF Michael Chavis, OF Michael Gettys, and LHP Mac Marshall.  Each are possibilities.  Chavis sounds like a Todd Frazier-type infielder, who is a good hitter with above-average tools across the board.  On the other hand, Gettys is a tool-shed but struggles to make consistent contact.  The pitchers are both supposed to be typical, excellent high-school prospects, but neither may be available when the Braves pick at 32.  There are plenty of other talented players that could go in this range.  For example, Baseball America has Ti'quan Forbes - uber-athletic and projectable SS from Mississippi - to Atlanta.  LHP Justus Sheffield, SS Cole Tucker, OF Braxton Davidson, and RHP Garrett Fulenchek are also names I have heard the Braves are interested in. 

Both Chavis and Gettys are the type of impact talents the Braves' farm systems appears to be lacking right now.  I would love if the Braves could land either (preferably Chavis with Gettys refining his hitting in Athens, Georgia for the next three years, and then taken in the first round of the 2017 draft).  Also note that Chavis will be at the draft and will be wearing a bow tie.

Summary of trustworthy sources mock drafts for Braves (these are clearly best guesses though since at 32, it's a choose-your-own-adventure scenario):

Baseball America - Forbes
MLB.com - Chavis
MLBDraftInsider.com - Adams
MLBPipeline.com - Griffin
Keith Law (ESPN) - Thinks the first round is only 27 picks.