In his first year as Braves scouting director, Brian Bridges will direct the show Monday for the franchise’s potentially bountiful first day in the major league draft. With five of the first 75 picks, and six of the first 89, the Braves could make a significant long-term impact through this draft.
Accordingly, Bridges and the revamped scouting department spent countless hours formulating a strategy, one that’s a bit different from Braves drafts of recent years. Instead of so-called “safe picks” who are signable, the Braves say they’ll draft with a big-picture view of their future in mind. They’re looking for high upside, athleticism, character, toughness.
“Moving forward our philosophy is going to be more on makeup,” Bridges said Sunday. “You can have all the ability in the world – you’ve seen players that had all the ability in the world, but the character and the person, who they were…. There’s not enough people playing baseball that play other sports. So to be honest with you, I’ve put a lot of weight and emphasis on multi-sport players.”
The Braves will make five picks Monday, when the draft begins at 7 p.m. on MLB Network. The second day starts at 1 p.m. Tuesday.
The Braves’ first six picks and how they got them:
No. 14 – their pick based on order of finish in 2014, which is one spot higher due to the Mets losing a pick for signing free agent Michael Cuddyer.
No. 28 – compensation pick for losing free-agent starting pitcher Ervin Santana.
No. 41 – acquired from the Padres as part of the trade that sent Craig Kimbrel to San Diego.
No. 54 – their second-round pick.
No. 75 – acquired from Diamondbacks officially in trade for Victor Reyes.
No. 89 – their third-round pick.
All 30 teams are assigned a specific amount for their allocated bonus pool with which to sign their picks from the first 10 rounds, with the amounts based on how many selections the team has and how high. Team incur expensive taxes and the potential loss of future first- or second-round draft picks.
The Astros, with two of the first five picks, have the largest signing-bonus pool at $17,289,200. The Braves have the fourth-largest at $10,684,100. The only other teams allocated more than $10 million are the Rockies ($13.989,800) and Diamondbacks ($12,816,100).
The Braves figure to use most early picks on high school players, including at least a couple of pitchers. They are going with the “can’t have too much pitching” mantra they abided by all offseason, when they added a handful of high-level prospects via trades. The rationale is that every team wants pitching, and if the Braves have a surplus in coming years they can always use pitchers as trade pieces to fill other needs.
They’d also like to add hitters in the early rounds and could take local talent, which they’ve favorited for years. Among those under consideration: catcher Tyler Stephenson of Marietta’s Kennesaw Mountain High, and Griffin High shortstop Cornelius Randolph, rated the Nos. 15 and 20 prospects in the draft, respectively, by Baseball America.
The last time the Braves had five picks in the first 75 was 2001, when their first pick (No. 24 overall) was left-hander Macay McBride and the only one who made an impact was left-hander J.P. Howell, — who was the 52nd pick and didn’t sign with the Braves. Howell signed three years later after the Royals drafted him in the first round.
The last player the Braves drafted with the 14th overall selection was Jason Heyward in 2007. He signed for $1.7 million, which was $170,000 above the slot that year.
“The money has changed, the draft has changed,” said Bridges, who spent 14 years as a scout, scouting supervistor and crosschecker, including the past eight in the Braves organization. “In previous years you could pretty much manipulate the way you wanted to do it. You could try to work out a deal with a player, if you had the blessing of the front office, to overpay. Now, you have a pool of money, so we have to strategize moving forward.”
Bridges has worked closely with Roy Clark, the longtime former Braves scouting director who returned to the organization in October as a special assistant, after stints with the Nationals and Dodgers.
Bridges and the Braves have determined there are important benefits to an old-school background – kids playing multiple sports in an age of so much one-sport specialization.
“They don’t necessarily have to be on the showcase circuit,” Bridges said, referring to summer All-Star games that draw top high-school players and hordes of scouts. “It might be a name you haven’t heard. It might be somebody that doesn’t make sense. But you know what? He’s going to be athletic, he’s going to have the ability to play here at Turner Field – or SunTrust Park – he’s going to have those qualities as a player.
“I want guys who’ve failed at another sport; I want guys who’ve been hit in the teeth, where it’s not just, hey, mom drove me to the ballpark, carried my bag out there for me, bought me a Gatorade…. I see it all the time.”
