The Braves had five of the first 75 selections in the major league draft Monday, and they used the first two on a pair of 17-year-old high school pitchers, following through on first-year scouting director Brian Bridges’ plan entering the draft to get young pitching and plenty of it.
They selected California high school left-hander Kolby Allard with the No. 14 overall pick, and took Canadian right-hander Mike Soroka with their second pick, No. 28 overall.
“What were the Braves built on? Pitching,” Bridges said. “And that’s where we want to continue to go.”
The Braves also added some promising power bats with their next two picks: At No. 41, they took third baseman Austin Riley, a two-way player who also pitched at DeSoto Central High in Southaven, Mississippi, and with the 54th pick they took catcher Lucas Herbert, a slugger who was Allard’s batterymate at San Clemente (Calif.) High School.
They wrapped up the first day of the draft by using the No. 75 pick on Texas A&M left-hander A.J. Minter, who had Tommy John elbow surgery in March and should be ready for spring training. He was 2-0 with a 0.43 ERA in four starts this season as a junior before the injury in March.
“He’s 94-97 (mph),” Bridges said. “Great makeup, Texas A&M, strike thrower. His last game, one of my national crosscheckers saw it, in Minute Maid (Park in Houston), he was 94-96 for five innings. If that’s what you close (the first day) out with at No. 75, I don’t think we’re having any problems.”
Riley, listed at 6 feet 3 and 230 pounds, hit .423 with a state-best 11 homers in 104 at-bats as a senior shortstop — the Braves will move him to third base — and also went 25-7 with a 1.53 ERA in his career, reaching the mid-90s with his fastball and drawing plenty of draft interest as a pitcher. Riley verbally committed to Mississippi State.
Herbert hit .417 with 25 extra-base hits (eight homers) and 28 RBIs in 33 games as a senior at San Clemente. Like Allard, he has a verbal commitment to UCLA.
The Braves are expected to have all of their first-day draft picks signed soon, with none of the college commitments considered an obstacle with any in the group.
“I couldn’t be more happy to start my career with the Atlanta Braves,” Allard said on a conference call with reporters. “First-class organization, first-class people, and, like, a ton of history. I couldn’t be more grateful for them, that I’ll get the opportunity to play major league baseball. I couldn’t be more excited.”
Allard posted a picture on Twitter of he and Herbert in Braves caps and T-shirts.
If not for a stress fracture in Allard’s lower back that ended his senior season after it barely began, the Braves thought there was no way he would’ve been still available in the middle of the first round.
Allard entered the season as a first-team Perfect Game preseason All-American and has what Bridges called one of, if not the best curveball in the draft to complement a low- to mid-90s fastball. He missed most of the season with the injury, pitching only seven innings and allowing a .143 batting average before he was hurt in mid-March.
The assigned signing-bonus slot value for the No. 14 pick was $2,842,400, and the bonus will presumably be very close to that. He’s represented by Casey Close of Excel Sports Management.
“We haven’t agreed on money as far as I know,” Allard said, “but I don’t think that’s going to be much of a problem.”
Bridges said Allard, who is 6 feet 1 and 180 pounds, has been throwing for five weeks and is fully recovered from the back injury. He was rated the No. 8 pitching prospect and No. 18 overall prospect by Baseball America before the draft.
“This is a kid you target early on in the summer to follow,” said Bridges, who saw Allard throw in the summer after his junior year. “I saw him throw in the bullpen the night I went, and I thought it was a pipe dream. I said, there’s no way this kid gets to us. But we were fortunate that some unfortunate things happened, and here we are.”
As a 16-year-old junior, Allard had a 1.32 ERA and struck out 98 in 63 2/3 innings with 17 walks. He has a developing changeup to go with his outstanding curveball.
Allard had committed to UCLA, but the Braves had been asssured he would sign and bypass college.
“Oh, yeah. It’s done,” Bridges said. “It was probably fortunate he had a little hiccup this year, for us, to get to this spot in the draft.”
The Braves were told the injury might have resulted from Allard tweaking his back while competing in a home-run derby, then continuing to pitch and play afterward until it worsened.
“I’m not worried about my back,” Allard said. “It wasn’t like a career thing, it was just a stupid, freak little thing, and I’m just ready to put it past me and get back out on the mound.”
They Braves took Soroka with the No. 28 pick in the first round. The hard-throwing, 6-foot-5, 210-pounder is out of Bishop Carroll High in Calgary, Alberta, and former Braves relief pitcher Chris Reitsma was Soroka’s pitching coach on the Canadian junior national team.
The recommended signing bonus for the No. 28 slot was $1,974,700. The Braves got that pick as compensation for losing free agent Ervin Santana after last season.
Bridges said Soroka was dominant while pitching for the Canadian team in a couple of extended spring-training games against minor leaguers and prospects, which is where he caught the attention of Braves scouts. He also pitched in one spring training game against the Toronto Blue Jays.
“We had somebody see that,” Bridges said. “He held his own, didn’t give up a hit until the second inning kind of unraveled on him. Seventeen years old.
“But he (pitched against) two extended programs. I was there the one day he pitched against ours. Bat-breaking fastball, (improving) breaking ball, changeup, throws strikes, heavy fastball. Sky’s the limit with this child. Six-foot-4 guys who don’t throw the ball straight — kind of have a tendency to like those guys.”
Bridges said before the draft that he wanted to take young pitchers and players who had great character and toughness, preferably with multi-sport backgrounds.
“We were set up to take these high-end pitchers,” he said. “This kid has a hockey background, his dad played hockey. Tough kid. And that’s kind of the way I want to go. You can never have enough pitching….
“He’s a young’un. I think he’s going to grow into his own. This is what (pitchers are supposed to) look like. This is a guy who has a high ceiling, chance to be No. 1 or 2 starter.”
And being from Canada, he hasn’t pitched as much as most American high school seniors.
“Less mileage on the arm,”Bridges said. “He’s been to showcases (summer all-star games for prospects) and that kind of circuit, but having a (former) professional (as a) pitching coach — Chris Reitsma took care of him.
“I saw him for the first time in Jupiter, and it was pretty easy, just the way he went about his business and the ease he threw in his delivery. There’s less stress on the body. This guy’s a mold of clay. You can’t be scared of northern arms. They come from all over, and the more we attack these type players, the better off we’ll be as an organization.”
They got the No. 41 pick from the Padres as part of the trade that sent closer Craig Kimbrel to San Diego the night before opening day. The No. 54 pick was the Braves’ regular second-round pick based on order of finish in the 2014 standings.
The acquired the No. 75 pick from the Diamondbacks, technically as part of the trade for minor leaguer Victor Reyes, though unofficially it was part of the trade that brought Trevor Cahill to the Braves in the last week of spring training.
