Julien's Faster than Light Blog
Jump to top
Sunday, February 25, 2007
top prospects: braves
baseball america's top ten atlanta braves prospects:
1. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, c
2. Elvis Andrus, ss
3. Matt Harrison, lhp
4. Brandon Jones, of
5. Van Pope, 3b
6. Eric Campbell, 3b
7. Scott Thorman, 1b/of
8. Jo-Jo Reyes, lhp
9. Joey Devine, rhp
10. Yunel Escobar, inf
this is a good list. all show major-league possibilities, with star potential for saltalamacchia, andrus, harrison, jones, and campbell. devine could also be very effective.
Career Batting Statistics for Jarrod Saltalamacchia:
Year Team Lg. Age Org Lvl AAB W K HR 23 WAL CON POW AVG
2003 GCL Braves GCL 18 Atl Rk 134 31 33 2 13 .188 .754 .149 .239
2004 Rome SAL 19 Atl A 326 39 83 10 21 .107 .745 .128 .272
2005 Myrtle Bch Caro 20 Atl A+ 464 64 99 19 36 .121 .787 .151 .314
2006 Mississipp Sou 21 Atl AA 316 61 71 9 19 .162 .775 .114 .230
jarrod saltalamacchia had a poor batting average in 2006. he therefore had a poor on-base percentage and slugging percentage. so those who look at those things will be unable to see that he's good:
he had a walk percentage of .162. he played through injuries. he's 21, and he played in double-a. his defense is good. he's a catcher.
to many people, jarrod saltalamacchia regressed as a prospect. to me, he improved.
Career Batting Statistics for Elvis Andrus:
Year Team Lg. Age Org Lvl AAB W K HR 23 WAL CON POW AVG
2005 GCL Braves GCL 17 Atl Rk 168 23 28 3 7 .120 .833 .071 .295
2005 Danville App 17 Atl Rk 18 4 4 0 1 .182 .778 .071 .278
2006 Rome SAL 18 Atl A 438 38 91 3 29 .080 .792 .092 .265
do people not see that he's 18 in the sally league? elvis andrus is star. he's got patience, contact, and power. he's a plus-defense shortstop. what else do you want? speed. he's got that too.
he was 17 when the season started.
Career Pitching Statistics for Matt Harrison:
Year Team Lg. Age Org Lvl IP H HR BB SO WAL CON HRP ERA
2003 GCL Braves GCL 17 Atl Rk 39.0 40 2 9 33 .054 .790 .016 3.69
2004 Danville App 18 Atl Rk 66.0 72 3 10 49 .036 .819 .014 4.09
2005 Rome SAL 19 Atl A 167.0 151 17 30 118 .044 .819 .032 3.23
2006 Myrtle Bch Caro 20 Atl A+ 81.1 77 6 16 60 .047 .813 .023 3.10
2006 Mississipp Sou 20 Atl AA 77.1 83 6 17 54 .051 .829 .023 3.61
matt harrison is a lefty with good control. think david wells.
Career Batting Statistics for Brandon Jones:
Year Team Lg. Age Org Lvl AAB W K HR 23 WAL CON POW AVG
2004 Danville App 20 Atl Rk 211 24 33 3 11 .102 .844 .079 .297
2005 GCL Braves GCL 21 Atl Rk 8 0 2 0 0 .000 .750 .000 .125
2005 Danville App 21 Atl Rk 7 1 0 0 0 .125 1.00 .000 .286
2005 Rome SAL 21 Atl A 157 32 29 8 15 .169 .815 .180 .308
2005 Myrtle Bch Caro 21 Atl A+ 61 10 9 0 4 .141 .852 .077 .350
2006 Myrtle Bch Caro 22 Atl A+ 229 26 49 7 13 .102 .786 .111 .257
2006 Mississipp Sou 22 Atl AA 178 15 38 7 12 .078 .787 .136 .273
the reason i said brandon jones has star potential is when he hits the ball he can really hit it. think matt kemp, alfonso soriano. but that's just it: he swings too much. at least he did last year. he was great in 2005. this is a system-wide problem for the braves.
Career Batting Statistics for Van Pope:
Year Team Lg. Age Org Lvl AAB W K HR 23 WAL CON POW AVG
2004 Danville App 20 Atl Rk 237 24 44 5 20 .092 .814 .130 .270
2005 Rome SAL 21 Atl A 391 44 70 6 31 .101 .821 .115 .277
2005 Myrtle Bch Caro 21 Atl A+ 85 10 21 1 1 .105 .753 .031 .167
2006 Myrtle Bch Caro 22 Atl A+ 475 69 92 15 32 .127 .806 .123 .263
van pope is a plus-defense third baseman on the threshold of breakout in patience, contact, and power. i should have included him in the "star potential" list.
Career Batting Statistics for Eric Campbell:
Year Team Lg. Age Org Lvl AAB W K HR 23 WAL CON POW AVG
2004 GCL Braves GCL 19 Atl Rk 212 17 47 7 7 .074 .778 .085 .251
2004 Rome SAL 19 Atl A 22 3 7 0 0 .120 .682 .000 .136
2005 Danville App 20 Atl Rk 266 32 64 18 28 .107 .759 .228 .313
2006 Rome SAL 21 Atl A 452 28 68 22 30 .058 .850 .135 .296
the braves are ready when chipper's done. eric campbell takes a pitch and hits it a long way. he needs to develop a disdain for pitches that are not worthy of his swing.
Career Batting Statistics for Scott Thorman:
Year Team Lg. Age Org Lvl AAB W K HR 23 WAL CON POW AVG
2000 GCL Braves GCL 18 Atl Rk 99 16 23 1 8 .139 .768 .118 .227
2002 Macon SAL 20 Atl A 476 58 83 16 41 .109 .826 .145 .294
2003 Myrtle Bch Caro 21 Atl A+ 449 46 79 12 28 .093 .824 .108 .243
2004 Myrtle Bch Caro 22 Atl A+ 159 17 19 4 12 .097 .881 .114 .299
2004 Greenville Sou 22 Atl AA 348 39 73 11 17 .101 .790 .102 .252
2005 Mississipp Sou 23 Atl AA 351 32 76 15 23 .084 .783 .138 .305
2005 Richmond IL 23 Atl AAA 212 12 42 6 13 .054 .802 .112 .276
2006 Richmond IL 24 Atl AAA 312 32 48 15 18 .093 .846 .125 .298
2006 Atlanta MLB 24 Atl MLB 128 5 21 5 11 .038 .836 .150 .234
scott thorman is not getting the respect he deserves. the kid can hit. this is the reason the adam laroche trade made so much sense.
his sally league campaign in 2002 was very nice, with a CON of .826 and a POW of .145. his triple-a performance last year was very good too (.846, .125). as the pitchers adjust to him, he needs to become more selective at the plate.
Career Pitching Statistics for Jo Jo Reyes:
Year Team Lg. Age Org Lvl IP H HR BB SO WAL CON HRP ERA
2003 GCL Braves GCL 18 Atl Rk 45.2 34 1 14 55 .076 .678 .009 2.56
2004 Rome SAL 19 Atl A 74.1 84 10 25 71 .075 .769 .042 5.33
2005 GCL Braves GCL 20 Atl Rk 5.1 6 0 1 6 .043 .727 .000 1.69
2005 Danville App 20 Atl Rk 43.1 37 3 6 27 .035 .838 .021 3.53
2006 Rome SAL 21 Atl A 75.1 62 5 25 84 .080 .708 .025 2.99
2006 Myrtle Bch Caro 21 Atl A+ 65.2 52 0 36 58 .126 .767 .000 4.11
jo-jo reyes had a fine debut, then had tommy john surgery. his control hasn't come back, but he sure does limit home runs. it'll be interesting to see what he does this year.
Career Pitching Statistics for Joey Devine:
Year Team Lg. Age Org Lvl IP H HR BB SO WAL CON HRP ERA
2003 NC State NCAA 19 NCA 65.2 49 4 16 78 .061 .683 .024 2.19
2004 NC State NCAA 20 NCA 36.0 31 5 18 56 .115 .597 .060 5.25
2005 NC State NCAA 21 NCA 48.2 37 1 10 72 .052 .607 .009 2.03
2005 Myrtle Bch Caro 21 Atl A+ 5.0 0 0 3 7 .167 .533 .000 0.00
2005 Mississipp Sou 21 Atl AA 20.0 19 2 12 28 .132 .646 .039 2.70
2005 Richmond IL 21 Atl AAA 1.0 3 0 1 1 .143 .833 .000 18.00
2005 Atlanta MLB 21 Atl MLB 5.0 6 2 5 3 .192 .857 .111 12.60
2006 Myrtle Bch Caro 22 Atl A+ 18.1 13 1 11 28 .139 .588 .025 5.89
2006 Mississipp Sou 22 Atl AA 11.0 2 1 4 20 .103 .429 .067 0.82
2006 Richmond IL 22 Atl AAA 0.0 1 0 1 0 .500 1.00 .000 0.00
2006 Atlanta MLB 22 Atl MLB 6.1 8 1 9 10 .250 .630 .059 9.95
joey devine has an incredible slider and will be a force in the bullpen at any time.
Career Batting Statistics for Yunel Escobar:
Year Team Lg. Age Org Lvl AAB W K HR 23 WAL CON POW AVG
2005 Danville App 22 Atl Rk 31 5 4 2 3 .139 .871 .185 .400
2005 Rome SAL 22 Atl A 198 14 30 4 16 .066 .848 .119 .313
2006 Mississipp Sou 23 Atl AA 432 67 77 2 25 .134 .822 .076 .264
yunel escobar was number 4 on the list last year, mostly because of his defense. he made the jump from middle-a to double-a and hit for contact, with much-improved plate discipline. lack of power gives him a reserve profile, but he will almost certainly make it.
there's more. kevin goldstein has neftali feliz, jeff locke, chase fontaine, and anthony lerew on his list, leaving off pope, thorman, reyes, and escobar. he does have reyes as a sleeper prospect.
Career Pitching Statistics for Neftali Feliz:
Year Team Lg. Age Org Lvl IP H HR BB SO WAL CON HRP ERA
2006 GCL Braves GCL 0 Atl Rk 29.0 20 0 14 42 .116 .607 .000 4.03
that's a lot of strikeouts. he throws very hard.
Career Pitching Statistics for Jeffrey Locke:
Year Team Lg. Age Org Lvl IP H HR BB SO WAL CON HRP ERA
2006 GCL Braves GCL 18 Atl Rk 32.0 38 4 5 38 .036 .716 .042 4.22
jeff locke showed very good control in his rookie debut.
Career Batting Statistics for Chase Fontaine:
Year Team Lg. Age Org Lvl AAB W K HR 23 WAL CON POW AVG
2006 Danville App 20 Atl Rk 201 40 45 4 11 .166 .776 .096 .296
this is the kind of system you have to have to do what the braves do. you have to have talent coming in, talent developing, and talent coming up. chase fontaine is in the talent coming in category. i love that .166 WAL. it bodes well for his development. he's also a lefty-hitting middle-infielder.
Career Pitching Statistics for Anthony Lerew:
Year Team Lg. Age Org Lvl IP H HR BB SO WAL CON HRP ERA
2001 GCL Braves GCL 18 Atl Rk 49.1 43 3 14 40 .068 .791 .020 2.92
2002 Danville App 19 Atl Rk 83.0 60 2 25 75 .075 .757 .009 1.73
2003 Rome SAL 20 Atl A 143.2 112 7 43 127 .073 .766 .017 2.38
2004 Myrtle Bch Caro 21 Atl A+ 144.0 145 12 46 125 .074 .783 .027 3.75
2005 Mississipp Sou 22 Atl AA 75.2 70 6 32 64 .097 .785 .026 3.93
2005 Richmond IL 22 Atl AAA 72.1 63 9 23 53 .076 .811 .040 3.48
2005 Atlanta MLB 22 Atl MLB 8.0 9 1 5 5 .132 .848 .036 5.63
2006 Mississipp Sou 23 Atl AA 48.2 43 1 13 37 .064 .804 .007 2.03
2006 Richmond IL 23 Atl AAA 71.0 92 12 36 69 .106 .774 .051 7.48
2006 Atlanta MLB 23 Atl MLB 2.0 5 0 3 1 .214 .909 .000 22.50
anthony lerew has the skills to pitch in the majors. he's in the "talent coming up" category.
finally, i wanna throw in a mention for this guy, because he had a very nice debut.
Career Pitching Statistics for Steven Evarts:
Year Team Lg. Age Org Lvl IP H HR BB SO WAL CON HRP ERA
2006 GCL Braves GCL 18 Atl Rk 43.0 42 0 12 33 .066 .807 .000 2.93
he's a changeup guy, and he's a lefty. love those lefty changeup guys. very good control and good home run limitation.
this is one of the best systems i've seen yet. the only thing it lacks is the top, major-league-ready, impact player. but it makes up for it with talent and potential across the board. the jewels are saltalamacchia and andrus.
Comments:
Post a Comment
