The Braves have have a very young, if not very talented, system. Although top to bottom it is not a very strong system, there are some diamonds in the rough.
Orginizational MVP: Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C, Mississippi Braves (AA)
Saltalamacchia, or Salty for short (for good reason) probably won't make the bigs this year, even though he led baseball prospectus's PECOTA projections for catchers who most likely will not play in the majors, and it will be interesting to see what happens when he is more major league ready. The Braves like his defense behind the dish, but with Brian McCann established as an all-star catcher, it will be interesting to see who moves. At first glance, he had a rough year last year, hitting just .230, although he still managed to get on base at a .353 clip. He backed that up with a .655 on base in the Arizona Fall League this year.
Orginizational Pitcher of the Year: Matt Harrison, SP, Mississippi Braves (AA)
I'm going out on a bit of a limb here with Harrison. Although he had a 3.61 ERA in Mississippi last summer, he's a year older now at 21 and a year wiser. He's a big guy, 6'4" 221 pounds who can get his fastball up there in the low 90s. I have him pegged for pitcher of the year for one reason: I'm a slave to the K. He had 114 last year, opposed to 33 walks.
Organization's Best Affiliate: Danville Braves (Rookie)
No single affiliate really stands out in my mind, so I would like to watch out for either this Danville team, or their other rookie affiliate in Rome. The Braves have had good recent drafts, and it will be interesting to see what young stud they take with their first rounder this year.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment