2010 Draftees Year In Review; Part 1: Rounds 1-16
October 16, 2010 at 8:00 am by Capitol Avenue Club under Atlanta Braves
1 (35) – Matt Lipka (SS)
Hit .302/.357/.401 in 210 PA’s for the GCL Braves then was promoted to Danville for 4 games where he went 2-for-16. Stole 21 bases in 24 attempts over 52 games on the year. Made 11 errors at SS.
2 – Todd Cunningham (OF)
Hit .260/.341/.338 in 263 PA’s for the Rome Braves. Primarily played CF, but he won’t be able to stick there. The lack of power is concerning, he hit only 1 HR, 3 3B, and 9 2B on the year.
2 – Andrelton Simmons (SS/RHP)
He spent the entire 2010 season as a hitter much to my chagrin. He was moderately successful in 269 PA’s for the Danville Braves, hitting .276/.340/.356 with more walks (16) than strikeouts (14) and stole 18 bases in 22 attempts. Still his future is on the mound, that’s where he has star potential, and I’m not particularly interested in what he does with the bat.
3 – Joe Leonard (3B)
Hit .270/.310/.439 over 159 PA’s across two levels–Danville and Rome. The initial power is encouraging, but the lack of walks is discouraging.
4 – David Filak (RHP)
Pitched 26 innings for the Danville Braves with a 2.42 ERA, a 1.115 WHIP, and a 27-to-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Allowed only 1 home run and 18 hits. Very good pro debut.
5 – Phillip Gosselin (2B)
Hit .279/.353/.379 in 270 PA’s, mostly for Rome but was promoted to Myrtle Beach for 6 games at the end of the year. Stole 7 bases in 10 attempts, including a walkoff steal of home. Seriously, but not really.
6 – Joseph Terdoslavich (3B)
Hit .302/.355/.410 in 290 PA’s, 205 of them coming in Danville and 85 of them in Rome. Spent time playing 1st, 3rd, and a little bit of right field. I guess that means they’re resigned to him being a 4-corners bench bat type, which is probably what he’ll end up doing anyway.
7 – Matthew Suschak (RHP)
Pitched 29 and 2/3 innings for the Danville Braves. Walked 19 batters but struck out 30. Allowed 33 hits, but no homers. Mixed bag in his first taste of pro ball.
8 – Kurt Fleming (OF)
Hit .266/.314/.387 in 186 PA’s in the lower minors. Primarily played center field.
9 – David Rohm (OF)
Hit .319/.367/.417 in 158 PA’s in the lower minors. Kind of tired of looking up 20 and 21 year olds playing in the GCL, please draft some prep talent.
10 – Matt Lewis (RHP)
Was horrible in 17 and 2/3 innings for the Danville Braves, walked nearly twice as many batters (25) as he struck out (13). This is a guy whose 21 years old and playing in rookie ball.
11 – Chasen Shreve (LHP)
Phew, after a string of uninspiring performances, this one is a relief. Shreve pitched 16 innings for the Danville Braves, posting a 2.25 ERA, a 1.188 WHIP, and a 20-to-3 strikeout-to-walk ratio, allowing only 1 HR. He’s only 19.
12 – Barrett Kleinknecht (3B)
Hit .290/.316/.433 in 250 PA’s, primarily for Danville. Drew 6 unintentional walks all year, but he hit 5 homers. He was used at 2nd, 3rd, and shortstop, but primarily played 3rd.
13 – Brandon Drury (3B)
Did not hit at all–at all, .198/.248/.292 with 50 K’s and 9 BB’s in 207 PA’s–for the GCL Braves. He gets a pass because he’s 17 years old, and quite frankly it’s more refreshing to see a 17-year-old fall on their face in the GCL than a 21-year-old post uninspiring numbers in Danville.
14 – Richie Tate (RHP)
Only managed to pitch 8 and 2/3 innings for the GCL Braves and walked more batters (6) than he struck out (4), but as an 18-year-old with and with an incredibly small sample size, he gets a pass.
15 – Cory Brownsten (C)
Hit .306/.419/.459 in 118 PA’s, mostly for the GCL Braves. Yeah, the results are good, they’re supposed to be for a 22-year-old in the lower minors.
16 – Dan Winnie (RHP)
Pitched 44 innings, mostly in the GCL, with a 5.52 ERA, a 1.545 WHIP, and a 36-to-15 strikeout-to-walk ratio, allowing 4 homers. Mixed bag, but the K/BB ratio is more encouraging than anything else is discouraging.
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I’m really enjoying your posts, as I just found this site. I do agree that 21-22 year olds should be performing better than 17-19, however their coming off of longer college seasons, and both are adjusting to full time wood bats. I think the wood, alumunim bat difference is the hardest to scout correctly. I also think that a 21-22 year old will put more pressure to performe better than those younger. This is why I always temper my enthusiasm for those in single A and lower levels.
So other than Lipka, none of them project asajor League regulars (ie they all suck)?
Lipka is the only position player they signed that I see developing into an above-average regular. Simmons and Filak also have star potential, though as pitchers.
CAC, what do you have planned so far to write about in the upcoming week?
Last year around this time, you did a “5 Best Decisions The Braves Made” and a “5 Worst Decisions” posts. I really enjoyed that and would love to read your take on it this year.
And no Sabol or Alvord. *sigh* How much would it have cost to sign them, and how much did the Braves spend on the draft? *sigh*
Can Lipka stay at SS is the question or will he end moving to something like center because of his speed?
Graham,
Nothing but prospects unless there is a major announcement about something.
Robby,
I’ll do that at some point in the off season.
Really, really like Lipka. Kid has some wheels. Is he supposed to develop more power along the way?
I wouldn’t count on Lipka ever posting an ISO more than .125 or so. He’ll have to walk some and hit for a high average to be an offensive asset.
what is up with Cody Ross?
He’s under the Giants’ control in 2011.
I find it rather funny that you answered it like that. I was more meaning his performance over the last week or so. He’s been clutch against the Braves and then in game 1 against the Phillies.
They were talking about how the Giants are lucky to have him…when they pretty much only claimed him off waivers to block the Padres or Braves.
I know, it’s really infuriating when writers credit that dumb SOB Saeben for claiming Cody Ross when a) they didn’t actually want him and claimed him only for strategic reasons and b) THEY DIDN’T EVEN START HIM DOWN THE STRETCH!
Akin to crediting the Cardinals GM for drafting Pujols in the whatever round he was drafted in, when he was a fat, unathletic all-bat prospect. Can you say Type I error?!?!?!?
Good stuff. Suschak was better than a mixed bag, by the way. The 33 hits didn’t involve a great deal of extra base hits, and included several infield hits. That’s probably defense more than his pitching. I don’t think his stuff is overwhelming but he gets people out and pitches smart.
That said, the P’s appear to be the class of this draft group, so far.
I was mainly talking about his walk rate, I usually don’t pay attention to hit totals or rates for reasons you mentioned, just published it here for accessibility.
I really want to know what the Marlins were asking for Ross back in July, which we considered “too much”. That trade-that-didn’t-happen has to go down, in hindsight, as the worst move of the season.
The Marlins were not willing to move Cody Ross in July and he’s not that good.
A little tough on some of the college guys I think. They don’t get to pick their level. All they can do is play where they’re told to. From what I read, Rohm has the potential to be a ML starter with the bat just needs to work to be a serviceable defensive player.