Atlanta Braves 2018 Draft Review
The 2018 draft was the last under the supervision of Brian Bridges as scouting director. Alex Anthopoulos was in an evaluation mode, seeing what the people he inherited would do in their roles.
We may never know the entire story of how the Carter Stewart story unfolded. There was obviously an injury, one that the Braves doctors were skeptical of moving forward. Does that mean the Braves should have simply avoided Stewart? Maybe.
Stewart, a tall right-handed pitcher from Eau Gallie High School in Melbourne, did not sign. He’s now with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks of the Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan.
We can sit here and complain that the Braves could have had Brady Singer or Nolan Gorman or Nico Hoerner, three top prospects who were taken after Stewart. And they could have, no doubt.
However, I’m instead going to be grateful that this worked out as it did. Here’s why.
In spring training, I saw a prospect the Braves grabbed with the 2019 pick the Braves got since they did not sign Stewart the previous year. Shea Langeliers knocked me down as a catcher with a tremendous future, one that will fit right in with the other young players the Braves are building around for this decade.
Let’s face it. The Braves needed a catcher. Okay, William Contreras is a good prospect, but no one was completely convinced he would be the man to pencil in as the starter behind the plate moving forward.
Langeliers is that guy. He’s really good behind the plate, as we heard when he was drafted. His pop time to second base is outstanding. Pitchers were impressed with his work behind the plate. Coaches were taken aback about how poised Langeliers was for someone in his first MLB spring training camp.
In other words, Langeliers showed people why the Braves, and a new scouting director, picked him with the pick the team got for not signing Stewart the year before. The Braves likely got their future catcher with that pick. Langeliers is an excellent prospect.
So, back to the 2018 draft. In the second round, the Braves took Wichita State outfielder Greyson Jenista. The left-handed hitter has batted just .244 with a .322 on base percentage in his first two minor league seasons. With Drew Waters and Cristian Pache ahead of him on the prospect list, Jenista is likely trade bait or a bench option.
Tristan Beck was the fourth-round pick out of Stanford. Beck was traded to the Giants in the Mark Melancon deal last July 31.
Fifth round pick Trey Riley was taken out of John A Logan College in Illinois. He’s been a disappointment so far, with a 7.71 ERA in 23 games (14 starts) in his two seasons in the Braves farm system.
Lefty pitcher Brooks Wilson was taken in the seventh round out of Stetson. He’s got a 2.19 ERA in his 41 games (11 starts) in the farm system over two years. Twelfth-round pick Nolan Kingman made 27 starts last year in three spots in the system. Kingman had a 3.92 ERA in 165.1 innings.
Right-hander Victor Vodnik was Atlanta’s 14 rounder in 2018. He spent last season in Rome and had a 2.94 ERA. Vodnik was ranked as the Braves 18 best prospect by MLB.com.
C.J. Alexander, the Braves 20 rounder, is still one to watch. He had an injury-plagued 2019 season, hitting only .117 in 128 at bats. Alexander had hit .352 with three teams after he got into the system.
Trey Harris was the 32 round pick out of the University of Missouri. Harris has hit .317 with a .395 on base percentage in his two years with the Braves. MLB.com has him listed as the 15 best prospect in the organization.
There are still a lot of prospects from the 2018 draft who were likely looking forward to this year to gauge their development. Now that there remain question marks about what happens in the minor leagues, we’ll see how these 2018 draftees get that development moving forward.
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