The Atlanta Braves are once again projected to take a high school position player
The countdown is on as we are now 23 days away from the start of the 2023 MLB First Year Player Draft, and Jim Callis at MLB Pipeline dropped the most recent iteration of their mock draft. While 23 days seems like it’s close to the home stretch, we’ve seen in recent years just how much the College World Series can shake things up such as Cade Horton flying up to number seven overall following his performance in Omaha last year. Callis does not have the Atlanta Braves taking anyone on the college side of things this year, however, and in the first round the consensus seems to be narrowing on high school talent.
With the College World Series set to open Friday, we check in with our latest mock draft.
See how what goes down in Omaha could impact the 2023 first round: https://t.co/JoOgTendJ1 pic.twitter.com/VQl4p56FWI
— MLB Pipeline (@MLBPipeline) June 16, 2023
This mock draft projects catcher Blake Mitchell out of Sinton High School in Texas to fall to 24th overall, a huge drop for the player ranked the 13th best draft prospect by MLB pipeline and the 15th best by Baseball America. Mitchell would seem to be a steal at the 24th pick overall as a strong left-handed-hitting catcher with the defense and arm talent to stick behind the plate. The biggest question for Mitchell is his contact ability, as although his approach and pitch recognition seem to be up to standard his bat-to-ball skill comes with questions. If he can hit he would have a huge future ahead of him, and the Braves are known to covet catching talent that can hit for power though typically not early in the draft. Among those also mentioned in connection to Atlanta are a whole host of prep shortstops, with Walker Martin being the name most common to recur. Bryce Eldridge and George Lombard Jr. have also been projected to the Braves in MLB Pipeline mock drafts and are mentioned as potential options for Atlanta.