The 2016 MLB Draft is underway, and we’ll track the first-round picks as they come in — starting with the first 23 picks (worst-to-first, and excepting teams that sacrificed picks to sign qualifying offer-declining free agents). We’ll fire up another post for the “sandwich” choices: selections awarded to clubs that lost QO-declining free agents and competitive balance Round A picks.
Click here for bonus pools and other important context, including links to scouting reports and other assessments. Here are the picks (links to players who participated in MLBTR’s Draft Prospect Q&A Series):
- Phillies — Mickey Moniak, OF, La Costa Canyon HS, Carlsbad, CA
- Reds — Nick Senzel, IF, University of Tennessee
- Braves — Ian Anderson, RHP, Shenendehowa HS, Clifton Park, NY
- Rockies — Riley Pint, RHP, St. Thomas Aquinas HS, Overland Park, KS
- Brewers — Corey Ray, OF, University of Louisville
- Athletics — A.J. Puk, LHP, University of Florida
- Marlins — Braxton Garrett, LHP, Florence HS, Florence, AL
- Padres — Cal Quantrill, RHP, Stanford University
- Tigers — Matt Manning, RHP, Sheldon HS, Sacramento, CA
- White Sox — Zack Collins, C/1B, University of Miami — Agreed to sign for slot value ($3.3806MM)
- Mariners — Kyle Lewis, OF, Mercer University
- Red Sox — Jason Groome, LHP, Barnegat HS, Barnegat, NJ
- Rays — Joshua Lowe, 3B, Pope HS, Marietta, GA
- Indians — Will Benson, OF, The Westminster Schools, Atlanta, GA
- Twins — Alex Kirilloff, OF, Plum HS, Pittsburgh, PA
- Angels — Matt Thaiss, C, University of Virginia
- Astros — Forrest Whitley, RHP, Alamo Heights HS, San Antonio, TX
- Yankees — Blake Rutherford, OF, Chaminade College Prep HS, Canoga Park, CA
- Mets — Justin Dunn, RHP, Boston College
- Dodgers — Gavin Lux, SS, Indian Trail Academy, Kenosha, WI
- Blue Jays — T.J. Zeuch, RHP, University of Pittsburgh
- Pirates — Will Craig, RHP/3B, Wake Forest
- Cardinals — Delvin Perez, SS, International Baseball Academy, Ceiba, Puerto Rico
Let’s Go Red Sox!!!!
I’m disgusted at the Braves they need offense they don’t even take the best high school pitcher
sign-ability issues on some, so I’ve heard. Also read that they might try to go lower in dollars are the first pick and then over on the 2nd pick to get someone who falls.
Who knows, you know pitching is always a priority.
Kid throws mid 90s with ease. I don’t think it’s a bad pick.. My guess is that the thinking for the Braves, is stock pile pitching and we will have money to spend on hitting!! Only freeman and Teheran are signed passed 2018.
I think the idea is to get 3 A talents in the first round instead of a A+ and a B’s.
^i agree. Braves, as Coppy said, are projecting a system that replaces quality players with quality players for years to come.. The more top talent in the system the better.. Also pitching always wins!
I agree, however, I really like Anderson and I’m hoping they save some money and get a bat In the later round.
I coached Ian Anderson and his twin brother Ben in rec baseball a few years back. He has grown so much as a player and individual. He is throwing 95 consistently and throws strikes. He will pitch this weekend in his state semifinal game. can you say MEDIA? He won’t get the full 6.5 mil slot. They will save some for other draft picks.
Braves have shown that there obsessed with arms and will buy hitting. I remeber John hart when he was with mlb network always saying his strategy would be build pitching and buy hitting, so that’s what I think he’s doing
^exactly.. Pitching is volatile.. You need tons of it to be successful. And why draft a bunch of HS/college hitters when you can spend on major league proven guys! Braves are also said to be ready to spend heavily in the international market this year..
Because their are 8 position spots and only 5 starting pitching spots. Cubs have went all bats in drafts and still have the lowest e.r.a in the majors.
Ha. Yes the Cubs are good right now.. They also have spent a ton of money! There farm system is low in quality pitching and if you go ask teams from the past with hitting and no pitching, they will tell you it doesn’t last long!
I don’t think you judge it by the fact that there’s more position players then pitchers in a team.
The big red machine? Murders row yankees? Even the 90s yankees. Dynasties have all been built on hitting, not one on pitching as you imply. This is the first year They spent real money. Last year’s payroll was 120 mil with 12 mil of that going to edwin jackson.
I’m just curious, do you think the Braves are going to get position player free agents for cheap? Any team that fills holes through free agency is going to have to spend a ton of money. (which they actually haven’t really spent much on their rotatoin, Lester is the only one making a large sum of money).
I will give you the big red machine. But 1920’s yanks, pitching wasn’t pitching like now! And 1990’s yanks had good pitching (I hate the yanks by the way! Lol) really good teams start with pitching… Giants/royals/cardinals are recent examples. A few good bats but very good pitching.. Ask the blue jays.
You must have forgot, the Cubs signed Heyward for $200mil.. Unless you consider that a small amount?
Look at the royals starting rotation the past few year so you can rethink that. The giants didn’t win until Posey got there.. The cardinals aren’t a dynasty nor have they won without Molina. The 90s yankees were led by their offense first, jeter, Bernie williams, posada, tino Martinez.
They also traded for Russell and Rizzo!
Heyward was this year, nice trading comprehension.
I said they drafted position players. What does trading for Russell and Rizzo have to do with that? Baez, almora, bryant, Schwarber, happ. Those are the most recent 1st picks of theirs. 4 of 5 in the bigs with happ about to be promoted to AA. Let’s see the success rate on the high school arms.
notice i said in the rotation. You were talking about their lack of pitching and spending money. I assumed that you meant in their rotation because you did not at all use a transition to make it obvious that you were speaking about the team as a whole.
Weiters/Cespedes/Reddick are possibles! Also with the lack of quality pitching available in FA, I think either Teheran or a few pitching prospects could bring a hitter to ATL..
Lol.. Are you a Cubs fan?? Your entire rotation are imports! Fowler, Rizzo, Heyward and Russell are imports.. Almora just got called up because of injury.. I am trying to figure out your argument? Cubs signed free agents and traded for 4 of there 8 position starters..
You are brain dead eh? The initial argument was drafting pitching vs hitting. Of course no roster is filled with just draft picks that’s not an argument. You seem to think they can just go acquire 6 position players and be set, that’s just assuming all these pitchers don’t bust as you yourself described them as volatile. My initial point was look how easy the cubs got the pitching after focusing on bats in the draft.
1)Lol you think they are signing free agents this year?
2) outfielders no less! Below you just described mallex smith as a core player, where would he play if they signed an outfielder. Markakis still has 2 yrs after this and ender has 4 I think.
I just noticed you said the cubs system is low in quality pitching… Lol. It’s actually very similar to the braves. Cease=allard, Underwood(throwing 100 post injury) =newcombe, pierce johnson=fried. Jake stinnet and Rob zstrynski = lucas sims and Chris Ellis.
The point is, when you draft enough of something, it’s expendable.. You can trade to fill holes!!! So like many teams, you over load on high talent.. They can be traded or kept.. The team win sign free agent hitters. Markakis can be traded also inciarte or smith (latter is preferred). Your argument is based on opinion (which are all biased). Oh, and the Braves just drafted 3 players rated as 1st rounders!!!
Markakis has negative value. Its not really overloading if none of it is that great.
There’s been plenty of very good teams that have been built on pitching. Just cause your a Cubs fan apparently doesn’t mean that hitting is the only way to go…
I don’t know how big of hitters they buy, but it sure looks like that’s the plan with all the arms there collecting
Aren’t the mets built on pitching and didn’t they win the nlcs last year?
Also, for my point for pitchers over hitters, Cubs have 4 players (not including all 5 starters) that were traded for in their starting lineup! So Credit doesn’t go to their amazing drafting skills, it would go to Theo for getting lucking with Arrieta and Hammels, making some good trades/roster moves and the ownership for signing Lester (I guess). Your thought holds no wait- Cubs have drafted Bryant/schwarber/beaz/Almora and signed soler. Man they are amazing when it comes to drafting!!!
Yes the Mets did and now they are in second place. The braves of the 90s were built on pitching, how many world series for them? Like I said the dynasties were all built on position players.
Considering every first pick of his has already made the majors other than last years, yes that’s an amazing draft history( no other g.m. can make that claim) Bryant and Schwarber were 10 war last year, bryant is on pace for about 8 war this year… Obviously it’s not just drafting, but they got floor and ceiling taking those guys And don’t have to worry about tommy John or guys being bullpen pitchers only.
^ ha.. You got me!! I think 1 more than the Cubs have won in over 100yrs.. I was painful though, watching all those good seasons of baseball.. Cause we all know that every year the best team in baseball wins the World Series!! #extremesarcasm
I agree. But over 10 years if you don’t win at least 2 with that pitching maybe they went the wrong route? I will lay you good odds that the cubs win at least 2 in the next 10 years if someone trusted will escrow the money. 1k minimum.
Yeah man, your farm system analysis is spot on.. All the experts on, I don’t know, mlb.com, ESPN, fox sports and any other intelligent sports reporting company don’t agree with that. But yeah underwood and Johnsons minor league era of over 5 is impressive! Win something, then come tell everybody how to build a good team!!
I believe the Cubs 1st and 2nd picks last yr just had TJ..
All the outlets that ranked them both as top 100 prospects you mean? Johnson is hurt atm, his less than 15 innings is lol small sample. Underwood was hurt all of spring training and the first month. This is basically the end of his spring training, so the fact his stuff ticked up is pretty huge, he has topped out at 101 this year. A solid finish to the year he will jump up lists to a top 30 guy.
Ian happ was their first pick last year. Donnie dewees was their second round pick ( another college bat). Who has been hitting pretty well this year as well and is ready to move up a level. I don’t know where you get your info from. Cease had t.j., that’s why they got him overslot in the 6th rd after drafting Schwarber underslot with their first pick. Again an example of getting a hitter and still being able to go underslot to get first round talent… Except they got that talent in the 6th…
Unless you’re talking about Cease, you’ll have to show me your source or the broken radar gun that says Underwood is hitting 101. I’ve been following him since Class A Kane County, and he was feared to be on the TJ path earlier this year. But now he’s hitting 101 coming off an injury? I don’t think so.
I’m still waiting, theo2016. You’ve been so quick to point out everyone else’s inaccuracies in this thread except for your own, and you clearly have no problem stating your opinions as facts.
Those Braves teams won a million division titles though. Even the Cubs would kill to be in a position like that every year.
Diamondbacks and Marlins are examples of teams with pitching that shut down the big hitting Yankees. Cubs got shut down by great pitching in the NLCS btw…
Anyway, dynasties are so rare- you can’t really point to them and say that they have the only winning formula. Let the Cubs win something before you try to point to them as a model.
I sleep from time to time king. Yes Underwood has hit 101 on multiple occasions this year, like I said the already excellent stuff had ticked up.
link to chicagonow.com
That’s him hitting 99, I’m too lazy to find the 100.
The cubs will be in that position every year though. I’m sorry we aren’t 10 years in to their rebuild to show you but rizzo, bryant, russell, almora, schwarber, contreras, soler, baez, rondon, edwards have at least 5 years together after this season. All thru arb or rizzos ridiculously team friendly contract. Lester is also signed for another 5, zobrist another 3. They return everyone but fowler and a couple of the lower end bullpen guys. Every team in baseball wants to be in,the cubs position, the best team in baseball that Did it without trading away any of their minor league talent. Keith law ranked their system 4th even after graduating 4! Top 25 prospects last year.
Building a franchise is not a year to year thing, so judging a team (mets, cubs, etc) based on the results of the past year or two is not a very effective metric. Ask any GM which MLB staff they’d want for the next 4-5 years and I’d be shocked if the Mets didn’t get a majority of the votes. As for franchise depth, Theo has done a hell of a job for the Cubbies and I think they are going to be contenders for the next 5+ years.
As for the draft, I’d still draft high upside arms in the first couple of rounds and position players in mid to late rounds. There have been some good articles recently talking about where top pitchers come from, and they are overwhelmingly represented in the first round of the draft and more recently from the international market.
Mike does not grasp the fact the cubs have the number one pitching staff.
10/12/14 SF Giants were built with homegrown pitching.
You could just as easy buy pitching like the Cubs did
you won’t know how well anyone did for another 3-5 years. no reason for anyone feel elated or depressed. I remember how high people were for Todd Van Poppel. 401 players were selected before the Cards picked Albert Pujols.
Omg, a Todd Van Poppel reference. I love it.
Amazing that a month ago Lewis, Puk and Groome were all the rage, now none of them are top 5.
Would be so cool if the Phillies could get Rutherford in the 2nd, and Funkhouser in the 3rd.
Sox are gonna take Rutherford
A’s fans must be feeling good to get Puk, the #1 for most of the last year with only some weird “innings problem” dropping him to them. Could have been on the coaches not sending him out for more, could just be a minor control thing, his tape looked incredible, he just looks like a star pitcher already.
His control is his issue. He has issues just finding the zone.
I am quite shocked he fell to the A’s, good for them!
I don’t think his control thing is minor, he has a bb/9 right around 4. There is a reason he has pitched fewer innings than his rotation mates.
I am okay with Ian Anderson. The comps are to Jacob DeGrom and seems like he has a very fluid delivery. I think they made a deal to sign for lower than slot so they can can over with their picks at 40 and 44.
Degrom ended up getting tommy John like 2 months after he was drafted.
Well then he is a Brave for sure, haha.
And he’s a pretty good pitcher. Must you downplay every team that isn’t the Cubs?
Well it’s not a secret why Preller took Quantril. He’s a good talent arm coming off tjs who is going to sign a way below slot contract which allots more money for the rest of the picks to follow. The 8th pick comes with $3,630,900 slot value, doubt he signs anything about 2.5mill, more likely 2 million or less coming off tjs. Which leaves 1.1 million or more for other picks
Braves draft just fell apart. This sucks. Terrible, terrible draft.
Braves will target Perez at 40. That will give them 2 top 15 talents.
Nope
Heard the reason Braves draft Anderson because they thought groome would drop to 40 if this is true .they now look like idiots because he just got draft bye Red Sox
Though doubtful, remember teams can trade prospects at anytime now (Swanson). Red Sox are in win now mode, a deal could be made! Lol.. Prob. A pipe dream!
Hope that’s what they do. This draft is just terrible for ATL.
The red sox are not as stupid as the dbacks were, they won’t get anything as close as what they got for Miller for Teheran
I have faith in the plan.. It sucks right now. I watch every game.. I know we need hitting but with mets/nats/Marlins young good teams, BRAVES need to put a pitching pipeline in place.. They will get some hitters. Freeman has to much rest on just him right now and the team knows it. They will get him 2 bats to go with Albies/Swanson/smith..
I have to admit I wasn’t thrilled with the Braves first round pick, but how can you call it a terrible draft for Atlanta whenever they haven’t even made their second selection yet?
how can you call it “terrible” before one player has played even one game in the minors?
Braves looking worse of benson just got drafted bye Indians
Bro, learn English.
Hate to admit it but it seems like the Red Sox always manage to get good players without being top 5 on the draft, I was really hoping he would fall to 18 :/
Strange how Catcher’s being drafted aren’t expected to remain catchers, but you look at the best teams the Giants and Cardinals and now the Royals they all have one thing in common for the bulk of it a really good Catcher. With all the extra stats that scouts can view Catchers impact on the game with like Pitch framing, I’m surprised Defensive/Game caller catchers have not grown in value. Maybe they are simply rare now a days.
Well, I think complete catchers are very rare, but teams probably feel they can get a project able catcher with good defensive skills a little later on.
I’d guess probably a run on them in the 2nd-3rd round.
Is there a consensus top 1 or 2 glove first catchers in this draft?
Forrest Whitley is a beast. Great local pick for the Astros.
First reaction was wow, the Mariners got a steal with Lewis at 11. We will see how it all plays out, seems like a tough year to judge, with no can’t miss players. Like what I hear about the Twins pick, they love toolsy prep outfielders.
I agree, I thought they got very good value at 11. Hopefully he doesn’t implode like many of their other picks.
Could the Cardinal’s pickup of Delvin Perez spell the end of Kolten Wong in St. Louis? Do you think the Cardinals can now package Wong for a Starter or a Reliever? Might be too early to predict since Delvin is only 17 years-old and has a couple years before he makes it onto the big league club.
Yeah like 5 years…
Might be? Wong’s contract will be up and Diaz will be entering free agency before this kid is ready most likely.
Braves will end up signing Kevin Maitan and with dansby and all the other pitching they have in the minors they should be contenders for the next decade
What pitching…? Allard is the only legit potential frontline starter and an early timetable on him would be 2019, he also already had back surgery. There is pitching and then quality pitching.
Newcomb? Blair? Touki?
No. Touki is not even a prospect anymore. Blair has average starter upside…upside. Newcombs lack of control and quality secondaries will end up forcing him to the bullpen. If they were contending he would have already began transitioning to the pen. Right now he is surviving on a low homer rate, if their was an xfip for the minors you would start to see how over rated he is.
Touki is the braves 6th best prospect in mlb.com so he is definitely still a prospect. Braves wouldn’t have given up Simmons if they thought newcomb would be a bullpen peace and I think there scouts know more than you.
Piece*
There scouts? You mean their scouts? Yes mlb.com is the worst source of scouting info. They take years to remove first round picks from lists. He is walking a ton and not striking out anyone despite his fastball and curve flashing 65’s, it’s a ball, guys with 2 average pitches can get 8k’s per nine.
Yes I meant their lol. And mlb.com does seem to have old rankings, but baseball America has touki as 90th overall, allard as 84th, Blair at 60th, and newcomb at 24 as of February. Plus whatever Anderson ends up doing, your telling me braves have no good pitching prospects?
Because he still flashes 2 65 pitches, but he is failing in a ball again against inferior competition. He won’t be on any lists come midseason. Blair was ranked for floor but he hasn’t handled the jump well and it looks like the lack of a plus pitch is coming back to bite him. Newcomb is basically cj Edwards with a better frame but worse secondaries. Because they are a last place team he is still starting but again if this is a contender he would be heading to the bullpen. His last game was the first time he’s ever not walked anyone in his pro career… First! He also gave up the most hits of his career, he’s just always going to struggle with walks.
I’m not sold on the Braves landing Maitan. There are other teams that can afford to spend more money who aren’t blocked from international signing. I’ve read the rumors that the Braves have an agreement with him, but money talks.
Ha. Jon isn’t sold! Guess Braves won’t get Maitan!! Lol.. Don’t forget Fried, Simms, Sorako and Jenkins.. Oh Wisler seems pretty good too.. And the Teheran guy! Not to mention the first 3 draft picks tonight!! I love the haters..
Oh you got me wrong man, I’m a Braves fan and not a hater. I guess you should say I’m cautiously optimistic about it? I’d be thrilled if we get Maitan and he turns out to be everything we hoped, but I just don’t understand this handshake agreement thing. What’s to stop, say the Phillies, from coming in and offering millions more?
Jenkins was already moved to the bullpen… Yay love the ignorant braves fans.
Jenkins was moved to the pen because the team needs him in the BP right now at the major league level (cuz our pen sucks in case you didn’t know). It’s not a permanent move and has nothing to do with his ability as a starter.
My bad Jon, been dealing with no it all GM theo2016.. I know that could happen, I just have faith in the rebuilt plan..
I can assure you that isn’t the case. That’s just a g.m. not being an ahole and bashing a player publicly. You say it for the player and other teams to think you haven’t given up hope but in reality this is a last place team that wouldn’t move a guy they see as a starter to the pen to help them now and hurt his development.
The offers in the international market don’t go directly to the player, they’re done through a trainer or similar representative for that player. That rep usually has multiple players under him, so going back on a verbal agreement with an org for a bigger deal could hurt that man’s chances at landing lucrative deals for his other players and/or later on in future years. He would essentially be putting his livelihood at risk by burning bridges with scouts and organizations. Nothing could stop a team from trying to out bid a verbal/handshake agreement, but having to potentially overpay for a 16/17 year old is a hard sell to an owner.
As I said before, know it all Theo! What a tool. Wasn’t Samardzija drafted as a starter for a terrible Cubs team and then brought up as a relief pitcher? Yeah, teams never do that!!
See this is your dumb logic, he was brought up on a contender. That cubs team won the central his first year. Winning teams do this for pennant races, not last place teams.
No that wasn’t the official word on why Jenkins was moved to the bullpen. The braves do expect Jenkins to reach the majors more quickly as a reliever however. Jenkins has also been passed by because some of the other pitchers have surpassed him in the braves opinion (at least partially because of his failure to develop a good third pitch and relatively low strike out ability). They feel he will perform better in a reliever role where hitters don’t get multiple looks per game.
And by the way, the braves bullpen is far from being horrible. It fits statistically as more mediocre.
Was that the year the Cubs won the World Series?? Oh, wait!!
I agree with half of what you said. Its not anyone passing him, he was just always likely to end up here. He is very inconsistent and the pen was always a long term fit. They have no one in triple a ready so logically he would be given next crack but he’s basically a 2 pitch guy, so he can now try and tighten up his curve in hopes of being a set up guy.
Wisler seems pretty good too LOL, meanwhile he pitched to an xfip of 5.10 last year and has one of 4.76 this year. He’s overrated and has the stuff to be an ok #4, solid/good #5.
I understand the attitude against Braves not getting a bat, most picks take extreme development. Braves have a good amount of money to play with in International pool and money coming off the books. There will be money to pay pitching like Cubs have and a big bat.
Go dodgers lol
I sure hope that Cal Quantrill is healthy and proves to be a stud because I would have taken Jason Groome. We are on the Preller watch and counting……..
I don’t understand Hudson Sanchez at 24. We could have picked much later in the draft. The Preller watch continues…….
I haven’t seen much talk about Moniak going 1-1