Here are some links from around the web about the Atlanta Braves draft picks. At the bottom are some early reactions from prospect folks about the Braves draft.
Talking Chop's review of the Braves first round pick, Mike Minor
Talking Chop's review of the Braves second round pick, David Hale
Talking Chop's recap of the Braves 2009 draft: Day 2, Part 1
Talking Chop's recap of the Braves 2009 draft: Day 2, Part 2
Draft Reactions Around the Blogosphere
Beyond the Box Score does a fantastic job of collecting links on reviews of the draft for every team, and then some.
Local story about our fourth-round pick Mycal Jones
I love local stories about draftees. It's a good omen to be named Jones and get drafted by the Braves.
Another local story about of fifth-round pick Thomas Berryhill
Apparently this relief prospect got his fastball up to 99mph this spring.
The AJC recaps the draft
Some interesting info, and a short story.
Mark Bowman runs down every pick on day 2
A nice synopsis of each pick, and a good complement to my synopsis of each pick (linked above).
No Minor Selection
Baseball America's Bill Ballew reviews the Braves first and second round selections.
Keith Law does not like the way the Braves draft has gone:
I'd love to know what happened in Atlanta to change its scouting philosophy; this is a team that would typically shy away from college players in general and college pitchers in particular, and the Braves went as college-heavy as any team, including taking a low-ceiling college arm in Mike Minor with the seventh overall pick in the draft. They took Princeton's David Hale at 87; Hale has a good arm but mediocre command and wasn't that successful in getting Ivy League hitters out, which is a big red flag for someone who can sit at 92-94 mph. Their third pick was Mycal Jones, a short (listed at a generous 5-10) and slight (165 pounds) shortstop from Miami-Dade JC who can run but plays out of control at the plate and in the field. They didn't take a high school player until the 10th round; last year, they started out with three prep arms and took only one player from a four-year college in the top 10 rounds. Money could be part of the explanation, but not all of it.
Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus had this to say about our first round pick, Mike Minor:
KG Says: "The Braves take Minor. It's indefensible. You don't want to take a high school kid, that's cool. You think he's better than Alex White, who I'm not even that high on, and you're nuts. Number Seven picks who profile as Number Four starters make no sense."
Quotable: "(Minor's) stuff, as you may have heard before: good command of a low-90s fastball, a PLUS change, and a solid developing curve. The progression of the latter pitch is why scouts really liked him near the end of the season... The negatives on Minor is that he offers very little upside, what you see is what you get. (Vanderbilt Head Coach Tim) Corbin says Minor's camp thinks he's going to add some velocity, but it's a longshot. Instead, his focus has to be to keep the fastball down in the zone better, and to keep going with the curve. I think wood bats are really going to help him, because a player is much more confident throwing a change against wood."-Bryan Smith
A lot of people are saying "trust the Braves front office scouting and player development folks," and that this draft wasn't really as bad as it seemed. I think I can sum it up by saying that we didn't get anyone who blows your socks off in this draft. We got a lot of guys who will probably make the major leagues, but not a lot of guys who will have a real impact in the major leagues.
Combined Day 3 draft thread and afternoon Braves game open thread will be posted in an hour.