A look back at the Braves' picks in previous Drafts

This story was excerpted from Mark Bowman’s Braves Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

You remember the four players the Braves selected during the 2020 MLB Draft, which was shortened to five rounds because of the COVID-19 epidemic?

Well, their first selection (Jared Shuster) has made nine big league starts this year. Their second selection (Jesse Franklin) enjoyed a three-homer game for Double-A Mississippi on Saturday. And their final two selections (Spencer Strider) and (Bryce Elder) became first-time All-Stars on Sunday.

“We know each other really well because there are just four of us from that Draft class,” Elder said. “So, it’s a lot of fun.”

With this year’s three-day MLB Draft beginning Sunday night, this seems to be an appropriate time to look at the Braves' recent hauls.

2015: This was John Coppolella’s first year as general manager and Brian Bridges’ first year to be in charge of the team’s Draft. Coppolella made some trades that provided the Braves five of the top 75 overall picks. Those selections were Kolby Allard (14th), Michael Soroka (28th), Austin Riley (41st), Lucas Herbert (60th) and A.J. Minter (75th).

Allard was used to acquire reliever Chris Martin from the Rangers in 2019 as the Braves effectively rebuilt their bullpen with two months remaining in the season. Allard returned to Atlanta in a November 2022 trade and was recently reunited with Soroka in the rotation. Riley is an two-time All-Star and Minter is one of the game’s top relievers. Herbert was Allard’s high school catcher. He was never viewed as anything more than incentive for Allard to sign.

2016: Ian Anderson has been the only selection of this Braves class with extended success at the big league level. But five other picks, including Kyle Muller and Bryse Wilson, have pitched in the Majors.

2017: Kyle Wright was last year’s only 20-game winner.

2018: The Carter Stewart Draft was one to forget.

2019: This was Atlanta's first Draft overseen by Dana Brown, who has since been hired for the Astros’ GM job because of the great success he had with the Braves. This was the year the Braves took Shea Langeliers, who was the centerpiece of the offer for Matt Olson, and Michael Harris II, who is the reigning National League Rookie of the Year.

2020: Strider (5.3) and Elder (4.3) have produced the two highest bWARs (Baseball-Reference’s Wins Above Replacement Model) from this Draft. They were taken in the fourth and fifth rounds, respectively. The only other player from that year’s Draft with a bWAR above 2.0 is the Angels’ Reid Detmers (3.5).

2021: Third-round selection Dylan Dodd and seventh-round selection AJ Smith-Shawver have made starts for Atlanta this year. Dodd was taken with the knowledge he would take an under-slot bonus that helped created the flexibility to influence Smith-Shawver, who chose a significantly above-slot bonus over the chance to play quarterback at Texas Tech.

Here are a few things to know about the Braves regarding this year’s Draft:

Day 1 picks: No. 24, No. 59 and No. 70 (compensation for Dansby Swanson signing with the Cubs)
Bonus pool information: The Braves have $8,341,700 to divvy up among the players they take through the Draft’s first 10 rounds. This is the ninth-lowest total among MLB teams.
Where to watch: The first two rounds will be shown on MLB Network and MLB.com beginning Sunday at 7 p.m. ET.