The man behind Atlanta’s recent Draft success

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.

When evaluating who has positioned the Braves to possibly win a fifth consecutive National League East crown, you have to give a lot of credit to Dana Brown, who is in his fourth year as the team’s vice president of scouting.

After joining the Braves in 2019, Brown used the ninth overall pick in that year’s MLB Draft to take catcher Shea Langeliers, who was the key piece in the trade that netted the Braves eight years of Matt Olson. The veteran scout also took Michael Harris II with a third-round pick in 2019 and nabbed Spencer Strider in 2020’s fourth round.

Strider and Harris are two of the top candidates for the National League Rookie of the Year Award and Olson is bidding for an extra-base total that only Hank Aaron, Eddie Mathews and Chipper Jones have reached in Braves history.

So, there is certainly reason to be excited about what Brown might do during this year’s MLB Draft, which begins Sunday at 7 p.m. ET on MLB Network. The first day of the three-day event will include the Draft’s first two rounds. Rounds 3-10 will be completed Monday and rounds 11-20 will elapse on Tuesday.

Here are some key points regarding this year’s Braves Draft:

First pick and bonus slot: The Braves’ first pick will be the Draft’s 20th overall selection. The defending World Series champs traded three prospects, including Drew Waters, to the Royals in exchange for the 35th pick and the accompanying $2.2 million in bonus pool money. Atlanta’s bonus pool consists of $10,224,300, the game’s ninth-highest total.

Last three first picks: 2021, RHP Ryan Cusick; 2020, LHP Jared Shuster; 2019, C Shea Langeliers

Best pick of the last 10 years, per MLB Pipeline: 3B Austin Riley (41st overall pick in 2015)

With the bonus pool money gained from the Waters trade, Brown will have some more flexibility to possibly go over slot with either of his first two picks or a selection later in the Draft.

While many teams viewed Harris II as a pitcher, Brown was pretty sure the young outfielder from suburban Atlanta’s Stockbridge High School would be best utilized as an outfielder.

Harris II pitched just three innings before moving to the outfield during the initial high school game Brown attended. It didn’t take long for the veteran scout to be sold on the kid’s future as a position player.

“His whole energy level changed when he got to the outfield,” Brown said. “He was bouncing around. He was like, more excited. When he was pitching, it was good enough to be drafted. But I just didn't get the vibe that this was what he really wanted to do.”

As for Strider, he missed the 2019 season recovering from Tommy John surgery and totaled just 63 innings at Clemson. But Brown liked the velocity jump witnessed during the COVID-shortened 2020 season and opted to take a chance on the hard-throwing right-hander.

The Braves gained nearly immediate benefits with both selections.

Strider and Harris became key figures in Atlanta after just one full year of Minor League experience.