A great article by a local news outlet about the only player the Braves drafted from Georgia, high school second baseman Zach Alvord. With talent that put him in the top-200 draft prospects, Alvord was not taken until the 18th-round by Atlanta, who want the opportunity to convince the powerful prospect to forgo a commitment to Auburn and sign with the Braves.
Some choice quotes from the article which is definitely worth reading:
John Alvord said that due to Zach’s guaranteed opportunity to play at Auburn, he had requested an unspecified signing bonus which his father described as "high."
"He was in a position that teams are going to have to buy him out of that college offer. That was by design by us. If he’s going to miss college ... he’s going to have to be paid for it," John Alvord said."We turned down several generous second round offers," the father added [...]
"At this point it’s completely up in the air. ... I’ve always watched the Braves and I’ve always watched Chipper. .. I might get the chance to go to the Braves and fill [an infield slot] ... It’s definitely a great opportunity," the younger Alvord said.
Zach (39 career home runs at South Forsyth) was the only one of 36 prospects to hit a home run in each round of batting practice at Turner Field during a private workout shortly before the draft, raising the possibility that Atlanta would spend an early pick on him.
His "signability" was not in the Braves plans for an early draft pick, but by wrapping up a bunch of early draft picks who are signable to reasonable slot-based bonuses the Braves may have some extra cash to spend on a prospect like Alvord. This kid has been compared to Gordon Beckham and Dustin Pedroia, and while those are obviously perfect world comparisons, the opportunity for Atlanta to go from no middle infield prospects to two the likes of Matt Lipka (their first-round selection this year) and Alvord and have them develop together as the double-play combination of the future is a very intriguing prospect.
If ever the Braves had extra draft cash laying around, it would be this year, when they don't have a true first-round pick. In comparison to bonuses paid out in recent years, Lipka was a bargain. That makes me wonder if Alvord is asking for more than Lipka got.
0 recs | 18 comments
Toss him the cash Bravos!!!
This kid is really good and I hope the Braves do everything they can to reel him in!
Jay212033 - June 10, 2010
He may be asking for the same or maybe a little more than Lipka
Jay212033 - June 10, 2010
if 2nd round money doesn’t do it, I don’t know if supplemental first round money will do it. He’s probably asking for upwards of a million
telemakhos - June 10, 2010
I'd do it.
Braves Biceps - June 10, 2010
Me too
Jay212033 - June 10, 2010
Worth?
Is he worth more than Sabol? I’d be shocked if we signed either of them.
BlueVol03 - June 10, 2010
Yep
That’s what I’ve been reading on other sites,it’s really unlikely we sign either of these guys.
LakersMania - June 10, 2010
with everyone else signing quickly...
and a deadline well after the international signing period starts, that gives us plenty of time to see just how much wiggle room is left in the budget to give these guys.
Mr. Sanchez - June 11, 2010
how much power potential does this kid really have?
UpstateNyBravesFan - June 10, 2010
Pedroia MVP season type power!
Jay212033 - June 10, 2010
so gondeee, here was your take Tuesday afternoon:
you gonna stick with that or offer us a new and different prognostication?
I say we get him signed.
fandave - June 10, 2010
I dunno.
Watching his swing on the ESPN he does have holes in it (looks a bit long and there’s a hitch at the beginning). If this can be ironed out, then great, but I think the Braves need to be absolutely sure they can iron the wrinkles before investing $500k+ to this guy.
soup du jour - June 10, 2010
I have the solution
Let Link Jarrett fix that swing.
AU_Jonesy - June 11, 2010
Just out of curiosity
What did we pay Salcedo when he signed? Like 800K?
Bronn - June 10, 2010
1.6 mil
telemakhos - June 10, 2010
will be worth every penny
jaypatel - June 10, 2010
So, I might be willing to go up to that much for the two overslot guys we’re looking at. Not each, but combined. Without a true first round pick we’ve got extra cash, and we’ll certainly use some internationally. You’d hate to throw a million dollars at every prospect who might be a tough sign because not all of them will work out, but the Braves could really use some more position prospects in the system. Even if they don’t pan out, graduating Heyward, Freeman, and presumably Schafer (again) pretty soon will deplete us of every solid bat we have on the farm.
Bronn - June 10, 2010
??????
I don’t follow the college and HS players that much that’s why I didn’t know nothing about our first pick.This young man played on the AFLAC Team I think which usually has pretty good players if I’m not mistaken.I’ve read he has turned down some good 2nd Round offers whether or not we are able to sign him remains to be seen.The Braves I’ve read loves his bat which from what I’ve read has pretty good power now and will get stronger.Lipka wasn’t in the scouting reports which they have on some of the players,the players who normally have these reports are pretty good prospects.When we made our pick I went straight to this scouting report page on MILB.com and didn’t see his name,so I didn’t know anything about him to get all that excited but with the reports on here and from Braves officals we got a pretty good prospect.
LakersMania - June 10, 2010
You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Talking Chop to post a comment.