Introducing Braves Prospects, a newsletter for Atlanta's farm system
Welcome to Braves Prospects, a newsletter dedicated to covering the Atlanta Braves minor league system.
This newsletter is authored by me, David Lee. I’ve covered the Braves system for much of my life both independently and for Baseball Prospectus, where I was a prospect writer and evaluator for the past six years. I was also a baseball writer for a newspaper in Augusta, Ga., where I covered the Braves part-time, a minor league team full-time, and also had experience covering a Rose Bowl, a college football national championship and many Masters among other events. I’ve proudly built a following and reputation from the public and those within the industry based on my time in clubhouses and behind home plate, developing contacts and learning from a wide array of baseball minds.
Writing was my first passion, but countless days and nights behind home plate and in clubhouses made me realize a strength I had in player evaluation. I played baseball in high school and club ball in college, but I developed my eye for the game while sitting with scouts and talking to lifers over the course of several years.
Evaluating players is far from a perfect science. I’ve missed on my fair share of players. I was also one of the first on Ronald Acuña Jr. by putting a 70 overall grade on him after a couple weeks with Low-A Rome (which now seems conservative). I saw Mike Soroka as at least a mid-rotation lock while he was 18 years old. I gave a similar grade to Max Fried when he was with Rome. After one series with Drew Waters in Rome, I saw a solid everyday major league outfielder. Going back even further on the ladder, I tabbed current Georgia standout Emerson Hancock as a potential No. 1 overall pick when he was a freshman. He’s now ranked first on some 2020 draft boards.
I’m now ready to make the leap into new territory by taking the reins on my own project, which will allow me to share my evaluations and knowledge with the public through the means of an email newsletter and website.
The newsletter will go to inboxes three days a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) for paid subscribers at $7 per month or $70 for a year. The subscription provides access to every newsletter post each week and the full archive of posts on the website. A brief rundown of what can be expected:
Season preview material includes extensive spring training live looks and reports, positional breakdowns, state of the system series, draft review.
Weekly in-season coverage includes notes on live looks, video observations, news, transaction roundups, mailbag, podcast, feature stories.
Monthly coverage includes updated pref list, official 20-80 scouting reports.
Coverage continues into the offseason with season recaps, updates on instructs, Arizona Fall League and winter leagues.
An annual ebook will go out to paid subscribers in December with an end-of-season pref list, full scouting reports and more coverage.
Subscribing provides the support to make this coverage happen, especially the live looks at spring training and throughout the season that are invaluable to evaluation. Nothing can take the place of a live look at a player in writing up reports. Anyone can watch a MiLB feed and write about a player, but I pride myself on basing notes and reports on live looks to cover every possible angle and compile the best picture of that player.
Not all content will sit behind a paywall. Free subscribers will have access to occasional posts that include news, notes, some season preview material and other features to give readers a look into what this newsletter offers. Paid subscribers will have the benefit of a pref list with rolling updates and official scouting reports to get the most in-depth information on the Braves system.
Content will begin Feb. 14 and preview material will run through the rest of the month and throughout March, including spring training reports that you won’t find anywhere else. In-season weekly coverage will kick off minor league opening day in April.
I hope that you join me on this ride as I work to provide the most in-depth coverage of the Braves farm system. Nowhere else will you find a website or newsletter so dedicated to this system. If you have questions, I can be contacted @David11Lee on Twitter.
David, I've followed you on Twitter and BPro for quite a while now. I'm ecstatic that you are now focusing solely on the Braves minor leagues. You've got an instant subscriber in me. Thanks for undergoing this large endeavor!