State Of The System: Changes In Scouting And Development
A couple themes for the Braves through the 1990s and early 2000s were winning and consistency. There were constants throughout the organization, from the winning product on the field to the familiar faces in the front office and scouting and development staffs.
The past decade has brought the Braves closer to a more modern baseball franchise in terms of turnover, marked by hirings and firings and reassignments (and scandal). While the top of the front office has experienced more consistency lately with Alex Anthopoulos providing a strong, constant presence, and subsequently a title promotion and extension, there have been the typical moves below that come with a change in general manager.
Atlanta has been feeling out its scouting and development since Anthopoulos was hired, with various additions, subtractions and reassignments, and that took an even bigger step in 2019. Popular scouting director Brian Bridges was fired and replaced by Dana Brown, a longtime friend and front office mate of Anthopoulos, in January 2019. Amateur scouting has understandably seen some changes since, including most recently the addition of former manager John Gibbons as a sort of crosschecker/evaluator.
A sign of a new feel to the scouting department came this past June when the Braves took a different route to the draft, going heavy on high-floor college products with many of their early picks and high-risk ceiling prep types on overslot deals later. Some of that was out of necessity to get an infusion of ceiling in the lower levels of the system, the result of a top-heavy system and lack of lower-level depth from the sanctions. But it showed a different approach to the draft for the organization.
Another difference came in development. Dom Chiti was reassigned from his role as director of player development and assistant A.J. Scola was let go. Ben Sestanovich was hired as assistant general manager with an emphasis on player development, essentially becoming director. Sestanovich was most recently director for the Padres system, which is ranked first in the game by many outlets. The Harvard product has also been an advance scout and assistant director of player development in San Diego.
These types of moves have ripple effects through the departments to include on-field staff and coordinators.
Damon Berryhill returns as Triple-A Gwinnett’s manager and Mike Maroth returns as pitching coach. Carlos Mendez and Alfredo Amezaga moved up from Double-A Mississippi to be Gwinnett’s hitting coach and coach, respectively.
Chris Maloney returns as Mississippi’s manager but the rest of the staff was in different places last year. David Chavarria is pitching coach, Einar Diaz moves from Gwinnett to be hitting coach, and Nestor Perez is a coach after managing the GCL Braves last season.
Class-A Advanced Florida’s staff remains largely the same. Barrett Kleinknecht returns as manager, Dan Meyer as pitching coach, Danny Santiesteban as hitting coach (and moving up the system quickly) and Porky Lopez as coach.
At Low-A Rome, Matt Tuiasosopo returns as manager, joined by Kanekoa Texeira as pitching coach, Mike Bard as hitting coach and Wigberto Nevarez as coach.
Rookie-level Danville will see a new face in manager Michael Saunders, joined by Connor Narron as hitting coach and Angel Flores as coach. Anthony Nunez moved from Danville to the GCL as manager, joined by Elvin Nina as pitching coach and Bobby Moore and Omar Rosario as hitting coaches. Jefferson Romero will also be a coach on the complex.
The coordinator staff saw turnover, which isn’t a surprise with changes at the top of the department. Doug Mansolino returns as field coordinator. Paul Davis replaces longtime coach Derrick Lewis as pitching coordinator. Mike Brumley returns as hitting coordinator. Bobby Magallanes was added as assistant hitting coordinator. JD Closser replaces Jeff Datz as catching coordinator.
The changes followed an odd period for Atlanta’s development that saw different philosophies on-field and in assignments. The most obvious was aggressively assigning prospects to higher levels.
There are different reasons for player assignments, some of which are not obvious on the field or in numbers. Without that context, it’s difficult and perhaps unfair to evaluate assignments after the fact. However, some appeared to be ultra aggressive or inconsistent.
One of the most notable cases was William Contreras, the top Braves catching prospect and a top 100 candidate entering 2019. The Braves had Contreras focus on improving his defense, which flashed impressive raw tools but needed molding. He rightfully returned to Class-A Advanced Florida to begin the season and struggled at times making adjustments at the plate, hitting .263/.324/.368. The Braves had him make one of the most difficult promotions in pro ball by going to Double-A. He held his own at times and flashed his explosive tools but was mostly susceptible to the advanced pitching, hitting .246/.306/.340. He did make strides defensively and continues to project as an above-average defender with a plus arm, positives to take from a tough season, but the move to Mississippi was a significant challenge.
Atlanta’s third-round pick this past June, outfielder Michael Harris, was rewarded for a strong 31-game debut in the Gulf Coast League with an assignment to Low-A Rome to finish the year. An initial evaluation of Harris at Rome showed a raw prep product who was best left in the GCL or moved to short-season Danville instead of making the tough jump to Rome. He was often between pitches and struggled hitting through the ball at that point in the season. The tools are certainly there, so much so that you can squint and see a Drew Waters-type profile if it comes together. It’s going to be a longer path with more adjustments for Harris, though, and there needs to be patience in his assignments.
A lesser-known example of aggressiveness was Darling Florentino, who started the 2019 season at 17 years old in Rome without the slightest hint that he was ready for a full-season debut. Florentino is an extremely raw corner slugger with huge aggressiveness at the plate who will need a lot of development time to have a chance. He failed to keep his head above water in 36 games and was banished to the GCL afterward.
One could also point to the up/down assignments of the upper-level pitchers like Kyle Wright, Bryse Wilson and Touki Toussaint.
The Braves understandably showed faith in Wright early in the season – I had no problem with the rotation spot and there was a roster situation to sort out – and he struggled to take advantage. Rather than send him to Triple-A Gwinnett and let him work on command and feel in a consistent role, the Braves recalled him four times between May and September.
Evaluations on Wilson range quite a bit, but the Braves are giving him chances to be a major league starter. There were up and down outings for him in the majors last season, but he was also bounced back and forth. Perhaps the most obvious example of this was Toussaint, who never had a clear role all year and looked lost trying to find a comfort level.
Even Braden Shewmake, who’s quickly becoming a success story for Atlanta’s scouts as a future infield contributor after questions of a first-round reach, was given a super-aggressive promotion to Mississippi late in the year after tearing up Rome. Seeing Double-A pitching just weeks after playing in the SEC has the potential to be overwhelming even for a plus-potential hitter.
On the other hand, Kyle Muller was correctly kept at Mississippi to work on his command. Tucker Davidson was rightfully rewarded a spot at Gwinnett down the stretch. It was good to see Jasseel De La Cruz challenged in Double-A after proving his health. Trey Harris was rewarded for continuing to perform while Greyson Jenista was given the sink-or-swim option as an aging prospect. Victor Vodnik was handled well at Rome.
There are always going to be hit or miss player assignments. You can’t hit on them all when there are so many moving parts and factors to consider that don’t show up on stat lines or even in scouting reports. However, there appeared to be a trend in the assignments within the Braves system in 2019. It’s worth keeping an eye on this with changes in development.