Schuerholz Interview

Baseball Prospectus Radio had a nice interview with Braves GM John Schuerholz this morning posted on their web site. Anyone who has read Scout's Honor will be interested in what he had to say with regards to draft strategy and payroll.

Interestingly, the Braves chose a college pitcher this year in the first round with the 27th pick (35 of their 52 picks were pitchers and only 19 of the 52 were college players, just five from division I schools), something that they wouldn't typically do. Their pick was right-hander Joe Devine out of North Carolina State who was promoted to AA Mississippi a few days ago. Shuerholz mentioned that he is definitely in the plans for next season in the closer role. Of course, one of the advantage of drafting college players is the potential for a quick return on the investment at the major league level. It seems that more and more teams might be adopting this strategy with relief pitchers especially although when asked about it Schuerholz denied that they had in any substantial way changed their overall approach to the draft. Very interesting stuff.