Yesterday, in two different articles here and here, I posted the top selections for the first 25 rounds of the draft. Almost as if by design, the MLB draft started last night as well. I'll let Gondeee provide you with solid scouting reports on the draftees for the Braves, but because I have access to Baseball-Reference and I like taking a look back, here's the rest of the rounds and the best players selected in those rounds (that signed with the Braves). Since we're deep into the draft, there will be many rounds that come up empty. Many of these rounds aren't even used anymore or were only used in select years.
69th Round to 54th Round - Nobody
53rd Round - Marcus Giles
I was a big fan of Giles when he got to the bigs and briefly there, he was a real force. Unfortunately, it did not last long and his own personal demons didn't help matters.
52nd Round to 49th Round - Nobody
48th Round - Jason Shiell (1995)
Though drafted by the Braves, he would finish his major league run with the Braves after debuting with the Padres in '02 and pitching (badly) for the Red Sox in '03. Things were so bad for the Braves in 2006 that Shiell pitched in four games with three starts. It was ugly. Shiell had been earlier traded to the Padres in a trade involving five major league talents.
47th Round - Roe Skidmore (1966)
The first 47th pick by Atlanta, Skidmore had a great name and finished his career with a 1.000 batting average. He appeared in one game for the Cubs in 1970 and singled off Jerry Reuss of the Cardinals. SABR has a nice profile on him in case you would like to read more.
46th Round - Darrell May (1992)
A soft-tossing lefty, May pitched in two games with the Braves in 1995. After the Braves waived him, he would pitch six more years in the majors with five other teams, though he got most of his experience in the majors with the Royals from 2002-04. His final year included 31 starts and a 9-19 record, which is bad even if you accept win-loss record doesn't have a lot of meaning.
45th Round - Brad Voyles (1998)
Nearly three years after joining the system, Voyles was traded to the Royals for Rey Sanchez. He would appear in 40 games over the next three seasons with the Royals with a sparklng 6.45 ERA.
44th Round to 40th Round - Nobody
39th Round - Mike Mahoney (1995)
Spent part of four years in the system before moving on and getting time in the bigs during 2000, 2002, and 2005 with the Cubs and Cardinals as a backup catcher.
38th Round to 34th Round - Nobody
34th Round is the earliest round where the Braves haven't drafted a single player to make it to the majors. Other rounds that follow had a player or two that did make it to the majors, but after re-entering the draft and being drafted elsewhere.
33rd Round - Tyler Flowers (2005)
Flowers is enjoying his seventh year in the majors and Fangraphs gives him a career WAR of 3. Baseball-Reference has him at 3.6. Either way, hard to imagine why he got over 400 plate appearances last year.
32nd Round - Nick Green (1998)
Green arrived in 2004 and was a pretty decent backup infielder. After the year, the Braves took advantage of a bad Tampa Bay front office and got Jorge Sosa for him and Sosa was pretty solid...until he remembered who he was.
31st Round - Nobody
30th Round - Jonny Venters (2003)
Sure, his arm is broken now, but we are still talking about a guy who has a 2.23 ERA in 230 career games. It's a shame he couldn't stay healthy - especially considering how much this current bullpen could use him.
29th Round - Adam LaRoche (2000)
For everything LaRoche wasn't and how replaceable he always seemed, he has had a pretty good career.
28th Round - Nobody
27th Round - Mark Lemke (1983)
The Lemmer will forever be remembered for saving his best for the postseason. A career .246 hitter, Lemke hit .272 in October, including .417 against the Twins in the 1991 World Series. Sadly, his last postseason at-bat was a pop-up to end the 1996 Series.
26th Round - Dusty Baker (1967)
Before he was ruining the talented arms of major league pitchers, Baker was a young outfielder who appeared in the majors a year after he was drafted. He spent his first eight years in Atlanta, though only the last four were as a full-time player.
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