https://www.milb.com/milb/news/braves-prospect-primer-rebuild-blooms/c-269262694
Full-season debutant: Kyle Wright, RHP
Already boasting the Minors' best stable of arms, the Braves could have been forgiven for looking elsewhere with the fifth overall pick last June. Instead, they went the always advisable route of taking the best player available, picking Wright out of Vanderbilt and signing him for $7 million.
Atlanta was cautious with the 6-foot-4 right-hander, giving him only 17 innings in the Minors last summer, but they pushed him to Class A Advanced Florida for six starts. Wright, after all, had dominated quality competition with a 121/31 K/BB ratio and 3.40 ERA in 103 innings at Vandy, thanks to an arsenal that features a mid-90s fastball, two plus breaking pitches and an impressive changeup. The Braves continue to get semi-aggressive with him in 2018, with Chiti noting Double-A is "probably the best place" to begin his first full season. (Even fellow Vandy product Dansby Swanson began his first full season at Class A Advanced for 21 games before making the jump to the Southern League.) The focus will be on getting Wright used to pitching in a professional rotation every fifth or sixth day rather than once a week, but hopes are high that he has the potential to move quickly up the chain, even if the front office pumps the brakes a bit.
"Kyle's another gifted guy, not only physically but mentally," Chiti said. "You look at the age and think, 'Oh, we may have to do this, we may have to do that.' Kyle will determine his pace. Instead of thinking there's some plan we have to stick to, if we watch, Kyle will tell us when he's ready to move. Is there a direct plan that we have to him here by this date? No. We'll watch and push him from there."
Full-season debutant: Kyle Wright, RHP
Already boasting the Minors' best stable of arms, the Braves could have been forgiven for looking elsewhere with the fifth overall pick last June. Instead, they went the always advisable route of taking the best player available, picking Wright out of Vanderbilt and signing him for $7 million.
Atlanta was cautious with the 6-foot-4 right-hander, giving him only 17 innings in the Minors last summer, but they pushed him to Class A Advanced Florida for six starts. Wright, after all, had dominated quality competition with a 121/31 K/BB ratio and 3.40 ERA in 103 innings at Vandy, thanks to an arsenal that features a mid-90s fastball, two plus breaking pitches and an impressive changeup. The Braves continue to get semi-aggressive with him in 2018, with Chiti noting Double-A is "probably the best place" to begin his first full season. (Even fellow Vandy product Dansby Swanson began his first full season at Class A Advanced for 21 games before making the jump to the Southern League.) The focus will be on getting Wright used to pitching in a professional rotation every fifth or sixth day rather than once a week, but hopes are high that he has the potential to move quickly up the chain, even if the front office pumps the brakes a bit.
"Kyle's another gifted guy, not only physically but mentally," Chiti said. "You look at the age and think, 'Oh, we may have to do this, we may have to do that.' Kyle will determine his pace. Instead of thinking there's some plan we have to stick to, if we watch, Kyle will tell us when he's ready to move. Is there a direct plan that we have to him here by this date? No. We'll watch and push him from there."
