{"id":318440,"date":"2025-11-28T10:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T10:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/318440\/"},"modified":"2025-11-28T10:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T10:40:09","slug":"10-absolute-worst-draft-picks-in-atlanta-braves-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/318440\/","title":{"rendered":"10 absolute worst draft picks in Atlanta Braves history"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Atlanta Braves have had a long history of strong draft picks. Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, Chipper Jones, and Jason Heyward all landed on the club through the draft. However, not every selection<\/a> has been a hit. Here are the 10 worst draft picks in Braves history.<\/p>\n

Here are the worst draft picks in Braves history<\/p>\n

1. Tim Cole, #4 overall pick, 1977<\/p>\n

On the bright side, if the Braves were looking for left-handed pitching, there wasn\u2019t much available outside of Tim Cole. However, Cole never made it to the Majors while Hall of Famers Ozzie Smith and Tim Raines were left on the board until the fourth and fifth round, respectively. All this while the big league club limped to 101-loss season.<\/p>\n

2. Carter Stewart, #8 overall pick, 2018<\/p>\n

One of the top prep stars of his class, right-hander Carter Stewart opted not to sign with the Braves who had offered Stewart a below-slot bonus due to an injury. Stewart made his way to Japan<\/a>, and the Braves lost out on a top pick.<\/p>\n

3. Mike Kelly, #2 overall pick, 1991<\/p>\n

The sixth straight Top 10 pick for the Braves (and third Top 2 pick), outfielder Mike Kelly came on the heels of Chipper\u2019s selection in 1990. His big bat had won admirers during his time at Arizona State University, and he picked up the Braves\u2019 first signing bonus to exceed $500,000. Unfortunately, he failed to live up to the hype and played just 326 games in the Majors.<\/p>\n

4. Jamie Arnold, #21 overall pick, 1992<\/p>\n

At least the Braves didn\u2019t miss out on Derek Jeter in this draft. Still Jamie Arnold\u2019s potential never materialized, and Atlanta released him in 1998. He did finally make the Majors with the Dodgers the next year.<\/p>\n

5. Curtis Moore, #7 overall pick, 1968<\/p>\n

Like Cole, outfielder Curtis Moore never made the bigs, but this pick is worse in context. The Braves passed up Gary Matthews, but Ted Turner later got his man\u2026 through tampering<\/a>. Turner was suspended for one year, which was reduced on appeal, but the scandal gave the franchise a bit of a black eye.<\/p>\n

6. Jason Hursh, #31 overall pick, 2013<\/p>\n

Imagine the early 2020s Braves lineup with Aaron Judge hitting cleanup. The idea isn\u2019t so farfetched. Unfortunately, Atlanta selected pitcher Jason Hursh while Judge came off the board<\/a> with the next pick.<\/p>\n

7. Kolby Allard, #14 overall pick, 2015<\/p>\n

The Braves\u2019 run of success in the 2010s kept the team\u2019s picks toward the bottom of the draft list. However, when Atlanta finally got a shot at a top player, the club botched it. Allard started just three games for the Braves before being traded for Jake Odorizzi. Walker Buehler was drafted 10 picks later.<\/p>\n

8. Jay Roberts, #12 overall pick, 1981<\/p>\n

There weren\u2019t too many better options for the Braves to select in 1981. Just three players, all of whom were selected before outfielder Jay Roberts, made an All-Star Game. Still, Roberts never made it above Class A ball and tragically died in a car accident at the age of 35.<\/p>\n

9. Aaron Herr, #40 overall pick, 2000<\/p>\n

The Braves had already had a good day thanks to snagging pitcher Adam Wainwright at #29 and shortstop Kelly Johnson at #38. Fellow shortstop Aaron Herr failed to pan out. The Braves lost him in the Rule 5 Draft, but Herr never made the big leagues despite being a Triple-A All-Star with the Reds\u2019 affiliate in 2007.<\/p>\n

10. Braden Shewmake, #21 overall pick, 2019<\/p>\n

It\u2019s probably safe to say at this point that infielder Braden Shewmake is a bust<\/a>. He appeared in two games for the Braves and is now a farmhand for the Yankees. The real regret for the Braves, though, is that Gunnar Henderson, perhaps the best shortstop playing today, was drafted in the second round.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Atlanta Braves have had a long history of strong draft picks. Dale Murphy, Bob Horner, Chipper Jones,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318441,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-318440","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-mlb","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318440"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318440\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}