Your Bearded Draft Preview

Tomorrow night at 6 ET Stephen Strasburg will become a very rich man. That is, of course, unless Scott Boras deems the Nationals unworthy of this particular incarnation of the "once in a lifetime" prospect. As for the Braves, they have the 7th overall pick, their highest since 1991 when they selected Mike Kelly second overall. Kelly went on to hit .241 in 327 major league game, just one example of how difficult the MLB draft is to project.

After the 7th pick, the Braves don't draft again until 87th overall. The Capital Avenue Club says that Wren and Co. have made it known that they plan to select a pitcher with the first pick, only slightly narrowing the field. They lay out four players that might be available at 7: Tyler Matzek (the dream pick), Zack Wheeler (the logical pick), Shelby Miller (the flamethrower), and Alex White (the UNC kid). The CAC is hoping for Matzek, but projecting the Braves to take Wheeler, the local product.

The best high school position player in this year's draft is Donavan Tate, son of former UGA and NFL running back Lars Tate. A 6'3'' outfielder with good power and plus speed, he has committed to playing football at UNC and is represented by Scott Boras. The football scholarship and his choice is representation are a little worrisome, so the guys at Chop-n-Change doubt the Braves will gamble on him. Most of the mock drafts around have the Braves drafting one of these five. Finally, the guys at Talking Chop take a look back at the Braves's 2008 draft, when, as usual, we hoarded high school pitchers early.

- Had to throw this in (via Get The Picture)... Hilarious.