Show #483: David Lee of Braves Prospects

Welcome to Atlanta Baseball Talk, show number 483. Today's Thursday, September 17, 2020, my name is Steve. No hammy tonight, but I'm joined by Curtis. And before we start, folks, please help out the show by telling your friends, sharing links and writing reviews. All right, so tonight is another and our series of midweek shows we're doing, where we talk with our favorite braves, riders, and podcasters during

talk to you about how you got to where you are now. Like I discovered you on Twitter many years ago. When you were writing for the Augusta Chronicle, but I know you've done a ton of stuff over the past decade. So where did it all, where did writing about baseball start for you? Right. Yeah. So really it, it started around 13, 14 years old, just kind

of starting my own fan blog for about the braves and looking back now. Obviously it was pretty rough at that age, but what was it called? Braves Buzz. All right. Yeah. It was really just kind of get some thoughts out on some opinions, just a fan blog. And it kind of grew from there as far as my writing. I've kind of picked up writing pretty, pretty

easily at a young age. And I kind of always had a goal from that point to get into sports writing. And baseball being my strength since I grew up watching the game and playing it. That's really what I gravitated towards. So it grew from there. And the goal ended up being, I got a journalism degree and got into sports writing right out of college at the

Augusta Chronicle. It was a great opportunity for me there. Where I was able to cover the local minor league team, the Gus Green jackets. And it was also a given the opportunity to occasionally go up to Turner Field and cover some braves games. Got some experience in the past. I was a press box there in the clubhouse. And just all of that experience really was huge

for me as far as growing my baseball knowledge, as far as the in and out of everyday life and baseball. And also scouting to being at Green jackets games on a nightly basis. I kind of gravitated toward all the scouts behind home played. And that's where the scouting side of it really took off for me. Being able to talk to scouts and development. Guys and minorly

coaches on a daily basis that that was huge for my development as far as the scouting knowledge. So. Yeah. So were you literally like going down and sitting with the scouts and picking their brains and seeing what they were doing and all that. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's that like I said, that was huge for my my knowledge. There's really no way to to replace or to

get that sort of knowledge anywhere else. You know, be talking to you know scouts who've been doing it for years and years. And and development guys and minorly coaches. So. Okay. So you're at the Augusta Chronicle and you're writing about the Green jackets. So is baseball prospectus next? Yes, that's right. It it was actually during that that time. I was given the opportunity to do both.

And baseball prospectus was was something I did on the side where I was able to take advantage of all my time at moderately games and covered the South Atlantic League mostly, but was able to travel around get some some international league and Southern League games too. And just kind of like I said, continue to grow my my scouting knowledge. So covering, you know, prospects overall across

baseball where I was able to see and also kind of home a writing there to do some feature stories about prospects along with some scouting reports. So. So that was a did that for several years. And then I'm always I'll always be very grateful for for that opportunity that they gave me there. Yeah, was it good folks at baseball prospectus like anybody taking under their wing

and sort of help you along and the you know writing about baseball professionally. It was really a team effort there. Um I you know I'll always be grateful to Craig Goldstein. Um he's you know he was big as far as having my back throughout my time there and giving me every opportunity. Um to be successful there and and just all the guys really Jeffrey Jarrett everybody

there. Um just just for like I said, it was a team effort and it was it was great to be able to to help them out. Yeah, that's really cool. Um okay. So you're at the Augusta Chronicle and baseball prospectus and what happens from there. So as often happens with the people who are working at newspapers, they tend to start looking elsewhere after a while. Right.

Yeah, just with the future of the industry and everything. And so I ended up going outside of of the industry and I'm now on marketing as my full time job. And but that also I'm very very fortunate to still have the flexibility to be able to do what I do now. Um I felt that you know once I got into that sort of line of work

I was able to to finally do what I've been wanting to do for a while actually and that was get out on my own and start my own braves webs. I slash newsletter. So I took advantage of that flexibility and that opportunity and that's where bravesprospects.com came in about. That's been for anybody that doesn't know about it. Tell tell the folks that are listening about braves

prospects. When it started and what it is that you do there. Yeah. So it started at the beginning of this year. Um which looking back now the timing of that is great. But um but yeah, just uh. It's always been a goal for me like I said to get out on my own and cover the braves minor league system. Um. Just you know based on all

my following that I have from from you know covering braves prospects over the years and and of the knowledge that I have from from within the system. So. Um it's a it's a newsletter. So it's three days a week going to inboxes that you sign up for but it also feeds to a sub stack website. So I have the domain name of bravesprospects.com. Where I'll each

post it feeds to that website. And so you you can um subscribe there and it's both you know I have a free and subscription based model. Um so it's you know in a normal year I would be doing you know weekly scouting reports where I would go to be going to the games like normal and things like that and um. So just you know getting in

toward this this off season I'll still be doing the you know countdown um you know scouting reports each day leading up to number one and at the end of the year I'll do an ebook where I wrap up all the prospects and uh have all their scouting reports and into one tidy ebook. So just that's that's sort of work. So David if this was a normal

year let's hope you know next year's a normal year. Obviously. When that is close and Rome is close like would you be going there mostly would you be going to Mississippi? Good down to Florida? Like what what do you picture? How much in person are you doing? Yeah I mean that's what I really pride myself on is you know putting in the effort to to get

all of my reports based on you know seeing all these players with my own eyes. Um you know I will you know call up or or get in person views from from scouts and development guys and stuff like that. But for the most part I'm really you know relying on my own eyes and um that's where I'm going to be going. You know I would plan

I was planning on traveling to Gwenda Mississippi uh Florida really all of it. I was even planning to go to to spring training before it shut down uh to go to the backfield. So just all of that really you know any any opportunity that I had I was planning to be on the on the road either you know locally or as far as Mississippi and Florida

to be able to do this. Right. Um well that's great David. I mean what it's really a cool story um and how you've landed here. So so let's talk about the 2020 Braves and let's start with the the Major League club and Cole Hamils. So I'm sure you watched the game last night. Did you find any of what you saw from him last night hopeful for

the playoff run? Yeah I you know it's it's tough to say because you know it's it's basically you have to treat it as like his first spring training or just you know second or third spring training start where we just wanted to get in his work. I mean with a year off in between no less. Right yeah exactly. So just getting in the work really is

all that it's important right now and uh ramping up his his pitch count getting toward the playoffs. Um as far as this stuff goes I think it was fine. Um you know he kind of is what it is what he is at this point. He's not obviously not going to blow you away with Florida mid 90s stuff or anything like that. But I think there's still

enough separation there and um you know once he gets more innings under his belt more pitches I think the location uh will come around too. So um you know I think more than anything his strength is just that he's been there um you know he's a veteran he knows what it takes. Um so just you know just like I said just get more innings under his

belt and I think um the command will will get to where it needs to be by that time. Yeah. So you recently wrote um Apparates prospects about a potential change for the Braves and their player development philosophy and we certainly saw a hesitant this year right to promote guys like Pasha and Tucker Davidson. So I want to talk about those two guys first anyway. Do you

think those were fair assessments that like Pasha is bat wasn't ready and Davidson wasn't polished enough? Well you know it's certainly help if I could see them in person to be able to uh to say one way or the other but um just based on you know the last time I saw them uh you know getting a glimpse of them in spring and then um you

know in the summer camp and and all of that um yeah I mean I do understand where they're coming from as far as you know wanting to wanting to kind of hone their skills a little bit more um and try to develop them a little bit more um at the alternate site before they actually get that call um I think people just kind of you know

they've gotten used to the the previous guys to where they might you know call them up um just got kind of at the drop of a hat and you know kind of throw them into the fire and see if it works out at the majorly level which is you know something we've seen a little bit over the past few years but so this this might be

taking you know a little bit getting used to to see them stay down and uh community to work on their development um I do like I said I do see where they're coming from with those two uh for Pasha um and stuff in the bat that was the reason that he's still down um just wanting to see if he can um you know get a little

bit more uh contact in the in the bat um he's always going to be that gower there's going to be swing in this but if he's able to get a little bit more feel for the barrel and you know make a little bit more contact um be a little bit more well rounded player you know there's nothing wrong with what's trying to develop um that obviously

so uh as far as Davidson goes yeah I that's one where I certainly understand keeping them down um because you want them to develop that slider uh to get off the fastball curveball combination um it's really similar to what um what they did with max free as far as letting him develop that slider to be a real weapon um another look to get them off the

fastball curveball so um yeah. Just making a more well-rounded pitcher um and also continuing to work on his uh control command which honestly is still something that needs to be kind of answered a little bit um because there's been a little bit of it consistency there of the past couple years so I just want to tell you guys what I'm doing right now. Just working on

all of that to make them more well well well well-rounded pitcher and uh you know establish himself as a real uh starter prospect which I think he's doing. Is Davidson in your eyes like the next guy up though as you know from the starting pitching prospects? I think going into next year I think there's a real a real shot of that um I think some of

it will depend on um his spring uh but you know they're seeing him on on you know a weekly basis down on the alternate side so they know what they have and you know how far he's coming along right now and if they feel confident in him right now um that he's going to come in the next spring as possibly being that guy then I don't

see why not um I think like I said a lot of that will depend on where the slider is and where the control and command is um so if it's there I I don't see why he he wouldn't be that next guy really I think that could really be the case. So again based on and I know it's a month old right since you've seen these

guys but did it make sense that they brought up daylight crews over Davidson not that they're pitching either but I mean like what why do you think daylight crews up before him? I think that's probably the realization of what um daylight crews is um I think he's he's pretty clearly a reliever um in the future that's his long term role. Okay. And so they they feel

that it's a little bit more reasonable to give him that you know that quick call is that fresh arm in case he's needed out of the bullpen um which is where he'll probably be pretty soon anyway uh whereas Davidson you know they they want to you know just keep him down keep him on a on a schedule haven't worked every five days and just continue to

what to continue to work on what he needs to develop to be that starting pitching prospect. So let's talk about Patrick Weigel for a second right I want to throw out his his major league debut I think the whole thing was absurd when they brought him in and how long they left him in that whole thing. But do you think he has the arsenal to be

a starter in the majors or is he destined for relief work? I've I've been saying that I think he's a reliever in the future um I think part of that is I think he can be a reliever who has a deep arsenal for a reliever but I don't know that he can really command it well enough over multiple times through an order uh you know to

be able to handle a starter's workload every five days um I mean he certainly has two or three major league pitches and I think he's he's definitely got the major league arm and I think he's gonna provide solid major league endings in the future and um honestly he could probably be doing it on several other teams if he had that opportunity but yeah part of his

probably his his arm action um his command and uh just the fact that you know perhaps he doesn't really have the efficiency to get through a major league lineup you know multiple times every five days so but as I said I think he can be you know have a deep arsenal for a reliever and that that might be you know something to where he can go

multiple innings each time he's out there and you know provide some some valuable innings. So surely adjustments are coming and I think he has made some already uh how good do you think Ian Anderson is like you know it's been dazzling more than not so far do you think this is what Ian Anderson is? the change up that good um I knew it was developing I

knew it become it become his best secondary pitch I didn't realize it had become his best pitch overall um right so you know and plus his his curve and he's certainly good If bothlow actually makes it that really, actually i really like that defense so yeah high up he's probably doing a lot of fantastic West i think but that works He's really a really great50 coach

he's a great coach and that would be a good landlord and that would be a good leagueer and not a man acquiring once he settles in and gets feel for all of his pitches every five days i think he's he's definitely gonna go to lock down that spot a long term you know and i see how confident and mature he's looked through these first what is

it for games and i want to believe this isn't really a question david i'm just talking out loud that i want to believe that the playoffs are not going to be too bright a light for him and he can keep doing this you know right yeah yeah for sure and i i said that as as he was making his debut as if you want any current

braves pitching prospects make their debut against the Yankees and you know it would be in Anderson because of his makeup his poison the mound he's shown it every time out there's there's definitely something special and you know he in his mindset he feels like he belongs there's a comfort on the mound that you don't find in young pitchers every time so yeah i i would have

plenty of confidence in throwing them out there in the playoffs being a young pitcher you really never know you know like a third time out where he only got through what like three innings or so you just you never you never truly know with these guys sometimes but you know he's he's proven that he has that confidence in that makeup to uh to give him the

ball and in a big spot like that what do you think Kyle Wright sealing his david and were you heartened by his last start which to me was like his most impressive of of the year oh man i've spent more time worrying about Kyle Wright and writing about him than anybody else i've ever written about uh yeah it was definitely the biggest development step that he's

had uh perhaps as as a professional pitcher um and that's because of the adjustments he's made and the fact that he actually went out and utilized them um that that's a huge thing uh moving to the first base side of the rubber is big for him because it creates that angle on the sinker and there's some sort of adjustment it was made there to where the

two seamer is coming out of his hand very in a very good way it's very explosive now uh the sink is has a lot more bite to it and it's riding in on on hands a lot more now instead of that slow dive uh the hitters could pick up so he's got to do it. So create that angle from the first base side with the with

the more biting two seamer and then tunnel it off the slider uh when he does have the slider as he did last time out you know that was that was a plus pitch last time out. And then you know he always has he's able to mix in the the change in curve change is really come along well uh the past couple times out too I think

I people aren't really talking about that enough the fact that is it's changed up is actually looking pretty good as a as a solid um you know third or fourth pitch so. You know more than anything you just got to repeat as mechanics and it's been the same thing for for a while now it's got to be able to repeat um he tends to lose his

arm slide and his release point as as an outing goes on it tends to drop on him um it's a you know kind of a long arm action and it's it's pretty fast so he'll get out of sink at times and that's that's where he loses his command as an outing will progress but um the fact that he was able to uh to stay on top

of the ball for P is making mechanics last time out and really utilize those adjustments as that was a huge step for him and if he keeps it up he might actually make me look a look decent for sticking with him um the fact that uh you know I've had him as that you know high mid rotation type for a for a while now really ever

since I saw him um so just continued to utilize those adjustments and I think he can still still reach that sort of role. Yeah. Um all right so just a quick couple other guys I'm on a check in on do you think Drew Waters could be ready opening day next year? I would hesitate on that because I I've really think he needed a full season at

triple away uh this year uh the loss moderately season uh probably hurt him more than most braze prospects um he needed to to get a full season of of advanced pitching under his belt and perform on the field um and a lot of that is just the bat. He needs to just continue to adjust to more advanced pitching and and gain a comfort of the plate

against advanced sequence thing and I think it'll come um I would hesitate to throw him out there out of spring training uh just because I think he needs more development at the plate at triple A but it wouldn't surprise me just because there there is a lot of feel in the bat uh for him and he's gonna I think he's gonna be a high you know

he's there's gonna be a lot of strikeouts there but he's also gonna be able to tow that line and be a high contact guy and the contact is consistently impact um type contact a lot of a lot of line drives and high exit velocity numbers so just game more comfort of the play against advanced pitching and and um I think he can still reach that that

role is in it is a solid very solid every day outfielder but I would I would think probably just to continue to be patient with him and perhaps get at least a half half season at triple A first. And so has this strange season um you know sort of had that same impact on contraris right I can imagine there's a scenario where they let flat they

don't try to resign flowers and they go with the tandem of darno and contraris but do you think he's ready? I would I think there's a possibility of that um I would probably still like to see him get a full season of really you know good performance in double A or triple A before you know handing him that sort of role. He did he made tremendous

adjustments I wrote wrote several times which is gushing all over him um in in the summer camp uh when he came back just did a different swing uh big big new adjustments made for him and he was really utilizing them um he already had a great feel for the bat um you know and there and there's a lot more power in there than a lot of

people realize that he's gonna be able to do a lot of things like that. So it's a tight it could be an impact bat and real impact all around type catcher um once he gets that comfort against advanced pitching and um but I kind of like waters where I would kind of like to see at least a half season um you know against advanced pitching you

know and having really perform well in the upper levels before before handing him a a major league role right away so um I would kind of hesitate to just you know hand him that sort of role you know going in the next year. Sure. So um David let's end with this who's one or two of your guys you know in the top 30 prospects that maybe

don't get a ton of ink people don't talk about a lot but you think we may see something from sooner than later. Um well one name I keep going back to you know I guess he is starting to get more ink now but um you know when I first saw Bryce ball and and able you know with his batting practice sessions you know he's got the

best raw power in the system already right out of the draft along with Alex Jackson this plus plus raw power and that was right out of the draft and that's you know for where he was drafted that's that's that's pretty crazy that's great scouting um but I'll just also just the fact that he he shows already a pretty good field to be able to hit considering

his profile. Um it's tough profile to have to carry being a first base only and the glove does need to come along too so he actually may end up being a DH but um you know that that power is definitely going to play and I think he's he's going to hit enough to be able to tap into it so um also I mean I would say

Michael Harris is another one um he's probably like one you'll start seeing a lot more of you probably would have seen a lot more of him if there was a minor league season this year he probably would have performed really well at Rome this year and his first full pro season but there's there's a elite I would say at least there are four tools um he's

showing a solid field of hits got a loose quick stroke um you know he's going to tap into some good power um as he grows and so um also he's not a burner on the base pass but he's got good skills speed and he's going to be a very very solid defender in a corner uh if not in center field with a uh with a plus

arm he's got a cannon arm and he used to be a pitcher in high school so yeah he's definitely one you're probably going to see move up prospect list pretty pretty quick once he starts performing on the field um so really those are those are two good ones um I was how even with the draft this past year you know Jared Schuster got you know a

lot of the attention being their first pitch and he's probably a safe starter back in type starter maybe a four so but um you know don't don't forget about Bryce Elder um the fact that you know they went over slot to get him they really liked him and I thought that was a that was good to be able to reach for him and get him where

they did I think he's he's probably a safer bet as a starter than a lot of people realize he's got a very very good slider he tunnels his fastball off it well and as long as the curve or change comes along um you know he's got a good field of pitch so I think the the third or fourth pitch will come along too so um don't

you know don't forget about him uh being a uh starting pitching prospect pretty soon too. So David actually let me end here right I know there's been graduations um you know I've seen the braves farm system ranked as low as 15 I think I've seen like seven or eight a couple of places too um how fair do you think that is where where do you put

him are they definitely out of top five now? That's that's probably uh uh yeah I would say that's probably a fair assessment is to have him outside of the top five I don't know if I would go as far as 15 um just because of the high end talent is still very high in um and plus you you have some very solid position player prospects that

perhaps you know the national guys might not have a full grasp of yet yeah um you know perhaps they might have a little bit more of a grasp if there was a moderately seasoned this year kind of like what I just said with Michael Harris uh but with him uh ball of all grissom you know these type guys and then you have you know at the

top with Pache and Andrew Waters and uh you know even Shay Lingleer's William Contreras I mean it's it's a very very solid and deep uh mix of position player prospect from from top to bottom of the farm system um so you know I don't know you know if it's I kind of feel like um you're not being quite fair by saying 15 um so I would

say somewhere between five and 15 got you all right well folks that is the show David thank you so much it was really great to talk to you um folks go to bravespraspects.com and subscribe um follow David on Twitter at David 11 Lee um and remember you can always find us at spreeker iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play and Spotify as well as AtlantaBaseballTalk.com be sure to follow

us on Twitter at ATLBaseballTalk and to like us on Facebook thanks again for listening and go braves!