With the 2019 MLB Draft just a month away, MLB Pipeline has released its first mock draft offering of the season. The Atlanta Braves have loaded up on pitching in recent drafts but the feeling is that they will be leaning towards taking a college bat with at least one of their two first round selections.
Here Pipeline’s Jim Callis follows that line of thinking projecting Baylor catcher Shea Langeliers with the eighth pick.
He can’t match Rutschman’s offensive upside, but Langeliers is one of the best defensive catchers of the last decade and is hitting better this spring despite a broken hamate that sidelined him for just three weeks.