re: The ATL Thread 5/11: Braves have MLB high 8 prospects in Updated Baseball America Top 100

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Chris Crawford: Unfortunately, it's not a strong class, arguably the worst class in terms of quality at the top and quantity in the middle of any that I've covered. Its saving grace is that there's some depth at shortstop for the first time in several years -- there's a strong chance that the top three picks will play there -- and as always there's some intriguing college arms that could move quickly through a system. Still, the lack of prep pitching and the volatility of the arms makes this a pretty bleak class, at least on paper.

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I’ve written many times in the past eight months that this draft class is pretty weak and that, combined with the bonus pools that limit each team’s draft spending, will make for an unpredictable draft day filled with below-slot deals. That talk has continued here and in other places but, in the last few weeks, teams’ plans have come into better focus and the question marks now start at the very top.

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If you don’t tune in Monday, you’ll miss a draft that’s shaping up to be a weird one. “I’ve been covering the draft since 2009, and this is easily the weakest class in terms of quality at the top and quantity overall that I’ve covered,” Christopher Crawford, Baseball Prospectus’s new senior prospect writer, told me via email. “[ESPN analyst Keith Law] and I have both joked that we’d prefer to just skip this year and combine it with next year, which — on paper — is the best I’ve seen.”

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