Sports Page Atlanta

Over the past day or two a few people have landed on this site searching for information about players from the 2008 First-Year Player Draft this past June. Not wanting to disappoint anyone, here’s a bit of information on the Braves’ first four picks, all of whom were pitchers.

• Brett DeVall | LHP - DeVall was taken with the 40th overall pick in the draft, which was a supplemental first round pick for the Braves. He finished his high school career in Niceville, Florida where he went 13-2 in his senior season, with only 25 walks and 152 strikeouts. You can see his MiLB draft report here. DeVall pitches for the Gulf Coast League Braves and has seen action in two games thus far, both in July. He’s thrown a total of 4.2 innings and has a 0-0 record. He hasn’t given up an earned run and has two strikeouts and two walks.
• Robert Stovall | LHP - Stovall was taken in the second round by the Braves with the #64 pick overall. He’s from Hokes Bluff High School in Alabama and was named Mr. Baseball by the Alabama Sports Writers Association. His senior season was impressive with a 14-1 record with a 1.00 ERA. He also struck out 187 batters in 84 innings and threw three no-hitters. So far for the GCL Braves, Stovall has pitched 10.1 innings in four games. He’s 1-0 with a 6.10 ERA and has struck out 14 while walking 11 batters.
• Ezekiel Spruill | RHP | Draft Report - Spruill was also taken in the second round with the #70 pick overall. Spruill, who’s out of Kell High School in Marietta, Georgia has a fastball that sits in the low 90’s. He’s also pitching in the Gulf Coast League for the Braves and in seven games has a 6-0 record. He’s thrown 27.1 innings and has an ERA of 1.65. Most impressively, he’s shown that he can overpower hitter as he has a 27:5 strikeout to walk ratio.
• Craig Kimbrel | RHP - Kimbrel was taken in the third round with the #96 overall pick and played at Wallace State Community College before being drafted. He started in the Rookie Appalachian League for the Danville Braves where he saw action in 12 games pitching 19 innings. His record was 1-2 with a 0.47 ERA and six saves before he was promoted to the Single-A Rome Braves. In Rome he’s record three saves (I spoke about him notching his third save last night) in 5.1 innings of work. He also has a 0.00 ERA and opposing batters are hitting only .056 against him. He’s struck out 12 while walking zero for Rome.