2.70 Atlanta Braves - Andrelton Simmons, SS, Western Oklahoma State JC

The Braves spent the 70th overall pick on Andrelton Simmons.

Follow the jump for his pre-draft profile.

Andrelton Simmons   Position: SS/RHP   School: Western Oklahoma State JC   State: OK   Year: Fr.   Height: 6’1’’   Weight: 165

Bats: R   Throws: R   Birth Date: 9/4/89   Seiler Rating: 1C1   Last Drafted: Never

Andrelton Simmons is a talented two-way player from Western Oklahoma State Junior College. Simmons originally hails from the island of Curacao, whose most famous Major League player in recent memory is likely Andruw Jones. Simmons wasn’t highly sought-after when he was an international free agent there, as he was more of an athlete than baseball player, and he landed at Western Oklahoma State only late in the game this winter. He is exciting on both sides of the ball, though, and even though he was limited on both the mound and at the plate due to a toe fracture partway through the season, scouts saw enough to think that they could draft him as a potential starting shortstop or number three starter at the Major League level. At the plate, he’s an above-average hitter with fringe-average to average raw power, but he’s just a fringe-average runner. He’s a steady shortstop with average range, though, and he has a plus arm to make him a solid overall hitting prospect. On the mound he shows just as much promise, throwing a plus fastball in the 93-95 range, touching 96, though that was completely out of the bullpen. He also throws a solid-average slider, an average curveball, and a fringe-average changeup, but none of those pitches is close to being ready for the Major Leagues anytime soon. He’s expected to go out sometime in the second to fourth round range, and he should easily be signable there.