3.101 Atlanta Braves - Joe Leonard, 3B, Pittsburgh

The Braves spent the 101st overall pick on Joe Leonard.

Follow the jump for his pre-draft report.

Joe Leonard   Position: 3B   School: Pittsburgh   State: PA   Year: Jr.   Height: 6’5’’   Weight: 220

Bats: R   Throws: R   Birth Date: 8/26/88   Seiler Rating: 1C2   Last Drafted: Never

Joe Leonard is a solid college third baseman from Pittsburgh University. Leonard originally came to Pitt from Connellsville High School in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, a small town about 40 miles southeast of Pittsburgh. With a father that was a former first round pick, he didn’t go completely unnoticed out of high school, but he didn’t garner nearly enough interest to be heavily recruited or scouted, and he went undrafted in 2007. He landed at Pitt, where he started from day one. After a pair of solid, but unspectacular, years at the hot corner for the Panthers, he started flashing his potential last summer in the Cal Ripken League, and he carried that over into an outstanding junior season. Despite the huge numbers, he’s not a toolsy player, though he has enough tools to project as a possible starting third baseman at the next level. He’s not a power-hitting third baseman by any means of the imagination, but he’s an above-average hitter with solid-average raw power, but he’s a below-average runner. Those offensive tools should be just enough to get him a starting job, but his defense is better. He has the raw tools to be an above-average defender, showing good hands and feet, and his arm is plus, having still been closing out games for Pitt this year. Though none of his tools are truly elite, he has enough of a body of work to believe that he’s going to turn out to be better than the sum of his tools. He should go somewhere in the second or third round to a team that believes more in his power potential, and should sign quickly for slot money.