Atlanta Braves Sign Jacob Lindgren, Keep Eye on Future
By Adam Tabakin
Lindgren profiles strictly as a reliever, as he was moved to the bullpen for his Junior season at Mississippi State. He filled an Andrew Miller-type role that year, garnering first-team All-American honors due in large part to his astonishing strikeout rate, leading the country with 16.3 strikeouts per nine innings. He averaged more than two innings across his 26 appearances, all out of the pen, and gave up just one extra base hit the entire season. Not often do teams draft amateur middle relievers in the second round of the MLB draft, but that’s what the Yankees did in 2014, selecting Lindgren with the 55th overall pick.
The injuries proved to be too much for the Yankees, who did not tender a 2017 contract to Lindgren. The Braves decided that the potential of Lindgren’s low-90s fastball and wipeout slider was worth using a 40-man roster slot on a player who will likely not pitch until 2018. By doing so, the Braves are adding a pitcher who has the potential to be a solid lefty setup man, with upside beyond that should his command improve. More importantly, Lindgren will not be arbitration eligible until 2020, and will remain under team control for five seasons in total following this lost campaign.
The recent acquisitions of Dickey, Colon, Rodriguez and Garcia are the type of moves usually associated with a team trying to make it over the hump after falling just short of the playoffs the season before. Atlanta is not that type of team. The Braves are coming off their two worst seasons since the end of the Dale Murphy era. The organization has quickly built up what has become one of the best farm systems in baseball.