Braves sign first round pick Mike Minor

The Braves have signed first round pick Mike Minor.

The Braves have first round pick Mike Minor under contract. The deal was signed Thursday afternoon at 5 pm CT.

Atlanta made Minor, a left-handed pitcher at Vanderbilt, its first pick, the seventh overall, in the June draft. The deal has been agreed to for a while, but the two sides were awaiting approval from the Commissioner's office.

Minor was 6-6 this season for the Commodores with a 3.90 ERA in 17 games (16 starts). He allowed 109 hits in 110.2 innings pitched, with 48 earned runs, 37 walks, and 114 strikeouts. Minor had a great game in the SEC tourney against SEC champion LSU, as he limited the Tigers to one run on six hits with five strikeouts.

As a sophomore last season, Minor was 7-3 with two complete games. The southpaw was 9-1 as a freshman with a 3.09 ERA, pitching behind David Price on the Vanderbilt staff.

Last summer Minor was the ace of the Team USA squad that was 24-0 and captured the FISU World University Championships in the Czech Republic in July. Minor was 3-0 with a 0.75 ERA with 37 strikeouts and 13 walks in 36 innings pitched. In his two years with the National team, Minor was 8-2 with a 1.17 ERA, with 17 walks, and 74 strikeouts in 69 innings of work.

Team USA featured Stephen Strasburg, but it was Minor who was the staff ace. He drew national attention with two wins against a tough Cuban National Team. In two starts, Minor threw 12.1 innings and allowed only one unearned run on eight hits, with 11 strikeouts. In the FISU World Collegiate Baseball Championship game Minor was dominant. He pitched 9.2 innings in a 12-inning contest won by Team USA. Minor did not allow a run, gave up four hits, and struck out nine. For that effort, Baseball America named Minor its Summer Player of the Year.

Minor will start his pro career with the Rome Braves in the South Atlantic League.


Bill Shanks hosts The Bill Shanks Show on WFSM Fox Sports 1670 in Macon, Georgia and The Braves Show Talk Show. Shanks writes a weekly baseball column for The Macon Telegraph and is the author of Scout's Honor: The Bravest Way To Build A Winning Team. You can email Bill at and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/billshanks.