To loop back to the Braves and pitcher conversation, they are in a sort of unique situation. They have a young core of hitters all locked up to long term deals (and have for many years). Not to say you should draft for need, but when you have Austin Riley, Matt Olson, Ronald Acuña, Ozzie Albies, Sean Murphy, and Michael Harris all locked up to long term deals there is only so many places you can put players in your long term. They have had success with developing hitters off the radar with lower picks, but they have spent the last many years drafting pitching because it is a clear actionable organizational need.
The Phillies have some long term contracts, but really only Turner and Harper go forever as hitters and so it is fair to say you need a full compliment of players to reinforce them in the next now 2-3 years out. On some level all of this is small sample size, but it is fair to say they haven't prioritized pitchers early in the draft. Their top top prospects are not pitchers (they do also have a full rotation), but as we have talked about and is detailed above, they throw a diverse set of resources at pitching and you can tell that there are certain parts of the front office involved in acquisition as they target a wide variety of skill sets and types, often undervalued or non-traditional. They also have confidence in their abilities to upgrade and alter pitchers whether it is deliveries or pitch mix. It is certainly a strategy, even if it may not be the one everyone likes.
