ESPN insider Keith Law finished up his Top 100 prospect list this morning when he released rankings 1-50. Later in the morning Law would go on to spend an hour talking to the media about his rankings and Talking Chop was there.

As a quick reminder there were nine Braves in Law’s Top 100, and you can find them below for reference.

Kyle Wright 22

Touki Toussaint 26

Ian Anderson 30

Cristian Pache 45

Bryse Wilson 51

Mike Soroka 57

Drew Waters 75

William Contreras 81

Austin Riley 87

Talking Chop: You ranked William Contreras a little higher than we had anticipated, and ahead of guys we assumed might be ranked higher such as Joey Bart and Rolando Hernandez. Is that mostly because of his all around ability? Or is it that you think he has a better chance to be an impact catcher?

Keith Law: A little bit of both. He’s a better defender than Hernandez and he’s a better hitter and on base guy than Bart. Contreras’ youth helps his cause in projecting more out of him. He’s also got real potential to improve his discipline. There is star potential there.

I had a large bubble of catchers for the last 20 spots and he’s the guy who was ranked highest because other teams kept bringing him up. He’s got real industry value. He’s a guy that would be hit on a ton in trade discussions.

TC: Joey Wentz didn’t make your Top 100 but looking back at his season, if you take out the time he missed with injury and the time he was dealing with some command issues he actually posted some of the best numbers in the minors for a nice little stretch. Do you have any thoughts on him?

KL: He’s a guy who sometimes gets lost when a lot of the other arms made it to the bigs. I’ve got him ranked high in my Braves Top Prospect list(coming soon) and he didn’t miss the Top 100 by too much. Obviously the lat injury hurt him and he may not have been 100% last year, but when he was on he looked like a potential middle of the rotation starter.

Wentz is command over stuff, a guy who is deceptive in his delivery and has a very nice changeup, which is ahead of his breaking ball. He won’t throw much harder and when his command isn’t there it is tougher to see the value with him. However you do have to wonder if some of last year’s struggles were because he was pitching through the lat injury. He’s a guy who could get back into the Top 100 with good health, and it’s believed that he is at 100% now. It’s not so much that he dropped in his ranking, as much as he was passed out by others.

TC: (Note: Law referenced the Tigers lack of impact international signings over a period of time prior to this question). Speaking of teams without much coming in internationally, what is your feeling on how much the Braves international penalties will hurt them in the future?

KL: The inability to sign guys is going to drag them down over the next few years. It hurts to not just be unable to sign guys, but to lose that big class. It’s helped that none of the guys they have lost is particularly close to the Top 100 now and that the most hyped, Kevin Maitan, has stalled a bit. The Braves are going to need to sign guys for $50k and will need to get lucky because the penalties will really hurt in two to three years as the top prospects in the system will be graduating over the next 18 months. This could keep the system in the middle of the pack or even slightly below going forward.

TC: In your writeup of Touki Toussaint, you talk about how much he has improved. Do you get the sense that this is due to Touki himself or the Braves player development staff? I am wondering mostly due to what his potential to keep improving is.

KL: It’s a little bit of both. The key is Touki is an elite, top of the scale athlete. He’s a great kid from a great family and scouts loved that his mother would cook when they came to visit(when he was in high school). He’s not just a top athlete, but he’s a bright kid with a high aptitude and is an example of a kid who may not have had much high end coaching as a prep prospect. So he had some extra room to grow, but at the same time not everyone can make those adjustments so it is a credit to him both mentally and physically.

At the same time it is also the player development staff. Atlanta has really helped to turn him from a thrower when he came from Arizona into a pitcher. It’s not just Touki, Bryse Wilson was an athletic kid with a rough delivery that they cleaned up and got him to the majors fast. That’s insane. His fastball really plays up if you watched him in the big leagues. Austin Riley is a kid who went from a 40 grade fielder to a 55. Drew Waters made a dramatic jump from his 2017 to his 2018. So you have to credit the player development staff. It’s not factored into the rankings but as a Braves fan it is something that should make you feel good.

TC: One last question. Since I think it’s a question most will want to hear, I want to ask for some of the reasoning behind Vladdy(Vladimir Guerrero Jr) being ranked behind Fernando Tatis Jr? Do you not consider him to be a generational talent?

KL: It’s mostly that Vladdy is a David Ortiz type who will be great but he’s not a third baseman and will likely be a designated hitter. With Tatis he will come up as a shortstop and stick there for a while, and even if he needs to move to third he can become an elite defender there similar to ARod and Manny Machado. Tatis could also be a generational type of talent.