Atlanta drafts hometown hero

ATLANTA - It was no surprise that three of the Atlanta Braves' first six picks in Tuesday's Major League Baseball first-player draft, were pitchers.

The surprise was their No. 1 selection, outfielder Jeff Francoeur of Parkview High School in Lilburn, Ga., was still available at No. 23.

"We were hoping he would still be available," said Roy Clark, the Braves' director of scouting. "We were sweating it out. Obviously, he's a premium athlete."

Said Paul Snyder, special assistant to general manager John Schuerholz: "Santa Claus came down our chimney today."

Francoeur, 18, hit .487 with 16 home runs and 49 RBI in leading Parkview to the Georgia AAAAA championship this season. He had six hits - including four home runs - and seven RBI in seven at-bats and was the winning pitcher in the tournament's final two games against Lassiter High School last Friday.

"I'm very excited," Francoeur said. "It's always been a dream of mine to play major-league baseball, and then to be picked by your hometown team, that just adds to the thrill."

The 6-foot-4, 205-pound center fielder is also an All-American in football and has a scholarship offer from Clemson.

"Certainly we wouldn't have drafted him if we didn't think he wanted to be a Brave," Clark said.

The Braves selected Daniel Meyer, a 6-3, 190-pound left-handed pitcher from James Madison University, with one of the two supplemental picks they received from the New York Yankees for signing reliever Steve Karsay. With the other pick, they selected Brian McCann, a catcher from Duluth, (Ga.) High School.

With their second round pick, the Braves selected shortstop James Greene of St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., then chose a pair of high school right-handers - Charles Morton and Stephen Russell, with their third and fourth round selections.

A familiar name popped up on the Braves' draft board in the eighth round. Jonathan Schuerholz, son of the general manager and a junior infielder at Auburn, was selected for the second time by the team. The Braves also picked Schuerholz as a high school senior.

"It's no house draft," Snyder insisted. "He earned it."

GRADING CURVES: Greg Maddux will always be graded by the numbers he put up during his remarkable stretch of four successive Cy Young seasons (1992-95), which isn't necessarily fair when judging his career.

He will probably never again post a 1.56 ERA, as he did in 1994, or win 19 games with a 1.63 ERA, like he did in 1995, seasons marked by astonishing consistency.

That's what Maddux says he's lacking now. Consistency. The numbers bear him out. He is not as consistent in the strike zone with his pitches as he was years ago, but that's not necessarily a reflection of fading talent, as much as a reflection of a shrinking strike zone.

"My mechanics are off," said Maddux, who will look for his seventh win tonight against the New York Mets. "I'm not as consistent as I was last year."

Maddux, who walked just 27 batters in 233 innings last year and has not issued more than 52 walks in a season since 1992, has walked 19 in 60 1/3 innings this season.

GILES' NEW PERSPECTIVE: Second baseman Marcus Giles says he's reorganized his priorities following the birth of his daughter, delivered three months premature Monday night.

"What I thought mattered to me the most in my life before, I was wrong," he said. "It puts everything in perspective. I know what's important now."

Doctors gave the baby, which weighed little more than one pound, a 30 percent chance of survival. Giles spent Tuesday morning and afternoon at the hospital before arriving in the clubhouse about 5 p.m.

"If we can get through the next 48 hours, doctors say her chances go to 50 or 60 percent," Giles said. "She's going to live. I have a great feeling."

AROUND THE DIAMOND: While Giles is on the disabled list with a sprained ankle, Cox is platooning Keith Lockhart and Jesse Garcia at second. Garcia got the start Tuesday night against Mets left-hander Shawn Estes and the left-handed hitting Lockhart will return tonight against Mets right-hander Pedro Astacio.

"Both play great defense, so we're OK there," manager Bobby Cox said. ... Chipper Jones entered Tuesday night's game without a home run in his last 80 at-bats, his longest drought since an 81 at-bat stretch in 2000. "I've never considered myself a home run hitter," said Jones, who is ninth in the league with a .324 average. "I've always been more concerned with keeping my average up."

Reach Bill Zack at bzack30143@aol.com.