2021 Draft Pick Discussion, Rounds 1-10

[Bnowell4evr]

Spencer Schwellenbach, Adrian Castillo or Joshua Baez here for me.

[DHonks]

I like the idea of finding good contact players with some power and hoping the power develops much better than people that are high power guys with low contact hoping contact develops

[homer]

Seeing birth year 2003 makes me feel incredibly old

[SoCalBrewfan]

Seeing birth year 2003 makes me feel incredibly old

 

Welcome to the life of teachers (college in my case) who look at DOB on student lists and think...I not only remember that year, I was already xx years old in that year.

[MrTPlush]

It'll be interesting to see how quickly Sal adjusts to the wooden bat plus professional pitching.

Take it for what it’s worth, but Frelick was the best hitter two years in a row in the wood bat summer league he played in. Looks like he also hit 10 home runs in 265 plate appearances (229 at bats) in that league.

 

Those results are pretty huge when teams start building their boards.

 

If only we would have considered that when picking Corey Ray....who was absolute dog poop in the summer league.

[narwhalattack]

Russell Smith for the second round pick. Now THERE'S our Ethan Small of the draft

[SoCalBrewfan]

Well, you can't complain about this one's height.

[Eye Black]

From Baseball America…

 

Name: Russell Smith

Born: in Midlothian, TX

High School: Midlothian (Texas) HS

College: Texas Christian

Ht.: 6'9" / Wt.: 235 lbs

Bats: L / Throws: L

 

A 38th-round pick of the Cubs out of high school in 2017, Russell Smith is not what you might think. Watch a massive (6-foot-9, 235 pounds) long-levered lefty and you would expect big stuff and little idea of where it’s going. With such a massive frame it would understandably take quite a while for Smith to grow into his delivery. But that’s not him. Smith doesn’t have big stuff—he can touch 94-95 mph but he will generally pitch at 90-92. But he has a very smooth, repeatable delivery with solid body control. And Smith’s fastball plays well up in the strike zone with good vertical movement. It sets up his above-average 82-85 mph changeup which he commands extremely well. Smith throws his changeup almost always down and away to righthanded hitters and he rarely misses his spot. It’s a quality creator of ground balls, but it’s good enough to get some swings and misses as well. His average slider is somewhat sweepy, but he will bury it with two strikes. Smith missed the 2019 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, but he’s otherwise been reasonably durable. Smith seems more likely to be a relatively low-ceiling draft pick, but one who also has a very good chance to be a big leaguer. Whether that role is as a big lefty middle reliever or a back-of-the-rotation starter, his ability to consistently throw three pitches for strikes and attack four quadrants of the strike zone make him a valuable pro prospect.

[ReverendBrewmeister]

With Russell Smith chosen, it looks like the Brewers are starting a pickup basketball team alongside the hockey players drafted this year.

[Bnowell4evr]

Russell Smith is an interesting pick. I didn't really notice him before the draft but that 60 control is eye popping. The control and changeup gives him a higher floor than most pitchers. Got to figure he makes it to the majors in a reliever capacity at the worst.

 

Maybe a LH Jon Rauch who could start?

[brewers888]

From Baseball America…

 

Name: Russell Smith

Born: in Midlothian, TX

High School: Midlothian (Texas) HS

College: Texas Christian

Ht.: 6'9" / Wt.: 235 lbs

Bats: L / Throws: L

 

A 38th-round pick of the Cubs out of high school in 2017, Russell Smith is not what you might think. Watch a massive (6-foot-9, 235 pounds) long-levered lefty and you would expect big stuff and little idea of where it’s going. With such a massive frame it would understandably take quite a while for Smith to grow into his delivery. But that’s not him. Smith doesn’t have big stuff—he can touch 94-95 mph but he will generally pitch at 90-92. But he has a very smooth, repeatable delivery with solid body control. And Smith’s fastball plays well up in the strike zone with good vertical movement. It sets up his above-average 82-85 mph changeup which he commands extremely well. Smith throws his changeup almost always down and away to righthanded hitters and he rarely misses his spot. It’s a quality creator of ground balls, but it’s good enough to get some swings and misses as well. His average slider is somewhat sweepy, but he will bury it with two strikes. Smith missed the 2019 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, but he’s otherwise been reasonably durable. Smith seems more likely to be a relatively low-ceiling draft pick, but one who also has a very good chance to be a big leaguer. Whether that role is as a big lefty middle reliever or a back-of-the-rotation starter, his ability to consistently throw three pitches for strikes and attack four quadrants of the strike zone make him a valuable pro prospect.

 

Sounds like a big time reach.

[Eye Black]

Well, you can't complain about this one's height.

Yep, the Brewers heard the complaints and now the average size of this draft class is perfectly in the middle.

[narwhalattack]

You'd think that after taking two polished college guys who wouldn't command hefty bonuses would allow us to take a risk in the 2nd round, but here we are taking Ethan Small 2.0. Color me a little confused

[homer]

From Baseball America…

 

Name: Russell Smith

Born: in Midlothian, TX

High School: Midlothian (Texas) HS

College: Texas Christian

Ht.: 6'9" / Wt.: 235 lbs

Bats: L / Throws: L

 

A 38th-round pick of the Cubs out of high school in 2017, Russell Smith is not what you might think. Watch a massive (6-foot-9, 235 pounds) long-levered lefty and you would expect big stuff and little idea of where it’s going. With such a massive frame it would understandably take quite a while for Smith to grow into his delivery. But that’s not him. Smith doesn’t have big stuff—he can touch 94-95 mph but he will generally pitch at 90-92. But he has a very smooth, repeatable delivery with solid body control. And Smith’s fastball plays well up in the strike zone with good vertical movement. It sets up his above-average 82-85 mph changeup which he commands extremely well. Smith throws his changeup almost always down and away to righthanded hitters and he rarely misses his spot. It’s a quality creator of ground balls, but it’s good enough to get some swings and misses as well. His average slider is somewhat sweepy, but he will bury it with two strikes. Smith missed the 2019 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, but he’s otherwise been reasonably durable. Smith seems more likely to be a relatively low-ceiling draft pick, but one who also has a very good chance to be a big leaguer. Whether that role is as a big lefty middle reliever or a back-of-the-rotation starter, his ability to consistently throw three pitches for strikes and attack four quadrants of the strike zone make him a valuable pro prospect.

 

Sounds like a big time reach.

 

 

Based on what

[brewers888]

Does this team even scout high school players or have they just given up on that entirely.

[umphrey]

Under slot pick?

[brewers888]

Baez looks like an exciting prospect.

[bork]

So they're hoping the first 3 picks all got their injuries out of the way before being drafted?

[Eye Black]

From Perfect Game…

 

85. Russell Smith, LHP, TCU (4Y)

L-L, 6-9/235, Midlothian, Texas

Previously Drafted: Cubs (’17) 38

 

Smith really broke out in terms of his strikeout potential during the season, proving to be one of the more consistent starters for the Horned Frogs. He’s a huge left-hander with a low-90s fastball and a plus changeup along with a quality slider for a third pitch. It’s a starter profile with a strong strike-throwing history along with the experience and performance.

[brewers888]

From Baseball America…

 

Name: Russell Smith

Born: in Midlothian, TX

High School: Midlothian (Texas) HS

College: Texas Christian

Ht.: 6'9" / Wt.: 235 lbs

Bats: L / Throws: L

 

A 38th-round pick of the Cubs out of high school in 2017, Russell Smith is not what you might think. Watch a massive (6-foot-9, 235 pounds) long-levered lefty and you would expect big stuff and little idea of where it’s going. With such a massive frame it would understandably take quite a while for Smith to grow into his delivery. But that’s not him. Smith doesn’t have big stuff—he can touch 94-95 mph but he will generally pitch at 90-92. But he has a very smooth, repeatable delivery with solid body control. And Smith’s fastball plays well up in the strike zone with good vertical movement. It sets up his above-average 82-85 mph changeup which he commands extremely well. Smith throws his changeup almost always down and away to righthanded hitters and he rarely misses his spot. It’s a quality creator of ground balls, but it’s good enough to get some swings and misses as well. His average slider is somewhat sweepy, but he will bury it with two strikes. Smith missed the 2019 season recovering from Tommy John surgery, but he’s otherwise been reasonably durable. Smith seems more likely to be a relatively low-ceiling draft pick, but one who also has a very good chance to be a big leaguer. Whether that role is as a big lefty middle reliever or a back-of-the-rotation starter, his ability to consistently throw three pitches for strikes and attack four quadrants of the strike zone make him a valuable pro prospect.

 

Sounds like a big time reach.

 

 

Based on what

 

I think he was ranked over 100 and a guy that big that doesn't throw hard is hardly an exciting selection.

[StearnsFTW]

Well, it took 15 years, but I finally put someone on ignore.

 

Smith could be very interesting if they could pop his velocity up to 93-95 which seems like it should be possible given his frame.

[SoCalBrewfan]

You'd think that after taking two polished college guys who wouldn't command hefty bonuses

 

Maybe the comp guy, but the first rounder was a likely top ten pick for some, not sure why you think he'd sign for under slot?

[narwhalattack]

Under slot pick?

 

I'm curious as to what end if that's the case. I don't think Frelick nor Black would have huge demands (although they wouldn't be that underslot either), so that would be 3 straight picks where we wouldn't exactly be ponying up that much. So either we're really looking for someone to fall from rounds 3 onward or we just have a type and that's polished college hitters and Ethan Small clones lmao

[brewers888]

When has this front office ever signed guys under slot in order to draft more unsignable guys later. Maybe they have but I don't recall this team doing it in recent years.

[narwhalattack]

You'd think that after taking two polished college guys who wouldn't command hefty bonuses

 

Maybe the comp guy, but the first rounder was a likely top ten pick for some, not sure why you think he'd sign for under slot?

 

I didn't mean under slot, but I don't think he'd be asking for considerably over slot either.