Article: Baseball America Pairs Brewers With New Pitcher

[Jeremy Nygaard]

Baseball America released their fourth mock draft on Friday morning. Continuing a trend where the Brewers select from a handful of college pitchers, this version has them going with a name they haven't been connected with previously.

 

Though he missed time earlier this year with shoulder soreness, Tennessee RHP Blade Tidwell has long been in the first-round conversation. Baseball America has the Brewers selecting him at pick #27. Known for his mid-90s fastball that has been up to 99, Tidwell has put up big strikeout numbers this year for the Volunteers (13.0 K/9). He also has a change-up and two breaking balls. 

At 6' 4", 210 pounds, Tidwell looks the part of a starting pitcher and he will be developed that way. He'll need to continue to improve his command and refine his fastball to give it more movement with the increase in velocity. At this point, it straightens out the faster he throws, which can become a big problem.

If you're interested, Tidwell will be taking the mound today to face Alabama State in the NCAA Regional.

Tidwell certainly fits the pattern of what national pundits believe the Brewers will do. As you an see from our tracking of mock drafts below, almost every pundit has the Brewers focusing on a college pitcher with their first round pick. 

BREWERS MOCK DRAFTS
Baseball America	Mayo	McDaniel	BrewerFanatic	Law	Callis
Blade Tidwell RHP Tennessee (6/3)	Justin Campbell RHP Oklahoma Sate (6/1)	Chase DeLauter RF James Madison (6/1)	Kumar Rocker RHP Indy/Vanderbilt (5/26)	Adam Mazur RHP Iowa (5/19)	Andrew Dutkanych RHP Indiana Prep (5/11)
Gabriel Hughes RHP Gonzaga (4/28)	Cooper Hjerpe LHP Oregon State (5/18)
Gabriel Hughes RHP Gonzaga (4/1)
Jordan Sprinkle SS UCSB (2/10)

He also has a strong mustache game.

What do you think? Would you take Tidwell if he was available?

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