Milwaukee Brewers Draft History: The Ones That Got Away

[Michael Trzinski]

One weekend from now the 2024 MLB Draft will take place July 14-16 in Fort Worth, Texas in conjunction with the All-Star game being played at Globe Life Field in neighboring Arlington. 

This is the second of a three-part series discussing past Brewers drafts. Today, we look at 12 top players who ‘got away’ from the Brewers, who were drafted by Milwaukee but did not sign. They became All-Stars, 20-game winners, MVPs, Rookies of the Year, and Cy Young winners. Unfortunately, none of these accolades happened with these players in Brewer jerseys.

1. Jason Giambi, 1B-DH
Giambi was a 3B/SS/P at South Hills HS in West Covina, California, and was drafted in the 43^rd round by the Brewers in 1989. Instead, he received a partial scholarship to Cal State-Long Beach and was named to Baseball America’s pre-season All-American team as a junior third baseman. Giambi was a three-time All-West Conference selection and was picked in the second round in 1992 by Oakland. 

His 20-year career was embroiled in controversy with the early 2000s steroid scandal. Giambi’s career numbers included 440 home runs and a slash line of .277/.399/.516. He was a five-time All-Star and was named the AL MVP in 2000.

2. Nomar Garciaparra, SS
A slick shortstop who would later play on the 1992 US Olympic team, Garciaparra graduated from St. John Bosco HS in Bellflower, California, and was selected in the fifth round of the 1991 draft by Milwaukee but elected to attend Georgia Tech instead. He was the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Rookie of the Year and was named to the All-ACC team twice in three years. In 1994, Boston chose the infielder with the 12^th pick in the first round.

Over 14 years, Garciaparra was the AL Rookie of the Year in 1997, won two batting titles, and was a six-time All-Star. His career slash line was .313/.361/.521.

3. Hunter Pence, OF
A third baseman at Arlington (Texas) HS, Pence was a 40^th-round Brewers pick. He elected to attend Texarkana College instead. He transferred to the University of Texas-Arlington and was picked by Houston in the second round after his junior year for a reported $575,000. 

Pence—who switched to the outfield—played 14 years in the bigs for Houston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Texas, earning All-Star team honors four times. He hit 244 home runs and slashed .279/.334/.461 over 1700 games. Pence was a key member of the 2012 and 2014 World Champion San Francisco Giants.

4. Kevin McReynolds, OF
The Arkansas native was Milwaukee's 19th-round pick in 1978 out of Sylvan Hills HS (Sherwood, Arkansas) but did not sign with the Brewers, electing to attend the University of Arkansas. As a high school senior, McReynolds batted .638 with 16 home runs in 25 games. He also pitched, winning five games. McReynolds was drafted after his junior year from UA, the sixth overall pick by San Diego for $125,000.

McReynolds played for San Diego, the New York Mets, and Kansas City during his 12-year big league career. He slashed .265/.328/.447 and slugged 211 home runs in 1500 games.

5. Alex Fernandez, RHP
The Brewers took a lot of heat over their failure to sign their first-round pick in 1988. The Monsignor Edward Pace HS (Miami Gardens, Florida) product chose to attend the University of Miami instead. He threw a no-hitter against Maine in 1989 and then strangely transferred to Miami Dade Junior College the following year. Fernandez was the fourth overall pick of the Chicago White Sox in 1990 for $350,000.

Fernandez won 107 games in 10 years for Chicago and Florida, winning a career-high 18 games in 1993 for Chicago. He won 17 games in 1997, leading the Marlins to the World Series, but didn’t pitch due to a torn rotator cuff. Fernandez had an ERA+ of 115 in 261 starts.

6. Jake Arrieta, RHP
The Plano (TX) East HS product was drafted three times before he signed. In 2004, the Reds picked him in the 31st round. The next year, now attending Weatherford (TX) College, he turned down the Brewers’ 26th-round bid. Finally, in 2007, he signed after being picked by Baltimore in the fifth round out of TCU for $1.1 million.

Arrieta struggled with elbow problems in Baltimore and was traded to the Cubs during his fourth season. With the Cubs, he was arguably the best pitcher in baseball in 2015-2016, winning a combined 40 games for Chicago. His 22 wins led all of baseball in 2015, and he won the NL Cy Young. The following year, he was named to the All-Star team for the only time. Arrieta won 115 games over his 12-year career with Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia, and San Diego.

7. Matt Morris, RHP
The righty pitcher from southern New York was drafted by Milwaukee in the 26^th round of the 1992 draft but elected to matriculate to Seton Hall. In 1995, Morris was tabbed as the 12^th overall pick by the St. Louis Cardinals in the first round. He made it to the majors in less than two years and had an excellent 11-year career, pitching for the Cards, San Francisco, and Pittsburgh. Morris was a two-time All-Star, leading the NL with 22 victories in 2001. Overall, he won 121 games, fashioned an ERA of 3.98, and had an ERA+ of 107.

8. Don Slaught, C
The Brewers drafted Slaught in the 20^th round in 1979. Named to the College All-Star team, he did not sign and was picked by the Kansas City Royals in the seventh round in 1980. Slaught ended up being somewhere between a starter and a backup catcher, averaging 83 games and 254 ABs during his 16-year career, playing for Kansas City, Texas, New York (Yankees), Pittsburgh, California, Chicago (White Sox), and San Diego.

Slaught's career slash line was .283/.338/.412, including 77 home runs. He hit .300 or better in six seasons and had a minimum of 200 ABs.

9. Carlos Rodon, LHP
Named as the Tri-Nine Conference Player of the Year for Holly Springs (NC) HS, Rodon went 23-2 as a three-year starting pitcher. He was chosen by the Brewers in the 16^th round of the 2011 draft but elected not to sign because of the low draft slot. Instead, he attended North Carolina State and won 25 games for the Wolfpack in three years. He was picked third overall in the 2014 draft by the Chicago White Sox and was given a signing bonus of $6.5 million.

Rodon pitched for Chicago from 2015-2021, signed with San Francisco as a free agent in 2022, signed with the Yankees in 2023, and is still pitching for them in 2024. He was an All-Star in 2021 and 2022 and finished in the top 6 for Cy Young voting. He has 68 wins and an ERA+ of 106 in his ten years. He is only 31 years old and is signed through 2028.   

10. Tim Teufel, 2B
Teufel was another ‘three-draft’ player. As a student-athlete at St. Petersburg (FL) College, he was tabbed in the 16^th round by Milwaukee in 1978, in the third round by the Chicago White Sox the following year out of Clemson, and finally in 1980 by the Minnesota Twins in the second round. 

He signed with the Twins and was fourth in the AL ROY voting in 1984. He was traded to the New York Mets after three years in Minnesota and spent six years with New York before being traded to San Diego. Teufel played three years in San Diego before retiring. His 11-year career included a slash line of .254/.336/.404 across 3100 ABs. 

11. Jonathan India, 2B
The Brewers tabbed the shaggy-haired infielder in the 26^th round in 2015 out of American Heritage HS (Delray Beach, FL) but did not sign. After playing three years at the University of Florida, he was plucked fifth overall in 2018 by Cincinnati for $5.2 million.

India was the NL ROY in 2021, slashing .269/.376/.459 with 21 home runs. He is signed with the Reds through 2025.

12. Garrett Crochet, LHP
It is with a bit of irony that a player the Brewers are possibly looking for in a trade in 2024 was drafted by that team in 2017 in the 34^th round out of Ocean Springs (MS) HS. Crochet elected not to sign and was taken 11^th overall three years later by the White Sox.

The southpaw is in his fourth season with Chicago and his first year as a starter. As of late June, he leads the AL in strikeouts. The White Sox are terrible this year and might be willing to deal with Crochet, one of their few trade pieces. The cost will be high, but he could be a pitcher who can help the Brewers deep into the post-season.

Baseball teams don’t always get their man in the draft; every team has stories like the ones above. It is fun to say ‘what could have happened,’ but there are always star players that just got away.

Part 1: The Worst Drafts
Part 3: The Best Drafts (July 13)

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[biedergb]

Great review.

Most were lower round players that either scouts saw something to take a flyer on, or the fell due to signability (although was that as much of a thing in the 70s-90s?)

The ones that hurt - Alex Fernandez who could have been a true ace for the team in the 90s. And Nomar as a 5th rounder - he would have hit well in the late 90s with Cirillo, Jaha, Vaughn etc.

I do remember hoping that Pence and Rodin would have been signed but sounded like they weren’t going to give the draft position, but Crotchet I knew nothing about really until last year.

[Jim Goulart]

One note on Hunter Pence is that the “Draft-and-Follow” system was in full swing at that time, so teams could follow players through the following season as long as it was a non-four year college, and the signing was prior to that following draft.

The year before, the Brewers were able to grab LHP Manny Parra in such a manner. 

As soon as Pence committed (and set foot and attended) UT-Arlington that fall, however, the chance was gone. I remember how closely we monitored that situation, best we could pre-Twitter and all.