2024 Draft Signings Thread

[Spencer Michaelis]

27 minutes ago, brewmann04 said:

Has Levonas told the brewers definitely he going to pass on the brewers 

As far as I know, he hasn't completely shut off discussions but he's asking for "I don't want to sign money" meaning it's just an insane number he's throwing out.

[balsamlaker]

Sterling signing for just over $2.5 kind of sets the upper end for the Brewers two high school pitchers.  Patience is always needed and we aren't expects just because we read some rankings.  Justin Chambers (20th rounder) last year seemed to get a lot of money, but has already paid off with 2.2 WAR via trade.

[titletownking]

1 hour ago, balsamlaker said:

Sterling signing for just over $2.5 kind of sets the upper end for the Brewers two high school pitchers.  Patience is always needed and we aren't expects just because we read some rankings.  Justin Chambers (20th rounder) last year seemed to get a lot of money, but has already paid off with 2.2 WAR via trade.

Gives me more optimism surrounding Levonas. 

[balsamlaker]

To put that WAR in perspective, ten (10) years from now a 2.2 career WAR would probably rank in the top 10-15 players in the draft class.

[BrewerFan]

40 minutes ago, balsamlaker said:

To put that WAR in perspective, ten (10) years from now a 2.2 career WAR would probably rank in the top 10-15 players in the draft class.

Eh...that'd mean this was a BAD draft class. There should be ~40 players from a draft class with a 2.2 career WAR in 10 years. 

And again, I really struggle to understand why it took us giving a high upside young arm for a player that the Dodgers were DFA'ing. I still don't love that trade(I love getting Hudson)...but oh well. 

I'll have to console myself with the fact that Letson, Knoth have thrown well...and that we've got two 6'4 IFers on the left side who look like they have 30 HR potential. 

[brewers888]

The front office made a mistake if they believed Levonas would sign and now he doesn't. I think its crazy for a pitcher to pass up a big bonus to go to college but if he does it so be it.

The strategy of picking a guy like Payne or in the past EBJ to land guys like Miz and Levonas is hit or miss. Its very strange passing up far better prospects just to pick better players later but it worked brilliantly in 2023. Unfortunately the 2024 draft pales in comparison to the 23 haul but in time hopefully Payne shows himself to be better than I expect. 

[Matt]

In a bad draft class I find the idea that the Brewers would simply punt on a high pick in order to get another similar pick in a better class completely plausible. 

[markedman5]

 

[wiguy94]

3 minutes ago, markedman5 said:

 

With this signing it leaves the Brewers $3,813,720 to sign Levonas, DeBerry, and any round 11-20 picks over $150K.

If Levonas doesn't sign, it would leave the Brewers $2,525,580 to sign DeBerry and any round 11-20 picks over $150K

[snoogans8056]

Wonder if Meccage and Nunnalee both being Virginia recruits helps us any? Especially with him possibly being a catcher.

[bigred]

24 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

With this signing it leaves the Brewers $3,813,720 to sign Levonas, DeBerry, and any round 11-20 picks over $150K.

If Levonas doesn't sign, it would leave the Brewers $2,525,580 to sign DeBerry and any round 11-20 picks over $150K

Pretty sure it was mentioned earlier that DeBerry has been signed already. 

[Jake McKibbin]

I wonderif say DeBerry signed for 400k, would the Brewers choose to go all in with 3.4m for Levonas (If that's even enough) or would they prefer spreading it round multiple picks? It's a lot to gamble on for one HS pitcher but such a talented arm

[Jake McKibbin]

2 minutes ago, bigred said:

Pretty sure it was mentioned earlier that DeBerry has been signed already. 

DeBerry has signed but the value hasn't been mentioned anywhere

[wiguy94]

2 minutes ago, bigred said:

Pretty sure it was mentioned earlier that DeBerry has been signed already. 

Yes he's already signed according to the BrewersPD twitter account but his signing bonus hasn't been announced yet.

[wiguy94]

This isn't necessarily draft signing related, but I thought it was interesting and was draft related.

Braylon Payne is 4 days away from being 2 whole years younger than Cooper Pratt who was drafted a year before him. Payne is very young for this draft and would definitely been age appropriate as a HS pick in the 2025 draft.

Eric Bitonti is the same way. There were 9 HS position players drafted through the Comp A round in the 2024 draft. Only 3 are younger than Bitonti. Konnor Griffin, Slade Caldwell, and Braylon Payne. Rainer, Morlando, Gillen, Lindsey, Nori, Dix are all older than Bitonti.

Bitonti would have been age appropriate for this year's draft and likely goes in the 1st round. We signed him for $1.75M last year which currently looks like a bargain. Hopefully we can look back a year from now and say Payne would be a legit 1st round pick (not under slot) as an age appropriate HS player in the 2025 draft.

[young guns]

2 hours ago, wiguy94 said:

With this signing it leaves the Brewers $3,813,720 to sign Levonas, DeBerry, and any round 11-20 picks over $150K.

If Levonas doesn't sign, it would leave the Brewers $2,525,580 to sign DeBerry and any round 11-20 picks over $150K

Are these amounts just the straight bonus pool or did you already calculate the overage we can spend without losing a draft pick?

[Jake McKibbin]

Just now, young guns said:

Are these amounts just the straight bonus pool or did you already calculate the overage we can spend without losing a draft pick?

That includes the overage

[wiguy94]

1 minute ago, young guns said:

Are these amounts just the straight bonus pool or did you already calculate the overage we can spend without losing a draft pick?

That's with the 5% overage. With no Levonas you'd lose his slot and around $60K from the 5% overage.

[BrewerFan]

11 hours ago, Matt said:

In a bad draft class I find the idea that the Brewers would simply punt on a high pick in order to get another similar pick in a better class completely plausible. 

I don't. I don't buy the "weak class," thing. There's talent everywhere and every pick is a "weak class," when you look at how many misses there are...even in RD1. 

We're talking about a kid who could be a 1st rd pick in a strong class in 3 years of just in any given year could be a top 45 pick talent wise.

So I don't think they're punting on the money, the pick, the year of development with a pitcher of this caliber. It MAY have made them more likely to take a chance on a kid who was a long shot to sign...but...they're not giving up on a top 68 pick just to push it off a year. 

[Mr Southpaw]

Brewers sign Meccage for $2.5 million.  940,000 over slot.

[igor67]

I haven't seen anyone compare predictions on the overall quality of a draft vs final production but there have definitely been entire years with very few MLB players coming out of a draft

[snoogans8056]

On 7/25/2024 at 10:31 PM, Spencer Michaelis said:

As far as I know, he hasn't completely shut off discussions but he's asking for "I don't want to sign money" meaning it's just an insane number he's throwing out.

Is insane considered like late first round money? Cause we probably have that...

Or is insane considered early/mid first round money? Cause that would truly be insane.

[biedergb]

For some kids they also want that college experience.  Minors is not glamorous life and it is professional work from day 1.

colege they can be the stud, party a little, and maybe hone their craft and try to win college championships (tournaments, league titles, and CWS).  Obviously the money now is the key, and getting 1-2M now is always the safest decision, as most don’t improve their stock (or at least not as much) in college to come out as a $3-6M draft pick in 3 years.  Odds are slim.

So it may be an emotional decision to enjoy college, and some belief they will buck the trend and become the next Skenes.

Wish Levonas well , maybe he will be the next Rodon (or Dylan Covey but his case was different), but odds are he will be a mid round pick in 3 years. Still stinks as I had high hopes for Meccage and Levonas being best years Knoth/Letson.

[Spencer Michaelis]

1 hour ago, snoogans8056 said:

Is insane considered like late first round money? Cause we probably have that...

Or is insane considered early/mid first round money? Cause that would truly be insane.

I wish I had a number for you haha, if I did, I would say it. They will have the opportunity to throw $3+ mil at him so maybe that’ll work out. My understanding is more that he’s asking for money they no longer have, and it would take a change in demand for it to even be possible they can sign him (short of going over the 5% overage and losing next years first rounder of course).

Still won’t rule it out, but I think the odds of him signing are less than 5%.

[biedergb]

13 minutes ago, Spencer Michaelis said:

Still won’t rule it out, but I think the odds of him signing are less than 5%.