2025 MLB Draft

[LouisEly]

On 6/30/2025 at 2:56 PM, James Zumstein said:

I think Kohn is definitely in the mix at 68. He's one of four senior pitchers that will have little leverage

Technically he's a redshirt junior for eligibility purposes.  He redshirted in 2023 recovering from UCL surgery, so he has another year of eligibility if he wants it.

[jay87shot]

I don't think we necessarily need a Senior at 68. It kind of depends on how much money the team needs to save or possible if there are still a lot of HS talent that is sliding and we want to rake them later. At 68, we should still target a decent college prospect unless we over reached a bit early and got a HS stud at Comp or 2nd.  I am thinking we should go after a guy kind of like Boeve, a slight risk but an almost certainty to sign decently under slot.

 

[James Zumstein]

20 hours ago, LouisEly said:

Technically he's a redshirt junior for eligibility purposes.  He redshirted in 2023 recovering from UCL surgery, so he has another year of eligibility if he wants it.

Good call, but the fact remains that he turns 23 years old in the first week in October. Waiting another year just puts him further behind, and most teams want to get players when they're younger. The older a player is, the less leverage they have to negotiate a deal that benefits them, regardless of eligibility remaining.

[James Zumstein]

19 hours ago, jay87shot said:

I don't think we necessarily need a Senior at 68. It kind of depends on how much money the team needs to save or possible if there are still a lot of HS talent that is sliding and we want to rake them later. At 68, we should still target a decent college prospect unless we over reached a bit early and got a HS stud at Comp or 2nd.  I am thinking we should go after a guy kind of like Boeve, a slight risk but an almost certainty to sign decently under slot.

 

I totally agree that there is nothing with going that route as well. If it's someone they are confident will sign for a reasonable amount, I'm all for drafting them. Drafting a senior helps that case, but it's not a necessity.

[LouisEly]

2 hours ago, James Zumstein said:

Good call, but the fact remains that he turns 23 years old in the first week in October. Waiting another year just puts him further behind, and most teams want to get players when they're younger. The older a player is, the less leverage they have to negotiate a deal that benefits them, regardless of eligibility remaining.

And that's exactly what I originally said:

On 6/29/2025 at 7:15 PM, LouisEly said:

I'm looking at Pico Kohn, LHP, Mississippi State.  MLB.com has him at #122; he's already 22, so no way is he turning down hundreds of thousands of dollars and going back to school to be drafted at 23.  Good numbers in the SEC - 80 IP, 69 H, 29 BB, 114 K.  

[Austin Tatious]

I don’t know if it’s a senior at the Levonas spot but I’m sure we can rest assured that they work out a number with whoever it is ahead of time.  

[Mr Southpaw]

With about a week away, I will make a guess.

20. Cadin Bodine   C   Costal Carolina   21    S/R   (32)MLB.com

32. Quinten Young   3B/OF  Oaks Christian  (CA)   18   R/R   (37)MLB.com

59. Cameron Apppenzeller   LHP   Glenwood (IL)   18   L/L   (58)MLB.com

68. Chase Shores   RHP   LSU   21   R/R   (77)MLB.com

[snoogans8056]

My guess....

20. Ethan Conrad - OF Wake Forest

32. Gavin Fien - 3B High School, CA (Texas)

59. Uli Fernsler - LHP High School, MI (TCU)

68. Marcelo Harsch - RHP High School, NJ (Wake Forest)

 

[sveumrules]

Looking through the FanGraphs Draft Board and this young hombre sounds kind of like a Brewers sort of guy...

#19 Gustavo Melendez (45 FV) 5'9" lefty hitting high school shortstop among the youngest players in the draft...

Compact infielder with big rotational athleticism. Swing has natural loft. Short to the baseball because of his size. Crushes fastballs and diagnoses breaking balls well; had a 2-to-1 ball in play-to-whiff ratio on the showcase circuit. Body is similar to Jett Williams and Kevin McGonigle when they came out — a compact guy whose perceived power ceiling is lower than his big-framed peers — but Melendez's skills and sneaky pop give him a shot to be an everyday middle infielder. Fits at shortstop on defense with plus actions and a nearly plus arm; range is closer to average. Has a better shot to play shortstop than all but a few players in the class, college or pro, should be in the late first round mix when the cement dries on this class.

[wiguy94]

21 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

Looking through the FanGraphs Draft Board and this young hombre sounds kind of like a Brewers sort of guy...

#19 Gustavo Melendez (45 FV) 5'9" lefty hitting high school shortstop among the youngest players in the draft...

Compact infielder with big rotational athleticism. Swing has natural loft. Short to the baseball because of his size. Crushes fastballs and diagnoses breaking balls well; had a 2-to-1 ball in play-to-whiff ratio on the showcase circuit. Body is similar to Jett Williams and Kevin McGonigle when they came out — a compact guy whose perceived power ceiling is lower than his big-framed peers — but Melendez's skills and sneaky pop give him a shot to be an everyday middle infielder. Fits at shortstop on defense with plus actions and a nearly plus arm; range is closer to average. Has a better shot to play shortstop than all but a few players in the class, college or pro, should be in the late first round mix when the cement dries on this class.

Don't think the Fangraphs draft board has been updated since before the college season so not sure how Melendez will rank when it's updated later this week. He's 123 at BA, 92 at ESPN, 140 at Pipeline. Seems like he would be a decent pick at 94 or 125.

[snoogans8056]

Kiley posted his final mock draft on ESPN. Has us drafting Marek Houston at 20 (also says Daniel Pierce and Coy James are linked) with Kayson Cunningham at 32.

The Brewers blurbs had some wacky names that he said we are attached to:

Coy James - HS, SS, #49 on BA Top 500

Jaden Fauske - HS, OF/C, #54

Charles Davalan - Arkansas, OF, #62

Devin Taylor - Indiana, OF, #34

Cooper Flemming - HS, SS, #102

Blaine Bullard - HS, OF, #151

Luke Hill - Ole Miss, 3B, #105

Brady Ebel - HS, SS, #42

Remo Indomenico - HS, OF, #478

C.J. Hughes - HS, SS, #215

Tyler Finkbeiner - HS, RHP, Unranked in Top 500

Brisen Tweedy - HS, RHP, Unranked in Top 500

A couple of these guys are just screaming "LATE ROUND BREWERS HIGH SCHOOLER". Finkbeiner and Tweedy might as well already be 11-20 picks.

[Brewer77]

snoogans beat me to the punch as I was putting it together, but I’ll post it anyway :)
 

3 names Kiley McDaniel connects to the Brewers at 20

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/daniel-pierce-828084

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/marek-houston-701339

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/coy-james-815983

More names they’re tied to at 32 beyond those 3

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/kayson-cunningham-815617

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/jaden-fauske-828262

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/charles-davalan-804560

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/devin-taylor-805127

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/cooper-flemming-828237

More names they’re tied to further down the board

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/blaine-bullard-828557

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/luke-hill-702619

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/brady-ebel-815816

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/remo-indomenico-826694

CJ Hughes

Tyler Finkbeiner

Brisen Tweedy

Pick 59

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/chase-shores-702274

Pick 68

https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/draft/dean-curley-806053

[snoogans8056]

1 hour ago, Brewer77 said:

Remo Indomenico

CJ Hughes

Tyler Finkbeiner

Brisen Tweedy

Listing these guys in a two round mock draft article is wild. Kiley clearly has some insider info on us.

[Mr Southpaw]

Chase Shores is the one college pitcher I would like to get.

[narwhalattack]

I genuinely have no idea who we’re gonna pick. Just when you think they’ll favor college guys, they pick a raw HS kid in Payne. Just when you think they’ll favor the speedy slap hitter types, they go ahead and draft Wilken.

[sveumrules]

2 hours ago, snoogans8056 said:

Listing these guys in a two round mock draft article is wild. Kiley clearly has some insider info on us.

Not sure if they actually overlapped at FanGraphs, but Kiley was their lead prospect analyst for awhile and the Brewers Director of Player Information August Fagerstrom used to write for FG before getting hired by Milwaukee.

[snoogans8056]

1 hour ago, sveumrules said:

Not sure if they actually overlapped at FanGraphs, but Kiley was their lead prospect analyst for awhile and the Brewers Director of Player Information August Fagerstrom used to write for FG before getting hired by Milwaukee.

Very odd.

Every other team's write up has like 3 guys to look for at their next pick, and then they name drop like 10 guys for us including ones that aren't even in the Baseball America database.

That being said, all those names certainly check out as "Brewer guys".

Coy James (75% of slot) and Brady Ebel (slot-ish) definitely seems like something we would do, along with Luke Hill and Davalan as underslots in the second.

Could see this as very hitter heavy at the top, as most of the starting pitching spots in Carolina are already spoken for. Ideally we stock up the Arizona rotation like we did this year in the late rounds.

[patrickgpe]

Gage Wood @ 32 would be cool 

[RedStickBrew]

6 hours ago, snoogans8056 said:

Kiley posted his final mock draft on ESPN. Has us drafting Marek Houston at 20 (also says Daniel Pierce and Coy James are linked) with Kayson Cunningham at 32.

The Brewers blurbs had some wacky names that he said we are attached to:

Coy James - HS, SS, #49 on BA Top 500

Jaden Fauske - HS, OF/C, #54

Charles Davalan - Arkansas, OF, #62

Devin Taylor - Indiana, OF, #34

Cooper Flemming - HS, SS, #102

Blaine Bullard - HS, OF, #151

Luke Hill - Ole Miss, 3B, #105

Brady Ebel - HS, SS, #42

Remo Indomenico - HS, OF, #478

C.J. Hughes - HS, SS, #215

Tyler Finkbeiner - HS, RHP, Unranked in Top 500

Brisen Tweedy - HS, RHP, Unranked in Top 500

A couple of these guys are just screaming "LATE ROUND BREWERS HIGH SCHOOLER". Finkbeiner and Tweedy might as well already be 11-20 picks.

I would love to have Luke Hill in the organization. He is one year older than my daughter and went to the same high school. They are now both at Ole Miss as well. 

[Platoon Power]

I'm close to Aiden Arnett's family and I'm hearing the Brewers are showing quite a bit of interest in him.  He's on their radar for one of their picks round 11 and after.

 

 

[sveumrules]

1 hour ago, Platoon Power said:

I'm close to Aiden Arnett's family and I'm hearing the Brewers are showing quite a bit of interest in him.  He's on their radar for one of their picks round 11 and after.

 

 

Cool stuff, thanks for sharing.

Hopefully Aiden gets selected by an MLB org (Brewers or otherwise) and receives an offer to their liking.

[jay87shot]

After reading up on guys in the top 100 I really like most of the guys from Tennessee. 

Kilen and Fischer are solid bats but maybe defensive positions don't work great at 20, but 32 would be a steal. 

Marcus Phillips and AJ Russell have huge arms and would be great upside picks. Russell at 68 could work, he has an injury so signing him would be easier.

Dean Curley is underrated at 60, for a big guy with college success. Another 2nd round option maybe 32 if he can save us alot.

Tanner Franklin and Nate Snead are two guys rated 100+ again with big arms and upsides. Snead is also from Wisconsin and probably one of my favorite round 3+ options.

Edited July 12, 2025 by jay87shot

[James Zumstein]

In each of the last two drafts, the Brewers have selected considerably more pitchers (16 in 2023 and 17 in 2024) than position players (5 in both 2023 and 2024).  While this makes sense to a degree, considering our International Free Agent classes are always weighted heavily towards position players, I see this draft potentially being closer to even in numbers of pitchers and position players.  As our amazing Minor League correspondents Jim Goulart, Joseph Zarr, and Ro Mueller have commented on from time to time, some of our minor league teams have had to play games with very few players on the bench.  I see around 13 pitchers and nine position players being about the right mix.

[Lathund]

I find it incredibly hard to predict draft picks, but I'll venture and say that one of the Brewers first two picks will be a catcher, and I'd say Bodine is the most likely if I had to pick one. 

[jay87shot]

Here is my hopeful draft with an alternate for each spot. The regular pick is going to be guys who sign at/around slot and alternate playing

1(20) OF Jace LaViolette.    I think this would be the ultimate pick for us. Power, Speed, Size very similar to Jac Cagniolone but possible at 20. If he would sign at slot this would be a steal. Alt) OF Ethan Conrad.  This would be my save money pick as an injury will have him out until next year. Conrad has speed and power, I also think a few small swing adjustments could unlock even more power.

1(32) P Jack Bauer.     I just can't get over that a HS lefty who throws 102 with a pretty smooth delivery isn't ranked as a 1st rounder. Based on rankings another at slot deal could be possible. Alt)SS Dean Curley.  2 solid years at Tennessee, he has power, average speed and walks as much as k's, another big savings pick.

2(59) P Marcus Phillips.   Very similar to Kumar Rocker who went top 5. He could move very fast with small adjustments. Alt) P Landon Harmon.  Since we saved the first 2 we go with the best HS arm left, Harmon looks solid. There could be a bunch of options here.

2(69)P AJ Phillips.   Is out until April I believe, so signing him shouldn't be a problem. We won't save much with Phillips but he has huge stuff. Alt) P Jared Spencer.  This would be an almost guarantee to sign well below slot. Really good stuff, reminds me a lot of Hader

3)SS Coy James.  I don't know a ton about him but he was mentioned by Kiley McDaniel and this would be a good place for him. It is hard to guess values on what guys want for signing at this point. ALT) P Cam Leiter  Good stuff and lineage, needs some health to find gains.

4) P Malachi Witherspoon.  A few small adjustments would make him a similar prospect to his brother Kyson a likely top 10 pick. ALT) OF Nolan Schubert.   He has 1st round power, not a great athlete but Wilken-esce, great value past 100.

5)  2 way Brock Ketelsin.  I like the 2 way potential at least for a year or 2. Still 17 for a month so being patient is fine.  Alt) P Gabe Davis.  Maybe my favorite development prospect, 6'9" with big stuff. Could be some Misi here if developed

I think both scenarios could still have some decent money to sign some HS in 11-20. The alternative route would probably have enough to take someone like Pratt in the 6-10 since it only had 1 HS prospect and likely saved money at every pick but 1.