Brewers NDFA Signings - 2025

[Spencer Michaelis]

Figured it would be better to post these in a separate thread from the actual draft pick signing thread

RHP Peyton Niksch is signing out of Kankakee Community College, from Ginger Poulson's neck of the woods. He was committed to Purdue as a transfer.

UTIL Malachai Halterman, is signing out of Lipscomb Academy (HS) and appears to play *everything* listed on Perfect Game's website as: MIF/3B, C, IF, OF, RHP, UT. Halterman was committed to play at Lipscomb in college.

 

[Joseph Zarr]

Just came here to post these. Glad Spencer made a designated thread. May as well remind us all again:

Just a reminder, BA's UDFA Signing tracker is Free to All. We can follow and paste here as they come in - oftentimes announcements come elsewhere first and make it to BA later...like in the case of the Peyton Niksch signing which literally came from One Spencer Michaelis who is a bad bad man.

[Jake McKibbin]

As a little fun quote from the father of one Josh Adamczewski who just messaged me this:

"I can tell you what I know about Peyton Niksch. Pitched at a local HS in NW Indiana and took his team to a State Championship a few years back. Went head to head vs Andrew Dutkanych who was set to be a 1st round pick that year, but pulled his name out at the last minute to honor his commitment to Vanderbilt. Niksch was arguably the better pitcher in their head to head. Everything he throws, Moves!! I was surprised he didn't go somewhere bigger out of HS, but he had a small, lanky frame. I haven't seen him lately to know if he put on some weight, but did see he committed to Purdue out of Kankakee CC, until the Brewers signed him."

[Joseph Zarr]

1 hour ago, Spencer Michaelis said:

 

UTIL Malachai Halterman, is signing out of Lipscomb Academy (HS) and appears to play *everything* listed on Perfect Game's website as: MIF/3B, C, IF, OF, RHP, UT. Halterman was committed to play at Lipscomb in college.

 

What's absolutely fascinating about that Halterman clip is he is seen pitching, batting, catching, fielding and throwing, receiving at 1B and calling the game behind home plate and in the infield all in the same play. The Brewers really found a young man who can impact the game from everywhere! May be a baseball first.

[Joseph Zarr]

4 minutes ago, Jake McKibbin said:

As a little fun quote from the father of one Josh Adamczewski who just messaged me this:

"I can tell you what I know about Peyton Niksch. Pitched at a local HS in NW Indiana and took his team to a State Championship a few years back. Went head to head vs Andrew Dutkanych who was set to be a 1st round pick that year, but pulled his name out at the last minute to honor his commitment to Vanderbilt. Niksch was arguably the better pitcher in their head to head. Everything he throws, Moves!! I was surprised he didn't go somewhere bigger out of HS, but he had a small, lanky frame. I haven't seen him lately to know if he put on some weight, but did see he committed to Purdue out of Kankakee CC, until the Brewers signed him."

I'll just say this about Niksch: I'm calling Brock tonight. Getting him and his 42" Vert to sign the dotted line. Because, you know, unrelated Community College and JuCo pitcher/catcher combos must enter the ranks together. I don't make the rules.

[snoogans8056]

Do other teams sign high school non drafted guys?

Feels odd. I know we had Fielder and Walling recently as well.

[Spencer Michaelis]

17 minutes ago, snoogans8056 said:

Do other teams sign high school non drafted guys?

Feels odd. I know we had Fielder and Walling recently as well.

Looks like the Orioles have one in the fold this year. Looking at last year's list, the Orioles and Blue Jays each signed one as well. Possible I missed a few while taking a quick glance, but it's definitely not very common.

[Spencer Michaelis]

3 hours ago, Spencer Michaelis said:

UTIL Malachai Halterman, is signing out of Lipscomb Academy (HS) and appears to play *everything* listed on Perfect Game's website as: MIF/3B, C, IF, OF, RHP, UT. Halterman was committed to play at Lipscomb in college.

 

Spoke to a source, who prefers to stay anonymous, about Halterman.

At the plate: He's got a twitchy, whippy swing, but it can get too big and he can be susceptible to swing and miss in the zone and some chase, especially when the pitcher is able to change eye levels well. There could also be some timing issues as he’s got a big leg kick in his move to the ball. But he hits the ball incredibly hard and it’s to the pull side basically every time and in the air more often than not.

In the field: Will most likely be an undersized but very athletic 3rd baseman. He’s upper 80’s to low 90’s on the bump so he’s got the arm. He could also work in at second or center. He also caught some, but would need a lot of work receiving. He uses his athleticism well in blocking and on throw downs. (Spencer Note: I had another source tell me that they believe he could catch, but they wonder if the frame would allow it)

Halterman was also described as a great teammate and person with a big time work ethic. He did not spend much time at showcases, and this was his first season of high-level high school ball, so it's believed he's still pretty raw.

[ClosetBrewerFan]

How do you go from high-level high school ball to signing a pro contract?  This guy must really have some crazy raw skills.  Should be exciting to watch.  He might have to spend a couple years in Arz if this is the case.

[JCREW]

What are the limits on how much you can spend on UDFA? There must be something, otherwise, @Joseph Zarr would have a gofundme for the Brewers to sign Jack Bauer for 5Mil as a UDFA.

[wiguy94]

3 minutes ago, JCREW said:

What are the limits on how much you can spend on UDFA? There must be something, otherwise, @Joseph Zarr would have a gofundme for the Brewers to sign Jack Bauer for 5Mil as a UDFA.

UDFA are the same as rounds 11-20. Anything over $150K counts against the bonus pool.

[duewizard]

3 minutes ago, JCREW said:

What are the limits on how much you can spend on UDFA? There must be something, otherwise, @Joseph Zarr would have a gofundme for the Brewers to sign Jack Bauer for 5Mil as a UDFA.

150k I believe. Same as with players from rounds 11-20. Anything over that counts towards the bonus pool.

[duewizard]

1 minute ago, wiguy94 said:

UDFA are the same as rounds 11-20. Anything over $150K counts against the bonus pool.

Jynx!

[Joseph Zarr]

1 hour ago, duewizard said:

Jynx!

Honestly, surprised @wiguy94 and I didn't post this at the same time. We, inexplicably, went off brand. In fairness, however, I did get sidetracked by the Jay release and the sudden on rush of validating and frustrated emotions given the entire history of Jay as a Brewer and what it cost - directly and peripherally!😅

[duewizard]

4 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

Honestly, surprised @wiguy94 and I didn't post this at the same time. We, inexplicably, went off brand. In fairness, however, I did get sidetracked by the Jay release and the sudden on rush of validating and frustrated emotions given the entire history of Jay as a Brewer and what it cost - directly and peripherally!😅

If I didn't know better I'd say you two are the same person with how syncronised your posts are!

[battlekow]

On 7/15/2025 at 4:42 PM, snoogans8056 said:

Do other teams sign high school non drafted guys?

Tim Collins had a nice little career.

[Ro Mueller]

It appears we’ve signed 22-year old RHP Tanner Perry out of Illinois State: 

 

[Jake McKibbin]

10 minutes ago, Ro Mueller said:

It appears we’ve signed 22-year old RHP Tanner Perry out of Illinois State: 

 

Awesome spot!

Doing a little digging, and Perry seems to have an arsenal consisting of:

- Fastball 88-93 mph

- Cutter 84-88 mph

- Curveball 76-79 mph

- Changeup 80-84 mph

The curve looks tasty here

 

 

[Joseph Zarr]

2 hours ago, Ro Mueller said:

It appears we’ve signed 22-year old RHP Tanner Perry out of Illinois State: 

 

It appears as though someone is freelancing as a detective. Nice find!

[Spencer Michaelis]

4 hours ago, Jake McKibbin said:

Awesome spot!

Doing a little digging, and Perry seems to have an arsenal consisting of:

- Fastball 88-93 mph

- Cutter 84-88 mph

- Curveball 76-79 mph

- Changeup 80-84 mph

The curve looks tasty here

Was able to get my hands on some data for Perry.

Fastball: averages 90 MPH, 18.5" IVB with a ton of extension at 7.1 ft, release height averaging a bit under 6 feet.

Curve: averages 75 MPH, -9.32 IVB, -10.5 HB, 2400 RPM

Slider/cutter: averages 84 MPH, 4 IVB, -7 HB, 2400 RPM

Changeup: averages 82 MPH, 11.2 IVB, 12.3 HB, 1560 RPM

[Spencer Michaelis]

Another one here. Conrad posted the following line as a true freshman in JuCo

55IP, 57K, 21BB, 2.44 ERA, 1.41 WHIP

 

[Spencer Michaelis]

 

[snoogans8056]

Are we so confident that other teams aren’t in on our late round guys that we don’t even pick them in the late rounds?

Would make sense that we would be a more attractive undrafted offer if we had 10+ fewer college guys to compete with in this class alone.

[Terry]

On 7/18/2025 at 12:25 AM, Spencer Michaelis said:

Was able to get my hands on some data for Perry.

Fastball: averages 90 MPH, 18.5" IVB with a ton of extension at 7.1 ft, release height averaging a bit under 6 feet.

Curve: averages 75 MPH, -9.32 IVB, -10.5 HB, 2400 RPM

Slider/cutter: averages 84 MPH, 4 IVB, -7 HB, 2400 RPM

Changeup: averages 82 MPH, 11.2 IVB, 12.3 HB, 1560 RPM

Possibly because of different ball from draft league, fastball ride is slightly less impressive in his 11 innings of work.

[Spencer Michaelis]

RHP Caleb Nieman from Central Arizona JC