Running 2026 MLB Draft Thread

[wiguy94]

Just thought I'd start a thread where people can talk about the 2026 draft or 2026 draft prospects.

[wiguy94]

This pitcher has Brewers written all over him. LHP throwing 97 playing on the Brewers Area Code team who also re-classified to 2026 from 2027 making him 17 years old at the draft.

 

[James Zumstein]

Thanks for getting this thread started, and a great first player to watch. After the Brewers took a player from Lake Central HS in Crown Point, Indiana for the third consecutive year, I checked out their team looking for any possible names for 2026. While they don't have any prospects for 2026, SS Parker Robinson is a legit prospect for 2027 (I know, I'm really getting ahead of myself). And interestingly, another HS in Crown Point has the 2nd rated catching prospect in the country in Tennessee recruit Sean Dunlap. I'm sure Ginger is all over him already 😉.

[Soupy]

I want them to draft the best available player who will make it to the bigs quickly and be a stud

 

 

[James Zumstein]

Sticking with my "prep catchers from familiar Midwest towns" theme, Luke Adams' alma mater Hinsdale (IL) Central has a catcher named Dylan Kassab that has committed to play at Indiana next year and he doesn't turn 18 until after the draft. He shows above average bat speed, good pop times and arm speed, and is athletic enough to play elsewhere if he doesn't stick at catcher. Sounds like another possible later round target.

[wiguy94]

37 minutes ago, James Zumstein said:

Sticking with my "prep catchers from familiar Midwest towns" theme, Luke Adams' alma mater Hinsdale (IL) Central has a catcher named Dylan Kassab that has committed to play at Indiana next year and he doesn't turn 18 until after the draft. He shows above average bat speed, good pop times and arm speed, and is athletic enough to play elsewhere if he doesn't stick at catcher. Sounds like another possible later round target.

Indiana kids might be tougher signs though. Remember we were unable to sign 2 kids committed to Indiana in the 2024 draft in Malamazian and Brummel.

[James Zumstein]

38 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

Indiana kids might be tougher signs though. Remember we were unable to sign 2 kids committed to Indiana in the 2024 draft in Malamazian and Brummel.

Agreed, but it might still be worth the risk in rounds 11-20.

[jay87shot]

Lake City (IN) doesn't seem to have any upcoming Seniors who look to be draftable at this point. However they do have an up an coming stud SS Paker Robinson in the 2027 draft class who we may as well just sign now.

[snoogans8056]

Was just digging through old drafts to find our last successful high school pitcher that was brought up to the majors (as I assume we are gonna draft 5 more in 2026).

I’m not going to count Reece Olsen (2018) or Max Lazar (2017) as they were brought up with other teams…

I could have possibly missed someone, but I think I found the answer in the 2013 draft. Won’t spoil it for anyone that cares to guess.

[biedergb]

I didn't guess it and then was mad at myself for not guessingit.

But. Interesting that the last time the team really went after HS pitchers were those draft first referenced in 2017/2018. Before that a few picks here and there in the top 20 but not much. 2019-2021 were pretty much college picks all around and JuCo mixed in. They dabbled a little in 2022 with HS picks in the 3rd day but didn't sign most and then the 2023-2025 flipped switch to a lot of HS pitchers.

There are some 2-3 year trends that the Brewers seem to have so it does make me wonder if this year will hold true, or whether they now pivot to like all college bats this year because y'know.

[jay87shot]

It is crazy it has been 12 years since we fully developed a solid high school arm (I had to look it up) and a bullpen one at that. I really like the way we have done it, the likelihood hitting on 5 lower level arms that still have good upside vs. 1 or 2 higher level arms seems better to me. Especially with the likelihood of injuries through the minors. To be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing us take more HS arms in the 4-10 range if they find guys that they like and know will sign at say 750k.  

 

[SF70]

On 11/7/2025 at 7:31 PM, biedergb said:

I didn't guess it and then was mad at myself for not guessingit.

But. Interesting that the last time the team really went after HS pitchers were those draft first referenced in 2017/2018. Before that a few picks here and there in the top 20 but not much. 2019-2021 were pretty much college picks all around and JuCo mixed in. They dabbled a little in 2022 with HS picks in the 3rd day but didn't sign most and then the 2023-2025 flipped switch to a lot of HS pitchers.

There are some 2-3 year trends that the Brewers seem to have so it does make me wonder if this year will hold true, or whether they now pivot to like all college bats this year because y'know.

They seem to have an advantage over most, if not all of baseball with being able to scout-out and identify HS pitching that they can develop into quality pitchers and because of this advantage I believe they continue this trend indefinitely.

Thanks to the last 3 drafts, they have tons of pitching talent throughout the system like never before imo, and will soon have the ability to trade-off some of this pitching when it gets to excess. And with the controllable starters now on the 40 man and in the rotation, that excess will be here sooner than we think.

[KCBrewerfan34]

Feel free to move this and this is subject to change based on FA signings. Brewers will have 4 of the top 105 picks 

25

68 

70 (comp B)

105 

[snoogans8056]

Looks like we traded our Comp B pick with Durbin. Gonna be a weird draft based on us having roughly half the money we are used to.

Do we go with all senior signs from the 4th round and on? Gonna be a whole new experience this year.

[James Zumstein]

1 hour ago, snoogans8056 said:

Looks like we traded our Comp B pick with Durbin. Gonna be a weird draft based on us having roughly half the money we are used to.

Do we go with all senior signs from the 4th round and on? Gonna be a whole new experience this year.

Luckily we have a ton of depth throughout the system, so maybe we go after one or two big-time prospects at the top and have the rest of the picks be "value" picks. You know, like we used to do 30 years ago. 🙄

[snoogans8056]

3 hours ago, James Zumstein said:

Luckily we have a ton of depth throughout the system, so maybe we go after one or two big-time prospects at the top and have the rest of the picks be "value" picks. You know, like we used to do 30 years ago. 🙄

I did look up this last draft class and I’m way less worried.

First round will be maximum savings (like Fischer), but we saved only 250k on Ebel, and 150k on Cairone.

Every other pick was by the book except for Flores in the 4th (about 125k over slot).

So in the end last year we only really saved big on the first pick, and 250k on Ebel (Cairone and Flores cancel out-ish).

We can probably still do some of our wild stuff in 11-20.

[James Zumstein]

There are three players from the Brewers 2026 MLB Scout Team that I think could all be possible targets.

SS Trey Ebel, brother of 2025 pick Brady Ebel, will be a few months shy of his 18th birthday come July and is a premiere defensive infielder with good speed and a solid all-around offensive profile. Would likely require an early pick and large bonus to sign him away from his Texas A & M commitment. 

Florida RHP Ryan Walls will be turning 18 in July, and while not a hard thrower (FB max around 90), he's 6'3 and spins it well, and is known as a guy who knows how to get outs. Could be a target in 11-20 to try to sign away from his Ole Miss commitment. 

OF and Southern Miss commit Henry Abt could be another possible target in the second half of the draft. Like Walls, he turns 18 in July, fitting the Brewers preferred profile. He features above average bat and foot speed, great bat-to-ball skills, and has a strong enough arm to play all three OF spots. Another well-rounded player that would fit in with the organization quite well.

[snoogans8056]

So this year’s draft class would be the class of 2023 in high school.

Our 2023 high school signees were:

Josh Knoth

Eric Bitonti

Cooper Pratt

Bishop Letson

Bjorn Johnson

Hayden Robinson

Josh Adamczewski

Our first real big high school class in the rounds 11-20 era.

Will be cool to see how they’d have stacked up with this 2026 college class (which everyone is calling one of the best in years).

[Tedaldtada]

13 hours ago, snoogans8056 said:

So this year’s draft class would be the class of 2023 in high school.

Our 2023 high school signees were:

Josh Knoth

Eric Bitonti

Cooper Pratt

Bishop Letson

Bjorn Johnson

Hayden Robinson

Josh Adamczewski

Our first real big high school class in the rounds 11-20 era.

Will be cool to see how they’d have stacked up with this 2026 college class (which everyone is calling one of the best in years).

Me likey 

[jay87shot]

I think this draft will depend a lot on what the DSL and rookie ball looks like this year. We have incredible depth through A ball but lasts years rough DSL rosters do make a potential bubble in the lowest levels. If those teams look good I would think we kind of continue the path but if those teams struggle we might need to find more college bats (later in the draft) than normal to supplement a-ball in 2027.

[Spencer Michaelis]

Morton is one I would absolutely revisit after he didn’t sign in 2023. The sweeper is probably a 70 grade pitch.

 

[jay87shot]

Thoughts on Hunter Deitz a lefty from Arkansas. He only pitched 1 2/3 innings his 1st 2 years total, and wasn't good in the Cape (walks) however he is 6'6" with a big fastball and comes really over the top. There seems to be alot of advanced stat style qualities our org values here. He is ranked 37 by mlb.com and currently has 15 k/9, 3 starts in (better control than in Cape Cod). We haven't taken a college pitcher in the 1st in a while but he seems like the upside we like and would likely save us a bunch underslot.

I also like Tre Broussard an OF from Houston as a college player who would save some money and possesses some of the skills we covet. He is more of a speed 1st OF but he walks about as much as he strikes out and I believe there could be a little more power potential left.

On the pitching end Joseph Contreras and Savion Sims are interesting arms that come from baseball families (Sims is related to Doc Gooden) both are ranked 47 and 51 respectively but have traits that could make them higher picks

I like OF AJ Gracia  (57 bb/37 k in 2025), C Will Brick as guys who wouldn't be the lower ranked slot saving style picks. Gracia does everything well and has a very advanced approach and Brick will likely be a great defensive catcher with the qualities to be a good hitter.

[James Zumstein]

I've been scouring scouting reports, etc. for months now of both high school and college players, and I am wholly convinced that the player that most perfectly fits the Brewers profile is Notre Dame RHP Jack Radel. A cold-weather arm (originally from Sioux Falls, SD) at 6' 5", 250 lbs., and he averages almost seven feet of extension, something the Brewers look for in starting pitchers. They also don't mind pitchers who are a little older and Radel will turn 22 two months after the draft. Going into the season, he was expected to go somewhere around the third round, but after throwing a complete game shutout over #19 Clemson on Friday, he's now 3-1 with a 2.06 ERA with a 44/6 K/BB ratio. He would be a solid choice for us at #66, if still available.