2026 Milwaukee Brewers MLB Draft Day 2 Thread

[Luke99]

I highly doubt our otherwise very highly revered FO, who has been widely praised for how they handle the draft and draftee's is the one dropping the ball  I guarantee they did their due diligence or heads would be rolling.   Guessing he just changed his mind. 

[CheeseheadInQC]

1 hour ago, narwhalattack said:

https://www.theclemsoninsider.com/2026/07/27/major-piece-set-to-return-to-clemson/
 

Knaak will not be signing. And there also goes any chance of signing the remaining HS arms. 
 

I wonder what happened behind the scenes. This is the second time in three years where we failed to sign a top 10 pick. You’d think the FO would have a good idea of what it would take to sign these guys (and whether they’d be open to signing at all), so either someone didn’t do their due diligence or Knaak backed out at the last minute.

Levonas sounds like they drafted him knowing not signing was a possibility but liked him enough to draft him anyway and just take the pick the next year if he went to college. Knaak is something different.

[balsamlaker]

I agree with CheeseheadInQC (and not just because I was in the Quad Cities last weekend).  You (the Brewers) don't take a risk in the 5th round, as there is no reward other than saving money.  Unless Knaak has a great personal and/or academic reason, I do not get this decision from a professional standpoint.  The Brewers have been described as a "pitching factory" and he has regressed during his time at Clemson.  Secondly, when the draft comes around next year, he will be close to 23 y/o.  Looking at this year's top five rounds, only two players were this age that were selected in the top 5 rounds.  Riojas was taken in the third and signed for under 80% of the pick slot and Jelkin was taken in the compensatory round after the fourth and signed for around pick value.  Since I always thought Knaak was signing around slot value, it only costs you about $20,000 more in signing your other picks.