2026 Draftee Signing Thread

[DonBarclay]

I could see this actually becoming more of a trend. The new NCAA rules allow for 5 seasons of eligibility in 5 years. So a Junior like Knaak actually has 2 years left. So next year, he doesn’t have no leverage like college seniors previously have had. He can still go back again, theoretically. He loses some value being older, but there’s nothing stopping teams from putting 5th year senior pitchers in AA right after the draft. 

[SF70]

1 hour ago, Jake McKibbin said:

 

 

Super happy with this signing.

Premium athlete, good size, great speed and a nice hit-tool to boot. Doesn’t hurt he’s a big Brewers fan as well.

 

[Spencer Michaelis]

9 minutes ago, SF70 said:

Super happy with this signing.

Premium athlete, good size, great speed and a nice hit-tool to boot. Doesn’t hurt he’s a big Brewers fan as well.

Hart is not a Brewers fan as far as I know. Kruzan, George and Ruby all are though.

[Spencer Michaelis]

Got a good source on the Knaak story, and I'll share now that it's official. Clemson came in with around $600k in NIL after he had already agreed to an under-slot deal with the Brewers on draft day (not sure of the exact money), and to keep the timeline short, this is where we wound up in the end.

The Brewers and even other organizations are not thrilled with Clemson here, as this is not really something colleges do for returning college players. Once they've gone and agreed with a pro team, they don't come in with a late offer. Until that agreement is in place, it's different. Once they have a verbal agreement, colleges back off and look elsewhere so as not to hurt relations with pro organizations.

As has been mentioned, this may start a new trend, and in a few years maybe this will be much more normal, but for right now it's definitely not.

FWIW, there are some whispers that Knaak's dad was pretty involved in all of this, though I don't have nearly as good a source on that, but probably smart to keep in mind that while he did back out of an agreement, we are talking about a 21-year-old here who was potentially being pulled in a lot of directions by his parents, agent, college coaches, etc. 

[CheeseheadInQC]

4 minutes ago, Spencer Michaelis said:

Got a good source on the Knaak story, and I'll share now that it's official. Clemson came in with around $600k in NIL after he had already agreed to an under-slot deal with the Brewers on draft day (not sure of the exact money), and to keep the timeline short, this is where we wound up in the end.

The Brewers and even other organizations are not thrilled with Clemson here, as this is not really something colleges do for returning college players. Once they've gone and agreed with a pro team, they don't come in with a late offer. Until that agreement is in place, it's different. Once they have a verbal agreement, colleges back off and look elsewhere so as not to hurt relations with pro organizations.

As has been mentioned, this may start a new trend, and in a few years maybe this will be much more normal, but for right now it's definitely not.

FWIW, there are some whispers that Knaak's dad was pretty involved in all of this, though I don't have nearly as good a source on that, but probably smart to keep in mind that while he did back out of an agreement, we are talking about a 21-year-old here who was potentially being pulled in a lot of directions by his parents, agent, college coaches, etc. 

I guess good for Knaak getting the payday, but this might hurt other Clemson players in the long run. It makes them too big of a risk for rounds 3-10 especially.

[markedman5]

 

[narwhalattack]

Seems like a shortsighted move on Clemson’s part. They get a player back who they think they can compete with, but they likely harmed their own credibility with MLB teams. Unless every college adopts the same tactic all at once, not too many teams are gonna be thrilled with doing business with Clemson players. And that means fewer HS kids may be inclined to play for Clemson knowing that they may be soft-blackballed by the league.

[narwhalattack]

3 minutes ago, markedman5 said:

 

WOW. Didn’t think we’d be able to sign him! He was one guy I really wanted us to sign. Good size, already good present stuff, and high spin breaking ball. Can’t wait to see what our pitching lab can do with him.

[SF70]

15 minutes ago, Spencer Michaelis said:

Hart is not a Brewers fan as far as I know. Kruzan, George and Ruby all are though.

Thanks for clarifying. Had him mixed-up with one of the other trio of picks. 

[wibadgers23]

17 out of 20 isn't bad I guess. The biggest bummer was not being able to sign Bell but getting Maiorana was a nice surprise.

[diddly33]

On 7/24/2026 at 5:42 PM, wiguy94 said:

It would be pretty shocking if Knaak doesn't sign. I imagine the "top 4 will sign comment" was because the first day of the draft was 4 rounds so top 4 would be day 1 of the draft.

Maybe it wasn’t really the kid’s decision, but as of draft day his dad posted “Let’s go Brew Crew!  Onto the next level.”   

[wallus]

36 minutes ago, Spencer Michaelis said:

Got a good source on the Knaak story, and I'll share now that it's official. Clemson came in with around $600k in NIL after he had already agreed to an under-slot deal with the Brewers on draft day (not sure of the exact money), and to keep the timeline short, this is where we wound up in the end.

The Brewers and even other organizations are not thrilled with Clemson here, as this is not really something colleges do for returning college players. Once they've gone and agreed with a pro team, they don't come in with a late offer. Until that agreement is in place, it's different. Once they have a verbal agreement, colleges back off and look elsewhere so as not to hurt relations with pro organizations.

As has been mentioned, this may start a new trend, and in a few years maybe this will be much more normal, but for right now it's definitely not.

FWIW, there are some whispers that Knaak's dad was pretty involved in all of this, though I don't have nearly as good a source on that, but probably smart to keep in mind that while he did back out of an agreement, we are talking about a 21-year-old here who was potentially being pulled in a lot of directions by his parents, agent, college coaches, etc. 

Do you think this cost us signing someone else?

[Spencer Michaelis]

6 minutes ago, wallus said:

Do you think this cost us signing someone else?

Would not shock me if it cost Havard in the end, but no actual idea.

[balsamlaker]

Great to see Maiorana sign!  When Hart's $ number came in and there was still space, I had hope another one was coming as sometimes the Brewers come within dollars of maxing their 105% and it looks like they did it again this year.  I agree with Narwhal's take that this seems like a shortsighted move for the Clemson program that had a really tough year in the ACC last year.

[biedergb]

2 minutes ago, balsamlaker said:

I agree with Narwhal's take that this seems like a shortsighted move for the Clemson program that had a really tough year in the ACC last year.

Yeah, that will hopefully be noticed by other MLB teams. I mean I get that they want a competitive team and don't love seeing players leave, but that is part of the game in college - you get a kid for a couple years.

 

38 minutes ago, narwhalattack said:

Unless every college adopts the same tactic all at once, not too many teams are gonna be thrilled with doing business with Clemson players.

I was going to say, that it would ironic if other colleges did the same, and then HS players would be the "safe" picks now, if college try to outbid MLB for these 5-10 round players to keep a competitive team. But if the new CBA eliminates the HS player from being draft eligible, then maybe Clemson is the trend-setter here.  I mean as a fan of this team, and wanting all picks signed, I will selfishly root for any team that plays Clemson and hope this move backfires on them big time.  yeah I'm not vengeful or spiteful or anything.

Good luck to Aidan, but not to Clemson 😉

[MilwaukeeBeers]

That is nice to see we got one! Higly projectable stuff. Some Dubanewicz in the delivery

[balsamlaker]

Hard to blame the kid (Knaak) or family on this one unless they sought out Clemson after agreeing to the deal with Milwaukee.  Where he was drafted and what he was going to get offered was not a huge surprise.  The Clemson folks could have put their offer together before the draft and no one would have been the wiser and the Brewers would have taken someone else (maybe even his teammate - LeGuemic).

[James Zumstein]

1 hour ago, Spencer Michaelis said:

Hart is not a Brewers fan as far as I know. Kruzan, George and Ruby all are though.

I bet he's a fan now.😉