2026 Draftee Signing Thread

[Spencer Michaelis]

Just was reminded that the brewers could potentially draft and follow Havard for next year because he’s going to a Juco. Would allow them to offer up to $225k before next years draft without using any bonus pool (or more and use some of the pool). Have to wonder if that will be a legitimate consideration if things go decently for him this year.

[narwhalattack]

1 hour ago, Spencer Michaelis said:

Just was reminded that the brewers could potentially draft and follow Havard for next year because he’s going to a Juco. Would allow them to offer up to $225k before next years draft without using any bonus pool (or more and use some of the pool). Have to wonder if that will be a legitimate consideration if things go decently for him this year.

Makes me wonder if that was one of the big reasons why we prioritized Maiorana over Havard. Maybe the FO told Havard something along the lines of "If you do well in JuCo we'll give you a fatter paycheck than what we can offer right now."

[Terry]

5 hours ago, Spencer Michaelis said:

Just was reminded that the brewers could potentially draft and follow Havard for next year because he’s going to a Juco. Would allow them to offer up to $225k before next years draft without using any bonus pool (or more and use some of the pool). Have to wonder if that will be a legitimate consideration if things go decently for him this year.

I'm assuming that means if he accepts bonus within $225k before next year he won't enter the draft and thus doesn't occupy any draft slot?

*Edit: Indeed he won't. I believe below is the only such case in current CBA.

 

 

[Jim Goulart]

14 hours ago, Jake McKibbin said:

 

Video interview with Hart - need better questions, though I now know dill pickle bubble gum is a thing.

[MattK]

10 hours ago, Spencer Michaelis said:

Just was reminded that the brewers could potentially draft and follow Havard for next year because he’s going to a Juco. Would allow them to offer up to $225k before next years draft without using any bonus pool (or more and use some of the pool). Have to wonder if that will be a legitimate consideration if things go decently for him this year.

Unless the new contract messes with that too?

Really have concerns the Brewers type of edges are what the next contract is going to attack. 

[eklinka]

19 hours 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 don't blame the kid. I'd do the same thing. Clemson better win the national championship because I would imagine MLB orgs wont be too interested in Clemson players after this.

[sveumrules]

Brewers have now signed 21 High School Pitchers going back to the 2023 Draft.

Was curious to see how that number compared to the other 29 teams so clicked around through BRef and it looks like 20 of the teams had five or fewer HSPs signed with two teams coming in at zero (HOU and STL), plus the Mariners with just one (Ryan Sloan).

Only three other teams have cracked double digits at CLE (12), ATL (10), and LAA (11 with seven HSPs in 2025 alone). 

 

[snoogans8056]

2 hours ago, sveumrules said:

Brewers have now signed 21 High School Pitchers going back to the 2023 Draft.

Was curious to see how that number compared to the other 29 teams so clicked around through BRef and it looks like 20 of the teams had five or fewer HSPs signed with two teams coming in at zero (HOU and STL), plus the Mariners with just one (Ryan Sloan).

Only three other teams have cracked double digits at CLE (12), ATL (10), and LAA (11 with seven HSPs in 2025 alone). 

 

Using all the 11-20 picks for high schoolers and not depth arms like everyone else has kind of choked out the upper minors of pitching for now.

A lot of pitcher injuries with the 2025 class didn’t help either. Thompson, Cairone, Morrison, Flores, and Episcope all missing large amounts of time.

[MattK]

5 hours ago, snoogans8056 said:

Using all the 11-20 picks for high schoolers and not depth arms like everyone else has kind of choked out the upper minors of pitching for now.

A lot of pitcher injuries with the 2025 class didn’t help either. Thompson, Cairone, Morrison, Flores, and Episcope all missing large amounts of time.

Much more of a shot at long term lottery tickets, though, no?