2024 Milwaukee Brewers Draft Picks

Braylon Payne will be just 17 on draft day, one of the youngest prospects in the entire draft class, a fact likely to add to the appeal of his already enticing profile.

Payne is an outfielder who sets up in the box with a relaxed, quiet stance at the plate. It's a clean, compact swing with fast hands and solid bat speed. A flattish bat path makes it a line drive type offensive profile currently. Payne sprays the ball around the field effectively though, and there's a good hit tool there when it's all said and done given his good bat to ball skills.

Payne is a menace of the base paths, with easy plus to double plus speed which he uses aggressively in games already. Payne plays a good center field already, leveraging his speed for now while he hones his route running. It should be a plus glove which will help him stick in center field despite having only a fringe average arm.

If Payne can add some loft to his swing and continue to improve his bat speed, he could get to average power to round out a profile grounded in strong hit, speed, and defensive tools.

There are plenty of college power bats in the 2024 draft class. In terms of bat speed, gaudy exit velocities, and huge power, Blake Burke is up there with the best of them. Burke is a left-handed hitter with an uppercut type swing designed to lift the ball. It's definitely a power over hit profile but Burke has made some strides in refining his overall offensive approach.

Throughout 2024, Burke has career highs in batting average, doubles, and strikeout to walk ratio, showing increased patience and a better propensity to make adjustments in his at bats. Defensively, it's a first base only profile, but Burke has a good glove and profiles to be above average there.

Burke will have to mash consistently to provide good value to a drafting organization, but he offers an interesting alternative to other 'power with limited defensive value' type profiles who will go much higher in the draft.

Through Super Regionals, Burke hit .376/.449/.713 (1.162) with 19 home runs (48 XBH), 33 walks, and 41 strikeouts in 66 games. It's been a loud season. He shouldn't have to wait too long to hear his name called in July.

Meccage is a prep-righty from New Jersey with the traits you want to see in a starter at the next level, coming off a loud spring.

He throws from a higher three quarters slot and moves well on the mound. There's a quick arm there, with a bit of an effortful release, but the overall operation looks smooth and repeatable. Meccage's fastball took a velocity jump in the summer, reaching 95-96 mph. It sits in the low 90s over longer starts and evaluators will want to see him maintain that velocity throughout outings in the spring.

Meccage has shown a pair of good breaking balls, both exceeding 2,900rpms. The slider is higher rated, sitting in the low 80s with sweeping action, with his high 70s curveball has plenty of downward bite. There's also a sparsely used changeup there.

Meccage already has some strong upward momentum and adds to an intriguing demographic of prep pitchers available to teams in July. Meccage is committed to Virginia.

Levonas is a gangly right-handed prep pitcher currently committed to Wake Forest. He has a package of interesting traits and skills on the mound. His fastball has taken a significant velocity jump this spring, up from the 90-92 mph range, now sitting 93-95 mph and touching 98 mph. It's an offering with good spin that is likely to be a plus pitch, if it isn't already.

Levonas has also shown great proficiency in spinning the baseball, with a slider/curveball breaker pairing that carry spin rates between 2800-3000rpms, in addition to some feel for a changeup. Levonas commands and moves these pitches around the zone well, in addition to getting good extension at release.

A loose, quick arm, with a four pitch arsenal he commands well, a proclivity to spin the baseball, and plenty of projection. It's a massive up arrow for this profile heading into July.

RHP from Dallas Baptist. More to come. 

Spent a season at Grayson Community College. He throws a good slider in the low-80s. Fastball in low-90s, to 94. Has a lot of spin. 

From FSS: 

DeBerry was a workhorse arm for DBU in 2024 and possesses some interesting traits that are likely to draw the attention of pro scouts. It starts with a low-to-mid 80s sweeper featuring spin rates that'll flirt with 3000 rpm at peak; more commonly resting in the 2850 range. DeBerry has approached 90 mph with that pitch and could eventually see it blossom into an above-average or better offering as a pro. He won't overwhelm hitters with his fastball, a low-90s heater with fairly generic shape. DeBerry cuts his fastball a bit but doesn't generate much carry along the way. He's a natural supinator which helps aid in spinning his sweeper. There's a big, deeper curveball with tremendous depth as well as a cutter, and nascent sinker/changeup combo that he's worked to offer at left-handed hitters. It's a full menu of pitches and DeBerry has done a nice job developing a pitch chart that keeps hitters off balance. Perhaps his greatest trait is his lean, long projectable frame that could add velocity with proper nutrition and training in a pro setting. He's also shown above-average control for the strikezone and figures to keep hold of a starting pitcher title at the next level. A lot to like here, especially if you're an organization that trusts in its player development process with arms.

From FSS: 

A two-year star at Tallahassee CC, Dinges transferred into Florida State this year and has served as the teams primary DH for much of the season. It's power-over-hit with legitimate bat speed to all fields. Dinges has considerable strength in his hands and forearms and can muscle pitches off the plate into base hits. He's susceptible to the slider off the plate from a right-handed pitcher, though at this stage he's done a reasonable nice job fouling those pitches off and staying alive deeper into counts. The whole operation isn't too dissimilar from how Tyler O'Neill looks in the box, though admittedly considerably less refined. Dinges has the ceiling of a future fringe-average hitter with plus power that plays to all fields. Finding a defensive home will be a priority going forward. Dinges hasn't been able to secure many innings in the field, and he was labeled a below average defender in right field at TCC. He's done some catching in his collegiate career as well, and while he has a slow heartbeat behind the plate and isn't a jumpy receiver, his blocking and framing leaves something to be desired. Dinges does have an above average throwing arm.

from FSS: 

Holobetz began his career at Radford before transferring to Old Dominion to try and capitalize on the pitching development ODU offers. The fastball has been up to 96 with carry and hop late in the zone from a reasonably lower slot. He throws a deeper slider that will flash solid average when he gets through it. Holobetz could take on a number of roles at the next level, though he'll need to develop a better tertiary offering if he's to start at the highest level.

From BA:

Welch is a compact, yet physical 6-foot, 200-pound righthander who posted a 4.65 ERA with 88 strikeouts to 24 walks across 89 innings this spring. An advanced strike-thrower, Welch has a five-pitch mix that includes a low-90s fastball, a high-80s cutter, a low-80s slider, a mid-70s curveball and a seldom-used low-80s changeup. Both his slider and cutter this spring generated whiff rates north of 30%, and he projects as a back end, innings-eating starter.

from BA: 

Molina has been a reliable starter for three seasons, first in two years with Texas Tech when he posted a 3.77 ERA over 141 total innings from 2022-2023 and then this spring after transferring to Arkansas and joining perhaps the best pitching staff in the country. With Arkansas, the 6-foot-2, 230-pound lefthander posted a 4.47 ERA over 58.1 innings and 13 starts with a career-best 32.3% strikeout rate and 14.3% walk rate. He doesn’t light up the radar gun, but instead does a decent job mixing and matching with a solid four-pitch mix. He averages 89-90 mph with his fastball and will touch 95, but he gets well above-average riding life on the pitch and generally does a nice job attacking the top of the zone. He generated a strong 31% miss rate with the fastball this spring and also collected plenty of whiffs with his low-80s changeup and low-80s slider. Molina uses the changeup about a quarter of the time against righthanded hitters, but scraps it against lefties, where he instead employs his slider and a slower mid-70s curveball with depth. Molina’s fastball shape, durable frame and deep pitch mix give him a chance to start, but he’ll need to improve his command with all of his pitches to find the same success he’s had in college against professional hitters

Garcia pitched as a starter and reliever for three seasons with High Point before transferring to Oklahoma State for the 2024 season where he pitched as a full-time starter and posted a 3.64 ERA over 89 innings in 16 games. He struck out a career-high 31% of batters and walked a career-low 5.1% and his 115 total strikeouts were good for fifth-best in the Big 12. Garcia throws his fastball in the upper 80s and will touch 93, while mixing in a 78-81 mph slider and low-80s changeup. He has a solid pitcher’s frame at 6-foot-4, 218 pounds and works with an easy delivery and balanced finish.

From Baseball America:
Tobias was mostly a shortstop until the last couple years, when he started working more on the mound. He took off as a pitcher and emerged as one of the top prep players in Indiana. A bit undersized at a listed 6-foot, 185 pounds, Tobias has a fast arm and is a good athlete. His fastball sits in the low 90s and he mixes in a slider and changeup. While he doesn’t yet have an out-pitch, it’s easy to dream on him and believe that he’ll be able to make a jump as he gets stronger and more experience on the mound.

From Baseball America:
Dorchies is a 6-foot-6, 210-pound righthander with a low arm slot who’s committed to Illinois-Chicago. Dorchies pops in age based models due to being a young draft eligible high school player. He’s a projectible pitcher with plenty of room for further physical growth. Dorchies mixes two pitches with a four-seam 88-92 mph fastball and a 77-79 mph slider. Dorchies shows solid athleticism with excellent extension in his fastball. Although he has room to add velocity he also needs to improve his control.

From BA: 

Parker was a high-profile projection righthander out of The Woodlands (Texas) Christian Academy in the 2021 class. He was viewed as a tough sign and went undrafted and has pitched as both a starter and reliever for TCU in 2022 and 2024, though his 2023 season was lost to injury. In his 2024 season Parker posted a 4.11 ERA in 35 innings with a 27.3% strikeout rate and 13.0% walk rate. He throws a 93-94 mph fastball that touches 97 with above-average cutting life and pairs the pitch with a true cutter around 90 mph that occasionally blends into more of a slider look as well as an upper-70s slurvy curveball and rarely used mid-80s changeup that has significant arm-side life. Nothing in Parker’s mix comes in straight but his below-average control could limit his upside and keep him in the bullpen full-time in pro ball.

Broughton is a long, athletic prep left hander from Northville in Michigan (the same high school as Dante Nori). The Pitt commit has good arm speed and there's athleticism and projection in the delivery and frame.

Broughton throws a fastball that sits 92-94 mph with plenty of carry that plays well up in the zone and is a metrically appealing pitch to pro teams. Broughton has a changeup he throws in the 80s with plenty of depth and fade, which has a chance to be a plus pitch. Additionally, there's a curveball that has 1-7 type shape.

There are some questions about Broughton's arm stroke being consistently on time, but this is a great platform of stuff for a lefty in a deep and diverse prep pitching demographic

Nunnallee is a prep hitter committed to Virginia who has seen time behind the plate and in the outfield. Nunnallee has a solid overall offensive tool set with a good approach and solid swing decisions. He has fast hands and his swing produces mostly gap power at present. This is an offensive profile with a solid floor that could produce average hit and power tools.

Nunnallee is solid enough at catcher but there's work to do defensively if he's to stick behind the plate. There's enough in the offensive profile if he ends up playing in the outfield long term.

From BA: 

Smith was a notable prep prospect in the 2021 class thanks to a large frame, a sinker he showed feel to pump into the zone and a pair of quality secondaries in his slider and changeup. He made it to campus at Kentucky, missed the 2022 season with Tommy John surgery but was solid in 2023 and in 2024 posted a 6.21 ERA over 37.2 innings with an 18.8% strikeout rate and 12.5% walk rate. Smith’s stuff seems louder than his peripherals would indicate, but despite a fastball that averaged 94 and gets up to 97, the pitch has just mediocre life and has been hit around at times. It’s been more of a groundball-inducing pitch than a bat-misser, and he will need to refine his command of the pitch or tweak its shape to get the most out of it. Smith’s mid-80s slider is his primary secondary pitch, though he has also mixed in a harder cutter and a firm, upper-80s changeup. Smith has plenty of pure stuff to work with and a powerful 6-foot-4, 220-pound frame, and teams might be excited about the pitcher he could become as he gets further away from his surgery.

More to come. 

More to come. 

From Baseball America:
A 6-foot-4, 190-pound righthander, Renz will appeal to many analytically inclined teams thanks to the combination of his size, age and spin characteristics. His performance was up-and-down throughout the summer and fall, but he did strike out five batters and walk none in a solid Area Code Games outing, while pitching in the low 90s and flashing a decent breaking ball. Overall Renz needs to add more power to his pitch mix. He typically sits in the upper 80s and has been up to 92, but his fastball plays up and gets more whiffs than expected and he’s thrown both a slider and curveball that have potential but blend together. He’s occasionally mixed in a low-80s changeup but the pitch needs plenty of work. Renz is committed to St. John’s.

More to Come. 

From Baseball America:
Brummel is a 6-foot-4, 190-pound righthander who was pitching in the upper 80s and touching 90-91 in 2023 but took a step forward in the 2024 spring season. He has a quick right arm and throws with plenty of intent—which includes significant head whack and recoil—but has pitched more in the 91-92 mph range and has touched 93-94. He spins the ball well and might get to a plus breaking ball with a pair of different shapes shown this spring. He also has a low-80s changeup. Brummel has extreme reliever risk because of his delivery and well below-average control but his stuff and arm speed are exciting. He’s committed to Indiana.