Sawyer Strosnider, Julian Garcia Latest Brewers Draft Picks To Sign

The Brewers played the draft perfectly. While national media rated the Brewers to have the worst draft because they reached on Ebel, they used that underslot deal to get some talent later like Sawyer and Garcia. Honestly, if the order was just reversed in rounds 1 and 2, nobody would have had a problem with what they did. You can't grade first round picks in MLB like you do in NBA or NFL because salaries are not slotted based on draft position. 

These were the two most important picks to sign. They’ll have to perform before they ever grace a top-10 list in this organization, but both have the goods to get there.

I think Sawyer Strosnider is going to thrive in this offensive development system. Fret about the batting average from his sophomore year if you want, but across his first two seasons he hit over .300 with gobs of extra-base hits. Add in the baserunning and defensive tools, and I’m not going to overthink this one. He may always struggle with chase, but if he’s going to play for this organization, he’ll be forced to maximize his swing decision capabilities. I’m thinking that’s exactly what he needs.

The fourth round is a little later than where Misiorowski, Knoth, and Meccage came off the board, but hopefully Julian Garcia’s talent is in that same neighborhood. His $1.5 million bonus suggests as much, although it still trails Meccage ($2.5M), Misiorowski ($2.35M), and Knoth ($2M on an under-slot deal) by a decent margin.

Whatever else we snag from here is gravy. Knaack, Hill, and the Minnesota kids would make this draft look even better.