ESPN Mock Draft: McDaniel Projects Outfielder to Brewers

Despite a lot of mock drafts and the trend typically pairing the Brewers with a college pitcher, Kiley McDaniel again projects the Brewers to select James Madison OF Chase DeLauter.

DeLauter jumped onto radars and up draft lists with an outstanding performance in the Cape Cod League last summer. He tied for the league league with nine home runs, led the league in slugging (.589; for those over 100 plate appearances), tied for third in walks (21) and put up an OPS just shy of 1.000 at .986 (which was also first for those with over 100 plate appearances). His 146 plate appearances was second in the league and he also pitched four innings over three games.

Unfortunately, DeLauter couldn't ride that momentum into the season. In a season-opening series against Florida State, DeLauter struck out eight times amid batting 3-for-14. That first impression hung on, though DeLauter turned it around quickly putting up a seven-game multi-hit-game streak, including a 4-hit, 8-RBI, 2-SB performance against VMI on March 1.

A month later, he put up a 3-hit, 6-RBI game again against VMI and then went 4-for-4 with a triple and two walks on April 9 against Charleston to raise his average to .437. But DeLauter hadn't seen "high-quality" opponents since the clunker against the Seminoles and this happened:

DeLauter's season was over prematurely and his draft stock had not fully recovered from that opening-weekend series.

McDaniel says this about DeLauter going to the Brewers at #27.

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DeLauter is model-friendly given his Cape performance, exit velos and raw tools, but isn't loved by more traditionally leaning scouting organizations due to a bad spring and injuries that limited his looks versus good pitching this year. It's a safe bet that a numbers-leaning team will take DeLauter, and the Brewers are that sort of team at the right juncture of the draft.

How would you feel about going this route late in the first round?