It’s really shaping up where there are 5-7 pitchers expected to go in the middle of the 1st round. I’m a much bigger fan of using a 1st round pick on a hitter you believe has 1st round talent, but unless the Brewers use their extra bonus pool money to leverage an over-slot deal at #15 for someone like Frelick or McLain, I am not sure there will be any great options at #15 in terms of college position players. I do wonder if any of the high school position players might be intrigue them enough to select over the college pitching options at that pick. Regarding the over-slot bonus idea, here is how the bonus pools of the teams drafting #9-#15 stack up: 9) Angels ($9,295,900) 10) Mets ($9,026,300) 11) Nationals ($8,770,000) 12) Mariners ($8,526,000) 13) Phillies ($8,295,000) 14) Giants ($8,070,600) 15) Brewers ($10,063,400) Add in the fact that teams can go 5% over their bonus amount and the Brewers have between $1-$2 million more to spend on their draft class than any of the five teams drafting ahead of them. I doubt they’ll go too crazy with an over-slot deal for a player in the 1st round, but if they really liked someone a projected to go a few picks earlier it could at least be a possibility. It’s obviously easier to deploy such a strategy with high school picks that have more leverage due to the threat they can go to college if they don’t get what they want. Probably a little tougher to manipulate with college players, although there are reports the Red Sox and Jack Leiter are attempting to do just that.