CheeseheadInQC

I have a feeling it might be closer to their choice of Valerio or Garcia plus maybe Guilarte and Vassalotti or some other pair of players in that range. Even that might feel light.

I have a feeling it might be closer to their choice of Valerio or Garcia plus maybe Guilarte and Vassalotti or some other pair of players in that range. Even that might feel light.

They might choose to sell, but 3.5 games out with the three current Wild Card teams tightly bunched isn’t out of the race unless you think all six of the current AL playoff teams are locks.

I wasn’t shocked by the number of four year college guys after round 10 simply because it was lower last year, when Ryne Moore was the only one taken. I think they looked at what their Carolina lineup was looking like and thought outside of catcher, where the JUCO kid might get a shot, they had enough internal guys who they liked better.

Third tier just sounds bad without context of how fine you’re getting with your tiers, although personally I think there is an argument for Quero at three even if I would have him a couple of spots lower.

Third tier just sounds bad without context of how fine you’re getting with your tiers, although personally I think there is an argument for Quero at three even if I would have him a couple of spots lower.

I would also say that the lower investment in pitching lately has me leery of dealing Rodriguez or Cruz just because I think they have more value to the organization than what they would bring back in a trade.

I would also say that the lower investment in pitching lately has me leery of dealing Rodriguez or Cruz just because I think they have more value to the organization than what they would bring back in a trade.

Part of the blame falls on the over-compartmentalization when it comes to enshrining Hall of Famers. To some degree it makes sense to consider players, coaches and other contributors separately to give more of an apples to apples comparison, but it fails those like O’Neil, who from everything I have read was a coin flip candidate solely as a player but the totality of his baseball life should have made him a no-doubter for enshrinement. And the Negro League Museum is definitely worth a visit. We arrived too late to spend as much time as I would have liked, but what I was able to take in did a really good job telling the Leagues’ stories.

Between the emphasis on contact and the addition of infielders at the lower levels, I kind of wonder if Eduardo Garcia might not be among those dealt. I also agree on Quero being in one of the top tiers.

Between the emphasis on contact and the addition of infielders at the lower levels, I kind of wonder if Eduardo Garcia might not be among those dealt. I also agree on Quero being in one of the top tiers.

I'm very much a BPA guy in round one. If you build up a depth of prospects at one position, well, trades happen. Even if you pick an outfielder first it's not saying you couldn't draft three or four pitchers and a corner infielder and/or catcher with the rest of your picks in the first five rounds. Once you get later then organizational depth chart affects things. Like unless there is still somehow someone on the board they REALLY like, I doubt you see any college infielders or outfielders taken in rounds 11-20 simply because the organizational opportunity won't necessarily be there.

My random predictions, ranges generally gotten from MLB pipeline rankings 1. Gabriel Hughes, pitcher, Gonzaga: Feels like it is going to be a college pitcher or outfielder judging by who is projected to go in this range. Hughes is as good of a guess as any. 2. Jacob Misiorowski, pitcher, Crowder JC: I've seen him ranked all over the board, so who knows if he is here, but the Brewers like JUCO pitching, and he is an Antoine Kelly-type upside play. CB2: Max Wagner, 3B, Clemson: Doesn't fit the Brewers' up the middle tendency, but Milwaukee has been willing to gamble with college guys with smaller than ideal track records (although it is usually because of injury) 3. Dominic Keegan, will be announced as a catcher, Vanderbilt: I had to give the Brewers the annual won't actually stick at catcher guy, and he is the only one I came across in a reasonable range. 4. Kenya Huggins, pitcher, Chipola JC: Another JUCO pitcher, another upside play 5. Quinn Matthews, pitcher, Stanford: Lefty whose best pitch is a changeup. Sounds like a Brewers pick.

I guess it depends on the price tag. Prep pitching in the first round always carries a risk, but you accept it for the right player. Now if he has such a ridiculous bonus demand that it means having to go senior sign with one of your second rounders it gets significantly less appealing.

It all depends on the overall stateside limit, Other than Nashville and maybe Carolina I don’t know that they are at the roster limit anywhere. With the shorter draft, the Brewers signed 15 draft picks and 3 UDFA last season, and five or six didn’t play at all last year. Those who did play seemed to have their debuts pretty well staggered. With the promotions that would occur anyway, finding room for a dozen players shouldn’t be that tough from an individual roster perspective.

Outside of the other guys listed on MLB.com's top 200 (Jacob Misiorowski and Jake Madden) I can't find much about any of the JUCO arms, but given the Brewers have picked a fair number lately I wonder if they go Kenya Huggins in the fourth round or something like that.

With the MLB draft about a month away, I thought I would take a bit of time and examine some of the Brewers tendencies to predict what we can expect when the draft kicks off July 17. Catch a falling star The Brewers have no problem stopping the fall of players many didn’t expect to be there. Garrett Mitchell, of course, was the classic example of this, but Sal Frelick was routinely being mocked above the Brewers’ pick as well. They also have had no problem grabbing guys who were expected to go much higher one year out, be it in the first round (Turang) or later (Hayden Cantrelle) Walking wounded While there are rumors the Brewers aren’t interested in any of the injured pitchers in the first this year, they have shown a willingness to grab guys coming off injuries early. Drew Rasmussen is perhaps the most noteworthy pitcher, but on the hitting side they’ve taken chances on David Hamilton, Gabe Holt and Freddy Zamora in the first 10 rounds. We’re going to call him a catcher This is the one I wish they would stop. At some point, it just begins to reek of hubris. Every year it seems, going back to K.J. Harrison in 2017, the Brewers take a player who isn’t a catcher or, in Harrison’s case, almost everyone agrees shouldn’t be a catcher. They followed with David Fry in 2018, Thomas Dillard in 2019, Zavier Warren in 2020 and Wes Clarke in 2021. Fry was the only one who lasted more than a season behind the plate, and last time I checked, he wasn’t catching in the Cleveland organization. If you think the guy is worth the pick regardless of if he sticks behind the plate, then fine, but paying any sort of premium for the ability to kind of look like a catcher if you squint might not be the best idea based on past precedent. Scouring the JUCOs Between 2017 and 2021, there were 36 JUCO pitchers drafted in the first 10 rounds. The Brewers accounted for five, or almost 1/7 of the picks, an average of one per draft. The Brewers have also had a fair amount of success mining JUCO staffs. Ashby and Bowden Francis give them two of the six who have made their major league debut from over that time period. And then you have Antoine Kelly looking promising in Wisconsin and Carlos Rodriguez developing into the ace of the Carolina staff. Whatever the Brewers have been doing as far as devoting scouting resources to this level, it seems to be working. On the other hand … Too often when discussing drafts, fans lean back on “rules” as to who the team would or, more often than not, wouldn’t draft. There are no rules when it comes to drafts, only tendencies. Even in the far more predictable NFL draft, you can see it. The Packers athletic “requirements” for offensive linemen make them so predictable that if you had told me after the first round of the draft this year that the Packers were going to take two offensive linemen before the end of Round 4, I would have needed three guesses, max, to get both picks. Despite this, however, you will still see the occasional Caleb Schlauderaff or Jamon Meredith who bucks the trend. So while, given past history, all of the things I mentioned earlier are more likely to happen than on average, perhaps the safest bet is that the Brewers will buck their tendencies, either not doing something mentioned here or taking a high schooler early. It’s draft time. Always expect at least some unexpected.

Saying we haven't had any success since Braun is hyperbole. Lucroy was great during his prime and heck, Mitch Haniger has had a pretty successful career, albeit not for the Brewers, along with the occasional solid player like Davis or Gennett. Not saying it has been ideal, and they do need to start developing more position players, but when you use as your benchmark one of the three best hitters in franchise history, you are setting them up for failure. Also, you know who fits the high upside profile you seem to covet? Corey Ray. Just saying.

If I am leaning into an alternative explanation for the length of the suspension I might look more toward the Dodgers having no intention of ever bringing him back (and thus perhaps pushing for the longest penalty possible) than Bauer’s past antagonism toward baseball leadership.

Mendez for hitter. I might go Matulovich for pitcher. Nearly as dominant as Perdomo but in a higher leverage spot.

Mendez for hitter. I might go Matulovich for pitcher. Nearly as dominant as Perdomo but in a higher leverage spot.

There is one number that stands out above all others for this year’s Carolina Mudcats. It isn’t their 6-4 record or their 5.21 ERA. It isn’t Eduardo Garcia’s OPS checking in at .969 thus far or Hedbert Perez’ being at .510. It isn’t Jeferson Quero’s .344 batting average or Hendry Mendez’s 25% walk rate. It isn’t Israel Puello’s 6:1 strikeout to walk rate or the fact that 11 members of the roster are still to young to legally drink. No. the most important number regarding the Mudcats is simply 15, the number of the Brewers’ own Latin American signings on the team’s opening day roster. ------ When the Brewers dipped their toe back into the Dominican Summer League by sharing a team with the Orioles in 2009, to say the team was devoid of prospect star power would be an understatement. The most successful Brewers alum off that team was probably Leonard Lorenzo, who was notable for actually reaching full season ball, even if he did post a 6.13 ERA in Wisconsin in his sole season there. The following year wasn’t much better, with the best being a couple of guys like Jose Pena or Rolando Pascual who ended up topping out in High-A (and one, Rigoberto Almonte, who spent time in High-A before being demoted to the DSL). It wasn’t until the 2011 debuts of Orlando Arcia, Angel Ventura and Jorge Ortega that the Brewers actually had a member of the DSL team who ended up reaching AA. At least, though, there was progress. Then, however, it stagnated. In 2013 only two of the Brewers’ top 20 prospects on MLB Pipeline were from the Brewers’ own Latin American signings. By 2015, it was three of the top 30 and by 2017 had fallen to just one of the top 30, the already falling Gilbert Lara. And it was hurting the Brewers in relation to their NL Central peers. In 2017 the Reds and Pirates had five of their top 30 prospects from their own Latin American signings, but more noticeably, the Cubs and Cardinals had 10. The number of Latin American signings making the low-A opening day rosters ticked up slightly as the years went on, rising from three or fewer from 2010-2014 to, with the exception of two spikes, four or five from 2015 to 2021. Even in the two spike years – nine in 2015 and eight in 2018 – it felt slightly hollow. None of those players were listed on MLB Pipeline’s top 30. ---- This year’s Carolina roster feels different. Sure there are a few guys filling end of the bench or middle relief roles, but they are far from the majority. In what might be a first for any full season squad in the organization’s history, the first six spots in the batting order in the first two games were filled by the club’s own Latin American signings. And it’s a group that includes plenty of prospect star power, with Quero and Perez typically found among the organization’s top 10 prospects and Mendez and Garcia among the top 20, with Jheremy Vargas getting occasional mentions as well. Miguel Segura, Alexander Cornielle and Edwin Jimenez also have a chance to become the first group of three of the Brewers’ Latin American signings to start 10 games at the Low-A level since the reintroduction of the DSL squad. Only twice have there been even two, and in one of those cases (2017 with Victor Diaz and Nattino Diplan) both of the pitchers were 23-year-olds in one of their final seasons of team control. Based on their youth and rookie ball success, you could argue that of those who came through the DSL complex, only Miguel Diaz and Abner Uribe entered full season ball with stronger prospect credentials than this trio. All in all, the Brewers currently have 11 of their own Latin American signings among their top 30 prospects. It feels as if the hope of where they could get to when they reopened the DSL facility is finally within sight. ----- Now comes the tough part: Make sure this isn’t an anomaly. The numbers should stay high both because of the shorter draft and the strong performances by some of the recent signings. A mass substitution in a late spring training game that saw Jackson Chourio, Eduarqui Fernandez, Jadher Areinamo, Daniel Guilarte and Beyker Pastran enter with recent draft picks Quinton Low and Jace Avina seemed like a “say hello to the 2023 Carolina Mudcats event.” It wouldn’t be surprising to see Stiven Cruz, Domingo Mejia, Yujanyer Herrera and potentially a few others in the 2023 Mudcats rotation either. But the goal isn’t just numbers, it is development success. And in that area, hopefully this season is just the beginning.

I wouldn’t want to pull the trigger yet, but if there is a lineup hole and they are hitting well in a month, Wilson and Singleton would probably top my list as well. Wilson to see if he is a legitimate late bloomer (plus I like to see presumed AAAA players at least get a shot in the big leagues just in case they are for real) and Singleton just for the level of upside he once had.

I wouldn’t want to pull the trigger yet, but if there is a lineup hole and they are hitting well in a month, Wilson and Singleton would probably top my list as well. Wilson to see if he is a legitimate late bloomer (plus I like to see presumed AAAA players at least get a shot in the big leagues just in case they are for real) and Singleton just for the level of upside he once had.

I wouldn’t want to pull the trigger yet, but if there is a lineup hole and they are hitting well in a month, Wilson and Singleton would probably top my list as well. Wilson to see if he is a legitimate late bloomer (plus I like to see presumed AAAA players at least get a shot in the big leagues just in case they are for real) and Singleton just for the level of upside he once had.