Spencer Michaelis

One final update on the names I have, and feel confident in, before the signings become official today. I will have a write-up with a bunch of video included once the signings do actually become official. Pos Name Pipeline Rank BA Bonus Rank Social Other Social SS Diego Frontado ($1.6 mil) 24 24 Instagram SS Jose Rodriguez ($1.5 mil) 49 28 Instagram INF Osiris Ramirez Jr ($300k) N/A N/A Instagram TikTok INF Ricky Money ($1 mil) 19 39 Instagram TikTok INF Leander Matos N/A N/A Instagram TikTok C Sebastian Franeites N/A N/A Instagram TikTok OF Ruben Rebost ($200k) N/A N/A Instagram INF Manny De Los Santos ($325k) N/A N/A Instagram LHP Alexander Mercedes ($100k) N/A N/A Instagram IG Video C Moises Salazar ($700k) N/A 67 Instagram TikTok INF Santiago Garcia ($400k) N/A N/A Instagram RHP Joan Gonzalez N/A N/A Instagram RHP Diego Trillo N/A N/A IG Post RHP Daniel Muñoz ($25k) N/A N/A Instagram IG Post C Francisco De Marchena Mir N/A N/A Instagram INF/OF Argenis Fernandez ($450k) N/A 97 Instagram RHP Miguel Andrade N/A N/A Instagram RHP Jean Rivero N/A N/A Instagram IG Post LHP Roni Pinales N/A N/A Instagram TikTok OF Enrique Llovera ($140k) N/A N/A Instagram IG Post RHP Marcos Vera ($130k) N/A N/A N/A

Ours are quick and a half

Curt Hogg wrote an article on 15 names expected to sign, with some info on each of them today. All were names covered in this list, but some of the names are a bit different than I had them down as. Pepe Soto Mir's full name appears to be Francisco De Marchena Mir Ruben Revost = Ruben Rebost Rickey Moneys = Rickey Money (confirmed with Curt, this is how Ricky was pronouncing it) Jean Rivero = Jean Rivero Ortiz Still feel quite good about the list I'm quoting (updated some of the ranking stuff now that a couple extra got added by BA). I don't believe Angel Rojas will be in the 2026 class, same with Darwin Mateo, but I'm not fully sure on either. I am much more confident that the rest are.

Love this. Will likely take this at the end of the final episode when we cover all the questions that aren’t specific to a level.

Took over a week, but it appears we have a move in 2026! OF Dasan Brown

FWIW, and you can certainly agree or disagree with this general strategy, I have it on good authority that the Brewers took Ruiz in the deal mainly as a trade piece of their own. They were even trying to flip him that same day. The plan was always to use him as a chip because they knew certain teams were very high on him (much like Lewis Brinson back in the day, some teams viewed them as legit top 20 prospects in baseball, some viewed them as fringy big leaguers at best). I don't think they expected Contreras specifically to come of it, but the whole thing wasn't dropped into their lap out of pure luck either.

Here’s where I’ve got the team standing with about 10 days until signing day. Some expected signing bonuses included as well. Moises Salazar is the annual catcher with a really strong arm and interesting tools. Switch-hitter who is better from the right side. Again, not 1000% certain on all of them being 2026 signings, but feel pretty good about them. Pos Name Pipeline Rank BA Bonus Rank SS Diego Frontado ($1.6 mil) 24 26 Instagram SS Jose Rodriguez ($1.5 mil) 49 30 Instagram INF Osiris Ramirez Jr ($300k) N/A N/A Instagram TikTok INF Ricky Moneys ($1 mil) 19 41 Instagram TikTok INF Leander Matos N/A N/A Instagram TikTok C Sebastian Franeites N/A N/A Instagram TikTok INF Ruben Revost ($200k) N/A N/A Instagram OF? Manny De Los Santos ($325k) N/A N/A Instagram LHP Alexander Mercedes ($100k) N/A N/A Instagram IG Video C Moises Salazar ($700k) N/A N/A Instagram TikTok INF Santiago Garcia ($400k) N/A N/A Instagram RHP Joan Gonzalez N/A N/A Instagram C Darwin Mateo (or Jabiel) N/A N/A Instagram RHP Diego Trillo N/A N/A IG Post RHP Daniel Muñoz ($25k) N/A N/A Instagram IG Post C Pepe Soto Mir N/A N/A Instagram OF? Angeni Fernandez N/A N/A Instagram INF Angel Rojas N/A N/A Instagram RHP Miguel Andrade N/A N/A Instagram RHP Jean Rivero N/A N/A Instagram IG Post LHP Roni Pinales N/A N/A Instagram TikTok OF Enrique Llovera ($140k) N/A N/A Instagram IG Post RHP Marcos Vera ($130k) N/A N/A N/A

Obviously not who you replied to, but I get what he's saying so I'll explain my logic. I would say, at least from a read standpoint, it was always much easier for me personally. Much easier to read if the batter is early/late from straight on. Along with the reads being easier, the ball also moves in a much more expected way. To your right it usually continues to go that way, to your left, the same. When players pull their hands in to pull the ball or shoot one to the opposite field there can be a bit less consistency in the flight of the ball in the corners. Some balls you'd think would keep hooking actually have some fade to them, etc. That rarely ever happens when it's in the middle of the field. You also don't have to deal with foul territory and the side walls in center. The obvious issue is the distance that needs to be covered in center requires pretty big-time speed, and there's also the fact that mistakes are always going to be amplified out there compared to the corners (though any outfield mistake is usually pretty noticeable).

Joseph and I are planning to record the Carolina episode the day after Christmas. If you have Carolina specific questions, this would be a good time to get those in!

I think that article came out a while ago, but the BA people pushed it out there again because the kid who the Mets got in the McNeil trade was included in there. Re-reading it now, and based on what I've heard about Diustin Mayorquin, I'm pretty surprised he missed the list.

Believe it's actually the Fangraphs comments that I started this thread with that you're thinking of haha. Here's the article itself. Yeah, I've been surprised by the view of the changeup since he entered pro ball. The concern seems to be with the command of the pitch, I personally have a hard time believing he can't command it and rather would speculate that he purposely left it out of the zone regularly in college, because he still got swings against it, without any of the risk.

It’s definitely tough to quantify. Sometimes these late round signings are just using the money they have left over, so they give them more than they might have if they took them in the 8th or 9th. That said, the bonus does tell a pretty good story. Bentley signed for what amounts to late third round bonus money. Though once you take the $150k that doesn’t count toward the pool out, it’s closer to late 4th round money. My guess is they viewed him as a 5th round talent, or somewhere around there. The same was the case for a Renz type. For both of them though, I’d bet the actual signability was not very well known. Which means taking him as high as they had them graded would be a risk because you don’t know if you’d be able to sign them, and then you’d lose that slot money the rest of the draft. The MLB Draft is just such an interesting puzzle it’s very hard to say for sure no matter what, but that would be my guess, or at least part of it haha

Just seeing this here now, answered on Twitter. He certainly has the build to add velo in pro ball. Super fun pick, will be very curious to see where they place him this spring/summer and if he ends up in Carolina at all.

They do, though my understanding is if they break down, it's almost always from the team's side, and because teams have relationships with the academies that they're signing these players from and want to be able to sign future players from there, they don't tend to break down unless there's a very good reason for it.

Yeah, the system is horrible. I wonder about the potential for backlash too, but nobody is going to call another team out since, like you said, they're all doing it. The organizations these kids play for are posting all the pre-agreements their players are making (not the money usually) on their Instagram pages, etc. The draft seems like the way to go in the grand scheme, but I also fully understand why the players would like to have the right to negotiate with 30 teams and pick where they end up.

I have yet to come across anyone beyond 2029 but there are 5 names for 2029 already lol

Little fun nugget on a player that isn't even signing for 4 classes, but Melkin Guzman has a pre-agreement with the Brewers for $2.3 million in the 2029 class. He's 13-years-old, 6'1", runs a 6.7 60-yard dash and has been gunned at 93 MPH from the outfield. Some video below, where he definitely appears to have the frame of a kid his age, so no clear signs of any age issues. Never know, but I believe this would be the biggest bonus the Brewers have given anyone since the infamous Gilbert Lara, so they're clearly *very* high on him. miracles (@miracles_baseball) • Instagram reel WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM 164 likes, 4 comments - miracles_baseball on October 12, 2025: "🌟 Melkin Guzmán 📍 Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic 🗓️ April 14, 2012 ⚾️ CF | R/R 📏 6’1” | 170 lbs 🎓 Class of January...

Here's my current list of names that I am *pretty* confident will be signing in the Brewers 2026 class in about a month (it's so hard to say for sure on all of these though). At least one or two of the ones I listed earlier in the thread appear to be 2027 signings, so there might be a few missing from my earlier list. Pos Name Pipeline Rank BA Bonus Rank SS Diego Frontado 24 24 Instagram SS Jose Rodriguez 49 28 Instagram INF Osiris Ramirez Jr N/A N/A Instagram TikTok INF Ricky Moneys N/A 19 Instagram TikTok INF Leander Matos N/A N/A Instagram TikTok C Sebastian Franeites N/A N/A Instagram TikTok INF Ruben Rebost N/A N/A Instagram OF Manny De Los Santos N/A N/A Instagram LHP Alexander Mercedes N/A N/A Instagram IG Video C Moises Salazar N/A N/A Instagram TikTok INF Santiago Garcia N/A N/A Instagram RHP Joan Gonzalez N/A N/A Instagram C Darwin Mateo (or Jabiel) N/A N/A Instagram TikTok RHP Diego Trillo N/A N/A IG Post N/A Daniel Muñoz N/A N/A Instagram IG Post C Pepe Soto Mir N/A N/A Instagram

Speaking of Francys Romero, he reports the Brewers signed RHP Alejandro Bustamante as part of their 2024-25 International pool as well, which is interesting because that international pool closed yesterday I believe. May just be a matter of announcing it, as the paperwork appeared to be done by 12/5 at least based on the post. 18-year-old out of Cuba, the post notes he has a chance to start and has a four pitch mix with his slider standing out: CH 84-85 SL 83-84 SINK 89-90 FB 91-93 Francys Romero (@francysromerofr) • Instagram photos and videos WWW.INSTAGRAM.COM 743 likes, 51 comments - francysromerofr on December 5, 2025: "El pitcher derecho cubano 🇨🇺 Alejandro Bustamante firmó oficialmente con...

Couple notes on this. According to Francys Romero's Substack, at the end of October the Brewers had about $407,000 left in their 2025 bonus pool for international players. My guess is that these two and Jesus Vasquez all got actual bonuses of some sort. Likely nothing crazy, but they had some money to spend. Here is Bello's Instagram (quick glance shows him following Red Sox pitcher Bryan Bello as one of the few he follows, wonder if there's any relation...) And Duarte's Instagram Neither of their pages show video or anything regarding their stuff unfortunately.

I had decent experiences the last few years, especially in the hoodie/sweatshirt department. This year the selection was pretty brutal. I bought one hat and a souvenir baseball. The discounts seem to get smaller every year now too.

Was actually just coming here to post about this after listening myself lol. Very good stuff, Heard similarly about Mills' bat at the workout from a source post-draft, but the defense stuff was news to me. Loved hearing about Dubanewicz's bulldog type of attitude, think that can go a very long way as a pitcher, assuming you have the requisite decent or better stuff, which he does.

Also, the Southern League was a much different hitting environment in 2022. League average OPS in the Southern League in 2022 was .752, but it was only .660 in 2025. Frelick's OPS was .844, but his wRC+ was 121 as a 22-year-old in Biloxi. Lara's OPS was .712 but his wRC+ was 116 as a 20-year-old.

It's a little tough to look at MLB's draft this way, due to the signing bonus portion of things. Benge got $540K more than Payne did and Yesavage got $720K more. All else being equal, that's basically the difference between signing Tyler Renz and not signing him. Now, I also preferred those two--and some others--to Payne at the time (see tweet below), so I get it, but I do think it's always a lot harder to play this game with the MLB draft, compared to the NFL or NBA one. All that said, I also do like Payne quite a bit as a prospect and I think saying he has to be a star for it not to be a miss is a bit of hyperbole.

Yep they can, assuming the rules are the same in the new CBA like you said.