Draft Pick Discussion, Rounds 21-50

[splitterpfj]

Once you get past the obvious guys at the top of the draft, the player I'd most like to see the Brewers get signed is Kyle Winkler, Round 37. Something about this young man makes me think he just plain knows how to pitch.

[jjfanec]

23rd round pick Marcus Knecht had an article done on him Wednesday in his local paper. article It sounds as if he is not writing off signing with the Brewers but he is definitely aware of the money he could make by going to school and getting drafted higher. It was a good article and he sounds like an intriguing prospect. It would be great to get him in the fold.

[battlekow]

I don't see Bronson on a Cape League roster, so please keep me posted for him or any others I may have missed, thanks.

Pitcher Evan Bronson, a 6-foot-3 junior left-hander, was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 36th round. He is pitching this summer in the Cape Cod League in Massachusetts for the Yarmouth Dennis Red Sox. Bronson is negotiating with the Brewers and will decide about signing with the team later in the summer.

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[Mass Haas]

Thanks for the heads-up on Bronson, he made his first start on the Cape last night and was apparently burned by some "small ball" (tail end of the linked article).

 

I'd like to see if I can get out to see him this summer, always a nice night out, but I can't make a promise on that right now.

[Mass Haas]

Two high school RHP's, Tommy Collier (29th round) and Kyle Winkler (37th round) were expected to play in Texas All-Star games this weekend -- Collier did, mentioned here, Winkler's plans to play were mentioned here.

[Mass Haas]

23rd round OF, Canadian Marcus Knecht, is mentioned (mentioned he had two hits) in this game story. There's a strong commitment to Oklahoma State, but the Brewers will use any summer action several of their picks take part in, to evaluate and perhaps use the summer as a brief "draft-and-follow" period to weigh their offers.

[battlekow]

I talked to Donn Roach, a high school teammate of Brandon Garcia, the 28th-round pick from Bishop Gorman HS in Nevada. He said:

He's about 6 feet, 200 pounds. He has a tremendous amount of pop, a smooth swing, and is an extremely hard worker but lacks a position in the field. He signed with USC, and it will take a lot of money to draw him away from there.

[Mass Haas]

I kind of dropped the ball last night -- I don't live on the Cape, as most of the Cape League towns are at least 50-60 miles to my east. However, the closest location, in Wareham, is only 30 miles away, and is normally where I take in my one or two Cape League games each summer. Traffic issues on summer weekends make it a real commitment to travel further.

 

Last night, wouldn't you know it, 36th round lefty Evan Bronson got the start for visiting Yarmouth-Dennis in one of that team's two games at Wareham this summer. He went eight strong innings in a 10-3 Y-D win, so I missed out on that, or getting a chance to chat with him. Chances may have been good that the Brewers' New England Area Scout scout Rene Mons may have been at the game, or another member of the scouting staff. I've enjoyed a couple of chats with Brewer scouts in that setting in the past, although it's been a couple of years since the last one.

 

Bronson's squad comes to Wareham again on Sunday, July 13th, so we'll see if I get a chance to circle my calendar for that evening.

 

battlekow, the local papers here continue to refer to Austin Adams of TCU in their write-ups, as seen here, so if you can confirm it's actually the Brewer draftee out of Faulkner University in Alabama and not the TCU kid, that's another potential Brewer I may get to see in Wareham, and also get a chance to see if the Brewers are scouting him as a summer draft-and-follow. But I'm guessing it may be the TCU kid, as the local press is probably getting their info from league programs and bulletins.

[battlekow]

MH, I forwarded you an email from the Mets' GM confirming it's the Faulkner Austin Adams.

[Mass Haas]

Thanks, battlekow. I've marked my calendar for either MLB All-Star Game Night on July 15th or three days later on the 18th to see Adams.

 

I did get your email and was going to reply there, but I thought our readers would like to know as well.

 

How did you manage to get in touch with several of the Brewer draft picks for interviews so quickly? Did you conduct the interviews via phone or email? That's not an easy task to transcribe and make it so conveniently readable as you have done. You do a great job for Jeff Sackmann's BrewCrewBall.com, and I'm glad our website relationship is so mutually informative for each of us and all the readers.

 

By the way, here's the game log and box score from Evan Bronson's eight-inning stint.

[Mass Haas]

MH, check it out; they finally got it right (or did they?):

Starter Andrew Carraway (Virginia) fanned seven in five scoreless innings, Matt Andress (Appalachian State) and Austin Adams (Faulkner) were strong in middle relief and Russell Brewer (Vanderbilt) recorded his fourth save.

Well, the school is right now, but apparently he's pitching? He is listed as a SS/RHP on Faulkner's roster, so I guess it's probably right, but it still seems like some sort of conspiracy to confuse us.

 

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Edit: Moved this post to this thread from the Minor League Forum...

[Mass Haas]

Evan Bronson's most recent Cape League start was only one inning long, the local game story didn't indicate anything about injury, but we'll keep an eye on it.

 

Austin Adams has made two one-inning pitching appearances, retiring all six men and striking our four. Drafted as a shortstop, he's 2-for-21 at the plate with four walks.

 

Is Cal-Fullerton SS Joe Scott going to rebuff the Brewers for a second consecutive year and go back to school next year as a 5th year senior? I figured he'd be on board by now. battlekow, had you reached out to interview him? He's majoring in kinesiology, so maybe his medical career is the priority.

[battlekow]

MH,

 

Yeah, I asked him, but he wasn't interested. Too bad, sounds like there's an interesting story there.

[Mass Haas]

45th round Canadian high schooler infielder James Kottaras is participating in an Oklahoma tournament -- perhaps he can do some things this summer to convince the Brewers to sign him prior to the August 15th deadline.

[Bambis Bombers]

In a recent column, Sid Hartman of the Star Tribune mentioned the Brewers made a token effort to sign 39th round pick Eric Decker:

Quarterback Adam Webber, wide receiver Eric Decker and linebacker Steve Davis will represent the Gophers at the annual Big Ten media conference in Chicago on July 23-24. Decker, who also is an outfielder for the Gophers baseball team and was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 39th round, got one phone call from the Brewers about his interest in turning pro. Decker told them he was going to stay at Minnesota and play football this fall and baseball next spring

[battlekow]

In a recent column, Sid Hartman of the Star Tribune mentioned the Brewers made a token effort to sign 39th round pick Eric Decker:

 

Quarterback Adam Webber, wide receiver Eric Decker and linebacker Steve Davis will represent the Gophers at the annual Big Ten media conference in Chicago on July 23-24. Decker, who also is an outfielder for the Gophers baseball team and was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 39th round, got one phone call from the Brewers about his interest in turning pro. Decker told them he was going to stay at Minnesota and play football this fall and baseball next spring

BB, I talked to Decker a couple days ago, and he said that he got a phone call from his scout, but not from anyone else (no bonus offer). He was pretty psyched about trying to win back the Axe next football season.

 

[Mass Haas]

Apparently Evan Bronson has changed Cape League teams (now with Brewster), and last night pitched wonderfully in Wareham, the town practically in my backyard (well, 30 miles away), without me realizing. So go the best-laid plans.

 

LINK

 

WAREHAM - The Gatemen's three-game win streak came to a close at the hands of Evan Bronson and the Brewster Whitecaps at Spillane Field on Monday.

Bronson pitched six scoreless innings in his first Cape League start for Brewster, and second baseman Mike Freeman scored twice for the Whitecaps (11-7) in the 4-2 win over Wareham.

After giving up leadoff hits in the first and second innings, Bronson (1-2) retired the next three batters each time, striking out the side in the first. He retired 13 straight batters before allowing a walk and a single in the sixth, struck out nine batters and allowed three hits and a walk.

"We didn't do very much against him," Wareham coach Cooper Farris said. "He kept us mixed up with the fastball. He could throw the change up and the breaking ball at any point in the count and anytime you get a pitcher like that they're going to give you fits unless you can get your foot down and see the baseball."

Bronson was particularly effective against the heart of the Gatemen's order. Right fielder Brett Eibner and designated hitter Blake Dean went a combined 0-for-6 against the Brewster starter with five strikeouts.

It was a tough day for the Wareham three and four hitters, who went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position, with Dean picking up the lone RBI on a sacrifice fly.

"We left runners on third all night," Farris said. "We struck out. All we had to do in three situations was hit ground balls. The infield was back and we just didn't get it done. It came back to bite us."

[battlekow]

The Next Big Thing: Decker's an athlete with no limits

COLD SPRING - Achieving success at the Division I level in a given sport puts an athlete in select company. Achieving success in two sports is rarer still.

But that's just what Rocori graduate Eric Decker accomplished at the University of Minnesota this past school year.

Decker, who was recruited by the Gophers out of high school as a football player, had a breakout sophomore season.

The wide receiver started all 12 games and caught a team-best 67 passes for 909 yards and nine touchdowns, averaging 75.8 receiving yards per game.

Then - after repeated inquiries from the Gophers baseball coaching staff - Decker elected to give that sport a shot this past spring as well.

"Coming in my freshman year, (assistant) coach (Rob) Fornasiere asked me if I wanted the chance to try out," said Decker, a standout in football, basketball and baseball at Rocori. "But at that point, I wanted to concentrate on football and becoming the best player I could be. Then last year, the same question arose. They asked me again, and I felt like I had everything to gain and nothing to lose."

Decker ended up excelling on the diamond for the Gophers, appearing in 54 games and starting 42. He finished fourth on the team with a .329 average, recording 28 RBI and 53 hits, including seven doubles, four triples and three home runs.

"I was a little surprised by how well he played simply because he hadn't played at the Division I level before and he was three years removed from playing in high school," Gophers baseball coach John Anderson said.

"He dabbled a little bit in amateur baseball last summer, and I think that helped. But it was definitely a surprise. His speed impacted the game offensively and defensively and he brought a toughness and grittiness to our team as a result of his football background."

Pro prospect

His efforts also caught the eye of pro scouts, including those of the Milwaukee Brewers who chose him in the 39th round of last month's Major League Baseball draft.

"That was a little bit of a surprise," said Decker, who is again playing amateur baseball this summer with his hometown Cold Spring Springers.

"I was telling teams that I wasn't going to sign because I wanted another chance to play football in the fall and baseball in the spring and to see how that goes. But it was definitely a really big honor."

It's an honor that may very well be repeated in football where the 6-foot-2, 215-pounder also has legitimate professional aspirations. Despite a frustrating 1-11 finish under first-year head coach Tim Brewster last season, Decker stood out as a bright spot.

After making three starts as a redshirt freshman in 2006, he took over a full-time spot in the lineup last fall. His 909 yards receiving was the fifth-best single-season total in school history and his nine touchdown catches tied for third-most on the all-time list.

Decker earned the Bruce Smith Award as the team's outstanding offensive player.

"He exemplifies everything that a student-athlete should exemplify," Brewster said. "He has tremendous pride and outstanding athletic skills. He just has what Darrell Royal at Texas used to call that 'It.' He has the 'It' factor. I just love everything about the kid.

"He's tough and he's smart. He's one of those guys who when he gets up and goes to lunch, 10 other guys follow."

Team captain

Because of those leadership skills, Decker was named one of the team's captains for this coming season despite the fact that he will only be a junior.

He and quarterback Adam Weber are scheduled to be two of the team's three player representatives at the upcoming Big Ten Kickoff Luncheon July 25 in Chicago.

Decker and Weber - who took over the team's starting job last season - have been friends since high school and are now roommates.

"I was excited to see him get his chance last year," Decker said of the Mounds View graduate. "Now that he has that experience, it will be great to see what he can do. We're roommates now, so we have a lot of chances to go over film together.

"We've really built up some chemistry and that's a big part of any relationship on the football field."

Brewster said he is pleased with the rapport that has developed between the two players.

"They're both outstanding kids - Minnesota kids born and bred," Brewster said. "They think alike. They're both very prideful men. You can see why those two would be roommates because they get along so well together.

"They both have similar goals. They both want to be part of a championship team. I think they have the potential to be one of the top passing tandems in the country over the next two seasons."

Brewster said he was not surprised to see Decker excel at baseball this spring.

"He was a great baseball player up there in Cold Spring, and he's just an outstanding athlete," Brewster said. "We would have loved to have had him in spring practice because last year was really his first full year and he still has things to learn.

"But I'm of the belief that you only get one chance to play high school sports, and one chance to play college sports. If you can be successful at multiple sports, and you're good enough to do it, you should take that opportunity."

Bright future

Brewster, who spent five years as an NFL assistant in both San Diego and Denver before arriving in Minnesota, said Decker has the ability to play at the next level.

"Without question," Brewster said. "Eric has the tools to play in the NFL and to have tremendous success there. He understands how to pay the price to be great. He has tremendous athletic ability. He's a strong and fast wide receiver who catches the ball very naturally."

Anderson also feels he has the skills to play professionally in baseball.

"He has two tools that would really help him in the professional ranks," Anderson said. "The first is his speed and the second is that he's a left-handed hitter.

"Those left-left guys always draw a little more attention, especially when they can run like he can."

For now, though, Decker is spending his summer getting ready for the football season while keeping his hand in baseball with the Springers. But he said getting a shot to play professionally in either sport would be a dream come true.

"That's been my goal since I was six years old," Decker said. "I've wanted to be an NFL player or a major league baseball player.

"That's a mind-set I've always had and I just plan to keep working hard at trying to make it happen."

http://cmsimg.sctimes.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=DR&Date=20080711&Category=SPORTS&ArtNo=107110003&Ref=AR&Profile=1002&MaxW=550&MaxH=650&title=0Times photo by Paul Middlestaedt, pmiddlestaedt@stcloudtimes.com

 

Rocori graduate Eric Decker was recruited to play football at Minnesota, only to find success in baseball, too.

[battlekow]

Sounds like 29th-round RHP Tommy Collier is not going to be a Brewer:

Collier will be pitching for San Jacinto JC. He turned down an opportunity to sign with the Milwaukee Brewers after being drafted this past June.

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[battlekow]

Checking in with Eric Decker, Part I http://assets.espn.go.com/profile/i/trans/icon_report_hi.gif

July 16, 2008 12:53 PM

Posted by ESPN.com's Adam Rittenberg

If you're short and slow like me, you're probably deeply envious of guys like Eric Decker. An athletic achievement for us is getting through 18 holes without Advil, or shoveling snow without pulling a muscle. Then there's Decker, a junior wide receiver for Minnesota who last season racked up 909 receiving yards and nine touchdowns as one of the only bright spots on a 1-11 team. After being peppered with requests from Golden Gophers baseball coaches to play for their team, Decker decided, eh, what the heck. He wound up starting 42 games in left field, hitting .329 with 28 RBI. At last month's Major League Baseball draft, the Milwaukee Brewers selected Decker in the 39th round. He had no plans to sign and didn't, wanting to gauge his skills on the gridiron this fall and help Minnesota back to respectability. NFL scouts will be watching. So will the rest of the Big Ten.

Obviously jealous of über-athletes like Decker, I wanted to dislike the guy. But after chatting with him this week, I just can't do it. Here's the first part of our discussion.

A lot of guys rule out playing two sports before college, and once they get there, it's usually totally out of the question. Did playing baseball go more smoothly than you thought it would, playing in the spring and now getting back into football?

Eric Decker: Baseball went real well and I enjoyed it. I knew I had a little catching up to do when I got here in the summer. It took me a few weeks to get back in shape and get my weight back where I wanted it to be. Now things are off and rolling. I feel good where I'm at, and I'm definitely comfortable with the progress I've made the last three months.

Can you pull it off again?

ED: Definitely. My baseball experience I really enjoyed. It's kind of a different environment, different atmosphere. Going into baseball season, I expected to hopefully help the team out in certain roles. I got the opportunity to get a starting role and hit No. 2 in the batting order. I surprised myself, just how well things went.

Can you use your football skills in the outfield?

ED: Some of that stuff transitions over. Just baserunning a little bit, hand-eye coordination. But some things, the mentality or the attitude you have between both sports is so different. In baseball, you can't get fired up or get that emotional rush, where in football you let it bust, let it all roll out. In baseball, if you have that built up, that's when you struggle at the plate. It was something that was tough for me to handle in the first three weeks of baseball.

Baseball is a lot looser atmosphere, isn't it?

ED: It's so laid-back. Those guys definitely helped me get into that baseball mind-set. I was definitely struggling. I couldn't hit the curveball right away, and I was like, 'God, what the hell's going on. I don't know if this is for me.' And they were like, 'Hey, just relax, go up and do what you do.' It definitely helped.

How surprised were you when you got drafted?

ED: It's real exciting. It's quite an honor, just being my first year and stuff. Being drafted was also something I didn't really look into much because I told people I wasn't going to sign if they drafted me. They're calling you, 'When would you sign? How much you want?' I was like, 'You know what, don't even think about drafting me because I'm not going to sign.' Milwaukee took me and I was really grateful, but at the same time I was like, 'I told you what I was going to do, but thank you, I guess.'

Do anticipate having to choose one sport at some point, or is it pretty open-ended in terms of what you do after college?

ED: Definitely open-ended. I want another year to see where I'm at with both levels, see where I have more potential in what field. When that time comes, I'll decide. I love both sports and I'm definitely honored to be able to participate in both. When that time comes, I'll hopefully make the right decision.

Your football and baseball coaches have compared you to Ed McCaffrey and Kirk Gibson. Which one of those do like better?

ED: Growing up, I always was an Ed McCaffrey fan. Being a slot receiver and being fast and tough -- he'd catch the ball over the middle -- he was someone I always idolized. I know I'm not going to run by anybody or run a 4.3, so definitely doing the dirty work inside at the receiver position was something I looked at him for. Kirk Gibson, he's just a tough, nasty dude who was a great ballplayer. I didn't really watch him much, but everything about him definitely is what I'm trying to be.

Did you expect to be elected a team captain, or was that a surprise?

ED: It was a little surprising. I didn't get the opportunity to go to spring practice because I was playing baseball, but it's definitely an honor and a privilege. It's something I was looking forward to, something I wanted to reach. And we have a pretty young offense where, being a junior, I knew I was a leader.

So you weren't even with the team and you get elected. That's got to be a great feeling.

ED: It was really cool because coach (Tim) Brewster called me. I think it was toward the end of May, before guys took off to go home for a couple weeks in the summer, and I was still playing baseball at the time. I didn't know what was going on. I thought maybe it was just an end-of-spring-practice thing, this is what the summer's going to look like and stuff, but they elected captains and I was one of them, so that was really surprising.

Does that role become even more important after the year you guys had in 2007?

ED: Definitely. People look at the leadership of the team and what you can do to overcome what happened last year. I'm real excited and optimistic about this upcoming year because there were a bunch of games where we were a couple plays away from winning. Doing the right things will definitely get us over that hump. Hopefully winning some of those nonconference games will boost our confidence.

[battlekow]

This article suggests 43rd round pick Dexter Price will be heading to Auburn --

Stay in school.

It's overwhelmingly what Coloradans are planning to do after a 2008 season that was considered pedestrian by professionals in terms of senior talent. More pencils, more books and professors' looks are more realistic than beating the bushes in the minor leagues to chase their fields of dreams.

After the 59th season in state annals, recent graduates agree the college route is the way for them, a nice, overall batch that includes two-time player of the year Andy Burns of Rocky Mountain (Kentucky), and Ron Burton Jr. (Pacific) and Dexter Price (Auburn) of Air Academy. The exception may be Mullen product Tyler Sample, who has signed with Arkansas, but was selected 80th in the MLB draft by the Kansas City Royals.

 

I talked to Price recently and he said he was still negotiating with the Brewers, and that they wanted to watch him pitch over the summer before offering him a bonus. I asked him how much he wanted and he said he had no idea, that his dad was taking care of all of that stuff. So, he may not be gone to Auburn just yet.

 

[battlekow]

Sounds like 50th-round pick Sean Nolin won't be signing:

Brooklyn Bonnies starter Sean Nolin stymied the Dodgers bats - he was a 50th round pick of the Milwaukee Brewers in 2008. He will head instead to San Jacinto Junior College near Houston, Texas, which has produced the likes of Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and former Tri-City ValleyCats pitcher Matt Albers.

It also produced 2008 draftee Lucas Luetge, who transferred to Rice from there.

 

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[battlekow]

I talked to Donn Roach, a high school teammate of Brandon Garcia, the 28th-round pick from Bishop Gorman HS in Nevada. He said:

He's about 6 feet, 200 pounds. He has a tremendous amount of pop, a smooth swing, and is an extremely hard worker but lacks a position in the field. He signed with USC, and it will take a lot of money to draw him away from there.

Sounds like Roach was right and Garcia will be going to USC.

 

[Mass Haas]

BCB Interview: unsigned RHP Colt Farrar

Interesting thoughts in the comment section as well, which could lead to further discussion...

[battlekow]

I found out that unsigned 40th-rounder Nick Fogarty had Tommy John surgery recently.