2015 Draft Pick Discussion, Rounds 1-5

[SRB]

Not as high on Ponce as others, not enough secondary wise for me, but if he can tighten up his secondary stuff who knows? He could be one of those guys who's never really been taught how to throw off speed. It's really tough to say with so little video but he's got all the measurables.

 

What?? Everything I've read says he has four pitches that could potentially developed into usable major-league pitches, I don't know how much more secondary you can get. Pitchers with multiple present above-average pitches go in the top-10, certainly not the second round.

 

He's a big ogre of a pitcher with a large arsenal and a lot of upside. Go Ponce!

[brewcrewdue80]

I just thought Ponce's delivery shows a lot over overthrowing. I fear his control and Staying power pitching late in games/down the season as he maybe loses his ability to keep up such a violent finish. May start 94 but goes to 90-91 as game/season wears on. Thus gives me the RP vibe where he can be as violent as he wants. I liked the movement in his breaking pitches. He's very wild card to me but that was tied to being #15. at #55 that's where a wild card ought to be selected. Could turn out great as a SP, at the least, I feel confident in a RP role.

[brewmann04]

nice first day lets find some more in the next 8 rounds.

[LouisEly]

Well Ponce. My #30. There's a lot to like. Can't be upset about him for #55 for sure. Great Value get here.

I think what we can deduce from this draft is that it's BPA. The Brewers may have liked Betts, but perhaps Kirby was higher on their board. If they had Kirby at #26 and Betts at #28, then they went BPA.

 

If we go by BA rankings, they had Clark at #10, Kirby at #26, and Ponce at #36. Some good value there. Maybe the Brewers will get lucky and Kyle Cody will be there at #90.

 

I'm hoping for the next Lucroy being drafted in the 3rd round (Austin Rei, Austin Allen). Trey Cabbage would be nice too.

[splitterpfj]

I thought one of the teams picking 11-13 would take Trent Clark, with Kirby's injury this year he was much harder to guess on, but he certainly has potential if everything's ok now, and I don't think anyone would have guessed Ponce lasting as long as he did.

 

I don't see any reaches by the Brewers, and I do see obvious potential in all three picks. They should have a starting MLB outfielder, and, at least two strong bullpen arms, who will be given every chance to start.

 

There were no head-scratchers tonight for the Crew.

[Warning Track Power]

Really hoping Michael Matuella is there for them @ #90. Would be very high on this draft if that occurs. Take the talent.

[brewcrewdue80]

Well Ponce. My #30. There's a lot to like. Can't be upset about him for #55 for sure. Great Value get here.

I think what we can deduce from this draft is that it's BPA. The Brewers may have liked Betts, but perhaps Kirby was higher on their board. If they had Kirby at #26 and Betts at #28, then they went BPA.

 

If we go by BA rankings, they had Clark at #10, Kirby at #26, and Ponce at #36. Some good value there. Maybe the Brewers will get lucky and Kyle Cody will be there at #90.

 

I'm hoping for the next Lucroy being drafted in the 3rd round (Austin Rei, Austin Allen). Trey Cabbage would be nice too.

 

 

I have nothing wrong with Kirby/Ponce's picks. I'm hoping Clark works out. I really had a wth, reaction watching his batting. He looks thicker so to me I thought of Corner OF and not CF and expected more power to be in his stroke. If he's indeed a 70 speed and can stick at CF then there's hope there of not having to hit 20+HRs to be the right kind of pick.

 

There's still some of the guys I rated higher than Ponce/Kirby available. Just a shame to miss imo Allard/Whitley(not their fault) but Nikorak. Why Chalmers is still there I don't get. Plummer and Lambert I felt better about too.

 

If Clark works out, could call this a HR draft for Milw too under their top 3 picks.

[brewmann04]

pitching pitching catching and 3rd baseman

[monkeyman343434]

Being an LSU alum, I'd be really happy with the Brewers taking Kade Scivicque in the 3rd or 4th, and him being a senior should help the budget as well.

[brwrsfan]

Kyle Cody just went 73 to Minnesota.

[jw5511986]

There goes Kyle Cody, dagnabit

[MrTPlush]

Congrats to Wisconsin native Kyle Cody. Was amazing to get the chance to be able to play against him in a small town and watch him evolve into the legit MLB prospect he is now. Even sweeter for him I think he had some bias for the Twins growing up so he gets drafted by a team he grew up just over an hour away from. Wish him the best to represent Wisconsin well.

[TheCrew07]

What?? Everything I've read says he has four pitches that could potentially developed into usable major-league pitches, I don't know how much more secondary you can get. Pitchers with multiple present above-average pitches go in the top-10, certainly not the second round.

 

He's a big ogre of a pitcher with a large arsenal and a lot of upside. Go Ponce!

 

When it comes to pitches there's fringe, average, above average, and plus, and plus plus. The quality of his secondary pitches depends largely on what scouting report you choose to believe. The consensus on his breaking stuff of is more of "average" which suggests a #3 best case from a stuff standpoint, hence why I was all over someone like McKenzie instead. Even PG's scouting report notes that he's been very inconsistent... so when you take out his best and take out his worst, it reads to me like the sum of his parts is a #3.

 

Having a MLB quality pitch isn't in itself determinate or predictive, every pitcher taken will have 1 pitch of MLB quality, which means essentially an average MLB pitch.

 

Like I said he measures well with size, weight, and FB velocity... I think we'll know much more what we have in him this time next year. I'm not down on the pick, I'm just not thrilled about it either, and I'm hardly one who's going to declare every pitcher taken in the top 3 rounds has top of the rotation upside.

 

Neither pitcher taken today has great control which has been a recurring weakness with Brewer pitchers over the years so again I'm intrigued, but I'm not doing cartwheels of joy or anything. While I'm thinking about it, people are using control and command interchangeably, but they are really not the same. This is the best free article I could find. Control is basically the ability to find the strike zone, command is the more finite stuff... how to back door a curve, run a slider off the corner, run a FB under the hitter's hands... that sort of thing. A good example would be the curve or change Medeiros was throwing the other night; he was controlling and dropping it into the zone consistently for a strike (better than his FB and slider actually), but since it was belt to thigh high and down the middle of the plate he wasn't commanding it well. Or put differently there's throwing strikes, and then there's throwing quality strikes. I hope that makes sense? Generally on draft day I'm mostly interested in control, but if a pitcher shows no ability to command I might be hesitant as well.

 

All in all I think it was a pretty good first day and I agree with Eye Black that Atlanta really stuck it to us, I would have liked the opportunity to draft Allard or Jay, but Aiken was still out there and we took Clark. 3 or 4 years down the road we'll know if that was a good pick or not, but coming out of today we certainly have competition up and down in the chain in CF even with the Johnny Davis injury, and we have 2 guys who comfortably project as 3s... and maybe with a tweak or 3 can be better than that.

 

I'll also be curious to see how Ashe Russell turns out since I was on him early and then backed away after watching video.

 

I feel pretty good about day 1, and while I'm not sure there's an impact player in the trio other than McKenzie or Aiken there really weren't guys who I had strong feelings for when the Brewers were picking so there's not much to argue about.

[narwhalattack]

My thoughts on the draft:

 

Trent Clark- At first I wasn't particularly impressed, but after reading more scouting reports I'm cautiously optimistic. He's no Mike Trout, but he seems to be solid to above-average across the board with no glaring weaknesses. That's a quality pick at #15.

 

Nathan Kirby- A while back he was considered to be a top 5 pick, but his command abandoned him and he eventually became injured. If he regains some of that command and stuff, he can be a solid #2/3 starter, and at #40 that would be an excellent pick.

 

Cody Ponce- Huge arm with secondary pitches that could potentially be at least average. I'm a sucker for big fastballs and Ponce has be intrigued with his fastball. Overall a good value at #55.

[DHonks]

MLB Network guys mentioned that he has a golf grip. As a scratch golfer, the only other player I've seen with a golf grip is JJ Hardy (how he has his thumbs straight down the bat instead of across it)

[wichmae]

Montgomery said in post game he feels Clark probably doesn't need much development time. One or two years. Melvin said the did not think he would be there for them to choose him.

[splitterpfj]

Montgomery said in post game he feels Clark probably doesn't need much development time. One or two years. Melvin said the did not think he would be there for them to choose him.

 

I didn't think Clark would be there either, because he can hit. In an era when scoring is down, and a year when the draft wasn't eye-popping, and certainly not filled with outfielders with plus bats, I didn't see Clark getting to Milwaukee.

[colbyjack]

And both Taylor Jungmann and Jed Bradley were unfairly pegged as players that could get up to Milwaukee by the end of the summer they were drafted. I think Clark's a great pick, but you need to temper one's enthusiasm as to just how quickly he could be moved up. Carlos Correa, who is an extreme example, made it up in 3 years.

 

And if Michael Mautella is still on the board, unless someone can creatively figure out how to pay him double-digit seven figures, I think that's a strong indication that he's heading back to Duke for his senior year. Or Indy ball. The Brewers are going to sign Clark, Kirby and Ponce, but they're not going to be saving any slot money in doing so. Meaning, it's not like they can get overly creative the rest of the way.

[narwhalattack]

And both Taylor Jungmann and Jed Bradley were unfairly pegged as players that could get up to Milwaukee by the end of the summer they were drafted. I think Clark's a great pick, but you need to temper one's enthusiasm as to just how quickly he could be moved up. Carlos Correa, who is an extreme example, made it up in 3 years.

 

And if Michael Mautella is still on the board, unless someone can creatively figure out how to pay him double-digit seven figures, I think that's a strong indication that he's heading back to Duke for his senior year. Or Indy ball. The Brewers are going to sign Clark, Kirby and Ponce, but they're not going to be saving any slot money in doing so. Meaning, it's not like they can get overly creative the rest of the way.

 

But wouldn't Matuella have even less leverage next year? After all, he is going to be a college senior in a very deep 2016 class.

[Bnowell4evr]

I'm hoping for Kolton Kendrick at 90.

[JohnBriggs12]

I am very happy that they selected a player with a rep for having a great eye at the plate and high OBP. I think I've seen enough free swingers in Brewers uniforms in the last 10 years to last a lifetime or two

 

Amen. I love the pick. Takes walks and squares up the ball! Brewers should have a nice stable of OF by 2018-2019.

[Ennder]

Rockies Hit a Grand Slam in this draft.... of course the Astros did too. But Jealous Rockies got Nikorak and Lambert when the Brewers could have gotten them.

 

Isn't it kindve sill to feel this way about any draft let alone a MLB draft? It'll take 3-6 years before any of these guys are decided on if they are a bust or not. What looks good on paper today, might suck in a few years.

People love to discuss drafts but you are more or less correct. Having a great draft almost never means anything because the vast majority of players don't end up being the player people think thy will.

[wichmae]

YOu would think they go senior sign next right? Under slot guy. Thats where they historically went in the past in the 3rd. Austin Byler? Mo Jr?

[SRB]

Wish list for #90?

 

Some of the remaining players are going to be hard to sign, especially since it doesn't look like we are going to be able to go over slot, so factoring that in I like the following guys based on scouting blurbs:

 

RHP Cole Sands (HS)

CF Skye Bolt (CL)

RHP Chandler Day (HS)

C Austin Rei (CL)

3B Trey Cabbage (HS)

[JohnBriggs12]

"You wouldn't expect a 6 foot 5 righty with a mid 90's fastball....to come from a Division II program"

 

Not unheard of though. Jordan Zimmermann came from a Division III program.