The 2017 MLB Draft Thread (#9 Pick + #34 & #46)

[IndyCrew]

My point above wasn't about Ray being good or not. It was about trying to not actively root against making a certain pick (position or skill set) because of the mixed feelings it brings if/when that player gets picked.

[patrickgpe]

really read up on the draft this week. my feelings is that the brewers could go 2 ways based on what SHOULD be there at 9, a college pitcher like Fraedo, Peterson, or Baukauskas or a high school hitter like Adell or Beck. My read is that the pitchers project as middle of the rotation guys, while the hitters have huge potential. I believe at 9 you should get better of a pitcher that has a ceiling of a middle of the rotation guy. Similar to the bucks taking Giannis or Thon, the brewers should get whoever they think CAN be an allstar not just a starter in the league so i am going with Adell or Beck.

[JDBrewCrew]

New Baseball America Mock This Morning

 

9. Brewers

All of your toolsy outfielders are belong to us.

Pick: Jordon Adell, of, Ballard HS, Louisville

 

34. Brewers

The Brewers are not immune to players who have good workouts.

Pick: Luis Campusano, c, Cross Creek HS, Augusta, Ga. |

[JosephC]

So is it official that Tod Johnson is actually running this draft for the Brewers? If so, how relevant is past draft history when trying to figure out what the Brewers are going to do in the present? The GM has been here for less than 21 months, Montgomery's return hasn't even gotten to the 3 year mark yet and from what I gathered an analytics guy brand new to this organization is probably the guy who is running this draft. Kind of amazed that the media is still all over the toolsy outfielder thing. They drafted Clark and Ray...but Ray was a dropper who was likely stood out as the best player on the board. They acquired Brinson, but Stearns preferred deal for Lucroy was actually centered around a catcher. Phillips was acquired by the previous front office. Seems like a lot is being made out of the Clark/Ray draft picks.

 

I certainly wouldn't be surprised if the Brewers did take an outfielder. Just sort of sick of everyone in the media parroting one another, making an outfielder pick seem so clear cut when it's not high on the organizational need list OR there just isn't a long track record present with the Brewer's front office that would give a strong indication what the Brewers would do.

[JDBrewCrew]

New MLB Pipeline Mock from Callis

 

9. Brewers: Jordon Adell, OF, Ballard HS (Louisville, Ky.)

Adell has exciting tools but scares some teams with his swing-and-miss issues, so he could realistically go here or drop into the 20s. Milwaukee seems to be pursuing mainly high schoolers with him, Beck, Georgia left-hander D.L. Hall and New Mexico southpaw Trevor Rogers.

[And That]

On the telecast the other day, they had a brief (quick inning) interview with Johnson, and he said towards the end that the draft is a collaborative effort between himself, Stearns, Montgomery, Minasian, etc. On the other hand, toward the beginning of the segment, Brian Anderson referred to it as something to the effect of "Tod Johnson's draft" and there seemed to be general acknowledgement of that.

 

My assumption is still that Johnson, in the end, makes the pick unless he gets absolutely overruled by Stearns and Montgomery. If they don't let Johnson have basically the final say, that really undercuts his position. Scouting directors, as a general rule, make the picks. They're going to lose some talented people if it becomes known that the Brewers' scouting director position is actually more of a "scouting director" position. I.e., the position without the authority, so a position in name only.

[And That]

I'm already quite dubious about Fangraphs' KATOH system, and using college stats takes that dubiousness to another level, but FWIW they've posted the top 250 college prospects, according to KATOH.

[LouisEly]

They had Johnson on the telecast the other day and Johnson said that (paraphrasing) analytics is a way of organizing information for the draft and not ranking players. You simply can't do enough scouting on amateur players, particularly high school players, to do any type of advanced analytics with anything resembling an adequate sample size.

[Harry Doyles JD]

Since no one really stands out to me as a must-take of those being talked about with the Brewers, given PG's rank and my admitted/acknowledged personal bias, I hope the Brewers pick David Peterson. Big, tall LHP with great K:BB and K/9 works for me. Brewers could use more LHP in general, even if he only projects to mid-rotation, that's fine by me. It would be cool to have such a close connection to a possible Brewer.

[MVP2110]

I am team Adell. If you have a chance to draft someone with a chance to be a legit superstar you take him imo

[Humans Need Water]

I say consult your big board and whoever is the top rated player left then that's who you select. I personally don't care who they select as their due diligence will have been done

[A Swing and A Drive]

Since no one really stands out to me as a must-take of those being talked about with the Brewers, given PG's rank and my admitted/acknowledged personal bias, I hope the Brewers pick David Peterson. Big, tall LHP with great K:BB and K/9 works for me. Brewers could use more LHP in general, even if he only projects to mid-rotation, that's fine by me. It would be cool to have such a close connection to a possible Brewer.

 

I may have missed it, but what is your close connection to David Peterson?

[reillymcshane]

I have heard from sources that the Brewers are focusing on position players at #9. Jo Adell, Adam Haseley and Pavin Smith are good bets. Perhaps Beck as well. The team supposedly is very impressed with Pavin Smith - and if he is there, he might be the pick.

 

The club love Adell's talent, and with all the outfielders in the system, they would be content to let him develop at his own pace.

 

I do not know if this information assumes Bukauskas is gone by #9.

 

Of course, all is this with the caveat that the club is pretty tight-lipped about things - and with a new scouting director, you never know.

[Noche]

Usually the Brewers have a predraft workout at Miller Park a few days before the draft. Typically there are some big names. Javy Baez put on a show one year. Anyone heard anything?

[The3rdManIn.com]

I've interviewed and written profiles on 50 of the top prospects. I'm also following up with many of them, including Jo Adell. You can find the detailed profiles: http://www.the3rdmanin.com/2017-mlb-draft-profiles/

[Noche]

FWIW, I guess their big workout was today. My source said none of the 'top prospects' were in attendance.

[LouisEly]

I have heard from sources that the Brewers are focusing on position players at #9. Jo Adell, Adam Haseley and Pavin Smith are good bets. Perhaps Beck as well. The team supposedly is very impressed with Pavin Smith - and if he is there, he might be the pick.

 

The club love Adell's talent, and with all the outfielders in the system, they would be content to let him develop at his own pace.

 

I do not know if this information assumes Bukauskas is gone by #9.

 

Of course, all is this with the caveat that the club is pretty tight-lipped about things - and with a new scouting director, you never know.

Ugh. Well, following the Cubs model, but they have some resources the Brewers don't.

 

The thing with OF... if they draft (another) one at #9 he better be really, really special. Like, perennial all-star/HOF talent. Because what we've seen is that between Brinson, Phillips, Cordell, Santana, Broxton... they are fairly easy to obtain in a trade. They don't cost much to acquire, and you can move guys there too (Perez). They are perhaps the inefficiency in the market. So why spend valuable resources (#9 overall) on assets that don't cost much to acquire?

[StearnsFTW]

Bukauskas

Boz

Haesley

Adell

 

In that order for me. Want nothing to do with any of the other college pitchers at 9.

[reillymcshane]

I have heard from sources that the Brewers are focusing on position players at #9. Jo Adell, Adam Haseley and Pavin Smith are good bets. Perhaps Beck as well. The team supposedly is very impressed with Pavin Smith - and if he is there, he might be the pick.

 

The club love Adell's talent, and with all the outfielders in the system, they would be content to let him develop at his own pace.

 

I do not know if this information assumes Bukauskas is gone by #9.

 

Of course, all is this with the caveat that the club is pretty tight-lipped about things - and with a new scouting director, you never know.

Ugh. Well, following the Cubs model, but they have some resources the Brewers don't.

 

The thing with OF... if they draft (another) one at #9 he better be really, really special. Like, perennial all-star/HOF talent. Because what we've seen is that between Brinson, Phillips, Cordell, Santana, Broxton... they are fairly easy to obtain in a trade. They don't cost much to acquire, and you can move guys there too (Perez). They are perhaps the inefficiency in the market. So why spend valuable resources (#9 overall) on assets that don't cost much to acquire?

I think that with Adell in particular, they see a potential all-star - albeit a very raw and young guy. Adell will need time to develop - no one would expect him to be in Milwaukee in a year or two. It's taking a guy with a very high ceiling (who are hard to come by) - but also with significant bust potential.

[paul253]

I'm usually all about high ceilings but we've busted with ALOT of top picks lately. Jungmann Bradley Coulter Roache Medeiros Kentrail Davis and Arnett all since 2009. We need to do a better job and I'm just concerned about using a top ten pick on someone who has such a concern about his hit tool

[And That]

Part 10 of the player profiles:

 

• *Jeren Kendall
  *Griffin Canning
  *Conner Uselton
  *Brian Miller
  *Blaine Knight
  *Matt Tabor
  *Shane Drohan
  *Ernie Clement
  *Blake Hunt
  *Michael Baumann

[brewcrewdue80]

Shane Baz or DL Hall. How about this GM and Montgomery take some risk over continued Safe college pick or OF'r

[Oxy]

I have heard from sources that the Brewers are focusing on position players at #9. Jo Adell, Adam Haseley and Pavin Smith are good bets. Perhaps Beck as well. The team supposedly is very impressed with Pavin Smith - and if he is there, he might be the pick.

 

The club love Adell's talent, and with all the outfielders in the system, they would be content to let him develop at his own pace.

 

I do not know if this information assumes Bukauskas is gone by #9.

 

Of course, all is this with the caveat that the club is pretty tight-lipped about things - and with a new scouting director, you never know.

Ugh. Well, following the Cubs model, but they have some resources the Brewers don't.

 

The thing with OF... if they draft (another) one at #9 he better be really, really special. Like, perennial all-star/HOF talent. Because what we've seen is that between Brinson, Phillips, Cordell, Santana, Broxton... they are fairly easy to obtain in a trade. They don't cost much to acquire, and you can move guys there too (Perez). They are perhaps the inefficiency in the market. So why spend valuable resources (#9 overall) on assets that don't cost much to acquire?

I think that with Adell in particular, they see a potential all-star - albeit a very raw and young guy. Adell will need time to develop - no one would expect him to be in Milwaukee in a year or two. It's taking a guy with a very high ceiling (who are hard to come by) - but also with significant bust potential.

 

 

Yeah. While serviceable OFers are relatively easy to come by, MVPs are not. Stockpiling high-ceiling young OF talent gives you a decent chance to end up with one or two All-Stars. If we had any sort of track record of developing starting pitching, I'd say the same about that.

[LouisEly]

Brinson and Phillips are "serviceable"?

 

And Santana, among 31 RFs with at least 100 PAs, is 7th in OPS. I'd say that's more than "serviceable". (In the NL he's behind only Harper, Stanton, and .006 behind Schebler. Fun fact - he has a higher OPS than Bellinger does right now.)

 

I'm sorry, but if Adell had a decent chance of fulfilling that "potential all-star/MVP" ceiling, he wouldn't be available anywhere near #9.

 

"High School" does not mean "higher upside". What would the Brewers future look like if they had drafted Turner and Buehler instead of Medeiros and Clark?

[JDBrewCrew]

Taylor Blake Ward at Scout just put out his 2-round mock

 

9. Milwaukee Brewers - D.L. Hall, LHP, Valdosta HS (GA)

 

The deals are beginning to shake up the draft, and beyond the fifth pick, things are going to get tricky. Milwaukee took long looks at Jordon Adell, Beck, and Hall. With three picks within the first 50, Milwaukee is looking to attain the biggest talent pool out of the draft, even if it means going a few picks underslot. Don't sleep on any Adell rumors with Milwaukee.

 

34. Milwaukee Brewers - Tristan Beck, RHP, Stanford

 

Although he hasn't pitched this year, Beck - a draft-eligible sophomore - was a top-10 pitcher before a back injury took him out for the year. Milwaukee drafted Beck out of Corona, even with the knowledge that he'd pass and head for Stanford. The relationship stuck for a lengthy time, and it sounds like they're ready to try and lure him away from a junior year at Stanford again, where his brother will be, but Mark Marquess will not be.

 

46. Milwaukee Brewers - Steven Jennings, RHP, Dekalb County HS (TN)

 

They already got their tooled up outfielder and best available college pitcher in this draft already. Time to take a risk at the next best available player who's athletic.