Brewer Drafts from the Past: Round 31 or Later

There hasn’t been a 31st round since 2019, and there won’t be one this year either, which is probably a good thing, because not many of these picks actually sign. In 2019, only 45% of the picks in rounds 31-40 were successfully signed. This is extremely top-heavy, as shown in the following graphic.

Every team used a pick in each round, so there are 30 players drafted per round. This means in the round with the most signings that year, which happened to be round 34, only 20 of the 30 players actually signed for a rate of 66.67%, which is rather poor.

With that being said, there have been some great players late, especially by the Brewers. So who is the best?

Best Player Who Signed
The trend for late round picks seen in 2019 is consistent for basically all drafts. As such, there’s few players drafted by the Brewers who actually signed, and even fewer that make it to the bigs. But there is one player who signed and has been a great player for the Crew in their time.

Brent Suter is that player. The left-handed pitcher was drafted at pick 965 in the 31st round of the 2012 MLB Amateur Draft out of Harvard University. The Raptor, Suter’s fitting nickname due to his gait, was not a top prospect coming into the draft that year. He earned four wins and 11 losses in his two seasons with the Harvard Crimson. Suter pitched to a 5.44 ERA in his career there but had a respectable 4.36 in the season before the draft. He started eight of nine games his first year, and nine of 11 in his second, where he also earned a save. 

Between Suter’s two years with the Crimson, he also played summer in the Cape Cod League with the Wareham Gatemen, where he was better with a 3.96 ERA in his five games started and 10 total games played. During that summer season, he also had a complete game. 

With Manny Pina leaving in free agency this offseason, the 32-year-old Suter became the longest tenured player in the Brewers organization. He debuted in MLB in 2016 on August 19 against the Seattle Mariners where he took the loss in 4.1, allowing four earned runs off seven hits and three walks, while striking out two. Since then, he has been a solid contributor for the team in his seven years in the big leagues, with an ERA of 3.54 in the 358.1 innings pitched over 166 games played with 39 starts. He has earned one save, but has 15 holds, being mostly used as a multi-inning reliever. He was even named the NL Reliever of the Month in September 2019 after nine fantastic outings, earning four wins and allowing an ERA of just 0.49 with 15 batters striking out.

Suter has accumulated 4.8 WAR thus far, and looks to get more with Crew, as he enters his last year of arbitration at the end of this year before becoming an unrestricted free agent. The father of two will be happy spending time with his family as he begins to enter the twilight of his career, but will surely find success outside of baseball, already writing The Binky Bandit, a children’s book released recently, and being a staunch supporter of efforts to limit climate change, while continuing his goofball antics.

Best Unsigned Player
Suter is far and beyond the best player to have signed with the Brewers, but there are quite a few players who did not sign in these late rounds that have become stars. The main one is Jason Giambi , who the Brewers drafted at pick 1118 in the 43rd round of the 1989 draft out of high school, before being drafted again by the Oakland Athletics in the 2nd round of the 1992 draft after spending a couple years at California State University. 

Giambi was drafted as a shortstop by the Crew but spent the majority of his career at first base. He spent 20 seasons in the MLB, hitting 440 home runs for an average of .277. Eight seasons were spent with the A’s, seven with the Yankees, four with the Rockies and two with the Indians, with one midseason transaction. Giambi won the 2000 MVP while with the A’s, beginning his run of five straight appearances at the All-Star Game, earning two Silver Sluggers in this time as well. Giambi won the 2002 Home Run Derby, competing in the 2001 and 2003 editions. 

Giambi has a career WAR of 50.5, good for 195th all time. He likely has enough accolades to make the Hall of Fame but was dropped from the ballot after just two years. This is largely due to his admitted usage of PEDs during his career in an article published in 2007. He retired in 2014, after beginning his career in 1995.

Honorable Mention
There aren’t many Brewers signings who went on to success in these rounds, but the Brewers did select a player nicknamed Captain Underpants with the 1189th pick in the 40th round of the 2002 MLB Draft. This player, Hunter Pence , did not sign with the Crew, and was selected once again, this time in the 2nd round in 2004 by the Houston Astros. Over his 14-year career, he accumulated 30.9 WAR, and made the All-Star team four times. He spent time with Astros, Phillies, and Rangers, but is mostly known for his time with the Giants, where he was part of the squad which won the World Series in 2012 and 2014.

So do you agree with me here? There aren't many other options, especially those who signed, but Jason Giambi and Brent Suter are clear favorites in my mind. Keep an eye out for when I look into the next 10 rounds soon!