Brewers draft a strategy

Stearns wants every pick to count

PHOENIX – By the end of Monday night, the Milwaukee Brewers will have made three selections in the 2017 major-league baseball draft, but general manager David Stearns has his sights set beyond that.

“Everyone always focuses on that first day of the draft,” Stearns said. “I think our draft last year, in the near term, you look at what (Competitive Balance Round B pick) Mario Feliciano is doing, what (fourth-rounder) Corbin Burnes is doing, some other guys drafted later.

“That’s what we try to remind ourselves as an organization, that there are really good players up and down the draft board. Burnes is one of two pitchers, anywhere in the draft last year, to have made a start in Double-A.

“As we look at the totality of the draft, we’re really proud of (first-rounder) Corey Ray and what he’s doing, and we’re proud of (secondrounder) Lucas Erceg and the player he’s going to become, but the goal is to get good players, up and down the draft. That’s what makes a good draft.”

With that in mind, the Brewers will try to maximize their signing bonus pool of $10,447,700, the sixth-highest allotment in the draft. They have the ninth pick in the first round, which has been assigned a value of $4.57 million, a bump of more than $1 million from last year.

The Brewers selected University of Louisville outfielder Corey Ray at No. 5 last year and signed him for $4.125 million, a club record but below the suggested bonus of $4.382 million. The team used that savings to augment bonuses to other draft picks.

Accordingly, the Brewers look at the total value of the players they select, as do many clubs. They talk about picking the best player available on their board, but they also want to maximize the number of signings throughout their draft.

For example, the Brewers were able to sign 11th round pick Chad McClanahan, a prep third baseman, last year for an over-slot deal of $1.2 million by saving money elsewhere and then going over their allotment but not by enough to forfeit a future draft pick.

As for the Brewers’ first selection, amateur scouting director Tod Johnson said, “There could be some negotiation aspect to it. You never know. Some years, it’s a slot deal and other years it might be something else.”

Various mock drafts have the Brewers taking high school outfielder Jordan Adell (Louisville) at No. 9, and they certainly have shown an affinity for “toolsy” outfielders in the past. But there could be other tempting players such as Virginia first baseman Pavin Smith, prep outfielder Austin Beck, prep pitchers Shane Baz, D.L. Hall and Trevor Rogers, college pitchers J.B. Bukauskas (North Carolina), Alex Faedo (Florida) and David Peterson (Oregon) and college outfielders Adam Haseley (Virginia) and Jeren Kendall (Vanderbilt).

As always, what happens with the eight teams ahead of them will greatly influence what the Brewers do at No. 9. The Brewers also have pick No. 34 in Competitive Balance Round A as well as No. 48 in the second round to make Monday.

“I think there are going to be good players available throughout Day 1,” Stearns said. “I think this is a draft where there is talent well into the draft. Frankly, that’s true every year.

“That’s one of the things we talked about in the (draft) room. There’s quality talent, up and down the draft. We need to be disciplined and diligent enough to capitalize on that.”