Brewers put focus on prep players late
Prospects may be hard to sign
It was no coincidence that the Milwaukee Brewers began the third day of the major-league baseball draft by taking nine consecutive high school players, all armed with college scholarship offers as negotiating leverage.
Just call it a calculated gamble at acquiring high-upside talent. After the first 10 rounds, signing bonuses over $125,000 count against a team’s total allotment for the draft, so taking several high school players who have college scholarships is risky. Teams often have to go above slot recommendations to sign those players.
“That’s something we’re going to have to work through postdraft,” general manager David Stearns said. “We have the ability to be creative with our draft pool in different ways. We’re not the only club that looks at the draft pool in that way.
“We’ll take a look with all of the players we sign to see how we can allocate our pool most effectively. The ability to draft some of these highupside high school players post-10th round was intentional. We like a lot of these players; we like a lot of these arms.
“We know that some of them will be tougher to sign than others but we think we also have an attractive opportunity to play professional baseball and join the Brewers organization. All of those talks and discussions will really take place once the draft is over and we can begin to connect more directly with the players we selected.”
The string of high school picks commenced immediately when the draft resumed with Round 11. The Brewers took right-hander Max Lazar of Coral Springs (Fla.) High School, the same school that produced outfielder Lewis Brinson, the organization’s top prospect. Lazar has a full ride to Florida Atlantic University.
Next came centerfielder Je’Von Ward of Gahr High School in Long Beach, Calif., who has a commitment to USC. Shortstop Abdiel Layer, a prep player from Puerto Rico taken in the 13th round, has a scholarship to Florida International University.
Shortstop Gage Workman of Basha High School in Chandler, Ariz., taken in the 14th round, is committed to Arizona State. Righthander Christian Santana of American Heritage School in Hialeah, Fla., taken in Round 15 at age 17, is in Lazar’s recruiting class at FAU.
Right-hander Justin Bullock of South Granville (N.C.) High School has a scholarship offer to attend N.C. State. The next two selections at Nos. 17 and 18, centerfielder Leugim Castillo and left-hander Ledgend Smith, are both committed to Oklahoma. Shortstop Noah Campbell of Cardinal Gibbons (N.C.) High School, taken in the 19th round, is a South Carolina recruit.
The Brewers finally snapped their string of prep picks with Ventura College right-hander Austin Rubick in the 20th round but by then their Day 3 draft strategy was evident.
“There are reasons why they are where they are in the draft; there are reasons why they’re less signable,” Brewers amateur scouting director Tod Johnson said. “We felt like they were more projectable than some of the other players that were available at that point, with more ceiling.”
The Brewers, who signed each of their first 16 selections in 2016, 19 of the first 20 and 37 of the total of 41, know this year they won’t be able to buy out all of those college scholarships. And they’re OK with that.
“No club can sign all 40 or 41 players you select,” Stearns said. “You don’t have enough (roster) space, generally, in your short-season clubs to do that.
“We know some of the players we select, we won’t sign. Generally, that happens with some segments of high school players a team selects.
Including the first two days of the draft, the Brewers selected 41 players, including 23 pitchers (15 right-handers), seven infielders, seven outfielders, three catchers and a utility player. They had an even mix of 21 college players and 20 out of high school.
“I think it went well,” said Johnson, who directed his first draft for the club. “I felt like our process was strong and our scouts did a great job. We had the information available that we needed at the time we needed it. I feel we did all those things well.
“Now, we’ll see if these guys can play as well as we think they can.”
Day 3 selections
Round 11: RHP Max Lazar, Coral Springs HS. Round 12: CF Je'Von Ward, Gahr (Calif.) HS Round 13: SS Abdiel Layer, Colegio Angel David HS, Puerto Rico Round 14: SS Gage Workman, Basha HS, Chandler, Ariz. Round 15: RHP Christian Santana, American Heritage School (Fla.) Round 16: RHP Justin Bullock, South Granville (N.C.) HS Round 17: CF Leugim Castillo, Lancaster (N.Y.) HS Round 18: LHP Ledgend Smith, BInger-Oney (Okla.) HS Round 19: SS Noah Campbell, Cardinal Gibbons (N.C.) HS Round 20: RHP Austin Rubick, Ventura College Round 21: RHP Dylan File, Dixie State Round 22: LHP Bandon Presley, Florida Southwestern State College Round 23: RHP Cam Robinson, University HS (Fla.) Round 24: RHP Robbie Hitt, Quinnipiac Round 25: LHP Karlos Morales, South Hills (Calif.) HS Round 26: OF Carson McCusker, Folsom Lake (Calif.) College Round 27: RHP Cody Martin, University of Tampa Round 28: RHP Roberto Delgado, Oklahoma City U. Round 29: C Brent Diaz, Louisiana Tech. Round 30: LHP Cody Beckman, N.C. State. Round 31: LHP Rylan Kaufman, Friendswood HS. Round 32: RHP Miller Hogan, St. Louis University. Round 33: CF Kyle Jacobsen, Allatoona (Ga.) HS Round 34: LHP Garrett Crochet, Ocean Springs (MS) HS. Round 35: CF Davis Bradshaw, McLaurin (MS) HS. Round 36: UTIL Kenny Corey, UC Santa Barbara. Round 37: RHP Christian Taugner, Brown University. Round 38: C Robie Rojas, Sam Houston State U. Round 39: CF Robert Henry, Brown University. Round 40: LHP Trevor Koenig, St. Cloud Tech HS.