Draft: Brewers select Boston College center fielder Sal Frelick with first pick,
For the second year in a row, the Milwaukee Brewers selected an athletic centerfielder from the college ranks with their first-round draft pick Sunday evening.
With the 15th pick, the Brewers took Boston College’s Sal Frelick, an explosive athlete who also played football and hockey before going to college and focusing on baseball. Baseball America had the left-handed hitting Frelick ranked as the No. 9 player available in the draft.
Last year, the Brewers selected UCLA centerfielder Garrett Mitchell with the No. 20 overall pick, and Mitchell already has advanced to Class AA Biloxi despite the minor leagues being shut down in 2020 by the pandemic.
Frelick, 21, is a bit undersized at 5foot-9 and 175 pounds and was undrafted out of Lexington (Mass.) High School, but emerged as one of the top college players in 2021. He has tremendous athleticism and speed, which allows him to impact the game on both sides of the ball.
The captain of the baseball, football and hockey teams in high school, Frelick was a true three-sport star. He was the Gatorade Player of the Year for the state of Massachusetts as a senior quarterback, accumulating 3,700 years yards and 51 touchdowns, 31 passing and 20 rushing.
Frelick is rated by scouts to have 70grade speed, consistently going from home to first in 4.0 seconds from the left side. He is a right-handed thrower.
“He’s not one of these kids that just stuck to baseball,” Brewers area scout Ty Blankmeyer said. “Remarkably, the only time he focused solely on baseball was in college. Any time he got on the field, you could see the other skills from those sports flash through in the way he played the game. He’s a really exciting player.
“It’s a special athlete that played multiple sports in high school and you see that translate to his game. He’s not the most physical guy but he doesn’t play like that. He’s bigger than his stature. He might be small but his game’s not small. He acts like he’s the biggest dude on the field and he knows his game. He has a very high aptitude; he knows what he has to do to be successful.
“He’s a winner, man. That’s the No. 1 thing. He’s a competitive kid; he’s really engaging. All his teamates teammates gravitate toward him. He’s got that ‘it’ factor when he walks on the field. Every day, there was something he did to give his team a chance to win. So, he’s a winner.”
An infielder in high school, Frelick moved to right field in his first two years at BC before moving to center this year to take full advantage of his skills. He was named the Atlantic Coast Conference defensive player of the year, fitting the mold of centerfielder the Brewers covet.
Frelick batted .359 this year for the Eagles with a .443 on-base percentage and .559 slugging percentage. He has shown good bat-to-ball skills and uses the entire field, making frequent contact and profiling as a leadoff hitter as a professional.
Frelick showed some pop for his size with six home runs and 27 runs batted in over 48 games during his junior season, earning all-ACC first team honors.
“He has a very good understanding of the strike zone,” said Blankmeyer. “His hand-eye coordination is second to none. He was a hockey player, so I credit a lot of that for him. That’s one of his strong suits. He’s a nightmare for a pitcher because he can give you a 10- or 12-pitch at-bat, and beat you.”
As for taking a college centerfielder in the first round two years in a row, Blankmeyer said: “You’ve got to go for baseball players with talent and tools and makeup. If you get enough of those guys, over time it’s going to compound and you’re going to get a lot of big-leaguers.
“You can never have enough of them. When you have premium athletes and defenders in the middle of the field, it’s so hard to say you don’t want those guys. You have to keep going and getting them.”
The Brewers also were set to make the 33rd selection in the draft in Competitive Balance Round A later Sunday night.