Brewers shift gears on last day of draft
A run of selecting college players that dated to 2019 finally came to an end on Tuesday as the Milwaukee Brewers wrapped up the 2021 Major League Baseball draft.
Not since its 37th-round pick two years ago had the organization taken a high-school player before opening Day 3 by taking outfielder Roc Riggio of Thousand Oaks, California.
That snapped a streak of 19 consecutive college players that included all five of the Brewers' picks in the pandemic-shortened 2020 draft and 11 more on the first two days of this year's draft.
The Brewers shifted gears quickly on Wednesday, making seven of their 10 picks high-schoolers.
And several of them — including Riggio, left-hander Caden Vire (12th round), catcher Will Rogers (17th round) and left-hander Carter Holton (19th round) — hold scholarship offers from prominent Division I schools.
"It was relatively targeted on some younger guys that we could potentially sign that we really liked high-school wise, having had experience with or knowledge of," vice president of domestic scouting Tod Johnson said. "Our area scouts did a great job with this group. You have some more projection-type guys in this range today."
Having gone exclusively the college route on Monday, Milwaukee should have extra bonus money to utilize in an attempt to convince at least a few
of those high-schoolers to begin their professional careers.
Riggio has committed to Oklahoma State, Vire and Rogers with Arizona State and Holton with Vanderbilt.
"We know Roc really well," said Johnson. "He's been on our Area Code teams and scout ball teams for 2-3 years. He actually came up here in 2018 as a sophomore and worked out during our draft workout.
"We saw the opportunity to take him and if he decides that he would like to entertain our offer and talk and we can come to something that works for both sides, then we'd love for him to be a Brewer recognizing the fact that he has a really good option if he does go that route and go to Oklahoma State.
"With all these guys, they all have potential other opportunities and we'll take the time that we have until the Aug. 1 deadline to try and negotiate and see which ones are interested in starting their professional baseball careers for something that's mutually agreeable."
Signability aside, the Brewers also landed a few players with interesting back stories, perhaps none more so than their 20th and final pick, right-hander Samuel Mendez of Cisco (Texas) Junior College.
At 28 years old, he's believed to be one of the oldest – if not the oldest player – to have ever been drafted by an MLB team. A native of the Dominican Republic, the 6-foot-7, 185-pound Mendez played semi-professional basketball before coming to the United States to try his hand at baseball.
In 16 appearances for Cisco, Mendez went 5-2 with a 4.82 earned run average while striking out 100 batters over 65 1⁄3 innings.
"K.J. Hendricks is the area scout down there and he got to know him through the coach at Cisco that K.J. knows real well. He's 94-97, throws strikes, has some feel for his secondary stuff," Johnson said. "Obviously not sure what will happen there, but we're excited by the ingredients.
"We felt like his talent level and body projection, even with the lack of experience that he had...we'll see where it goes from here."
That the Brewers took a flier on a prospect with some intriguing physical tools should surprise no one, considering how they've hit on such less-thanconventional signings like Justin Topa and most recently Jake Cousins in recent seasons.
"Whether it's a niche or not, I think it's something that we've demonstrated we're open to doing and had success with," said Johnson. "Jake Cousins comes out of the same bucket. I think it's a testament to our player development staff as well, that they bring those guys in and help them take those next steps that get them from where they are to potential big-league pieces."
Quinton Low, a 13th-round pick out of Chatfield (Colorado) High School, was listed by some as a two-way player, regarded as a pitcher by others but is considered as a future first baseman by the Brewers. He has a commitment to Santa Clara.
"I'll say, we think he's a first baseman primarily. In the industry, there was a split camp on that," Johnson said. "I don't know if it was 50-50, but we like his swing. We think he's got the chance to hit and have power. He's another one that's got an opportunity to attend school if he chooses that path, but we'll work with that one also.
"He's also up to 96 off the mound right-handed, so we feel like that's an option as well. But we would send him out as a hitter first."
Kaylan Nicasia, a 16th-round pick out of Champagnat Catholic School in Miami, is a switch-hitting shortstop hailing from Curaçao. His grandfather ran a well-known baseball program there that coached several players who developed into high-profile players in the majors, including Kenley Jansen, Didi Gregorious and Andrelton Simmons.
"He came over here to play highschool baseball for senior year with the goal of getting drafted," Johnson said. "Mature in his presentation, or his attitude toward the game, and physically very impressive. He's a long, kind of lanky guy, switch- hitter, a solid runner. We'll give him the chance at shortstop. Center field is also an option there."
BREWERS DRAFT DAY 3
11th round, Roc Riggio, OF, Thousand Oaks, (California) HS (327th overall)
12th round, Caden Vire, LHP, Skyview (Washington) HS (357th overall)
13th round, Quinton Low, RHP, Chatfield (Colorado) HS (387th overall)
14th round, Jace Avina, OF, Spanish Springs (Nevada) HS, (417th overall)
15th round, Hunter Hollan, LHP, San Jacinto College North (Texas) (447th overall)
16th round, Kaylan Nicasia, SS, Champagnat Catholic School (Miami) (477th overall)
17th round, Will Rogers, C, Mounds View (Minnesota) HS (507th overall)
18th round, Ryne Moore, RHP, Old Dominion (537th overall)
19th round, Carter Holton, LHP, Benedictine Military School (Georgia) (567th overall)
20th round, Samuel Mendez, RHP, Cisco (Texas) Junior College (597th overall).