Milwaukee Brewers: 3 Third Base Prospects To Know For 2019 MLB Draft

The 2019 MLB Draft is coming upon us quickly. With the Milwaukee Brewers holding the 28th overall selection, there’s a wide variety of players they could pick.

After profiling some potential outfielders and shortstops for the Milwaukee Brewers to select, our attention now turns to the hot corner with some top available third base prospects.

Third base has been a tough position for the Brewers to develop over the past several years, having to go to free agent and trade fill-ins to get some production. Now with Travis Shaw/Mike Moustakas over at third, top third base prospect Lucas Erceg is close to knocking on the door of the big leagues, playing in Triple-A San Antonio this season.

Although Erceg’s prospect star power has lost some of its luster, he’s a great defensive player with above-average power. However, after Erceg, the farm system is a little thin on third base prospects, with Erceg being the only one in the MLB Pipeline Top 30.

Should the Brewers want to add to that depth with a player that has a higher hit tool than Erceg (45), they could look to one of these three players with their first round selection.

Kody Hoese, 3B, Tulane

Hoese is MLB Pipeline’s 27th ranked prospect, putting him right in range to be the Milwaukee Brewers first selection. The 6’4″, 200 pound third baseman also was among the many names listed in our first MLB Mock Draft Roundup.

The Tulane product seems like your prototypical third baseman: Tall, strong, big power from the right side, great throwing arm, below average speed, and a decent ability to hit for average. There’s nothing wrong with that profile, and it’s one you see littered across the big leagues at that position. Aside from being right handed, it sounds a lot like Travis Shaw.

Hoese had 23 homers in the regular season this spring for Tulane and that’s good for fourth-best in the NCAA. The power is definitely there for Hoese, and his disciplined plate approach and gap-to-gap ability has teams thinking about him as better than just a three true outcome player.

Brett Baty, 3B, Lake Travis (TX) HS

If the Milwaukee Brewers are to select Baty, he’s going to need to take a fall down the board. MLB Pipeline ranks him as their 17th best draft prospect, and with the Crew selecting at 28, he will need a decent sized fall.

Last year, the Brewers never would have thought Brice Turang would’ve fallen to them at 21, with most thinking he was a Top 5 or at least Top 10 selection heading into the Draft. Sure enough, he fell to them. Anything can happen on draft night.

Baty is committed to the University of Texas and has some of the best raw power in this year’s class. As a lefty in Milwaukee, that’s an exciting note for the Brewers scouting department. He also brings an intelligent and advanced approach at the plate, not going all out for power and showing the ability to recognize and avoid breaking pitches.

Like most other third base prospects, he has below-average speed, but he’s a better athlete than you might think for someone his size.

Baty has the arm strength to stick at third base and should provide plenty of power from that position for years to come.

If Baty falls down the board to the 28th overall pick, Milwaukee will probably be running up to the podium to select him, depending on if there’s anyone else that’s also taking a long fall down the board. But with his hit tool, his raw power from the left side, and his defensive ability, Baty would make for an excellent first round selection.

The Milwaukee Brewers first round pick is going to be very dependent on how the board falls. There’s a wide variety of directions they could go, unlike when they choose in the Top 10.