Brewers Draft: 5 Players To Target On Day 2 Of The MLB Draft

The first night of the MLB Draft has come and gone and there were some surprises through the first 37 picks. Who is available for the Milwaukee Brewers on Day 2?

In the first round, the Milwaukee Brewers went with upside, selecting a potential 5-tool outfielder in Garrett Mitchell from UCLA. How could they finish out this draft class?

This draft class is incredibly deep in pitching prospects and it stands to reason the Brewers will grab a couple at some point Thursday night. There are also some good hitters that should be on the board as well.

Some of the top remaining prospects like Cole Wilcox, Jared Kelley, and Dillon Dingler are unlikely to last long enough to be there when the Brewers pick again.

The Brewers hold selections at 53, 92, 121, and 151 overall Thursday night. Here are some possible targets for the Brewers to round out their draft class.

Jake Eder, LHP, Vanderbilt

With a high upside bat in the first round, the Brewers are likely to follow with two, possibly three pitchers in the final four rounds. When they come up to pick in the second round, Jake Eder could make a lot of sense.

Eder is likely to be selected in the second round, ranked by MLB Pipeline as the 59th overall prospect. He’s a left-handed pitcher with the upside of a mid-rotation starter. Once you get past the first round, finding guys with believed upside higher than that are pretty few and far between.

Eder can sit in the mid-90s with his fastball and works with a plus curveball as well. He uses a changeup as his third pitch, but it needs some more work and he doesn’t use it often. If he’s going to stick in the rotation, he’ll need that changeup to develop and his command to improve but there’s a lot to work with.

Standing at 6’4″ and 220 pounds, Eder has great size and the body necessary to work late into games.

Clayton Beeter, RHP, Texas Tech

The Brewers would have to be ecstatic if Clayton Beeter is still there for them in the second round. There was some recent buzz of Beeter going in the first round, but he did not go. There have been a bunch of pitchers still remaining on the board and that could keep Beeter falling down to the Brewers.

He has a lot of data-driven traits that the Brewers love when it comes to pitchers. His fastball and breaking ball spin rates and pitch shapes are excellent. Beeter has tremendous upside as a frontline starter, but he has a very short track record as a starting pitcher in college. He was a reliever in 2019 and only had a few starts in 2020.

Beeter has three plus pitches and four pitches total. If his dominance in 2020 can hold up, he would be an absolute steal in the second round.

Christian Roa, RHP, Texas A&M

A former Northwoods league standout, Christian Roa has a strong four pitch mix with great command as well. He had a great 2019 season, posting a 2.66 ERA in 11 appearances. Then in 2020, Roa struggled a bit more in the rotation, pitching to a 5.85 ERA in four starts. He started off strong against Miami, going six strong innings and giving up just two runs and striking out 12. Then he had some rough outings against UCLA and New Mexico State.

Roa has three pitches that grade out as above-average or better; fastball, curveball, and changeup. Plus he has a slider in his mix. His command is very good overall and that should help him reach his ceiling as a mid-back end starter. He’s got great size and enough pitches to stick as a starter.

The rough end to his spring could push him back to the third round for the Brewers, but if they believe in him, he could be an option in the second.

Tyler McDonough, OF/2B, NC State

I’m going to be beating this drum until McDonough is off the board. Even though the Brewers already went with an outfielder to start off this class, McDonough can play multiple positions and hit extremely well from both sides of the plate.

There’s a little bit of redundancy with McDonough and Garrett Mitchell, although Mitchell is faster and has more power, they fill similar roles. The Brewers, however, have not been afraid of redundancy in the position player department of late.

In our mock drafts, we’ve had McDonough pegged as a target in the fourth round.

Sam Weatherly, LHP, Clemson

Standing at 6’4″ and 205 pounds, Sam Weatherly has made tremendous strides over the past few years with Clemson. He started as a two-way player and then moved full time to the bullpen and then earned a rotation spot in 2020.

In the shortened season this spring, Weatherly dominated to the tune of a 0.79 ERA in four starts, striking out 43 batter in just 22.2 IP. He also walked 14 batters in that time.

Weatherly sits in the low-90s with his fastball but he has a devastating slider to go along with it. He also possesses a changeup that is solid and getting better. MLB Pipeline ranks Weatherly as the 85th best prospect in the draft.

Weatherly’s command issues are a problem and that will need to be worked out if he’s going to stick in the rotation long-term. But he’s a big lefty with two plus-pitches and the Brewers could be willing to wait and develop him.

He could be a target for the third round or possibly the second round if the Brewers feel he won’t last until the third.

The Milwaukee Brewers will make four more selections to round out their 2020 Draft class on Thursday night.