Brewers Draft: Brewers Select Miami SS Freddy Zamora In Second Round

The Milwaukee Brewers have made their second round selection in the 2020 MLB Draft.

In what has already been a hectic MLB  Amateur Draft, the Milwaukee Brewers made another unforeseen selection by taking University of Miami shortstop Freddy Zamora.

The main guess was to go pitching here, as the Brewers desperately need it, but the upside here in intriguing.

Freddy Zamora, SS, Miami

The blood lines in the Zamora family definitely contain the baseball gene. Freddy Zamora, who the Brewers selected 53rd overall in the 2020 MLB Amateur Draft, his father played professionally in Nicaragua. Freddy has had two successful seasons in the ACC Conference, hitting to a stout .300 BA combined in 2018 and 2019, and has been known as a defensive-minded player.

However, Zamora did not play at all in the shortened 2020 season due to knee surgery and for violating team rules. Zamora had been durable before the injury, playing 104 games in his freshman and sophomore seasons. The violating team rules is definitely a concern, but taking a guy this high in the draft tells me that the Brewers did their homework on this kid. According to reports, the suspension was for skipping a class, which doesn’t sound like a major problem.

According to MLB.com, the Brewers have the 30th ranked Minor League system (ranking them last). And with that being said, speculation would make one assume the Brewers go with the best available player or a highly ranked player. However, Zamora was ranked the No. 100 prospect according to MLB.com, which is much lower than his drafted spot.

Besides the health and off the field concerns, on the field I would say it is the hit tool that concerns me the most. According to hurricanesports.com, “Zamora is a five-tool prospect who can do it all on a baseball field”. Now with this high praise, one can assume this is because of the bias to one of their own. The power came up a little with six home runs on 2019, but the lack of power shown throughout his first two years makes it seem as though this pick was for defensive purposes.

Scouts have praised his defensive skills, making him one of the best prospects at his position coming into 2020. His on base intangibles will help for the lack of power, but with the transition into pro ball and wood bats makes him already diminished power seem very unlikely to grow.

The Brewers have had struggles at shortstop in recent memory, with Orlando Arcia not producing offensively, and this pick seems like a very similar player. Fans should hope that his bat increases in power to compliment his hit tool, but he has the intangibles to beat out Arcia in the near future if he recovers fully and starts to gain more power. Overall Zamora has a lot of upside if he can hit with a little more power, since his glove will carry throughout pro ball, and his ceiling could be a 20-20 shortstop at some point.

Look for the Brewers to go with a pitcher or two in the later rounds, as Zamora and first rounder Garrett Mitchell will try to help fill offensive holes, but pitching much be addressed at some point to help this diminished rotation. I predict at least one to two college pitchers drafted late, that can contribute quickly and effectively by 2022.