Brewers Awarded Another Early 2021 MLB Draft Pick

The 2021 MLB Draft order is set, with the announcement of the Competitive Balance round picks. The Brewers get an early one.

For the past two years, the Milwaukee Brewers have not had a selection in the Competitive Balance rounds. The design of the rounds was to give extra picks to the smallest market and lowest revenue teams. Well that sure sounds like Milwaukee should get some picks, right?

Well, they did have them, but these picks are also the only MLB Draft picks that are eligible to be traded. President of Baseball Operations David Stearns took those picks and traded them over the past two years. For 2019, he traded a Comp A pick for Alex Claudio straight up. For 2020, he traded a Comp B pick in a package deal for Omar Narvaez.

There are two Competitive Balance Rounds, A and B. Round A is after the first round of the Draft and Round B is after the second round of the Draft. The teams in Rounds A and B alternate every year.

This year, it’s the Brewers turn to be in the Comp A round.

The official draft order gives the Brewers the 32nd overall selection in 2021.

This is on top of the 15th overall pick the Brewers already have in the first round. The Brewers farm system still needs an infusion of talent and having two picks in the first 32 overall selection is a great spot to be sitting in.

That’s why it’s extremely important that, this year, David Stearns doesn’t trade away this pick. After the shortened 2020 Draft and cancelled spring season, there is going to be an overwhelming amount of depth in this 2021 Draft class. Good players who would normally be gone by the 32nd overall pick will now be there. The Brewers must take this opportunity to draft as much amateur talent as they can.

Milwaukee will have the 3rd pick in the Comp A round, behind the Marlins and the Tigers. Since the Astros had their first round pick taken away in their cheating scandal, that bumps up what would’ve been the 33rd pick up to the 32nd pick.

Last year, Stearns traded this pick essentially the day after it was announced he had it. This year, he better hold on to it.

The 2021 MLB Draft is going to be filled with future big league talent. The Brewers need as many chances as they can get to snatch some up. The earlier their picks are, the higher likelihood they’ll find a big league talent.