Brewers Draft: 3 Team Needs To Address In 2021 MLB Draft

MILWAUKEE, WI - JULY 03: A detail view of the Independence Day Milwaukee Brewers batting helmet logo before the game against the Baltimore Orioles at Miller Park on July 03, 2017 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
MILWAUKEE, WI - JULY 03: A detail view of the Independence Day Milwaukee Brewers batting helmet logo before the game against the Baltimore Orioles at Miller Park on July 03, 2017 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
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BUFFALO, NEW YORK – JUNE 29: Baseballs in a pile on the field before the game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners at Sahlen Field on June 29, 2021 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Joshua Bessex/Getty Images)
BUFFALO, NEW YORK – JUNE 29: Baseballs in a pile on the field before the game between the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners at Sahlen Field on June 29, 2021 in Buffalo, New York. (Photo by Joshua Bessex/Getty Images) /

The 2021 MLB Draft is almost upon us. It’s time to take a look at what the Milwaukee Brewers need to have on their shopping list in this year’s draft.

Team needs are always a big topic of discussion around sports drafts. This is a much bigger focus in the NFL and NBA Drafts, as those players will help out the drafting team immediately and go onto their roster. If you need a quarterback, or a point guard, you can draft one in the first round and that immediately plugs your hole.

In baseball, it’s a little different. If you need a pitcher, or a first baseman, you can’t just draft one in the first round and put him on the big league roster to plug the roster hole. It doesn’t work that way, at least not anymore.

The current big league roster needs are irrelevant to what the Brewers will do in the 2021 Draft. What is more relevant is the projection of what the Brewers needs will be in 2024 or 2025, which is when a lot of these draft picks this year will be ready to produce for the big league club.

Projecting team needs a few years down the road and looking at the current state of the farm system are important for determining “needs” to address. In 2019, the Brewers were short on left-handed pitching, so they drafted a bunch of it. In 2020, their system was light on hitters, so they drafted five college hitters in five rounds.

What are the Brewers team needs to address in the 2021 MLB Draft?

Brewers Draft Need #1: Right-handed pitching

Who is the Brewers top right-handed pitching prospect right now?

Zack Brown? He’s been Rule 5 eligible for two years and hasn’t been picked. He also hasn’t pitched yet this season with a shoulder injury.

Alec Bettinger? He’s been shuttled back and forth with little success in the big leagues so far.

Dylan File? He’s also missed time with an injury and is a similar pitcher to Bettinger.

We know all about the Crew’s left handed pitching prospects. Aaron Ashby, Ethan Small, and Antoine Kelly have high ceilings and clear, bright futures with the Brewers. Ashby has already made his big league debut and Small won’t be far behind.

They need some more right-handed pitching, although it can’t hurt to add more lefties either. The Brewers have shown a knack for developing pitching in recent years, turning Brandon Woodruff and Corbin Burnes into All Stars and Freddy Peralta into a stud who should be an All Star. They’ve also churned out plenty of right handed relievers in the bullpen.

There are a number of quality pitching prospects in this draft and there should be a few available in the first round that would do extremely well in the Brewers system. But this will likely be a focus throughout the 20 rounds of the draft.

MILWAUKEE, WI – JULY 03: A detail view of the Independence Day Milwaukee Brewers batting helmet logo before the game against the Baltimore Orioles at Miller Park on July 03, 2017 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) *** Local Caption ***
MILWAUKEE, WI – JULY 03: A detail view of the Independence Day Milwaukee Brewers batting helmet logo before the game against the Baltimore Orioles at Miller Park on July 03, 2017 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Photo by Dylan Buell/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** /

Brewers Draft Need #2: Power Bats

In what has been atypical of the Brewers historically, they find themselves short on power bats. The big league offense has Avisail Garcia and Luis Urias currently leading the team in home runs. If you had those two as your team HR leaders at the All Star Break when the season began, people would’ve rightfully called you crazy.

There also isn’t much for power bats down in the minor leagues either. The Brewers focused on adding advanced college bats in last year’s draft, but most of them were hit-over-power type players. Garrett Mitchell has a ridiculous amount of raw power, but he’s not a “power hitter”. Freddy Zamora, Zavier Warren, Joey Wiemer, and Hayden Cantrelle all have some pop, but they’re also not really considered “power hitters”.

Mario Feliciano has power, but has been hurt for most of the minor league season.  Other than that, there’s Tristen Lutz who has big power, but is hitting just .208 with a 36% K rate in Double-A this year, although he has hit seven homers. Outfielder Luis Medina has big juice but is 18 years old and is in Rookie level Arizona. C/1B Thomas Dillard has eight homers in High-A and is hitting .249 but has a 42% strikeout rate.

That’s about it for “power-hitting” prospects in this system.

They could use a couple more hitters with power upside. They have one of the more power-friendly ballparks in baseball. Milwaukee needs to use that to its advantage.

Unfortunately there isn’t a large amount of power-hitting college bats in this year’s draft class, but the few that are there will be at a premium.

Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /

Brewers Draft Need #3: Corner Infield Depth

I know this is a position group the Brewers have neglected a lot in recent years, and their strategy to focus on up the middle players (C, SS, 2B, CF, P) has been successful with the picks they’ve made. But they haven’t been able to develop a first baseman since Prince Fielder left a decade ago.

The last time the Brewers drafted and developed a third baseman who posted even a single 2.0 WAR season or better at the hot corner was Ryan Braun, who played one season at third and then moved to the outfield. Prior to that, you have to go back to the 1990s and Jeff Cirillo as the last homegrown third baseman the Brewers developed that had some decent success.

They’ve had varying levels of success in short stints with players like Casey McGehee, Aramis Ramirez, Travis Shaw, and Mike Moustakas. But it’d be nice to draft and develop something at the corner infield spots.

Because of the neglect in the early rounds of the draft at these positions in recent years, the farm system is quite bare at both spots. The Brewers had to claim Daniel Vogelbach last year and trade for Rowdy Tellez recently to help stock up on the position.

They’ve paid some prices to get both corner positions covered in recent years, but the most cost-effective way to fill those spots is to draft and develop your own players.

There should be some decent options to help fill out the corners in the middle rounds on Day 2 of the Draft. These spots likely won’t be addressed on Day 1 with the 15th and 33rd overall picks, but any pick in the first five rounds at either spot should be considered a win and a potential answer at a corner infield spot in the near future.

The Milwaukee Brewers have several needs to address in their system. Pitching will likely be the first one they tackle, but they also need some more bats, especially power bats. The Brewers can kill two birds with one stone as well since most corner infielders fit the power bat description.

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Primarily, the need should be to take the best player available, but sometimes when you have a few players graded similarly, organizational needs like this can be tiebreakers.

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