Brewers Select SS Eric Brown In 1st Round Of 2022 MLB Draft

With the 27th pick in the 2022 MLB Draft, the Milwaukee Brewers have selected Coastal Carolina SS Eric Brown.

In a wild and chaotic first round of the Draft, the Brewers had to sit and wait a while before they could make their first selection. With a number of quality college players on the board, the Brewers had their pick of the litter and chose Brown.

The Milwaukee Brewers selected SS Eric Brown with their first round selection in the MLB Draft.

MLB Pipeline had Eric Brown ranked 63rd while Baseball America had him ranked 55th. On paper, this does seem like a bit of a reach for the Brewers, but with their next selection not coming until 63 overall, he certainly would not have lasted until then.

Perhaps the Brewers were looking to cut an underslot deal here with Brown and save some money in their signing bonus pool to target a high upside prospect with a later selection.

So, what is there to like about Eric Brown? For starters, he gets on base. He had a .460 OBP this season at Coastal Carolina to go along with a .330 batting average. He walks more than he strikes out with an excellent eye at the plate. He drew 39 walks this year and struck out just 28 times.

There should be more power to come, even though he had just seven home runs this year. He could hit 15-20 homers a season at the big league level. Has some speed as well, stole 12 bases.

Also key for Brown is that he is solid defender at shortstop and should be able to stick at the position. If he can’t, second base is a good fallback, but the Brewers are believing in him as a shortstop long term.

He has great bat-to-ball skills and is a gifted athlete. In recent years, that has been a priority for the Brewers front office. They love athletes and Brown is one of the best in the draft this year.

Brown has an unusual pre-swing stance, that causes many scouts to be put off. His arms are fully extended in front of him, similar to the old Craig Counsell batting stance. Both MLB Pipeline and Baseball America give Brown a 50 grade on his hit tool, which is average. That’s lower than your typical first round pick but the Brewers are believers in that hit tool and that it will end up being above average if they’re selecting him here in the first round.

The next pick the Brewers have is at 63 overall. The chaos of draft night will continue but the Brewers have stuck with their MO of selecting college players, top level athletes, and focusing on bat-to-ball skills.