Brewers receive parting gift from Willy Adames after latest draft pick

Losing shortstop and clubhouse leader Willy Adames to free agency last season was one of the toughest departures in recent Milwaukee Brewers history. Immediately after joining the Brewers in May 2021, Adames captivated the Milwaukee faithful with his towering home runs and his seemingly permanent smile. When Adames' contract expired at the completion of the 2024 MLB season, Brewers fans were hoping that the organization could retain their team leader and fan favorite on a new free-agent contract, but in the end, Adames was just too expensive and ended up signing a seven-year, $182 million contract with the San Francisco Giants.

However, before Adames departed for the West Coast, the Brewers front office extended him a qualifying offer, which is a one-year offer that teams can extend to players just once in their career, and their salary for that season is determined by the average of MLB's 125 highest-paid players from the season prior. This past offseason, the qualifying offer amount was $21.05 million, meaning the Brewers essentially offered their former shortstop a one-year, $21.05 million contract to stay in Milwaukee. However, Adames, knowing that he could get more money and a longer contract by going elsewhere, rejected the offer and went on to sign his massive deal with the Giants.

When a player rejects a qualifying offer and goes on to sign a free-agent contract worth at least $50 million, the team that made the offer receives a draft pick as compensation, which essentially functions as a way to mitigate small-market teams' inability to sign major free agents. It's not just any draft pick either. The compensation picks, if the team acquiring them is a small-market revenue-sharing participant, occur after the first round of the draft. This year, the Brewers were awarded the 32nd overall pick after Adames rejected their qualifying offer, and just moments ago they used that pick to select high school short stop Brady Ebel.

Brewers select Brady Ebel with compensation pick from losing Willy Adames to free agency

Ebel is the third player from Corona High School in California selected in the first 32 picks of the 2025 MLB Draft, joining his teammates Seth Hernandez, who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Billy Carlson, who was selected by the Chicago White Sox.

He comes from a baseball family, with his father Dino Ebel currently serving as the Los Angeles Dodgers' third base coach. Being around baseball his entire life has given Brady an extremely high baseball IQ, as explained by MLB Pipeline, which many consider his best strength. He's a strong defender with a plus arm and good instincts, but his lack of athleticism could move him to third base as he moves through the minor leagues.Part of Ebel's future depends on how he fills out his 6'3" frame, but the potential to develop more power as he progresses is there.

With Ebel committed to LSU, it will likely take an offer above slot value to pull him away from his college commitment. Luckily, it's highly likely that the Brewers' first-round pick, Andrew Fischer, will sign for under slot value, which would free up money for Matt Arnold and the Brewers' front office to lure him away from Baton Rouge.