3 crucial organizational needs for Brewers to address in the 2024 MLB Draft

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The 2024 MLB Draft is coming up fast. The Milwaukee Brewers hold 22 selections in the 20 round Draft and will have 22 opportunities to add future major leaguers who could help this team win a World Series.

While the Brewers have one of the deepest farm systems in baseball and are loaded with talent, they still have no shortage of needs to address in this year's Draft. For an organization that has to rely on drafting and development to remain competitive like the Brewers, they can't afford to have too many misses in the Draft.

The Brewers have had a lot more success in the Draft in recent years, but the whole Draft is still a crapshoot. There's no guarantee that even a first round pick will become a big league contributor and the odds get smaller and smaller the later you go.

Last year, the Brewers walked away feeling like they had one of the best draft classes in the league. The performance of those players this season has only backed up that assessment. They'll be looking for a similarly great class of players this year.

How can they get there? Here are the big needs the Brewers have to address in the 2024 MLB Draft.

Brewers Draft Need 1: Outfield

It may seem strange that outfield depth would be considered a need for the Brewers given how they've focused heavily on that group, especially with first round picks. The big league outfield depth has created a logjam. Between Christian Yelich, Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick, Blake Perkins, Jackson Chourio, and Joey Wiemer, there's only so much playing time to go around.

However, the MLB Draft is not for addressing immediate team needs. If it was, this Draft would just be 22 consecutive pitchers for the Brewers.

Despite the broad major league depth the Brewers have in the outfield, the Brewers have nowhere near as much prospect depth in that group in the minors.

Milwaukee hasn't drafted and signed a true outfielder in either of the last two drafts. Last year's draft was entirely pitchers and infielders. As a result, the prospect depth among this position group, especially in the lower minors, has started to thin. The Brewers have just two true outfielders on their top 30 prospects list.

Possible fits: There's a couple of outfielders that would make sense for the Brewers in the first round this year. Carson Benge, Vance Honeycutt, and Ryan Waldschmidt would all make sense at 17 overall. Dakota Jordan could be an option at 34. All four are college outfielders with traits the Brewers have historically liked.

Brewers Draft Need #2: Catcher

The Brewers place a very high priority on the catcher position. Not only is the quality of the defense there crucial to the Brewers run prevention unit, getting offensive production out of that spot is also a priority. Milwaukee has shown the ability to teach catchers how to improve defensively, something they've done with Omar Narvaez and William Contreras.

The Draft isn't about addressing immediate team needs, it's about projecting needs a few years out and keeping a pipeline of talent available at those positions. Catcher could be one of those needs.

William Contreras has a few seasons of team control left and unless he agrees to a contract extension, it's very possible he could find himself traded away before he reaches free agency. The Brewers do have a top catching prospect in Jeferson Quero that could be the catcher of the future.

However, Quero suffered a torn labrum in his throwing shoulder early this season and will miss the whole year. While the Brewers feel confident that Quero's elite throwing arm will return to pre-injury levels, there's a potential that it doesn't. Outside of Quero, the Brewers don't have much for catching prospects behind him in the minors. He's the only catcher in the Brewers top 30.

Should the Brewers draft a catcher early on, by the time he's ready for the big leagues it would be right around the time Contreras is reaching free agency or being traded away, barring an extension. Contreras' dwindling team control, the uncertainty with Quero, and lack of a top catching prospect behind him makes catcher an area of need to address in this year's Draft.

Possible fits: Sam Houston State's Walker Janek and Stanford's Malcolm Moore are first round options the Brewers could take to headline this class. Cal's Caleb Lomavita could be another day one option. NC State's Jacob Cozart and Texas Tech's Kevin Bazzell also are logical Brewers targets.

Brewers Draft Need #3: Left handed pitching

You can never have enough pitching and you can especially never have enough left handed pitching. The Brewers have had tremendous success developing pitchers in recent years. Drafting and developing lefties though, has been a bit tougher, partially because they haven't drafted many of them.

Last year, the Brewers drafted four left handed pitchers: Tate Kuehner, Mark Manfredi, Bjorn Johnson, and Justin Chambers. Chambers was flipped to Los Angeles for another lefty, Bryan Hudson, a move that's working out pretty well so far.

The Brewers were only able to sign four lefties combined in the 2021 and 2022 draft classes. While lefty pitching is obviously harder to find, that makes it all the more important to have. Left handed starters are even more rare. It doesn't help the Brewers have had all three of their lefty starters hit the IL in Wade Miley, Robert Gasser, and DL Hall.

Gasser is the only lefty on the Brewers top 30 list and he's out for the next 12-14 months. Stocking up on more southpaws should be a priority.

In recent years, the Brewers haven't targeted pitching in the first round. They've gone college bats each of the last four years. Ethan Small was the last pitcher the Brewers took in the first round (2019) and that didn't work out well.

Milwaukee prioritized lefty pitching in that 2019 Draft, but missed on the majority of their picks. Seven of their first 16 picks that year were lefties. Small, Antoine Kelly (traded to TEX), Nick Bennett (5.29 ERA in Triple-A), Brock Begue (released), Arman Sabouri (released), Jackson Gillis (released), and Kelvin Bender (released) were the selections.

The need is still there to stock up on lefties with starting potential. The Brewers have selected most of their lefties on the second and third day of the Draft. Over their last four drafts, the Brewers have taken just one lefty pitcher on Day 1 (Russell Smith, 2nd round, 2021).

Possible fits: Some lefties the Brewers could take on Day 1 this year include Duke's Jonathan Santucci, Texas A&M's Ryan Prager, LSU's Gage Jump, and Clemson's Tristan Smith. Among prep arms, Kash Mayfield, David Shields, Dasan Hill, and Boston Bateman all have traits the Brewers love and could go on the first day.

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Brewers Draft Need 1: Outfield

Brewers Draft Need #2: Catcher

Brewers Draft Need #3: Left handed pitching

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