Brewers Prospects: Grading the Debuts of the 2023 Draft Picks

(10.302) RHP Morris Austin: C-

The Brewers shot for upside in the college ranks when they selected Houston Christian pitcher Morris Austin with their tenth-round selection. After struggling through his freshman year, Austin underwent Tommy John surgery in April of 2022 after posting a 1.08 ERA in eight appearances that year, and returned for the end of the 2023 season, allowing three earned runs in 3.2 innings. Milwaukee bet on the arm talent ofthe 23-year-old Austin, who touched 99 MPH on his fastball in summer outings with the Portland Pickles.

His debut with the ACL Brewers had some ups and downs, allowing earned runs in two of his four appearances, but striking out five in his 3.2 innings with the club. Austin sported a 7.36 ERA in his initial rookie ball action and walked four while only giving up two hits. Milwaukee will look to hone in Austin's command issues (7.9 BB/9 in college) and continue to work on turining his arm talent into production out of the pen in 2024.

(15.452) 2B/SS Josh Adamczewski: D+

After hitting .473 with a .632 on-base percentage with the Lake Central (IL) Indians in the 2023 spring season, Josh Adamczewski shot onto draft boards and landed with Milwaukee as the 452nd pick of the draft. The Brewers took Adamczewski away from his commitment to Ball State with a $252,500 signing bonus (about $100,000 over-slot), and he would make a very short debut with the ACL Brewers.

In eight plate appearances in rookie ball, Adamczewski would go 0-7 with one walk and three strikeouts. Again, I struggle to give him such a low grade given the sample size and his age, but he did seem to be a bit overmatched by the rookie league competition. Being 1.8 years younger than the average rookie league player, it is still great for Adamczewski to get any sort of experience before heading into his first full minor league season.

(16.482) RHP Josh Timmerman: C+

The lowest draft pick to debut in 2023 for the Milwaukee Brewers was Josh Timmerman, a reliever-starter hybrid who spent two years at Wabash Valley Community College before finishing his senior season at Ohio State University. While Timmerman with command and had a high ERA (8.37), his strikeout numbers were very good, fanning 13.7 batters per nine innings in his 23.2 innings pitched last season. Timmerman also posted a 1.72 ERA in 15.2 innings for the Brewster Whitecaps of the Cape Cod Baseball League this summer.

Timmerman made two appearances (one start) for the ACL Brewers in the 2023 season and allowed two runs in three innings pitched while striking out one batter in each appearance. Timmerman is still relatively young at 20 for a college arm, so Milwaukee will be cautious with his development over the next few seasons.

It speaks quite highly to the quality of the Brewers' draft class that so many draftees were able to debut this season and even move past the rookie league in some cases. Fans should be excited about how some of these players might end up looking once 2024 rolls around.