Grading the Milwaukee Brewers first round picks from the last five years

2023 - 3B Brock Wilken, 18th overall

After a few years of targeting offensive players with strong average and on base abilities, the Brewers finally decided to go focus on a different tool: power. They got one of the best candidates for that in third baseman Brock Wilken out of Wake Forest University. While he's not as strong defensively as many Brewers draftees and doesn't have a sure fire on base tool, he makes up for it with that pure power.

Wilken is both Wake Forest's the ACC conference's all-time home run leader with 71 for his college career and hit 31 of them in his final year with the Demon Deacons, the second highest total in Division 1 college baseball that year. It didn't take long for him to start making an impact once Milwaukee drafted him 18th overall last year.

In 47 games of pro ball straight out of college that saw him already go all the way up to Double-A, Wilken had 17 extra base hits (eight doubles, four triples, and five homers). He also had a .285 average and a .887 OPS.

Back in Biloxi to start his second year in the minors, Wilken had his season put on pause when he frighteningly was hit in the face with a pitch, causing him to hit the injured list. It took him a while to get his groove back, but is once again producing.

Despite missing time, Wilken is the Shuckers team leader in homers with 12 and is tied for the lead in RBIs with 35. His average and OPS for the year overall are still down at .234 and .756 respectively, but those have definitely been on the rise in July at .275 and .995 in 11 games.

The farther he gets away from his scary injury, the more Wilken has looked like the player the Brewers drafted just a summer ago. It's been a while since the Brewers had a prospect come up with a power profile like Wilken's and if he can get back to the fast pace in which he was accelerating through the system prior to his injury, Milwaukee will surely be happy to use his abilities once he arrives in the majors. Grade: B+