Latest 2024 Mock Draft has Brewers selecting one of the top catchers in the class

Mock draft season is upon us and ESPN's Kiley McDaniel just released his first mock draft of the 2024 cycle. The Brewers walk away with yet another college bat, to no surprise, in this mock but more than that they get one of the top players at his position.

Kiley McDaniel's Mock Draft has the Brewers selecting Stanford catcher Malcolm Moore with the 17th overall pick in the Draft.

Moore would be the 5th consecutive college hitter to be taken in the first round by the Brewers if this comes to fruition.

Here's what McDaniel wrote about Moore and what direction the Brewers could go with this pick:

The Brewers often have a unique take on catchers, particularly on valuing their defense via framing, and it's worked out well on William Contreras. Accordingly, they're getting mentioned with a lot of this deep college catching class. This may be Lomavita's floor, Moore is often mentioned and Janek also comes up. There are two other types Milwaukee often takes that could come into play here: pitchers with explosive stuff (Brody Brecht or William Schmidt both fit) and hit-first infielders (Gillen and Kaelen Culpepper both fit).

McDaniel lists a number of potential targets the Brewers are rumored to be connected to and players that fit Milwaukee's style. Moore, Caleb Lomavita from Cal, and Walker Janek from Sam Houston State are the top three catchers in this class. In this mock, Lomavita is already off the board at 11 to Detroit but there's a chance he falls to Milwaukee and it seems the Brewers wouldn't pass on him if he's there.

This season for Stanford, Moore is hitting .255/.414/.553 with 16 home runs, 44 walks, and just 35 strikeouts. While the batting average is down, his OPS is still a quality .967 due to high walk totals and plenty of power.

Defensively, Moore is considered more of a work in progress. He's likely to be a bat-first catcher, which isn't a bad thing but there's a high priority of defense behind the plate for MLB teams. The Brewers have a history of taking catchers with poor defensive reputations and developing them into above-average defenders, so the defense shouldn't scare Milwaukee off from more.

Drafting a catcher in the first round would make quite a bit of sense for Milwaukee. The Crew's top catching prospect, Jeferson Quero, is missing all of 2024 with a shoulder injury. Outside of Quero, the Brewers don't really have any other catching prospects that could be a starting catcher in the major leagues. William Contreras is approaching arbitration and unless he signs an extension, adding another catcher that could be ready by the time Contreras gets close to free agency makes logical sense.

McDaniel's report that the Brewers are mentioned a lot with this catching class doesn't come as much of a surprise, then.

If Malcolm Moore is on the board for the Brewers at 17, he very well could be the pick. He fits the Brewers type as a college bat with quality on-base skills, who doesn't swing and miss much, and plays an up the middle position.