Milwaukee Brewers 2023 Post-Draft Superlatives

The 2023 MLB Draft is done and the Milwaukee Brewers made their 21 selections even though they don't plan to sign all 21 of them.

The Brewers addressed some of their biggest needs early on, adding power hitting and corner infield talent. They also went heavy on pitching, adding some high upside arms and some high floor arms that could move up the system quickly.

Just like we did with our pre-draft superlatives, we'll take a closer look at this year's Brewers draft class with some post-draft superlatives to help describe this year's class.

Biggest surprise - Just 2 college hitters

For years, the Brewers have stocked up on college bats. They love college hitters, especially up the middle ones. It was presumed they'd stock up on more of them this year. It seemed that was going to be the case on Day 1, when they started with the selection of Wake Forest's Brock Wilken and Nebraska-Omaha's Mike Boeve.

But then the Brewers didn't select a college position player the rest of the way. None on Day 2 and none on Day 3. For comparison, the Brewers drafted 7 college position players in each of the past two drafts. This year, that number drops down to just 2. It's quite a drop, and reflects a seeming change in draft philosophy in Milwaukee.

The Brewers are pretty well stocked on hitting because they've targeted so many college position players the last few years, so it does make some sense to not need as many. Still, it's surprising that it's only two college bats and didn't take a single flier on one later on in the draft.

Favorite pick - SS Cooper Pratt, 6th round

This was the pick that made the class for me. Most were thinking Cooper Pratt was heading to school when he was still on the board as the 6th round got started, but the Milwaukee Brewers had built a strong relationship with Pratt and ultimately felt they could sign him and snatched him up with the 182nd overall pick. Spoiler alert, Pratt is better than the 182nd best talent in this draft.

The selection of Pratt makes so many of the other picks make sense. The Brewers went heavy underslot in the 4th round with an off the radar Jason Woodward pick. The Day 1 guys, college hitters Wilken and Boeve also seemed like they could be underslot picks. Were they saving all that money for Josh Knoth in the Comp A round and Eric Bitonti in the 3rd? It didn't seem like they needed to save that much, there had to be someone else they were targeting. Turns out, it was Pratt.

Pratt could very well end up as the best big league player from this Brewers draft class. He has the best bat to ball skills and strike zone discipline of any high school player in this class. He's big at 6-foot-4 and strong, with solid power presently and room for a lot more as he grows into his frame and matures.

He can stick at shortstop and has high upside and star potential at the shortstop position with defense, hitting for average and for power. I know we've said this about Brice Turang and Eric Brown, but Pratt could be better than both of them and be Milwaukee's shortstop of the future. Getting him in the 6th round is even sweeter.