2025 Brewers Minors/Prospects thread - Andrew Fischer - FRP

[MVP2110]

Flanagan came on in 2015 and Todd Johnson came in in 2016. TJ first draft was the Ray draft.

True, but even if narrow the timeframe to 2016-Current have to say Ray, Hiura were tough top 10 misses. Its looking like Ethan Small is not going to be a contributor. Turang, Mitchell look like will be MLB contributors albeit not elite, but can accept that being late 1st rounders. Frelick, Brown, Wilken all TBD. Obviously only looking at Round 1. I'm far from the expert here so was just curious what some of you more engaged in the farm system feel about our current front office drafting regime.

It is a valid question to ask. If we look at just those who have made it to the majors and lumping in FRP's.
2016 - Corey Ray, Lucas Erceg (now a pitcher), Mario Feliciano, Corbin Burnes, Payton Henry, Cooper Hummel, and Ryan Aguilar
2017 - Keston Hiura, Tristen Lutz, Bowdien Francis, Alec Bettinger
2018 - Brice Turang. Aaron Ashby, Drew Rasmussen. David Fry, Reese Olson, and Clayton Andrews
2019 - Ethan Small, David Hamilton
2020 - Garret Mitchell, Joey Weimer
2021 - Sal Frelick, Tyler Black
2020 - Eric Brown, Jacob Misiorowski

WHile some of the newer classes are hard to speak to. The regime deserves rightful criticism on the Ray, Hiura, and Small picks. Ray and Small for the actual selection and Hiura in failure to develop him. If you look back at most of the other teams histories and compare them its a pretty similar success portrayal. The tough thing to swallow is their highest picks they've got in draft order have been two of the bigger busts in Ray at 5 and Hiura at 9. The 2016 draft is a rough one to review. There are a ton of busts in round one. In fact it's mostly all busts. In 2017 with Hiura there isn't much success either after where he was drafted. The best pick was Shane Baz who was dealt the next offseason to TB for Archer. Both were really down years in total for FRP's. Now there's probably a lot to be said about if player X was in system Y would they have turned out differently. I think its more on Flanagan and some developmental failures along the way than the actual draft. They did just overhaul a bunch of people under him over the last two seasons.

I think I fall in the camp of the Brewers under the new regime are probably above average but not elite at drafting. It seems with the exception of Small & EBJ all our recent 1st round picks have made top 100 lists or contributed at the major league level. They've also added some really nice midround picks too but I'm not sure how that compares to other teams. But they haven't really drafted a star hitter but considering the timeline were speaking of that seems like only 2 guys realistically could have been that star hitter(Ray & Hiura), the rest are either still too young or weren't high picks

[ReasonablySober]

Read on Twitter

Two way player the last two seasons. Guessing he sticks with pitching with a 98 mph heater and nearly 14 k/9 in his limited career.

[wichmae]

Quite a few good prospects will be on the board here at 87

[wichmae]

Dang, there goes Hurley

[dbrodz7]

Are the Brewers going to be able to sign Josh Knoth? All I could really find was that he committed to college already. I assume we wouldn't have taken him at 33 if we didn't feel confident we would be able to sign him though?

[wichmae]

Eric Bitonti. this is one we can get excited about. Another guy who will probably move to third.

[ReasonablySober]

Eric Bitonti. Another 3B.

Watch on YouTube

Scouting grades: Hit: 45 | Power: 55 | Run: 50 | Arm: 60 | Field: 50 | Overall: 50

Hailing from a smaller private school in San Bernadino, Calif., Bitonti has certainly been seen by the entire scouting industry, especially after a very busy tour of the summer showcase circuit. From the PDP League to the Area Code Games, from Major League Baseball’s High School All-American Game to the Perfect Game All-American Classic, Bitonti showed off some impressive raw tools, even if his performance was uneven at times. It’s been more of the same this spring, with Bitonti not hitting particularly well at the NHSI in March, but swinging the bat a bit better at the Boras Classic back in California.

Bitonti checks off a lot of boxes. He’s big and physical, with even more strength to come in his 6-foot-4 frame. He’s a left-handed hitter with tremendous raw power, and even though he has long levers, he tends to be short to the ball. Though he has solid plate discipline and can pick up spin, Bitonti didn’t hit as well as some expected over the summer. Despite that, some scouts feel he’ll be able to make adjustments with professional instruction and has the chance to hit for average and power.

A shortstop in high school, there were times over the summer where Bitonti showed excellent body control, especially for his size, but most see a move to third in his future. He has an easily plus arm and could be an above-average defender there. He’ll still be just 17 when the Draft rolls around, another plus in his column for many teams, and that, plus his considerable offensive ceiling could have the Oregon recruit in early-round consideration.

Law. He likes him, ranked in the 40s.

Bitonti is a 6-foot-4 shortstop with a surprisingly short swing that generates more power than you’d expect, but also has some swing-and-miss in the zone that he’ll have to address at the next level, with particular trouble against breaking stuff in showcases last summer and even this spring at NHSI. He’s a shortstop now but almost certainly moves to third base, boosted by a plus arm that he shows while pitching (although he’s not anywhere near the same sort of prospect on the mound). Bitonti won’t even turn 18 until November, making him one of the youngest guys on the board this year, so teams are likely to give him more slack to work on breaking-ball recognition and improving his contact rate than they would an older player.

Fangraphs:

Bitonti has sizable power for a prospect who will still be several months shy of his 18th birthday when the draft arrives. His huge frame may cause a tumble down the defensive spectrum as he fills out (you're hoping for third base on the high end, an outfield corner in the middle, and 1B/DH on the low side), but he might hit enough to profile anyway. His bat-to-ball performance against elite peers waned as the 2022 summer went on and there is some hit tool risk here, but Bitonti's raw power projection, the lift in his swing, and the potential that his hit tool might polish up simply through maturation make him a notable early-round prospect. he reportedly wants $2.5 million to sign.

BA (#59)

Tools:Hit: 40. Power: 60. Run: 45. Field: 55. Arm: 60.

Bitonti took tiny Aquinas (San Bernardino, Calif.) High and transformed it into a national power during his prep tenure, capped by leading the Falcons to strong showings at the National High School Invitational and Boras Classic this spring. Bitonti’s own performance was uneven, but he showed impressive tools and finished strong by leading Aquinas to the CIF section semifinals. Bitonti boasts a tantalizing combination of size, youth and raw power that has made him famous since he was a freshman. He is one of the youngest players in the draft class at 17 years old and is already 6-foot-5, 230 pounds with room to continue filling out. He possesses plus raw power from the left side with his natural strength and leverage and drives balls even when he mis-hits them. He has a chance to grow into plus-plus power with added strength and physical maturity. Bitonti’s long levers lead to holes in his swing, which gets long and loopy at times. He has struggled against good velocity and lefthanded pitching, but he’s improved his plate discipline and made enough adjustments to provide optimism he’ll get better in time. Bitonti moves remarkably well for his large size and shows good range and lateral mobility at shortstop. He projects to move to third base as he fills out and should be an above-average defender with plus arm strength. Bitonti requires refinement, but his youth, tools and athleticism give him a chance to be drafted in the top two rounds. He is committed to Oregon.

[wichmae]

Are the Brewers going to be able to sign Josh Knoth? All I could really find was that he committed to college already. I assume we wouldn't have taken him at 33 if we didn't feel confident we would be able to sign him though?

It's ridiculously rare for anyone inside the first 10 rounds to not sign.

[wichmae]

Very excited about Bitonti

[wichmae]

Guessing they save $$ with Boeve and Wilken to ink Bitonti. They wouldn't spend a 3rd to not have parameters in place.

[ReasonablySober]

Provided he signs, and my guess is he's gonna benefit from other guys going under slot, this sounds like a perfect pick in round three.

[wichmae]

Breaking the model a little bit this year. With Woody, Burnes, and Adames a year away from FA I agree with the pivot.

[ReasonablySober]

Bitonti is probably my favorite pick in the class. Exactly the kind of dude the Brewers should be adding to the system.

[wichmae]

There's a lot to get excited about with Bitonti. That said, he could bust pretty hard being as young as he is. A lot to dream on though.

[wichmae]

Would not be shocked to see a senior sign coming up here in 4 or 5.

[wichmae]

College righty. Probably more $ savings

[wichmae]

Mayo and Callis didn't know who he was. Only 15 career starts but big FB.

[wichmae]

Draft league standout. Juco kid who's only 19.

[wichmae]

Whoa...

Cooper Pratt picked by us at 182

[wichmae]

If they sign all these guys I am going to be dumbfounded.