Brewers Draft Perspective: Re-Drafting the 2016 MLB Draft and how it all has ended up.
The Milwaukee Brewers have a draft coming up: the 2023 Major League Baseball draft will take place on July 9–11, 2023, in Seattle. In that draft they have the 18th pick in the first round, the 33rd pick, the 54th pick and the 87th pick, all in the top 100.
The Brewers will do their best to stock up a farm system that has been ranked anywhere from 5-19 by different news outlets. But at the end of the day you really would like the team to “hit” on two of the four picks.
MLB drafts tend to be huge,(40 rounds in 2016) filled with rounds and rounds of picks. So for the purpose of this thought-exercise we’ll just look at the top few rounds relative to other teams and picks. MLB teams really try to get one or two strong prospects out of those rounds so it’ll be fun to see where we are at today in 2023.
(Spoiler Alert: The Burnes pick kinda made this whole draft.)
Who the Brewers Selected:
- Round 1-Pick 5 Corey Ray
- Round 2- Pick 46 Lucas Erceg
- Round 2- Pick 75 Mario Feliciano
- Round 3-Pick Pick 82 Braden Webb
- Round 4- Pick 111 Corbin Burnes
- Round 5- Pick 141 Zack Brown
Brewers20 02ofx Wood
Round 1
Other Notable Players: Josh Lowe (3B) Tampa Bay, Eric Lauer (P) Padres, Will Smith ( C ) Dodgers, Nick Senzel (OF) Reds
Ray Today and ‘What might have been?’
When it comes down to it, Corey Ray was a bust. And that happens. In the MLB you draft with more of a blind fold on than in the other major sports. But of course with the fifth overall pick you hate to see it. Ray had some successes: he played in a future’s game in 2017 and was called up to the ‘bigs’ in 2021. It just never worked out.
The 28 yr-old Ray is currently out of baseball and has elected to be a free agent. From Chicago, Ray was thought to be a great combination of speed and power. Neither materialized.
The same can be said for first overall pick Mickey Moniak. Moniak currently is in the big leagues but plays for the LA Angels. At least he is playing still.
Interestingly enough former Brewer GM David Stearns did seem to trade back into that first round by trading for Lauer. Lauer was acquired for Trent Grisham and Zach Davies. Looking back it certainly seems like the second round yielded better players than the first round in that draft.
Round 2
Other Notable Players: Nolan Jones (OF) Colorado, Pete Alonzo (1B) New York Mets, Bo Bichette (SS) Blue Jays, Brandon Marsh (OF) Angles, Kyle Mueller (P) A’s
Erceg and Feliciano today: An update
Erceg was drafted as a third baseman for the Crew and switched over to pitcher. He currently pitches for the A’s and has been up and down at the major league level.
Good for him though- to reinvent yourself at another position is quite an accomplishment.
Feliciano currently catches at the double A level for the Tigers. Waived by the crew in Dec. of 2022, Feliciano hopes to catch on with the TIgers. The 24 yr old certainly has a chance.
Could you imagine Pete Alonzo or Bo Bichette in a Brewers’ uniform? Now I get the bang and bust nature of the MLB draft but either one of those guys would have been transformative for the crew.
Related: Brewers offensive woes continue
Round 3
Other Notable Players: Sean Murphy (C) A’s, Austin Hays (OF) Orioles, Aaron Civale (P) Guardians, Jesus Luzardo (P) Nationals, Dustin May (P) Dodgers,
Braden Webb today: An update
Webb is no longer a part of the Brewers organization. He appeared to have a fun and decent run for the Appleton TimberRattlers. However, he never received a big league call up.
This part of the draft appeared to have been “take a flier on a pitcher” time. The Brewers tried that. Unfortunately, it did not work out.
(BOOM!) Round 4
Other Notable Players: Corbin Burnes (P) Brewers, Zac Gallen (P) Cardinals, Shane Bieber (P) Guardians, Colton Welker (INF) Rockies, Bobby Dalbec (Inf) Red Sox
Corbin Burnes today: An update you already know
Arguably the best pick made in the fourth round that year in the draft, Burnes is a bonafide star and ACE. The 2021 Cy Young award winner, Burnes was the ‘steal of the draft’ and made up for almost all of these other bad picks we’ve discussed.
Burnes has a 10.7 career WAR (wins above replacement). That is awesome! Just looking back at his 2021 stats gives you the shivers. A 2.43 league-leading ERA, less than .4 home runs given up for every nine innings and a league-leading 12.6 K’s per nine innings. Wow! Simply dominant.
Here those other notable players are nice but we’ll take Burnes.
Round 5
Other Notable Players: Cole Irvin (P) A’s, Conor Capel (OF) Guardians, Abraham Torro (Astros) Cavan Biggio (TOR)
Zack Brown today: An update
The current Red is pitching at their triple A affiliate. He had some success with the Helena Brewers. Brown left the Brewers via free agency in November of 2022.
Final Verdict:
Corbin Burnes made this draft for the Brewers. But there were so many missed opportunities.
With the 2023 Major League Baseball draft taking place on July 9–11, 2023, in Seattle, the Brewers need to add depth and players that have star potential. In any draft that can be a very tall task. But this upcoming draft needs to be better than the 2016 draft.
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