Over the last 10 years, three Milwaukee Brewers first round draft picks have panned out to be everyday players. Those players are Brice Turang (2018), Garrett Mitchell (2020), and Sal Frelick (2021).
The jury is still out on more recent picks such as Andrew Fisher (2025), Braylone Payne (2024), and Brock Wilken (2023), but at this point it’s also fair to say that some of these picks have not panned out. Eric Brown Jr (2022) hasn’t lived up to the hype, Ethan Small (2019) failed to carve out a roll in the big leagues, and Keston Hiura (2017) had a brief tenure of success.
Of that group, Hiura is perhaps one of the more interesting cases. While Milwaukee undoubtedly manipulated his service time his rookie season in 2019, he soon afterwards became a liability on defense, and his elevated strikeout rates ultimately outweighed the power he was able to produce at the plate.
As a result, Hiura has bounced around the league since leaving the organization after the 2023 season. He has spent time with the Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, Colorado Rockies, and most recently, the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Once promising Milwaukee Brewers 1st round draft pick joins Los Angeles Dodgers organization
Per both Jon Heyman of the New York Post and Fabian Ardaya at The Athletic, Hiura is joining the Dodgers on a minor league contract. This deal includes an invitation to big league camp.
Hiura appeared in just eight big league games for the Rockies last season and 10 the year prior with the Angels. That said, he’s hit 20+ home runs in each of the past three minor league seasons and had slugging percentages over .500, but strikeout rates in the 27-29% rate have continued to be an obstacle for him getting another extended look in the big leagues.
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