Brewers sign 18 of 21 2023 Draft picks
Below is a list of every player drafted by the Brewers.
Each club had until 5 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 25, to come to terms with its Draft selections. If a player has exhausted his collegiate eligibility, he can sign at any time up until one week prior to the next year’s Draft.
- Draft Central | Day 1 analysis | Day 2 | Day 3 | Best hauls
Draft-and-follow picks -- high school and junior college players selected after the 10th round who attend a two-year college after the Draft -- can sign with their selecting teams for up to $250,000 up until a week prior to the following year’s Draft.
Players drafted from Round 11 on do not count against the bonus pools unless their signing bonus exceeds $150,000; any amount over that total will count against the pool.
Total bonus pool: $10,950,600
MLB rank: 12
1 (18): Brock Wilken, 3B, Wake Forest
Pick value: $4,021,400
Signing bonus: $3,150,000
Wilken's selection continued the Brewers' four-year streak of using their top pick to take a college bat, but he's different than those who came before him in that he's a third baseman and a power hitter, coming off a school-record 31 home runs in his junior season at Wake Forest. His plus throwing arm means that right field could be an option if the Brewers elect to expand his defensive versatility, but right now the club is highly confident he'll stick at third base.
"He has an energetic personality and is obviously a very large human as well," Brewers scouting director Tod Johnson said when the 6-foot-4 Wilken signed July 17. "It's going to be fun. It's a little different profile, more of a power guy, but he has developed the hit tool and is starting to get more contact and more consistent with his swing decisions over the last year. That starts to get very dangerous when you put that together."
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CB-A (33): Josh Knoth, RHP, Patchogue Medford HS
Pick value: $2,543,800
Signing bonus: $2,000,000
Like first-round pick Brock Wilken, Knoth represented a break from the Brewers' recent tradition of using their first-round picks on up-the-middle defenders and college arms. He's not only a prep arm (from the same school that produced current Cubs right-hander Marcus Stroman) but at 17 he was one of the youngest players eligible in this year's Draft. Knoth signed July 17 and headed to the club's complex in Arizona, where he probably will continue to build a foundation at the start of next season before advancing to Low-A Carolina.
2 (54): Mike Boeve, 3B, Nebraska-Omaha
Pick value: $1,546,100
Signing bonus: $1,250,000
Regarded much more for his contact than his power, the Brewers believe that Boeve's strike zone awareness and hard contact will eventually translate to a good gap-to-gap hitter as a professional. He's likely to play some second base in addition to third once he gets going in Milwaukee's Minor League system.
3 (87): Eric Bitonti, SS, Aquinas HS
Pick value: $796,200
Signing bonus: $1,750,000
Already 6-foot-4 and 218 pounds as a 17-year-old, the left-handed hitting Bitonti ranked 68th on MLB Pipeline's Top 250 Draft prospects list. But he fell to the Brewers, who know the player well because he was on their Area Codes team in Southern California, in the third round. He was one of two prep hitters (with sixth-rounder Cooper Pratt) who garnered over-slot signing bonuses to begin their pro careers now (Bitonti had a scholarship waiting at Oregon).
"He's played shortstop all through his high school years, so we'll probably give him some reps there, but he's more likely to be a third baseman," Johnson said. "We're just excited. It's another really good bat that has power potential and a chance to develop. Pumped to get him there in the third round."
4 (119): Jason Woodward, RHP, Florida Gulf Coast University
Pick value: $557,900
Signing bonus: $247,500
Woodward was an under-the-radar pick who did not rank among MLB Pipeline's Top 250 prospects going into the Draft, and who underwent Tommy John surgery in March, meaning he won't pitch until sometime next year. It's not unprecedented for teams to draft a player in the midst of a long rehab; the Brewers notably drafted right-hander Drew Rasmussen in the sixth round in 2018 while he was recovering from his second career Tommy John and he eventually made it to the big leagues and was traded to Tampa Bay in the Willy Adames deal. (Unfortunately, Rasmussen is injured again and will undergo another elbow reconstruction next week.)
“The stuff [Woodward] was showing before he got hurt was really, really interesting,” Johnson said. “He's a really athletic mover as well, so [we're] pretty pumped with that.”
5 (155): Ryan Birchard, RHP, Niagara County CC
Pick value: $329,400
Signing bonus: $322,500
The 6-foot right-hander just turned 21 after going 8-0 with a 1.08 ERA and 95 strikeouts while giving up just 29 hits in 50 innings at Niagara County Community College, where he was named Western New York Athletic Conference Player of the Year. Any time the Brewers select a junior college pitcher in this area of the Draft it's worth noting; their recent picks who fit that description include Aaron Ashby (fourth round, 2018) and current top pitching prospect Jacob Misiorowski (second round, 2022).
6 (182): Cooper Pratt, SS, Magnolia Heights HS
Pick value: $309,900
Signing bonus: $1,350,000
The Brewers went way over slot to sign two prep picks who had college commitments: Third-round pick Eric Bitonti and sixth-rounder Pratt, who had a scholarship waiting at Ole Miss had he not reached terms for what equates to second-round money. According to MLB.com Draft guru Jim Callis, Pratt reminds some scouts of the Orioles' Gunnar Henderson, but a righty hitter, at the same stage of their careers.
"Just a really, really good baseball player," Johnson said. "His power started to develop this year as he kind of filled in; a pretty lean, lanky frame. Pretty good pitch recognition for a high school kid, especially. Good actions. We like his hands. Does he get big enough that he becomes something other than a shortstop? It's possible. But we're going to give him every chance to go out and play shortstop for us, and we're pretty excited about that."
7 (212): Tate Kuehner, LHP, Louisville
Pick value: $242,400
Signing bonus: $72,500
8 (242): Craig Yoho, RHP, Vanderbilt
Pick value: $196,700
Signing bonus: $10,000
9 (272): Mark Manfredi, LHP, Dayton
Pick value: $176,700
Signing bonus: $27,500
10 (302): Morris Austin, RHP, Houston Christian U
Pick value: $166,800
Signing bonus: $17,500
11 (332): Bishop Letson, RHP, Floyd Central High (IN)
Signing bonus: $482,600
The 6-foot-4 Purdue commit was No. 179 on MLB Pipeline's pre-Draft prospects list, with a whippy arm and a fastball up to 94 mph. He was considered the top high school arm in the state of Indiana.
"It's funny because last year at this time, he really wasn't on the circuit at all," said Ginger Poulson, the Brewers' area scout in the upper Midwest. "He was a little bit of a late bloomer who I actually first saw on video. I did some more work, and he was at the Super 60 [a Chicago-area showcase] in February, and we saw a jump in his velo. As the spring went on, his changeup took big strides. The breaking ball has always been something good.
"He's come into more velo, and you just look at the body and see the projection that's there, and he throws a lot of strikes. He's actually never had a pitching coach, so taking what he does well and what we do well, we think it's a really good fit."
12 (362): Bjorn Johnson, LHP, Lincoln High (WA)
Signing bonus: $420,500
13 (392): Brett Wichrowski, RHP, Bryant University
Signing bonus: $100,000
14 (422): Hayden Robinson, RHP, Berwick High (LA)
Signing bonus: $347,500
15 (452): Josh Adamczewski, SS, Lake Central High (IN)
Signing bonus: $252,500
16 (482): Josh Timmerman, RHP, Ohio State
Signing bonus: Not yet known
17 (512): Jacob Gholston, RHP, Flower Mound High (TX)
Did not sign
18 (542): Dylan Watts, RHP, Tacoma CC
Did not sign
19 (572): Isaac Morton, RHP, Spring Lake Park High (MN)
Did not sign
20 (602): Justin Chambers, LHP, Basha High (AZ)
Signing bonus: $547,500
Chambers, the top left-hander in the state of Arizona, and a Washington State commit, was one of five selections on Day 3 of the Draft who wound up signing for bonuses that counted against the Brewers' Draft pool. Saying the Brewers made the most of that pool is an understatement; they came within $29 of the five percentage overage, after which they would have been penalized for future picks (more on that below).
"It was definitely at the end of Day 2 [and Round 10] where we started to feel like we could take a lot of our money in the pool into Day 3 and draft a lot of the kids who we thought were interesting potential signings," Johnson said. "We've typically tried to do some guys after the 10th like [2022 12th rounder] Luke Adams and [2021 14th rounder] Jace Avina and [2021 13th rounder] Quinton Low. We usually like to have some money to spend on Day 3, but this is the biggest group we've had since maybe 2018 or 2017.
"It just worked out this way. A lot of the kids were interested in getting their pro careers going, and they went in that direction."
Every team's signings:
How bonus pools and pick values work
Each choice in the first 10 rounds comes with an assigned value, with the total for a club's selections equaling what it can spend in those rounds without incurring a penalty. If a player taken in the top 10 rounds doesn't sign, his pick's value gets subtracted from his team's pool. Clubs near the top of the Draft often spend less than the assigned value for those choices and use the savings to offer more money to later selections.
Teams that exceed their bonus pool face a penalty. Clubs that outspend their allotment by 0-5 percent pay a 75 percent tax on the overage. At higher thresholds, clubs lose future picks: a first-rounder and a 75 percent tax for surpassing their pool by more than 5 and up to 10 percent; a first- and a second-rounder and a 100 percent tax for more than 10 and up to 15 percent; and two first-rounders and a 100 percent tax for more than 15 percent.
Bonus pools by club
Pirates: $16,185,700
Tigers: $15,747,200
Nationals: $14,502,400
Twins: $14,345,600
Athletics: $14,255,600
Reds: $13,785,200
Mariners: $13,170,900
Marlins: $12,829,600
Royals: $12,313,500
Rockies: $11,909,800
D-backs: $11,084,300
Brewers: $10,950,600
Rays: $10,872,100
Orioles: $10,534,800
Red Sox: $10,295,100
Rangers: $9,925,300
Giants: $9,916,900
White Sox: $9,072,800
Cubs: $8,962,000
Guardians: $8,736,700
Mets: $8,440,400
Braves: $8,341,700
Angels: $8,328,900
Dodgers: $7,274,600
Astros: $6,747,900
Blue Jays: $6,529,700
Cardinals: $6,375,100
Padres: $5,416,000
Yankees: $5,299,400
Phillies: $5,185,500