2009 Draft: Day One

From the Journal-Sentinel this morning.

Pitchers picked to boost farm

It makes a scouting director smile when organizational need merges with the top name remaining on his draft board.

That convergence led the Milwaukee Brewers to select Indiana University right-hander Eric Arnett with the 26th pick in the first round of the June draft Tuesday evening. Arnett, 21, was the first college pitcher taken by the Brewers in the first round since Ben Sheets in 1999.

"We didn't draft for need; we drafted the best player available," said scouting director Bruce Seid, conducting his first draft for the Brewers. "This kid just blossomed this year.

"I feel with the selection of Eric Arnett, we took the best player available."

It's no secret that the Brewers are thin in pitching prospects at the top levels of their farm system. Right-hander Jeremy Jeffress, rated as the top pitcher in the system, was demoted from Class AA Huntsville to Class A Brevard County a few weeks ago because he couldn't command his pitches.

Helping ease that deficit, the Brewers added another college arm in the supplemental first round with hard-throwing right-hander Kyle Heckathorn from Kennesaw (Ga.) State with the 47th pick.

Make sure to read through and see who gave the Brewers a scouting report on their #1 pick.

Jim Breen recaps the full day one draft over at Bernie's Crew.

Arnett has a fastball that has been clocked as high as 96-97 MPH but sits more regularly in the 92-94 MPH range. He maintains his velocity deep into games extremely well and had been an absolute horse for the Indiana Hoosiers this past year. His slider is difficult to peg, as Baseball America suggests it is a tight slider that can serve as a second strikeout pitch, while Adam McCalvy dubs it a "work in progress." More scouting reports refer to his slider as a plus-pitch, so I tend to agree with that sentiment.

Next:

With selection #39, the Milwaukee Brewers took what was dubbed a "gutsy pick with big upside" when Bruce Seid and his crew selected University of Tennessee outielder Kentrail Davis. Davis was one of the brightest college bats coming into the 2009 season, but struggled on what was frankly a rather bad Tennessee ballclub. He still managed to hit .308 with 9 home runs and 30 RBI, but became a bit pull-happy and struck out a ton.

Davis has above-average plus power, but is a bit of a tweener because of his size. At only 5'9" and 200 lbs, he lacks the ideal size and speed for a center fielder but also lacks the ideal plus raw power from a corner outfield spot. Kentrail has loads of bat speed, however, and could easily bounce back from his subpar 2009 season, in which he was obviously pressing and trying to place the entire Tennessee Volunteers squad on his back.

Next:

[T]he Brewers selected college righty Kyle Heckathorn with the #47 pick of the 2009 draft. Heckathorn had been connected with Milwaukee in the first round, but Bruce Seid shrewdly waited a couple selections before nabbing the power-pitcher with their second pick of Supplemental Round A.

Heckathorn is a house at 6'6" and 240 lbs. The right-hander has had his fastball clocked in the upper-90s with regularity and backs it up with a hard slider in the upper-80s. Once in a while, that slider morphs into a true "cutter" at 91-93 MPH. Some scouts have said that Heckathorn arguably has some of the best stuff in entire draft, even including Stephen Strasburg in that mix.

Read on to see why he dropped to this spot in the draft.

Second round

With the first selection of the second round, the Brewers selected prep-outfielder Maxwell Walla. The Brewers had been connected to Walla earlier in the morning and were supposedly hot on his trail because of his incredibly impressive workouts. He supposedly wowed scouts from several teams with some serious home run power with the wooden bat.

Between his junior year in Albuquerque and the summer showcase circuit, Walla hit 51 home runs. His coach said that at a workout for some scouts this spring, they wanted to see him take 25 swings with a metal bat and then 25 with wood. He hit 18 home runs with the metal, switched to wood and hit 18 more over the fence. He was also a standout pitcher for his team this year, leading them to a state championship, but his future is as a hitter.

Walla does not run well and is limited to just a corner outfield role, but his bat has the potential to be a plus-bat at any position. He is 5'11" and 195 lbs, while batting from the left side, so he naturally profiles as a Caleb Gindl-type hitter without the speed and arm in the outfield.

And a catcher will follow

Milwaukee then had the very next selection in the second round and grabbed prep-catcher Cameron Garfield out of Murrieta Valley High School in California. Garfield is regarded as one of the best catch-and-throw catchers coming out of high school and being adequate behind the dish will for once not be an issue with a Milwaukee catching prospect. That will be nice.

Scouts are actually worried that Cameron may not be able to hit enough to make it to the big leagues. He has a very quick bat and plus-raw power, but the young man has not been able to translate that into games as of yet. The young catcher wows scouts in workouts and in pregame, but has not been able to do that during games. That should come with maturity. He tends to jump at the ball a bit and not let the ball get back in his stance enough, which creates problems with such a quick bat. Cameron pulls off breaking balls and has shown troubles with his timing.

And with the last pick of day one:

Finally, with their last selection of the first day, the Milwaukee Brewers selected shortstop Josh Prince from Tulane University.

After transferring from the University of Texas after his freshman year, Prince struggled mightily at the plate amidst big expectations. He hit .236 and was a large disappointment for Tulane. That was before he realized that he had an astigmatism in his eye, however.

Head over and read all of Jim's stuff. I almost feel guilty taking this much stuff, but I'm in a hurry and Jim has a lot of great information...and I am incapable of feeling anything.