- Blogger was down yesterday when I was ready to update the site. By the time it was back up and running, let's just say that it had been a really, really long day.
- Staff meeting and deadlines may keep me from getting back to the blog until after noon or so today. But, I will get to it...I hope.
- The MWL All-Star rosters are going to be announced today. Really.
Adam McCalvy at the Brewers homepage.
Brewers use top pick on prep righty Covey
Hurler has been compared to Giants' Cain, Dodgers' Billingsley
California prep right-hander Dylan Covey informed the world on Monday that his parents "are kind of cheap," and thus do not have MLB Network at the family's Pasadena home. So he gathered with more than 100 boosters at a friend's house for Day 1 of the First-Year Player Draft, and at some point, the 18-year-old looked around the room.Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is next.
"I just stopped and thought, 'All of this stuff is for me,'" Covey said. "I've never looked at it that way before. I was always just going out and playing. I took a step back and realized this is the next chapter in my life. What's going to go on from here is a mystery."
The Brewers made Covey the organization's latest young power arm with the 14th overall selection, committing to Covey despite some mixed results in Milwaukee's recent history of drafting high school pitchers.
Covey, 6-foot-2 and 195 pounds, throws a fastball in the 92-94-mph range, a power curveball "that put him over the top" for the Brewers, according to amateur scouting director Bruce Seid, plus an improving changeup. But history says he'll need seasoning in the Minor Leagues. The Brewers' best recent pick out of high school is 2004 second-rounder Yovani Gallardo, who pitched 3 1/2 seasons in the Minors before making his Milwaukee debut.
Brewers take 18-year-old pitcher Covey in draft
Milwaukee hopes high schooler will be a long-term solution
As much as the Milwaukee Brewers need to develop pitchers and get them to the major leagues as soon as possible, they did not go for a quick fix Monday night in the first round of the June draft.Go read about him at both links.
Rather than take one of the many available college pitchers, the Brewers selected right-hander Dylan Covey of Maranatha High School in Pasadena, Calif., with the 14th pick.
Principal team owner Mark Attanasio and general manager Doug Melvin were in the Brewers' draft room and endorsed the decision of scouting director Bruce Seid and his staff to go with the long view with Covey.
"I give the guys credit for not taking the easy way out and maybe going after a college pitcher that might be able to get there quick and pitch in the bullpen," said Melvin, whose pitching staff ranks next to last in the National League with a 5.29 earned run average.
"College pitchers can get there early, but they can leave early, too. You've got to look at it over the long haul. We've always said whatever talent we thought was best, we'd take."
Covey, 18, went 7-1 with a 0.40 earned run average as a senior, with 138 strikeouts and 20 walks in 70 2/3 innings. He recently was named the Gatorade player of the year for the state of California.
A 6-2, 195-pound power pitcher, Covey regularly throws his fastball in the 93-94 mph range and touches 96 mph. He also has a power curveball in the 83-86 mph range that separates him from other power pitchers.
"When we talk about creating depth and building a future for the Brewers, I think our selection of Dylan Covey fits that description," Seid said. "We know Dylan real well. We weren't sure that he would get to us but he did.
"This gave us the opportunity to take somebody we really wanted. Dylan is a fantastic young man. Our scouts, Dan Huston and Corey Rodriguez, were heavily involved in this situation, got to know him real well, got to know the family real well."
Then, follow the draft at MLB.com. It restarts at 11am CDT today.
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