Recapping day two of the MLB Draft

Sending you to Bernie's Crew for the information about all of the future Rattlers picked by the Brewers in Day two yesterday.

The Dylan Covey selection on Day One left Brewers fans wondering whether the organization would draft a pitcher or two that had the potential to advance quickly through the minor league system.

That answer came extremely quickly on Day Two.

Bruce Seid and Milwaukee selected right-handed starter Jimmy Nelson out of the University of Alabama, a middle-of-the-rotation arm that has a polished repertoire and is someone that could easily jump to Class-A ball with the Timber Rattlers once signing.

Nelson is a workhorse. He relies upon a 88-92 MPH sinker and a developing slider/curveball combination to rack up the groundballs and frustrate hitters. Of course, his arm slot and lack of a consistent changeup give him serious platoon issues -- as left-handers have much more success against Nelson.

I did ask Del Howell, our resident Alabama/SEC expert about Nelson. Del liked this pick.

Skipping down a few slots to 4th round pick Hunter Morris of Auburn

Morris was actually drafted in the second round by the Boston Red Sox in 2007, but chose to honor his commitment to Auburn. John Manuel tweets that Milwaukee got a nice value with Morris in the fourth round -- saying he quietly slipped under the radar and the Brewers grabbed a nice bat with the SEC Player of the Year.

Del said that Morris is really good. I did not ask if Del had any personal experience with Morris being really good against him last year.

Click through for the rest of the analysis.

Day two of the MLB Draft

Day two of the draft is well underway.

Here is a draft tracker for the Brewers.

I am seeing a lot of college picks in the first 20. (12 Four Year Colleges...13 If Michigan is still considered a college....Kidding, JJ Putz and Matthew Miller...Kidding!)

Click the link to see the picks for yourself.

I'm sure that once Day Two is over, you can just pop over to Bernie's Crew for a look at what they think.

Meet Milwaukee's #1 Pick of 2010

A couple of things before getting started.

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. The MWL All-Star rosters are going to be announced today. Really.

Now, here is the big Brewers/possible future Rattlers news. Milwaukee took Dylan Covey with the #14 pick of the first round of the MLB Draft last night.

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.

"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.

Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is next.

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.

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."

Go read about him at both links.

Then, follow the draft at MLB.com. It restarts at 11am CDT today.