The Milwaukee Brewers are a Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They play in the National League Central division. Established in Seattle, Washington, as the Seattle Pilots in 1969, the team became the Milwaukee Brewers after relocating to Milwaukee in 1970. The franchise played in the American League until 1998, when it moved to the National League in conjunction with a major league realignment. Since the institution of MLB's Rule 4 draft, the Brewers have selected 74 players in the first round. Officially known as the "First-Year Player Draft", the Rule 4 draft is MLB's primary mechanism for assigning players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur clubs to its franchises. The draft order is determined based on the previous season's standings, with the team possessing the worst record receiving the first pick. In addition, teams which lost free agents in the previous off-season may be awarded compensatory or supplementary picks.
Of the 74 players picked in the first round by Milwaukee, 28 have been pitchers, the most of any position; 18 of these were right-handed, while 10 were left-handed. Fifteen shortstops and outfielders, 6 third basemen, 4 first basemen, 3 catchers, and 3 second basemen were also taken. Seventeen of the players came from high schools or universities in the state of California, and Florida follows with ten players.
Two Brewers first-round picks have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame: Robin Yount (1973) was inducted in 1999 and Paul Molitor (1977) in 2004. The Brewers have retired Yount's jersey number 19 and Molitor's jersey number 4. Yount was named the American League Most Valuable Player in 1982 and 1989. Ryan Braun (2005) won the National League Rookie of the Year Award in 2007.
The Brewers have made 19 supplemental selections and have made one first overall selection in the draft. Four of these have been compensatory picks. These additional selections are provided when a team loses a particularly valuable free agent in the prior off-season, or, more recently, if a team fails to sign a draft pick from the previous year. They have made six Competitive Balance picks. Since 2013, these selections have been granted to the 10 lowest-revenue clubs and the clubs from the 10 smallest markets and are made between the first and second rounds. The Brewers have failed to sign four of their first-round picks: Bill Bordley (1976), Alex Fernandez (1988), Kenny Henderson (1991), and Dylan Covey (2010).
Key YearEach year links to an article about that year's Major League Baseball draft.PositionIndicates the secondary/collegiate position at which the player was drafted, rather than the professional position the player may have gone on to playPickIndicates the number of the pickMember of the National Baseball Hall of Fame*Player did not sign with the Brewers§Indicates a supplemental pick
Picks
YearNamePosition School (location)Pick 1968 1969 Shortstop James Island High School(Charleston, South Carolina) 1970 Catcher Southeast High School(Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) 1971 Shortstop Sewanhaka High School (Elmont, New York) 1972 First baseman Southern Illinois University Carbondale(Carbondale, Illinois) 1973† Shortstop William Howard Taft High School(Woodland Hills, California) 1974 El Camino Fundamental High School(Sacramento, California) 1975 Yorktown High School(Yorktown Heights, New York) 1976 * Bishop Montgomery High School(Hermosa Beach, California) 1977† Shortstop University of Minnesota(Minneapolis, Minnesota) 1978 Catcher Hialeah High School(Hialeah, Florida) 1979 1980 Outfielder C. K. McClatchy High School(Sacramento, California) 1981 1982 Shortstop Pinole Valley High School(Pinole, California) 1983 North Carolina State University(Raleigh, North Carolina) 1984 Shortstop Crockett High School(Crockett, Texas) 1985 Shortstop University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill(Chapel Hill, North Carolina) 1986 Shortstop Hillsborough High School(Tampa, Florida) 1987 Shortstop Clemson University(Clemson, South Carolina) 1988 * Monsignor Edward Pace High School(Opa-locka, Florida) 1989 University of Iowa(Iowa City, Iowa) Third baseman Hughes Center High School(Cincinnati, Ohio) § 1990 1991 * Ringgold High School(Ringgold, Georgia) Yucaipa High School(Yucaipa, California) § 1992 Outfielder Florida State University(Tallahassee, Florida) Shortstop Luchetti High School(Santurce, Puerto Rico) § 1993 Northeast High School(St. Petersburg, Florida) Texas A&M University(College Station, Texas) § Outfielder University of North Florida(Jacksonville, Florida) § University of Central Florida(Orlando, Florida) § 1994 Third baseman Arizona State University(Tempe, Arizona) 1995 Outfielder University of Southern California(Los Angeles, California) 1996 Outfielder University of Kentucky(Lexington, Kentucky) 1997 Stanford University(Stanford, California) 1998 Toms River High School North(Toms River, New Jersey) 1999 Northeast Louisiana University(Monroe, Louisiana) 2000 Outfielder Green Valley High School(Henderson, Nevada) 2001 Thunderbird High School(Phoenix, Arizona) 2002 First baseman Eau Gallie High School(Melbourne, Florida) 2003 Second baseman Southern University(Baton Rouge, Louisiana) 2004 Mt. Ararat High School(Topsham, Maine) 2005 Third baseman University of Miami(Coral Gables, Florida) 2006 Halifax County High School(South Boston, Virginia) 2007 First baseman University of Florida(Gainesville, Florida) 2008 Third baseman Brookswood Secondary School(Langley, British Columbia) Highland High School(New Douglas, Illinois) § University of San Francisco(San Francisco, California) § 2009 Indiana University Bloomington(Bloomington, Indiana) Outfielder University of Tennessee(Knoxville, Tennessee) § Kennesaw State University(Kennesaw, Georgia) § 2010 * Maranatha High School(Pasadena, California) 2011 University of Texas at Austin(Austin, Texas) Georgia Institute of Technology(Atlanta, Georgia) § 2012 CatcherUnion High School(Camas, Washington) OutfielderGeorgia Southern University(Statesboro, Georgia) OutfielderCalifornia Polytechnic State University(San Luis Obispo, California)§ 2013 2014 Waiakea High School(Hilo, Hawaii) ShortstopClovis High School(Clovis, California)§ 2015 OutfielderRichland High School(North Richland Hills, Texas) University of Virginia(Charlottesville, Virginia)§ 2016 OutfielderUniversity of Louisville(Louisville, Kentucky) 2017 Second basemanUC Irvine(Valencia, California) OutfielderMartin High School(Arlington, Texas)§ 2018 ShortstopSantiago High School(Corona, California) 2019 Mississippi State University(Starkville, Mississippi) 2020 OutfielderUniversity of California, Los Angeles(Los Angeles, California) 2021 OutfielderBoston College(Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts) Second basemanWright State University(Dayton, Ohio)§ 2022 ShortstopCoastal Carolina University(Conway, South Carolina) 2023 Third basemanWake Forest University(Wake Forest, North Carolina) PitcherPatchogue-Medford High School(Medford, New York)§ 2024 OutfielderElkins High School(Missouri City, Texas) First basemanUniversity of Tennessee(Knoxville, Tennessee)§ 2025 Third basemanUniversity of Tennessee(Knoxville, Tennessee) ShortstopCorona High School(Corona, California) § 2026 ShortstopCorona High School(Corona, California)
See also Milwaukee Brewers minor league players
Footnotes
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