Breaking down the Draft

With their first pick the Brewers drafted RHP Eric Arnett out of Indiana, then they drafted 52 more players. Since it's impossible to evaluate a baseball draft until 3-4 years later, lets break it down by the numbers.

53 - Players Drafted
25 - Pitchers
11 - Players born after 1990
5 - Catchers
5 - High School Catchers
28 - Position Players
2 - Players from Rice and Miami Dade South CC
17 - College or Community College Position Players
9 - Pitchers that were 6'4" or taller
1 - Pitcher shorter than 6'0"
12 - Outfielders
2 - Players from Wisconsin (Cullen Sexton, RHP, Plover, WI and Brad Schreiber, RHP, Kimberly, WI)
9- Players from California
19 - Right-Handed Pitchers
2- Players from Big Ten schools (Eric Arnett - Indiana, Cullen Sexton - Minnesota)
11 - Infielders
19 - College or Community College Pitchers
7 - Left-Handed hitters
6'8" - The tallest player drafted (Kyle Hansen, RHP)
5'9" - The shortest players drafted (Kentrail Davis, OF; Ryan Gennett, SS; Darren Farmer, C)

A Pitcher it is

With the 26th Selection in the 2009 amatuer draft the Milwaukee Brewers elected to draft a pitcher, and for the first time since 1999 a college pitcher.

Eric Arnett(Right) was the Co-pitcher of the year in the Big Ten this season as well as first team All-Big Ten. He was also a semi-finalist for the Golden Spikes Award.

The big righty (6-5, 225) went 12-2 with an ERA of 2.50, he also pitched six complete games with a .212 average against.

Since Arnett is a college pitcher the hope would be that he could skip rookie ball and jump right into Low-A or High-A. Realistically he will head to Rookie Ball for a few weeks though.

Milwaukee's next pick came at number 39, a compensation pick. The Brewers selected Outfielder Kentrail Davis from the University of Tennessee. Davis had a terrific freshman year in 2008, hitting .330 with 23 extra-base hits, 13 of which were long balls. He was also the only freshman semi-finalist for the Golden Spikes award.

His sophomore year was not as good, he hit just .309 with 9 home runs but did have 25 extra base hits. He is a Scott Boras client so signing might be an issue, but Outfield is not a position of depth in the Brewers system.

Their second compensation pick was another big right-handed pitcher, Kyle Heckathorn, 6-6, 225, from Kennesaw State. Heckathorn has a power arm, he throws mid to upper 90's and has a tough breaking ball.

This season Heckathorn struck out 98 batters in 86.1 Innings. His ERA for his junior season was 3.44 and he won four games against just one loss. Another college pitcher, but small college so expect to see him at rookie ball.

Milwaukee also had a pair of second round picks, one of which was from the Yankees for signing free agent pitcher C.C. Sabathia. The Crew selected a high school hitter with that pick, left-handed hitting Maxwell Walla. Walla projects as a corner outfielder and more hitter than anything else.

Here is a complete list of Milwaukee's picks from the first day of the draft:

(1)26. Eric Arnett - RHP - Indiana
(1A)39. Kentrail Davis - OF - Tennessee
(1A)47. Kyle Heckathorn - RHP - Kennessaw State
(2)73. Maxwell Walla - RF - (HS) Albuquerque Academy
(2)74. Cameron Garfield - C - (HS) Murietta Valley
(3)105. Joshua Prince - SS - Tulane

The Milwaukee Brewers select...

Tomorrow? Who knows. Predicting the MLB draft is as easy winning the lottery, but with the draft around the corner I thought we'd take a look back at the Brewers history in Round One. Let me also say, Baseball Reference is an amazing website.

2008 - Brett Lawrie - INF - The slugging second baseman is currently playing for Class A Wisconsin
2007 - Matt LaPorta - OF/1B - The crew flipped the slugger to Cleveland in the C.C. Sabathia deal.
2006 - Jeremy Jeffress - RHP - The Flamethrowing lefty has struggled with his command, he's currently in A-Ball.
2005 - Ryan Braun - LF - (Right) This one has worked out pretty well, Braun was Rookie of the year in '07 and finished third in MVP voting in '08.
2004 - Mark Rogers - RHP - Derailed by shoulder injuries, Rogers is pitching in A-ball and is still trying to stay healthy.
2003 - Rickie Weeks - 2B - Weeks has been in the majors since 2005 and was enjoying a breakout season in '09 before a wrist injury sidelined him.
2002 - Prince Fielder - 1B - No mistake here either, in 2007 he bacame the youngest player to hit 50 Home Runs.
2001 - Mike Jones - RHP - Shoulder and elbow injuries disrupted his once promising career, Currently at Double-A.
2000 - Dave Krynzel - OF - Plagued by questionable off the field decisions, Krynzel was eventually traded to Arizona for (ouch) Johnny Estrada and Claudio Vargas.
1999 - Ben Sheets - RHP - (Right) A four-time all-star, Sheets has 86 wins in eight seasons. Might we see him back with the Crew at Midseason?
1998 - J.M. Gold - RHP - High school pitcher, never made it past High-A and was released in 2004.
1997 - Kyle Peterson - RHP - At least he made it to the bigs, had a 4.71 ERA in 91 IP, hasn't been seen in the majors since 2001.
1996 - Chad Green - OF - Never made the bigs, it's going to be ugly for a while here.
1995 - Geoff Jenkins - OF - (Right) Has 221 career home runs, more importantly he gave the fans something to cheer for.
1994 - Antone Williamson - 3B - Had 54 big league at-bats in 1997. That's about it.
1993 - Jeff D'Amico - SP - Looked good in 2000, (12-7, 2.66 ERA) but struggled with injuries after that.
1992 - Kenny Felder - OF - College player, never made the bigs.
1991 - Kenny Henderson - RHP - Wanted a $1 million signing bonus, Brewers offered $500,000. He never signed, and never made the show.
1990 - No draft pick this year, lost it as compensation for signing DH Dave Parker.
1989 - Cal Eldred - RHP - Finally a decent pick, Eldred won 86 games in a 14-year big league career.
1988 - Alex Fernandez - RHP - Good pick, even better if he had signed. Would go on to win 107 games with the White and Marlins.
1987 - Bill Spiers - SS - Played six season for the Brewers, in 13 MLB seasons he was a .271 hitter. Not like Craig Biggio was drafted 7 picks later.
1986 - Gary Sheffield - SS - See website header.
1985 - B.J. Surhoff - SS - (Right) Yes, he was drafted as a shortstop. First overall pick in the '85 draft, Surhoff hit .282 with 188 home runs over 19 MLB seasons.
1984 - Isaiah Clark - SS - Never made it past AA, retired in 1990.
1983 - Dan Plesac - LHP - Saved 133 games in 7 season with the Brewers, pitched 18 seasons in the bigs.
1982 - Dale Sveum - SS - Had his promising career disrupted by a broken leg in 1988. Never was the same after that.
1981 - First round pick was lost as compensation for signing Roy Howell.
1980 - Dion James - OF - Traded to Atlanta after three seasons in Milwaukee. Hit .288 over 11 big league seasons.
1979 - First round pick went to Detroit as compensation for Jim Slaton.
1978 - Nick Hernandez - C - Never made the big leagues
1977 - Paul Molitor - SS - (Right) Hall of Famer and 7-time all-star. Unforgettable player in Milwaukee.
1976 - Bill Bordley - LHP - Did not sign, pitched 8 games for San Francisco in 1980.
1975 - Richard O'Keefe - LHP - Never pitched in the big leauges.
1974 - Butch Edge - RHP - Drafted by Toronto in the 1976 expansion draft, pitched 51.2 innings in '79 for the Jays.
1973 - Robin Yount - SS - No description necessary.
1972 - Dan Thomas - 1B - Played 54 games for Milwaukee, hitting .274.
1971 - Tommy Bianco - SS - Hit .176 in Major League at-bats.
1970 - Darrell Porter - C - A four-time All-Star, Porter hit 188 home runs in 17 seasons.
1969 - Gorman Thomas - SS - I don't think it's a stretch to call Big Spike a Brewers legend. He was also the first draft pick in Milwaukee Brewers history.