[Highlander]

Milwaukee Brewers

SP1- Pedro Martinez (26)- Starting right out with the 1st round pick for Milwaukee and the 3rd pick overall. There’s no doubt Pedro is worth it. His HOF career went from 1992-2009 and was packed full of tremendous seasons. The Brewers could easily get 10+ great years out of him.

SP2- Danny Salazar (27)- The Brewers weren’t messing around with pitching, as Danny is their 2nd round pick. His short 2013-2019 career had promise early, but he fell apart after just a few years. For Milwaukee’s sake, hopefully he can last a few more years here.

SP3- Logan Gilbert (25)- You guessed it….the Brewers took Logan with their 3rd pick. His career has run from 2021-present and he has become one of the best pitchers in the game the past couple of years. His import looks solid, other than HR allowed, which shouldn’t hurt much in 1901.

SP4- Jaime Garcia (21)- It was almost a clean sweep, but the Brewers took Garcia with their 5th pick. I guess they realized they needed someone to hit the ball! Garcia pitched from 2008-2018 and was a solid pitcher for the earlier years. This should be the best staff in the league at this point, but will they have enough offense with how much draft capital they spent on pitching?

MR- Jason Johnson (32)- A 20th round pick, Johnson played from 1997-2008. He was a starter through the vast majority of that time but not a very good one.

LR- Tom Fisher (23)- Tom was an 18th round pick and will be a 2-way player for Milwaukee. His career amounted to one season in 1904 and he’s not a very good pitcher or hitter, but maybe with both together he can scrape out some value.

LR- Mel Parnell (32)- Mel was a 24th round pick and pitched from 1947-1956. He had a few really good years, but by this time in his career, he was pretty much done. We’ll see if he can get a few solid relief appearances before he’s done completely.

LR- David Nied (25)- David was supposed to be a big pitcher for the Rockies over his 1992-1996 career, but we all know how pitchers usually fare in Colorado. He actually has a decent import and was a 15th round pick. He may be the best of the relievers for this team.

Reserve- Dick Baney (22), Ray Chadwick (23), Dick Conger (22), Wayland Dean (24), Caleb Kilian (24), Don Liddle (29), Herman Pillette (27), Dick Stone (33), Jeff Tabaka (34), Will Warren (24)

C- Manny Pina (34)- Manny played from 2011-2023 and is a solid catcher with some pop. He’s not much of a hitter otherwise, though. He was an 11th round pick and may struggle to reach that level.

1B- Joe Kelley (33)- Despite being a little older, Joe was that 4th rounder that they finally spent on a hitter after drafting 3 straight pitchers. He’s a very good hitter and will play 1st against righties and LF against lefties. His career went from 1891-1908. I think he makes Milawaukee the only team (so far) with 2 HOF players. In his prime he was fantastic, but we are catching him near the end of his career here, so we;ll see what he does. The other 1B will be Angel Echevarria (29). He played from 1996-2002 and has some promise in this role. He was taken in the 8th round, so Milwaukee thinks so too.

2B- Jordan Diaz (21)- A 21st round pick, Jordan played only from 2022-2023. He’s an OK fielder with no speed and not much of a bat….this is what I was worried about with this team drafting so many pitchers early on.

3B- Jake Lamb (26)- A 6th round pick, Jake has some good power and a strong eye. He is a better 1B but can play 3B pretty well. He played from 2014-2023 and he really only had 2 good seasons, but this import is right in that time so he could be pretty good here.

SS- Tom Downey (25)- Tom only played from 1909-1912, but he wasn’t too bad so he ended up a 9th round pick. He’s a solid SS, but will make some errors. His bat should play and he has good speed. On this team, he will be one of the better non-pitchers.

LF- We know Joe Kelley will be here when the team faces a LHP, but on the strong side of the platoon will be Thad Bosley (28). He played from 1977-1990 and was a 7th round pick. He was mostly a backup/pinch hitter, but was usually a very good hitter in those roles. He should get a bigger chance to play here.

CF- Kenny Lofton (33)- A younger Lofton would have needed to be a top 2 draft pick in most cases, but this older version was taken in the 10th. He can still hit and run and plays a solid CF, so if he can last as long as he did in his 1991-2007 career, he will still be a good value.

RF- Another platoon will be in effect here, with the strong side manned by Al Schweitzer (25). Al was a 13th round pick and played from 1908-1911. His rookie year was his best (in limited AB) and that is what his import was based on, so he could be a solid option. The other side of the platoon will be Tom Fisher…the pitcher we talked about above. Not sure he will last in this role, as other than power, his bat is pretty subpar.

Bench
C/1B/OF- John Roskos (23)....Round 29….1998-2000
IF/OF- Lenny Harris (38)....Round 17….1988-2005
IF- Sheldon Neuse (24)....Round 22….2019-2022
2B- Joe Strain (25)....Round 32….1979-1981
1B/3B- Emmanuel Rivera (25)....Round 14….2021-present
C/3B/RF- Ozzie Virgil (24)....Round 25….1956-1969
OF- Charlie See (24)....Round 27….1919-1921
OF- Swat McCabe (27)....Round 28….1909-1910

Reserve- Doc Bass (19), Matt Howard (28), Joe Schepner (23), Lyle Luttrell (26), Dick Spalding (33)