The Milwaukee Brewers landed one of the first surprise picks of Day 1 of the MLB draft by taking high-school lefty Frank Cairone at No. 68 overall.
Cairone was not listed on MLB Pipeline’s top 250 draft prospects, though he just snuck onto Baseball America’s top 200. Prep Baseball Report had Cairone as the No. 8 prep left-hander in the draft.
A Coastal Carolina commit from Delsea Regional High in New Jersey, an area the Brewers have targeted for prep arms in previous years with Bryce Meccage, Josh Knoth and Chris Levonas, Cairone is a late-bloomer in the class. He had a standout performance at the draft combine in June with an arsenal primarily featuring a low-90s fastball and slider. The fastball has excellent characteristics that Cairone pairs with plus extension coming down the mound.
Cairone will be a project for the Brewers player development system, but they’ve had success in that area of late, including with multiple late-round high-school arms in last year’s draft.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: High school lefty Frank Cairone heads to the Brewers with the 68th pick in the draft
Reporting by Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
