A quick glance at the 16-player crop the Milwaukee Brewers landed on the second and final day of the MLB draft on Sunday, July 12, reveals one overarching theme.
“We took a lot of pitchers today,” vice president of amateur acquisition Tod Johnson said. “Maybe you guys noticed that.”
Indeed.
Beginning with Clemson right-hander Aidan Knaak in Round 5 and ending with Minnesota State Mankato left-hander Sam George in Round 19, the Brewers selected 12 pitchers – seven college and five high school.
Throw in right-hander Julian Garcia, whom the Brewers took in the fourth round on Day 1, and Milwaukee landed 13 arms total.
Now, not all will end up signing with the Brewers, who entered the draft with the sixth-smallest bonus pool at $8,042,900. But enough will that Milwaukee will come away from the process having added more talent and depth to a minor-league system that’s already ranked as the deepest and most-fertile in baseball.
“Matt [Arnold, president of baseball operations] always talks about the pitching portfolio kind of approach to things where you’re trying to collect a bunch of interesting pitchers to develop,” Johnson said, “and it’s resulted in some pretty good outcomes for us at the big-league level and guys moving through the system.
“So, kind of stuck to that.”
Knaak and fellow right-handers Ryan Oshinskie of Brown (sixth round, No. 192), Chase Mora of Texas State (ninth round, 281), Andrew Gaines of St. Joseph’s (Penn.) (10th round, 311), Gavin Perry of Western Kentucky (11th round, 341), Marcus Kruzan of Minnesota (12th round, 371) and George accounted for the college hurlers drafted by the Brewers.
Knaak, who was Clemson’s ace, is a fourth-year junior coming off something of a disappointing season.
“The guy’s got a really good changeup, so we feel like he’s got a good foundation to build off that and potentially continue to use that in the future,” Johnson said. “And then obviously we’ll be working on developing his other pitches as well, but we think he can be a starter.
“Somebody said he’s a little bit similar to Logan Henderson in the fact that it’s mostly fastball-changeup, but he does have a breaking ball as well and he throws strikes.”
Oshinskie, meanwhile, missed all of 2026 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
“He pitched in the summer [in 2025] and was really good up in the Cape [Cod League],” Johnson said. “Then he got hurt. He fit the mold – really good mover with some feel to shape different pitches and spin the baseball. We have not shied away from taking guys that are hurt.”
Mora is perhaps the most interesting of the group considering he pitched a total of 1⅓ innings in his four years at Texas State, where he’s much better known for breaking Paul Goldschmidt’s school record for home runs this past season (he finished with 42 in 227 games).
“Great job by Craig Smajstrla, our area scout down there,” Johnson said. “Stayed through the end of a blowout game where they put Mora on the mound and he threw an inning or whatever at the end of the game. He was 94 to 96 mph with a really good slider.
“The kid’s been a good hitter, good position player. He’s all in on the pitching thing, and we think that there’s a real opportunity there. He was actually recruited there as a two-way player, but when they got him he was so valuable to them as a position player and hitter that they really didn’t ever tap into the pitching until that one outing.
“So we think there’s a lot of potential there, and just a really great job by Craig to stay on top of that and make sure. We also heard there was at least one team behind us that was looking at taking him as well.”
Milwaukee’s first high school pick on Day 2 was right-hander Grant Hill (seventh round, 221), with left-hander Daunte Bell II (14th round, 431), right-hander Keaton Maiorana (15th round, 461), right-hander Bradyn Havard (16th round, 491) and Brady Smith (18th round, 551) rounding out the group.
It continues a trend the Brewers have employed in recent years in which they’ve drafted high school pitchers with college commitments in the later rounds and offered above-slot bonuses to the most desirable ones in an attempt to induce them to turn pro.
But with less money to spread around, it might mean needing to be creative.
“It certainly will be tougher,” Johnson said. “But we’ve also taken less of them this year. We have more guys that are college guys that we’re definitely going to sign, and we’ll work with the ones that we have in that group this year and see what we can do.
“I would expect we’ll sign probably a bigger class than we did last year [17 of 22 players]. That would be my expectation.”
Brewers pick a couple of homegrown players
There were also two Wisconsin natives among Milwaukee’s Day 2 haul: Kruzan, an Ashland High School alum, and shortstop Chance Ruby of Wilmot (17th round, 551), a first-team all-state pick by the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association in June.
“Chance is a really athletic kid who had a good year,” Johnson said. “He flashes tools. He’s a good athlete. He can run, and the bat’s pretty good. He’s a pretty good contact guy, and we think there’s some power to develop there as well. So, an interesting pick.
“Definitely wanted to be a Brewer, so that motivated him. But it was a fun one to be able to add him. We had him here earlier this year and then he came to our workout in Appleton as well. So yeah, it was a really good opportunity to get a quality athlete with good baseball skills as well as a local kid.”
Outfielder Dominic Santarelli of Kenosha St. Joseph’s was picked in the 18th round by the Seattle Mariners, one pick before the Brewers took Smith. He is considered to be a firm LSU commit and likely will make more NIL money there than he would have gotten as a signing bonus, even if the Mariners went well over the allotted $150,000.
“Dominic is a really good player,” Johnson said. “He’s got big-time power, and he’s actually a better athlete and better runner than I think people give him credit for. Just because he’s a strong kid, you don’t expect him to be the kind of runner that he is.
“At that point [in the draft], it was not somebody we were necessarily looking at taking there, but not because of the player, for sure. He’s a good player. If he ends up at LSU, I would expect him to to do well there.”
Milwaukee took two other high school position players in first baseman Kellan Tom (eighth round, 251) and outfielder Carson Hart (13th round, 401). Tom, hailing from Tempe, Arizona, is an Arizona State commit.
“Tom should have been more on the radar probably because he went to school right by where 15 teams train for spring training,” Johnon said. “He’s got big power. He’s a pretty good first baseman. He’s a fun one as well. Came to a workout down there.
“Carson Hart, super-good athlete from Minnesota. Can really run. We think there’s some upside there.”
There was major name recognition with the Brewers’ final pick, Carsten Sabathia III (20th round, 611).
Aside from him? Johnson acknowledges there were few familiar names even for the most seasoned draftniks.
“Some of the guys we took were a little off the radar,” he said. “I got a few texts from different people that didn’t know who some of these guys were. And that’s always good, I think, because it shows that we’re doing the work. Our scouts are getting after it and digging up guys that others aren’t necessarily knowing about and getting tuned in.
“So that’s always, I think, a really good thing. Especially when they turn out to be good.”
By the numbers
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Brewers go heavy on pitching on Day 2 of the MLB draft
Reporting by Todd Rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Todd Rosiak, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
