MILWAUKEE -- The Brewers made it 5-for-5 in terms of signing their Draft picks when they finalized a deal with first-rounder Garrett Mitchell on Wednesday.
Mitchell, an outfielder from UCLA, went to Milwaukee with the 20th overall pick. The Brewers don’t disclose contractual terms, but a source said Mitchell signed for slot value at that selection, which was $3,242,900.
“My hands were shaking,” Mitchell said. “Obviously, tonight is going to happen only once in your life. I’m just very thankful for the Brewers organization for trusting and believing in me and allowing me to continue to follow my dream of playing Major League Baseball. I’m just ready to go.”
But here’s the question: Where will he go?
The Brewers and other clubs are still trying to figure that out, since Minor League seasons were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. In the short term, Mitchell will return home to Southern California, but he could be back in Wisconsin should the Brewers add him to their 60-man player pool when the club’s alternate training site opens in Appleton, Wis., next week. Several other teams have taken that step with 2020 Draft picks.
The Brewers are still deciding whether to do so with Mitchell, said scouting director Tod Johnson. Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns has said its possible some 60-man player pool spots will go to prospects not ready to play at the Major League level, to continue their development in a semi-competitive environment. But those spots are valuable, being that the needs of the Major League team takes priority.
“I know other teams have had their first-round picks go there,” Johnson said. “There’s certainly a number of factors that will go into that for us with Garrett. I don’t know which direction that will break.”
Said Mitchell: “All I know is I’m going to keep training and hitting and doing what I’ve been doing this whole time during quarantine, and just stay prepared for whatever they would like me to do. … I will be prepared either way.”
The Brewers landed MLB Pipeline’s sixth-best pre-Draft prospect in Mitchell, who has been living and playing sports with type 1 diabetes since he was in the third grade and had been on teams’ Draft radar since he was a prospect coming out of Orange Lutheran (Calif.) High School in 2017. The A’s drafted him in the 14th round that year, but Mitchell attended UCLA instead, where he was slashing .355/.425/.484 over 62 at-bats in his junior season before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down sports across the country.
“The Brewers got a top 10 talent in the Draft,” said Mitchell’s agent, Scott Boras. “If it wasn’t for the fact that he had diabetes, I think he could have been a top 5 pick, frankly.”
Mitchell was the last of the first-round Draft picks to sign this year, but that was more a factor of logistics of scheduling his physical exam while club medical officials were busy getting the team’s Summer Camp started and not related to Mitchell’s situation, according to Johnson.
In a typical year, a first-rounder is greeted by a virtual red carpet at Miller Park. He gets to wear the uniform, take batting practice if he’s a hitter, and meet potential future teammates. Mitchell was denied all of that because of the strict protocols governing who gets to be on the field and in the clubhouse this year.
“The most important thing is we’re able to play baseball again,” Mitchell said. “When the time is right and that is a possibility, we’ll make that happen.”
Earlier, the Brewers announced deals with their selections from Rounds 2-5 in the shortened 2020 MLB Draft, all position players from Division I colleges. The Draft crop included two outfielders (Mitchell in the first round and Cincinnati’s Joey Wiemer in the fourth round), two shortstops (Miami’s Freddy Zamora in the second round and Louisiana-Lafayette’s Hayden Cantrelle in the fifth round) and one player who played catcher in high school and shortstop in college but was drafted as a catcher (Central Michigan's Zavier Warren in the third round). Warren and Cantrelle are switch-hitters.
At least six undrafted free agents have reached agreements with the Brewers, but Johnson could only formally announce one of them: University of South Carolina infielder Noah Campbell. He signed for the maximum allowed $20,000, according to MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo.
The Brewers drafted Campbell out of high school in the 19th round in 2017, but he went to college instead and slashed .254/.349/.382 in three seasons for the Gamecocks.
Other signees are not official yet. They include University of Tampa left-hander Brandon Knarr, Concordia (Neb.) University right-hander Jason Munsch, Central Missouri right-hander Evan Reifert, South Carolina right-hander TJ Shook and Grand Canyon University infielder Drew Smith. All of those deals were either announced by their schools or by the players themselves via social media.
The class could continue to grow, Johnson said.