The 2025 MLB Draft will take place on July 13 and 14, 2025. Day 1 (rounds 1-3) of the draft starts on Sunday at 5 p.m. CT. Day 2 (rounds 4-20) will start on Monday at 10:30 a.m. CT.
What picks do the Brewers have?
Milwaukee has five picks in the first three rounds:
First round:
No. 20— normal first-round pick
No. 32 — compensatory pick (Willy Adames)
Second round:
No. 59 — normal second-round pick
No. 68 — compensatory pick (Chris Levonas, the Brewers’ 2024 second-round selection who decided to honor his commitment to Wake Forest)
Third round:
No. 84 — normal third-round pick
The Brewers have one pick per round on the second day. Last year, the Brewers used most of their Day 2 picks on pitchers. Every pick they made between the fifth and 13th rounds was a pitcher.
Milwaukee also had a competitive balance pick (No. 33), but traded it to Boston (along with Yophery Rodriguez and John Holobetz) in the Quinn Priester deal.
What are the Brewers’ organizational strengths and weaknesses?
Milwaukee has pretty impressive organizational depth at most positions.
Strengths: Milwaukee currently has a glut of highly-ranked infield prospects led by shortstops Jesus Made (No. 1), Luis Peña (No. 3), and Cooper Pratt (No. 4). Other top-20 infield prospects include Brock Wilken (No. 18), Mike Boeve (No. 7), Luke Adams (No. 8), Josh Adamczewski (No. 16), Eric Bitonti (No. 11), and last year’s 34th overall pick Blake Burke (No. 17).
Milwaukee also has a ton of pitching depth led by rookie phenom Jacob Misiorowski (No. 2), Logan Henderson (No. 6), and Robert Gasser (No. 12). Pitchers Brett Wichrowski (No. 13), Bishop Letson (No. 14), Bryce Meccage (No. 15), and Craig Yoho (No. 19) are also top-20 prospects.
The farm system also boasts a few unranked pitchers (Coleman Crow, Tyson Hardin, and Ethan Dorchies) who have been lights-out this season and will probably appear in future iterations of MLB Pipeline’s organizational prospect rankings.
Weaknesses: One of the biggest weaknesses in the Brewers organization is the outfield. Milwaukee only has one true outfield prospect in the top 20 — Braylon Payne (No. 9), last year’s first-round pick.
They also have Luis Lara (No. 21), who’s been playing well in Double-A this year but might be more of a fourth outfielder than an everyday starter. Kenny Fenelon (No. 25) and Brailyn Antunez (No. 28), the Brewers’ top two international signings from this year’s class, are still really young and haven’t been all that impressive down in the Dominican Summer League.
Now, outfield isn’t necessarily an urgent need. Jackson Chourio and Sal Frelick project to take up two outfield spots for the foreseeable future, and Isaac Collins has been playing like a long-term starter himself. Milwaukee also has Blake Perkins coming back from injury, and Garrett Mitchell isn’t dead yet either. Still, the Brewers might look to bolster their outfield with a couple of high-ceiling prospects.
The other major weakness the Brewers could look to improve is their left-handed pitching depth. Eleven of Milwaukee’s top 30 prospects are pitchers, but only one (Gasser) is a lefty. LHP Tate Kuehner, who leads the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers in strikeouts, is the only other left-handed pitching prospect in the upper levels of the minors who projects as a potential major league arm.
Look for Milwaukee to pick up a couple of lefties early on Day 2, or even on Day 1. I really like Arkansas lefty Zach Root as a good fit for the Brewers if they choose to go with a pitcher at No. 20.
One final note: Peña will probably end up at second base or in centerfield by the time he makes it to the majors, while Made may ultimately slide over to third. Milwaukee might look to take a shortstop, because you can never have enough high-ceiling shortstop prospects.
Who will the Brewers take?
While only Matt Arnold and the Brewers’ front office know the answer to this question, some of the players that have been mocked to Milwaukee in the first round include:
ESPN:
Marek Houston, SS, Wake Forest — No. 20
Xavier Neyens, 3B, Mount Vernon (WA) — No. 20
Kayson Cunningham, SS, Johnson HS (TX) — No. 32
The Athletic:
Kayson Cunningham, SS, Johnson HS (TX) — No. 20
Other players suggested by Athletic Senior Baseball Writer Keith Law include:
Gavin Fien, 3B, Great Oak HS (CA)
Gavin Kilen, SS/2B, Tennessee — Kilen is also a native of Rock County, Wisconsin
Zach Root, LHP, Arkansas
Anthony Eyanson, RHP, LSU
MLB Pipeline:
Jace LaViolette, OF, Texas A&M — No. 20
Cam Cannarella, OF, Clemson — No. 32
Other players that have been mocked to Milwaukee: Caden Bodine (C, Coastal Carolina), Sean Gamble (2B/OF, IMG Academy), Andrew Fischer (INF, Tennessee), Gage Wood (RHP, Arkansas), Wehiwa Aloy (SS, Arkansas), Ethan Conrad (OF, Wake Forest).
Check back with Brew Crew Ball sometime Sunday or Monday — I’ll be uploading an in-depth analysis of whomever the Brewers end up taking with No. 20.
How much can the Brewers spend?
The Brewers’ total bonus pool (the amount of money they can spend on their drafted players) is $13,138,100, good for the 10th-most in the league.
The Brewers can spend a maximum of $4,268,100 on their first pick, No. 20 overall. Milwaukee and other small-market clubs sometimes choose to draft someone projected lower and spend a bit less, saving bonus pool money to go above slot (pay a prospect more than they normally would) in a later round. For example: 2024 first-rounder Braylon Payne was projected as a mid-second-round pick by most mock drafts and ended up signing for below slot ($3.44 M).
As for the other picks, Milwaukee can spend a maximum of:
Day 1:
No. 32 (first round): $2,970,900
No. 59 (second round): $1,560,200
No. 68 (second round): $1,254,400
No. 94 (third round): $813,600
Day 2:
No. 125 (fourth round): $599,600
No. 155 (fifth round): $447,400
No. 185 (sixth round): $344,400
No. 215 (seventh round): $269,700
No. 245 (eighth round): $220,800
No. 275 (ninth round): $200,000
No. 305 (tenth round): $189,000
In rounds 11-20, teams are allowed to offer up to $150k in signing bonuses without it counting towards their bonus pool. They are allowed to offer more, but any money spent in excess of that $150k limit is then counted toward the pool.
How do I watch the 2025 MLB Draft?
If you’ve made it this far, you probably care enough about the draft to want to watch it. Live coverage of the first 43 selections will air on MLB Network and ESPN beginning at 5 p.m. CT.
After that, MLB Network will cover the rest of Day 1, which consists of the first three rounds (including compensatory, competitive balance, and prospect promotion incentive selections).
Coverage of Day 2 will air live on MLB.com beginning at 10:30 a.m. CT.
