Brewers complete draft with four picks on Thursday

MILWAUKEE – The Milwaukee Brewers tonight made four selections to complete the 2020 First-Year Player Draft, finishing this year’s class with five college position players – the first time the organization has selected position players with its first five picks since 2003. The announcements were made by Vice President – Domestic Scouting Tod Johnson. In the first round on Wednesday, outfielder Garrett Mitchell was selected 20^th overall out of the University of California, Los Angeles. The 21-year-old outfielder started all 15 games in center field for the Bruins in his junior season this spring, batting .355 (22-for-62) with 18 runs, six doubles and nine RBI. Mitchell enjoyed a breakout sophomore campaign the year prior, batting .349 (90-for-258) with 57 runs, 14 doubles, 12 triples, six home runs, 41 RBI and a .984 OPS to go along with a perfect fielding percentage. He led the NCAA and established a new single-season program record in triples and was a finalist for an American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Gold Glove Award. The Brewers began Thursday’s portion of the 2020 First-Year Player Draft with the selection of shortstop Freddy Zamora out of the University of Miami in the second round (53^rd overall). He missed this spring with a right knee injury, but in his sophomore season a year ago he batted .296 (59-for-199) with 43 runs, 12 doubles, six home runs, 46 RBI and 13 stolen bases in 50 games. Zamora earned Freshman All-American honors by Collegiate Baseball and was named to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) All-Freshman team in 2018. He was the only Hurricane to start in each of the team’s 54 games that year, batting .303 (64-for-211) with 32 runs, 12 doubles, four triples, a home run, 28 RBI and 20 steals. With the 92^nd overall pick in the third round, catcher Zavier Warren was selected out of Central Michigan University. The 21-year-old switch-hitter started all 17 games in his junior season this spring, batting .328 (21-for-64) with 17 runs, 15 walks, 9 RBI and a .469 on-base percentage. In 2019, Warren earned First-Team All-Mid-American Conference (MAC) honors after leading the conference in on-base percentage (.502), runs (73), hits (90), doubles (23) and walks (59) and ranking second in RBI (70) across 60 games played. Over the last two springs, he has combined to bat .355 (108-for-304) with 90 runs, 25 doubles, nine home runs, 77 RBI, 74 walks, a .492 on-base percentage and a 1.028 OPS in 77 games. In the fourth round, the Brewers selected outfielder Joey Wiemer out of the University of Cincinnati with the 121^st overall pick. In his junior season this spring, the 21-year-old batted .264 (14-for-53) with 16 runs, 14 walks, four doubles, one home run, 12 RBI and a .435 on-base percentage in 15 games. Wiemer set a new school record by starting each of the team’s 62 games in 2019, batting .263 (63-for-240) with 42 runs, 13 doubles, two triples, six home runs, 28 RBI and 21 steals in his sophomore campaign.
With the organization’s final pick in the 2020 First-Year Player Draft, shortstop Hayden Cantrelle was selected 151^st overall in the fifth round out of the University of Louisiana. The 21-year-old was previously selected by the New York Yankees in the 40^th round of the 2017 First-Year Player Draft out of Teurlings Catholic High School (Lafayette, LA), but did not sign. This spring, Cantrelle was the only player to start each of the team’s 17 games, scoring 10 runs and drawing 12 walks. In 2019, he batted .309 (73-for-236) with 56 runs, 15 doubles, two triples, nine home runs, 31 RBI, a Sun Belt Conference-leading 28 stolen bases and a .930 OPS in 59 games. Cantrelle’s sophomore campaign included a three-homer game on March 16 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and a cycle in a perfect 4-for-4 effort on March 19 vs. Northwestern State University. He has combined to score 112 runs, draw 90 walks and steal 50 bases in 135 games throughout his collegiate career.