Brewers Bet On Third-Rounder Eric Bitonti
The Brewers’ Low-A Carolina affiliate is annually one of the youngest in the Carolina League.
The Mudcats will get younger still if 18-year-old third baseman Eric Bitonti joins them in the weeks ahead.
Bitonti began the season in the Rookie-level Arizona Complex League and hit .307/.432/.597 with six home runs through 31 games. The complex league seasons end on July 24, a month earlier than in the past, making that the latest point at which Bitonti could move up a level.
The Brewers drafted Bitonti in the third round last year out of Aquinas High in San Bernardino, Calif. The lefthanded hitter signed for $1.75 million, more than twice slot value for the pick.
“Offensively, he has tremendous raw power,” said Tom Flanagan, the Brewers’ vice president of player operations and baseball administration. “He’s been working hard with our coaches on making better swing decisions and has shown legit improvement.
“That will allow him to get better pitches to hit and do damage, which we know he can do.”
Measuring in at 6-foot-4, 218 pounds, Bitonti transitioned from prep shortstop to pro third baseman.
“He’s been good over there,” Flanagan said. “He continues to work at it and gets in plenty of reps.”
Bitonti could join fellow 2023 prep draftee Cooper Pratt in Carolina.
“We’ll look at continuing to get (Bitonti) ABs, and Carolina may be the best option should he continue to progress,” Flanagan said.
MICRO BREWS
— Lefthander Robert Gasser decided to have Tommy John surgery after receiving concurring second and third opinions from Drs. Neal ElAttrache and Keith Meister.
“I’m definitely not going to let what I did here slip out of my mind,” Gasser said of his 2.57 ERA through five starts this season . “It felt really good being able to compete at this level. It sucks that it’s getting cut short right now, but that’s just part of it.”
It was unclear which type of Tommy John surgery Gasser was going to have, but best-case scenario would have him pitching his first rehab inning by early July 2025.
— Third base has been a position of weakness in the Brewers’ organization for years. The 2023 draft offers potential solutions in first-rounder Brock Wilken and second-rounder Mike Boeve already at Double-A Biloxi and third-rounder Bitonti in Rookie ball.
— The Brewers named Pratt their minor league player of the month for May. The 19-year-old hit .278 with four doubles, a triple, a homer and six stolen bases in 23 games. He was also sitting on a 30-game on-base streak entering the final week of June and had reached safely in 42 of his 43 games with Carolina.
