Milwaukee Brewers 2024 MLB Draft Review

Draft Theme: High School Righthanders

The Brewers gave us one of the more surprising selections of the first round when they took OF Braylon Payne with the 17th overall pick. Payne’s name didn’t come up too often in our mock draft reporting, though he still ranked as the No. 54 prospect in the class and isn’t a crazy off-the-board selection. After adding power to Payne’s speed with 1B Blake Burke in the second round, Milwaukee began investing heavily in the high school RHP demographic, most notably with New Jersey preps Bryce Meccage and Chris Levonas in the second and supplemental second round. The Brewers didn’t stop there, however, and the team ultimately drafted eight high school righthanders—more than any other club.

Most Interesting Day 2 Pick: LHP Mason Molina, 7th round

Molina has been a reliable starter for three seasons, first in two years with Texas Tech when he posted a 3.77 ERA over 141 total innings from 2022-2023 and then this spring after transferring to Arkansas and joining perhaps the best pitching staff in the country. With Arkansas, the 6-foot-2, 230-pound lefthander posted a 4.47 ERA over 58.1 innings and 13 starts with a career-best 32.3% strikeout rate and 14.3% walk rate. He doesn’t light up the radar gun, but instead does a decent job mixing and matching with a solid four-pitch mix. He averages 89-90 mph with his fastball and will touch 95, but he gets well above-average riding life on the pitch and generally does a nice job attacking the top of the zone. He generated a strong 31% miss rate with the fastball this spring and also collected plenty of whiffs with his low-80s changeup and low-80s slider. Molina uses the changeup about a quarter of the time against righthanded hitters, but scraps it against lefties, where he instead employs his slider and a slower mid-70s curveball with depth. Molina’s fastball shape, durable frame and deep pitch mix give him a chance to start, but he’ll need to improve his command with all of his pitches to find the same success he’s had in college against professional hitters

Most Interesting Day 3 Pick: LHP Joseph Broughton, 13th round

Broughton is a physical lefthander with a 6-foot-2, 200-pound frame who pairs present strength and impressive arm speed from the left side. He was one of several standouts from PBR’s Super 60 showcase in February, where he threw a high-spin fastball in the low-to-mid-90s and also ripped off a curveball around 80 mph with terrific spin rates and impressive depth. Broughton has a plunge and wrist wrap in the back of his arm stroke which could cause some timing issues or inconsistencies with his breaking ball, but he’s such a fluid mover on the mound with such solid arm speed that he might be able to get away with it. He’s also mixed in an occasional 78-80 mph changeup that he’s thrown with fastball arm speed and looks like a potential solid third offering but he rarely throws it. Broughton pitches for the same Northville High team in Michigan as fellow 2024 prospect Dante Nori. He is committed to Pittsburgh.