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Brewers top pick Lawrie already a 'big league hitter'
MILWAUKEE -- The Milwaukee Brewers knew who they wanted when their pick came up in the first round of the amateur draft Thursday. They'll figure out where to play him later.
The Brewers selected Brett Lawrie, a high school player from Langley, British Columbia, with the 16th pick in the first round. They listed him as a catcher, but they were quick to say that his best position is hitter.
"He looks like a big league hitter at 18," said Brewers general manager Doug Melvin. "This is not someone that physically you're waiting to mature. One of the reports said that he could step into one of our hitting groups at the big league level and you wouldn't know he was an 18-year-old player."
Still, with a baseball-wide shortage of catchers, the Brewers are more than happy to give Lawrie a shot at the position. He played shortstop, third base, second base and left field, along with catcher while playing for a variety of Canadian national teams.
"He has a strong desire to catch and we're going to give him that opportunity," said scouting director Jack Zduriencik. "I don't think that was a determining factor. I think the bat was so impressive to us. We view this kid as a pretty good offensive package.
"Certainly, everybody in baseball has to have catching, so when you have somebody who wants to do it, you look at that. Catchers have a certain mentality. If you draft a kid that has a catcher's mentality, that's pretty positive. This kid has that mentality."
The Brewers have been following Lawrie for a couple years, but locked on to him as a possible first round pick when he stood out this spring while playing against professional competition in Florida and the Dominican Republic. He hit three home runs in one game in the Dominican, with Brewers scout Tom McNamara in attendance.
"He has a lot of qualities we like," said Melvin. "Then when he performed down in the Dominican Republic, that took us over the edge in wanting this player."
One of the assistant coaches on the Canadian team that played in the Dominican was Brewers scout Marty Lein. "He put on a show down there, quite frankly," Zduriencik said.
One of the reasons Lawrie was open to learning to catch is that he saw it as a short cut to the big leagues. His role model is fellow Canadian Russell Martin, who was drafted as a third baseman but has turned into an All-Star catcher with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Lawrie has spent time with Martin, learning from his mentor.
"I spent time with him in the off-season and I trained with him," Lawrie said. "He didn't start catching until he came out of junior college, so I'm kind of doing the same thing that he did. I got a chance to see the way he lives and it's a pretty cool life. I'm ready to go."
Lawrie figures it won't be long before he joins Martin in the big leagues.
"I see myself in the major leagues in a year and a half," he said. "I don't plan on spending a lot of time in the minor leagues."
One big difference between Lawrie and Martin is position in the draft. While Martin was picked in the 17th round, Lawrie was the 16th pick in the first round, making him just the sixth Canadian to be picked in the first round and the highest position player ever picked.
"I have a lot of pride in that," Lawrie said. "Whenever I can represent baseball Canada, it's a big deal, to show that we're not just a hockey country we can play baseball too."
That Canadian pride may delay his professional debut, as Lawrie hopes to play for Canada in the Junior World Cup in Edmonton this summer. He wouldn't be able to sign with the Brewers until after that, which is fine with Melvin.
After selecting Lawrie, the Brewers concentrated on pitching. Milwaukee had six picks among the first 62 selections and used four of those on pitchers.
In the compensation round at the end of Round 1, they grabbed right-hander Jacob Odorizzi from Highland (Ill.) High School with pick No. 32 and left-hander Evan Fredrickson from the University of San Francisco with the 35th pick.
Odorizzi, who also was a standout wide receiver in football, was considered the top prep pitcher in the country by some scouts. His numbers would tend to support that notion: He posted an 11-0 record with a 0.00 earned run average. In 69 innings he allowed just 18 hits and five walks, while striking out 116.
"We understand that's high school numbers, but nevertheless, that's pretty spectacular," Zduriencik said. "We thought he had a terrific delivery, nice arm action. He's a multi-athletic kid. We were very happy to get him there."
Fredrickson found his way into the Brewers' plans with a spectacular performance at a workout in Milwaukee on Saturday. The 6-foot-6, 230-pound left-hander, demonstrated a mid-90s fastball, which caught the eye of pitching coach Mike Maddux.
"Mike was in the dugout the other day nonchalantly watching the workout," said Melvin. "Then Fredrickson came in and threw two pitches and he went, 'Wow, where did this guy come from?' He opened our eyes in the workout. Smart decision on his part to fly in here and work out for us."
The Brewers also had three picks in the second round. They selected right-handed pitcher Seth Lintz of Marshall County (Tenn.) High School with pick No. 53; outfielder Cutter Dykstra of Westlake (Calif.) High School with pick No. 54; and right-hander Thomas Adams of Southern Illinois University with pick No. 62. Dykstra is the son of former major leaguer Lenny Dykstra.
Miami second baseman Jemile Weeks, brother of Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks, was selected with the 12th pick in the first round by the Oakland A's.
Photo courtesy of langleyblaze.com
Brewers top pick Brett Lawrie, 18, already bats like a major leaguer.
