[BirdWatcher]

Today is the annual first-year (amateur) player draft.
As was the case last season, the Brewers are without a pick in the first round due to a high profile free agent signing (Lee.)
And since veteran catcher Matt Webb remains an unsigned free agent, the Brewers also do not have a pick in the supplemental first round.
In fact, after last years successful season, the Brewers don't have a pick until next to last in round two- which means their first player picked will be the 59th player chosen overall.
And it appears that it is not a very strong draft class, so it is unlikely that any truly promising players will be available to the Brewers with even their first pick.
Given that the Brewers have quite a bit of talent at the top levels of their minor league system (we were ranked the #1 system last year and considered 8th best this year with two of our top prospects from 1969- Lyerly and Adam Getchell- having now played enough in the bigs to no longer qualify for prospect status), the belief is that the philosophy for Denver in this draft will be to focus on younger, more high-risk, toolsy prospects who might eventually develop into major leaguers.

Depending upon what is available with their first pick the thought is that the Brewers could target a more well-developed player out of college with the potential to play a bench role in the next few season on the big league team, but most likely with their middle rounds picks the team will be looking for 18-year olds with good contact (and particularly gap power) potential or young pitchers with solid stuff and very good movement potential. As has always been the case, the Brewers are likely to focus on young position players with great speed and high defensive upside, particularly in up the middle defensive positions, and with an emphasis on finding players with that profile who also display high work ethics and intelligence.
The later rounds will likely see the Brewers using their typical approach, which means targeting players with strong leadership skills who might be good career minor leaguers, including certainly a few college players who likely won't ever make the big leagues but could help their minor league teams to winning seasons now by playing against somewhat lesser developed opponents.

The Brewers scouting staff believes that probably the most talented player in today's draft is an 18-year old centerfielder out of Seattle, Washington named Jose Gutierrez. Gutierrez profiles as a potential 5-tools (edit: well, okay, probably more like 4-tools) player though his power may stall out at near average while his contact potential is considered extremely high. With his potential for an extremely good batting eye, Gutierrez is a young player who many think may eventually be a WPK batting champion with an extremely high OBP. His speed is a real plus though his baserunning abilities are still a bit raw and he is expected to have great range and sure hands in the outfield. His weak arm might eventually necessitate a move to leftfield but if he reaches his potential he could certainly become a superstar once he matures a bit. Perhaps best of all, Gutierrez shows all the indications of being an impact player in the clubhouse as well, a true leader and role model for an organization to build around.
But that organization won't be the Brewers.

The best pitching prospect appears to be 18-year old left-hander Kyle Conley out of Mississippi State. This gives some indication of how shallow the talent pool is this year as Conley is likely a middle of the rotation starter at best.