[BirdWatcher]

The 1971 draft pool doesn't look to have many potential superstars but the Brewers believe that the top portion of the draft should run deep enough that they have a chance to get a valuable future member of the team with their 1st round pick (#19 overall). The Brewers did not have a pick in the first round the previous two drafts, so this feels a bit like a luxury, even coming next to last in the round.

The OSA and the Brewers scouting staff are pretty much in agreement that the top position player prospect in the draft is 21-year old shortstop Rich White out of Madison College. White will likely be a decent contact hitter with great plate discipline but his real strength is his gold glove caliber defense. The main knock on Rich White is that there is some doubt about his baseball smarts.
The top pitching prospect appears to be reliever Ratib Jaleel, a 21-year old side-arming righty out of St. Louis College. Jaleel is a groundball pitcher who is expected to be able to get strikeouts while being at least a bit above average in control and HR suppression.

The Brewers have their eyes on several players who they hope might drop to the end of the first round. One of their top targets is 18-year old second baseman Steve Honeycutt. Honeycutt looks like he could be a great contact hitter with plus gap power and decent HR power (similar to Andrew Kennedy, but with even greater HR power potential) who should also be a solid, if not premium, defender. Honeycutt is thought to have at best an average eye but is expected to be a tough guy to strike out once he reaches his full potential (if he reaches his full potential.) And unlike top prospect White, Honeycutt has a reputation of great smarts and baseball savvy.

The team also likes the skills package of centerfielder Eddie Evans, who combines good power potential with speed and defensive range. He isn't expected to be a great contact hitter with some questions about his approach at the plate but he is only 18 and reportedly a very hard worker so the hope is that he might develop into a better hitter than he currently projects as.

A third position player at an all-important middle of the diamond position that the Brewers are targeting is shortstop Kevin Flieder, a 21-year old out of Brooklyn College. Flieder doesn't project to be a great hitter but he should have a pretty good approach at the plate and be a defensive marvel in the field as well as an accomplished runner, even if not among the speediest in the game. Like Honeycutt, Flieder is highly rated for his intelligence.

With the draft just a little less than a month away the team leadership will be analyzing and debating the merits of the players in the pool trying to find those hidden gems who might be had in later rounds.