With their second pick of the 2016 MLB Draft—46th overall—the Brewers selected Lucas Erceg, a 3B out of Menlo College. This makes two back-to-back college hitters for Milwaukee. Erceg is an interesting player in that he’s hit quite well and shown power as a left handed hitter. But scouts were uncertain what to make of him because he transferred to Menlo College after he sophomore year. Jonathan Mayo commented that he transferred for academic reasons. The problem for scouts is that he transferred from a Division 1 school to one that was more in line with Division 2 competition. Keith Law does a nice job of summing up the issues with scouting Erceg:
Brewers take Lucas Erceg of Menlo College, which is important because I'd never heard of Menlo College before he went there
— keithlaw (@keithlaw) June 10, 2016
Still, he’s done nothing but show promise with the bat and the Brewers are very shallow at third base. Of course they’re not drafting for need, but it makes the risk seem pretty reasonable. Plus, the Brewers reportedly scouted Erceg extensively.
Erceg has been connected to Milwaukee for a while. Huge talent, big time off-field questions.
— Eric Longenhagen (@longenhagen) June 10, 2016
#Brewers up in five picks. I heard that they heavily scouted 3B Lucas Erceg this spring, who'd be solid value at #46. Just tuck that away.
— J.P. Breen (@JP_Breen) June 10, 2016
I've grown to trust their amateur scouting department in recent years, so that makes me think there's something here. He was rated 47 by Klaw/ESPN, 56 by MLB Pipeline, and 72 by Baseball America.
For supplemental reading check out the following links:
ESPN Capsule on Erceg (Insider required)