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Milwaukee Brewers select 3B Lucas Erceg with 46th Overall Pick

With their second pick of the 2016 MLB Draft the Brewers take a second college bat. This time it's third baseman Lucas Erceg.

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:

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.

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)

MLB Pipeline Top Draft Prospects List

MLB Pipeline Video