On day one of MLB draft, Brewers take record-breaking power hitter, pitcher who threw a 20-strikeout perfect game

While at Wake Forest, Brock Wilken punished baseballs at a clip few at that level have ever matched.

The Milwaukee Brewers believe he bring the same power-packed impact to American Family Field in the not-so-distant future.

In selecting Wilken, a 21-year-old third baseman, with the 18th overall pick of the MLB first year player draft on Sunday, the Brewers continued their recent trend of plucking a college bat in the first round of the draft.

The Brewers have now done so in four consecutive drafts – and to much success with Garrett Mitchell, Sal Frelick and Eric Brown preceding Wilken.

Wilken, though, is a bit of a different type of college bat than those other three.

In picking Wilken, the Brewers shot for the moon, which is coincidentally the same target the 6-foot-4, 215 lb. slugger takes aim for when he unleashes his violent swing.

Rather than going for a high hit-tool player who runs and plays defense at a high level as they did with each of Mitchell, Frelick and Brown, the Brewers targeted a potential bat for the middle of the lineup.

"There was a lot of guys potentially in play there and we landed on Brock," Brewers vice president of domestic scouting Tod Johnson said. "We're just really excited to get probably the best power in the draft. I'm going to say it's the best power in the draft."

Scouts classify his raw power as a plus-plus tool at present, with exit velocity numbers backing this up.

Wilken hit 31 home runs this season to set a single-season Atlantic Coast Conference record as Wake Forest reached the College World Series and had 71 long balls in his three-year career to tie the ACC record.

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This past year, Wilken batted .345/.506/.807 and set Wake Forest single-season records with 90 runs and 69 walks. Wilken's .462 isolated slugging percentage was the second highest of any batter in college baseball.

"I don't go up there trying to hit a lot of homers," Wilken said. "I stick to my approach and fi I put a good swing on it, I know the barrel is in the zone long enough that it has a chance to go out throughout all the ballpark."

There has been some swing and miss in Wilken's game throughout his college career, but he cut down on his strikeouts as a junior this year while improving his pitch selection to where it became a real strength of his. He walked 69 times while striking out 58 in 66 games in 2023.

"Yeah, it's a different profile," Johnson said of Wilken compared to past first rounders, "but his contact rates have actually improved over time, as well. Everyone knows that if you're going to take big power you're going to trade off some contact for that. We think we got a profile power-hitting third baseman who's also a good defender and has a really strong arm over there."

The Brewers will give Wilken a lengthy chance to stick at third base, where his strong arm would play up.

"We're going to send him out to third and develop him as a third baseman and give him every chance to do that," Johnson said. "He's very athletic for his size. He's a big human. We're excited by that. He's an athletic mover for being as big as he is."

The hope with the Wilken selection, likely, is that the Brewers will be able to save some money under the slot value of the pick of $4.0 million.

"We got the money situation figured out right away," Wilken said. "From then on, I was super stoked to be able to call myself a Brewer now."

Brewers nab Josh Knoth in Comp A round

With the 33rd overall pick of the draft, the Brewers dipped into an organizational strength.

They identified a pitcher with what they feel are outlier characteristics and brought him aboard.

Right-handed pitcher Josh Knoth out of Patchogue-Medford (New York) High School became just the second prep pitcher taken in the draft when Milwaukee pegged him as its pick in the Competitive Balance A round.

The response the Brewers got from competitors after Knoth's name came across the screen was the ultimate compliment.

"We were excited he was there when we got him," Johnson said. "We heard from other teams around us that were interested, as well. I think he wasn't necessarily well-known on some of the industry list stuff as somebody who might go that high, but other teams were certainly in play right around where we ended taking him."

Knoth, who won't turn 18 until August, is one of the youngest players in the draft. A cold-weather prospect from Long Island, he's athletic with a repeatable delivery that may give the Brewers hopes that there is more potential within to untap.

The highlight of Knoth's pre-draft process was a 19-strikeout perfect game this spring; a year prior, he topped that with a 20-strikeout perfecto.

Knoth's curveball, a devastating 3,000-plus rpm spinner, is his main calling card. It gives scouts every reason to believe it could be a plus pitch in the majors – and might be the best curve in the draft class.

"That's the pitch that he threw a lot in the summer and it's a really good pitch," Johnson said.

Knoth has been clocked upwards of 98 mph with his fastball, which sits around 94-96.

There's some expectation that he will be able to develop a strong changeup, as well, thanks in large part to his ability to spin the ball, and Knoth broke out a brand-new slider this spring.

"He came into the spring and it was just another level," Johnson said. "He had added 3 to 5 miles an hour on his fastball. He had actually started throwing a slider that he wasn't throwing in the summer. He's always been a really good pitcher who dominated the strike zone, as well. Once the stuff took a tick up, he went significantly up the board."

Knoth has a college commitment to Mississippi, which will require the Brewers to make a financial offer sufficient enough to get him to sign, but how high they will have to go is yet to be seen.

Brewers 2023 second round pick: Mike Boeve

It wouldn't have been a true first day of the draft for the Brewers without a high-contact college hitter who plays up the middle defensively.

That's precisely the profile of Mike Boeve, an infielder from the University of Nebraska-Omaha who the Brewers took in the second round with the 54th overall pick.

In 47 games this spring, Boeve hit .401 with a 1.075 OPS, striking out just nine times in 211 plate appearances. Boeve's incredible ability to make contact is rare and the reason why scouts give him one of the highest hit tools in the draft.

A left-handed hitter, Boeve, 21, has intriguing raw power but hasn't tapped into it, instead trading potential power for contact in game situations.

"His contact numbers are elite," Johnson said. "He actually hits the ball pretty hard. He tends to hit it on the ground a little bit, but we think the combination of his zone control and ability to make hard contact -- he's a bigger guy, as well -- ... we do think the bat has really interesting traits to develop to get him more power."

Boeve has primarily been a third baseman in college, but may have more of a future at second base in the pros.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Brewers select Wake Forest's Brock Wilken in first round of MLB draft