It's never too early to start thinking about the 2018 MLB Draft, so I am starting up the official discussion thread. I will also take this opportunity to point out that as of today (June 16th) the Brewers are slotted into the 22nd draft position and the St. Louis Cardinals are knocking on the door of drafting inside the top ten.

As far as 2018, it looks like there are a number of highly touted prep prospects that are candidates to flood the upper half of the first round including a Wisconsin high school senior to be that is in the running to be a top five selection. Below is a list of some of the current top college and high school prospects, a couple of way too early mock drafts, and a list of where to catch some of the top 2018 talent this summer. Let the 2018 MLB Draft speculation begin!

Top High School Prospects
Brice Turang, SS, Santiago HS (CA)
Kumar Rocker, RHP, North Oconee HS (GA)
Jarred Kelenic, OF, Waukesha West HS (WI)
Joe Gray Jr., OF, Hattiesburg HS (MS)
Triston Casas, 3B, American Heritage HS (FL)
Ethan Hankins, RHP, Forsyth Central HS (GA)
Kendall Simmons, SS, Tattnall Square Academy (GA)
Will Banfield, C, Brookwood HS (GA)
Luke Bartnicki, LHP, Walton HS (GA)
Nolan Gorman, SS, Sandra Day O`Connor HS (AZ)
Austin Becker, RHP, Big Walnut HS (OH)
Elijah Cabell, OF, TNXL Academy (FL)

Top College Prospects
Brady Singer, RHP, Florida
Seth Beer, OF, Clemson
Jackson Kowar, RHP, Florida
Konnor Pilkington, LHP, Mississippi State
Cal Raleigh, C, Florida State
Nick Madrigal, 2B, Oregon State
Luken Baker, 1B, TCU
Colton Eastman, RHP, Cal State Fullerton
Chandler Day, RHP, Vanderbilt
Casey Mize, RHP, Auburn
Shane McClanahan, LHP, South Florida
Tristan Beck, RHP, Stanford

Early Mock Drafts
MLB.com: Early 2018 mock: Another SoCal SS at No. 1?
Bleacher Report: 2018 MLB Mock Draft: Early Predictions for Top 1st-Round Baseball Prospects

Prospect Appearances/Events
Under Armour All-America Game: Saturday, July 29 (Chicago, IL)
Perfect Game All-American Classic: Sunday, August 13 (San Diego, CA) - Televised on MLB Network
Perfect Game National Showcase: June 16-21 (Fort Myers, FL)
Area Code Games: August 6-10 (Long Beach, CA)
USA Baseball Collegiate National Team: June 22 - July 17 (Cary, NC and various other locations)
USA Baseball 18U National Team: June 27 - Sept. 5 (Cary, NC and various other locations)

The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team just completed their schedule this week. Although likely just a coincidence the Brewers have drafted the player the past two years who led the USA Baseball college team in OPS (Corey Ray and Keston Hiura). These are small sample sizes since the team only plays around 20 games each summer. This year's leader was Arkansas C/OF Grant Koch with a 1.035 OPS. Koch was limited to just 43 at bats however, among players with 60+ at bats the leader was Oklahoma outfielder (and former Wisconsin Woodchucks player) Steele Walker with a .931 OPS. Another notable USA Baseball CNT player was Clemson's Seth Beer who finished with a .672 OPS.

Complete 2017 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Stats

Reminder that the Under Armour High School All-American Game is tonight at 7:00pm CT. It is available live on MLB.com and tape delayed next week on MLB Network. All of the details are available at this LINK.