If the Brewers do end up with a top ten pick, Louisville third baseman (and Oak Creek, WI native) Alex Binelas would be an intriguing target.

The commissioner was given approval by both the owners and MLBPA to set this year’s draft order. It was seemingly done in case a full season wasn’t able to be completed. There was speculation that if this season was cut short due to the pandemic they would have added in last year’s records combined with this season for the order. Now that it’s looking likely they’ll get through the regular season I’ll be a little surprised if Manfred goes away from the order being set solely based on this season’s standings.

Historically the order is set strictly on regular season record. Playoff results have had no bearing on the order, which is sort of dumb, IMO. I was frustrated following the 2017 season when the Twins got the #20 draft selection despite making the playoffs (they drafted Trevor Larnach) and the Brewers missed the playoffs but drafted a spot behind the Twins because they had one more regular season win (they selected Brice Turang).

The World Series champion Washington Nationals drafted #22 overall in this past draft.

Regarding next year’s draft, there was an article by RJ Anderson (CBS) over the weekend suggesting that some team personnel do think the previous year’s records maybe incorporated in some way into the draft order: It's unclear how MLB will set 2021 draft order

In my opinion it would be a really bad move if they just combined the overall records from this season with last season since that would give the 2019 season much more influence in the draft order for 2021 since many more games were played. It would significantly help a team like the Padres get a great draft pick despite having a legitimate WS contender this season. If they do use the 2019 records I think they have to somehow weight 2020 results more heavily so it has a larger bearing on determining the order than 2019. I still hope that ultimately they just use 2020 records and leave it at that.

The Brewers are set to be one of six teams that’ll get a Comp A round pick this year. There don’t appear to be many free agents that play for revenue-sharing recipients who are expected to get qualifying offers (they’d turn down) and will sign for >$50 million in the offseason. That’s the threshold to get a compensation pick after the first round. Also, the Astros lost their first round pick for next year. This is a long winded way of saying the Comp A pick could fall somewhere between #30-#35 (maybe that moves down one spot if the Reds get a post round 1 compensation pick for losing Trevor Bauer).

Assuming they don’t trade their Comp A draft pick the Brewers could end up with 3 draft picks in the top 50 this year. It is considered a very deep draft on the prep side, and I think we’ll see many college players rise in the rankings if a spring season is able to be held.

The 2021 MLB Draft order is set (assuming they indeed go solely with 2020 overall record as was recently reported).

PICK	 TEAM	        RECORD	WIN%	GB	STREAK	L10
1	 Pittsburgh	19-41	.317	--	Lost 1	4-6
2	 Texas	        22-38	.367	3.0	Won 3	4-6
3	 Detroit	23-35	.397	5.0	Lost 1	2-8
4	 Boston	        24-36	.400	5.0	Won 2	6-4
5	 Baltimore	25-35	.417	6.0	Won 1	3-7
6	 Arizona	25-35	.417	6.0	Won 1	6-4
7	 Kansas City	26-34	.433	7.0	Won 1	5-5
8	 Colorado	26-34	.433	7.0	Lost 1	4-6
9	 LA Angels	26-34	.433	7.0	Lost 3	6-4
10	 NY Mets	26-34	.433	7.0	Lost 3	3-7
11	 Washington	26-34	.433	7.0	Won 3	7-3
12	 Seattle	27-33	.450	8.0	Lost 1	5-5
13	 Philadelphia	28-32	.467	9.0	Lost 3	3-7
14	 San Francisco	29-31	.483	10.0	Lost 3	4-6
15	 Milwaukee	29-31	.483	10.0	Lost 1	5-5
XX  	 Houston	29-31	.483	10.0	Lost 3	4-6 (Forfeited)
16	 Miami	        31-29	.517	12.0	Won 1	5-5
17	 Cincinnati	31-29	.517	12.0	Won 1	7-3
18	 St. Louis	30-28	.517	12.0	Won 1	6-4
19	 Toronto	32-28	.533	13.0	Lost 1	6-4
20	 NY Yankees	33-27	.550	14.0	Lost 1	4-6
21	 CHI Cubs	34-26	.567	15.0	Won 1	4-6
22	 CHI White Sox	35-25	.583	16.0	Lost 1	2-8
23	 Cleveland	35-25	.583	16.0	Won 1	8-2
24	 Atlanta	35-25	.583	16.0	Lost 2	6-4
25	 Oakland	36-24	.600	17.0	Won 1	5-5
26	 Minnesota	36-24	.600	17.0	Lost 1	6-4
27	 San Diego	37-23	.617	18.0	Won 3	5-5
28	 Tampa Bay	40-20	.667	21.0	Won 4	8-2
29	 LA Dodgers	43-17	.717	24.0	Won 4	8-2

MLB confirmed today that they will indeed use only 2020 records for the 2021 MLB Draft order (Link). The Brewers will have the #15 overall pick. If they don’t trade their competitive balance round A pick, the Brewers should have three draft picks in the top 55 selections.

Which is why I think they’re likely to trade that Competitive Balance Round A pick. Doing so will save them approximately $2.2 million. I would certainly prefer they keep the pick and use that money to leverage their draft options accordingly, but their previous track record coupled with it being a year where they’re going to be checking the couch cushions suggests that pick is likely to be gone.