Brewers Select Dylan Covey

He may not know how to spell Milwaukee, and the only thing he might now about the Brewers is that they have a slide in the outfield, but Milwaukee Brewers fans should get to know Dylan Covey. Taken by the Brewers with the 14th pick in the MLB draft, Covey is a right-handed pitcher set to graduate from Marantha High School is Pasadena, California. The Brewers could have taken a guy from college in an effort to get their first round pick up to the big leagues faster, but they instead chose the third prep pitcher taken in the draft.

Covey seems like a good kid, already drawing comparisons to Chad Billingsley. This season at his high school, he went 7-1 with a 0.40 ERA, collecting three saves as well as striking out 138 batters. He's got a fastball that can hit 96, and also seems to have a pretty effective slider, curveball, and changeup. Sounds like a quality pitcher to me.

Of course, the issue with drafting prep players is that you have to get them to sign rather than to go to college. He does have a scholarship to the University of San Diego, but in the previously linked article to Haudricourt's story, Covey seems like he definitely does want to sign. From everything I've read, I honestly don't see how this kid doesn't sign, and the Brewers seem to have added a quality arm to their minor league system.

Don't be going out and buying Covey jerseys already though, as again, this kid is just 18 years old. We have to remember that the MLB draft is completely different than that of the other leagues, and rarely does a guy go right from the draft to the bigs. Even Stephen Strasburg, a can't miss guy, spent a year in development before finally debuting Tuesday for the Nationals. Hell, we drafted Jeremy Jeffress in the first-round in 2006 and still haven't heard from him (remember, he's currently serving a 100-game suspension for drug abuse).

Still, I like the Covey pick here, and I'm glad that the Brewers got a guy that not only seems legit but one that also seems likely to sign. A lot of the players that the Brewers were projected to add in the first round were taken much earlier, but I'm thinking things turned out already for Milwaukee.

But I guess we won't really know though for another five years or so.