Frelick's Ceiling Gives Brew Crew The Next MLBirdballer

The Major League Baseball Draft long represented a low key conversion for aspiring professional ballplayers. The rapid succession of picks over 40-odd rounds made it impossible to track in a pre-social media era, and its placement during the end of college and high school baseball seasons found it buried amidst a crowded sports calendar.

It was an event for the most dedicated baseball minds, but it was effectively lost in the shuffle. The potential for something greater existed, but MLB didn't capitalize on it until this year when it reconfigured its minor league system and moved its entry draft from a buried weekend in June to the kickoff of its All-Star Week.

The resulting spectacle dazzled television and exploded social media. A crowd booed a commissioner while celebrations splashed across the world from living rooms and watch parties. Prospects were analyzed with the same gusto as NFL and NBA picks, and draft day storylines emerged organically as players rose and slid up and down the board.

It was into that maelstrom that Boston College dropped arguably its best draft class in program history. A star-studded group arose from head coach Mike Gambino's program with the capability to rewrite the narrative of northeast baseball both for the Eagles and at large, and on that first day, the first hammer dropped when the Milwaukee Brewers selected outfielder Sal Frelick with the 15th overall pick in the first round.

"It was super special," Frelick said from his home in Lexington, Massachusetts. "I didn't know that I was going to get picked by (Milwaukee) until about 30 seconds before (it was announced), and still I wasn't completely sure until I heard my name called. It was really special to have all of those friends and family there, and for Coach Gambino as well was super special. He was on the phone a lot that day with teams about me and even during the draft, so to have them made it a super special moment."

Frelick's selection capped a career year that saw the junior rocket up boards and projections. He hit .359 with a 1.002 OPS to earn All-ACC First Team Honors, and he finished the season as both a Rawlings/ABCA Gold Glove Award and ACC Defensive Player of the Year winner. He smacked six home runs and 17 doubles with 50 runs scored and 13 stolen bases, all more than half of his career totals.

It finished his career with 139 hits and 97 runs while establishing him as the gritty dirt dog player teams now chase in the early rounds. He posted 27 doubles, 12 home runs, 63 RBI and 38 stolen bases over two-plus years and finished his career as a .345 hitter after his 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic's initial outbreak.

The performance rocketed him up draft boards after he was a Freshman All-American selection in 2019 and placed him in elite company heading into this week's draft. He was ranked 11th by MLB.com but was projected as high as fifth based on both signability and future potential heading into Sunday's first round.

"I didn't want to think too highly that I was going to go to a team," Frelick said, "and I didn't want to put all of my emotions into going (somewhere) in the event that it didn't happen. It kind of kept (expectations) broad that I had no clue where I'm going. I just saw guys go off the board and went from there. Logistically, I kind of expected it, and it was really special. I had a ton of family and friends coming out to support my family and me."

Projections don't often mean much leading up to a draft, but Sunday essentially shook down with more chaos than even the experts could have predicted. The Pittsburgh Pirates held the first pick but passed on high school shortstop Marcelo Mayer in order to draft Louisville catcher Henry Davis.

Mayer had been the consensus No. 1 pick in almost every mock draft, but he fell to Boston at No. 4 after Texas and Detroit drafted Vanderbilt pitcher Jack Leiter and high school pitcher Jackson Jobe second and third, respectively. Baltimore then selected outfielder Colton Cowser fifth, and Frelick's position suddenly became less clear.

The chaos continued when Colorado chose high school outfielder Benny Montgomery, and Vanderbilt's second ace, Kumar Rocker, slid all the way to the New York Mets at No. 10. Frelick's undrafted status remained frozen when Seattle and San Francisco, two likely landing posts, went in other directions, but Milwaukee offered the thaw with the 15th overall pick, four picks better than when the Mets drafted Justin Dunn in 2016 and the second-highest selection in BC program history.

"The baseball draft is really interesting," Frelick said, "where the bonus system is negotiable. It's not always the best player getting picked. Some teams went for a cheap option early with some high school kids and whatnot. So I said I was going to wait and see which team really wanted me, and it was Milwaukee."

He now becomes a centerpiece to a first-place team currently rebuilding its farm system. The Brewers led the National League Central into the All-Star break with 53 wins, but the three-time defending playoff participants ranked in the bottom three of MLB farm systems over the past two seasons. They entered 2021 with only two prospects in the MLB Top 100 but used the reconfiguration of the MiLB system to add the Nashville Sounds and their relatively-new ballpark to their affiliates.

Frelick is the second consecutive outfielder taken in the first round by Milwaukee after the Brewers drafted Garrett Mitchell in the abbreviated, five-round 2020 draft but is arguably the top prospect next to the Double-A outfielder. The only other outfielder in the organization's top-10 is Hedbert Perez, but the 18 year old is still in rookie ball and likely won't advance to the big leagues before 2024 or 2025 at the earliest.

"I wasn't really sure if I was going to play baseball until the end of my senior season in high school," Frelick admitted. "With football, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, and I don't think I saw my full potential in baseball. Even after my freshman season, I had a pretty good campaign but had some injuries, and my sophomore year with COVID, it wasn't a smooth path.

"I think the next level is going to be good for me," he said. "I really don't think that I've tapped into my full potential just yet because this was my first year playing a fall ball and then a spring season altogether. I just know there's so much more potential for me in the ceilings."

Frelick's Ceiling Gives Brew Crew The Next MLBirdballer

Players Mentioned

Sal Frelick

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