Brewers: Draft heavy on arms, hard-to-sign players

Round 11: Jose Cuas, SS, University of Maryland

The Brewers made it back-to-back Terrapins when they opened Wednesday by taking shortstop Jose Cuas.

The Brooklyn native will be 21 at the end of this month and at 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds has led Maryland in home runs in back-to-back seasons, swatting five as a sophomore in 2014 before cracking 11 in 66 games this year.

He hit .242/.329/.442 with 53 RBI and also stole 10 bases in 14 attempts, with 13 doubles and three triples.

Cuas was selected in the 40th round by the Toronto Blue Jays in 2012 out of Grand Street Campus High School in Brooklyn, but opted to go to Maryland.

Round 12: Drake Owenby, LHP, University of Tennessee

Another junior, Owenby, 21, bounced back from some off-the-field problems early on in his stay in Knoxville to have a solid career for the Volunteers.

A 6-foot-2, 205-pounder, Owenby was a starter and a reliever at Tennessee, going 2-6 with a 4.83 ERA and 60 strikeouts in 69 innings while working 15 games, 12 of them starts, this season. As a sophomore, he had five saves and a 3.20 ERA in 25.1 innings over 21 appearances, all but one of them in relief, and posted 24 strikeouts.

Round 13: Max McDowell, C, University of Connecticut

Max McDowell, a right-handed hitter, just finished up his junior year for the Huskies and was a second-team All-American Athletic Conference pick after hitting .286/.392/.418 with seven homers and 39 RBI in 60 games as Connecticut played in the NCAA tournament.

The Huskies beat UCF and Tulane before being eliminated by East Carolina. That followed an opening-round loss to Tulane.

McDowell didn’t dazzle in Clearwater, Fla., going 0-for-11 with one RBI in the four games. A graduate of Norwin (North Huntingdon, Pa.) High School, he started 47 games for UConn as a freshman and hasn’t lost the job since.

Round 14: Tyrone Perry, 1B, Lakeland (Fla.) Senior High School

Tyrone Perry, already 19, is a lefty-swinging, righty-throwing slugger who hit .310 with six homers and 26 RBI as a senior this season. He’s committed to Florida State University.

Round 15: Zach Taylor, C, Scottsdale (Ariz.) Community College

Taylor, listed at 6-foot-1 and 220 pounds, hit .253 with a homer and 26 RBI for Scottsdale, nicknamed the Fighting Artichokes (I can’t make this stuff up).

Taylor, 19, was a 36th round pick by the San Francisco Giants in 2014 out of Scottdale’s Horizon High School.

Round 16: Conor Harber, RHP, University of Oregon

Conor Harber, 22, was 4-2 with a 5.34 ERA in 15 appearances (eight starts) and 55.2 innings for the Ducks this season, striking out 59 batters while walking 32.

He transferred to Oregon this season after two years at Western Nevada College, where he pitched and played the outfield. He was 8-0 with a 2.49 ERA in 72.1 innings as a sophomore, striking out 82, while also hitting .331 with 19 RBI.

The 6-foot-2, 195-pounder has now been drafted three times. He was taken in the 38th round by the Baltimore Orioles after his freshman season at Western Nevada and was chosen by the Tampa Bay Rays in the 40th round last June.

Round 17: Michael Petersen, RHP, Riverside (Calif.) City College

Michael Peterson, a 6-foot-7, 195-pound right-hander, was limited to just 1.1 innings this season.

This marked the fourth straight year the 21-year-old was drafted. The Pittsburgh Pirates took him in the 19th round in 2012 out of St. Francis (Mountain View, Calif.) High School, he was taken in the 31st round by the Texas Rangers in 2013 and in the 24th round by the San Francisco Giants a year ago.

Round 18: Gentry Fortuno, RHP, Charles Flanagan (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) High School

Gentry Fortuno, who won’t be 18 until September, is a 6-foot-1, 235-pound right-hander who was 8-4 with a 1.24 ERA this season.

He’s committed to play at UCF.

Round 19: Steven Karkenny, 1B, The Masters (Calif.) College

Steven Karkenny, 22, did a little of everything at The Masters College, playing all over the diamond, including closing games.

He hit .350/.488/.669 in 49 games this season, with 11 home runs and 45 RBI and was 30-for-36 on the basepaths.

In 12 pitching appearances and 15.1 innings, he was 0-1 with a 0.59 ERA and eight saves, striking out 25 and allowing just one earned run for the Mustangs, who play at the NAIA level.

Round 20: David Lucroy, RHP, East Carolina University

If the name seems familiar, it should—David Lucroy is the younger brother (22 years old) of Brewers’ All-Star catcher Jonathan Lucroy.

The 6-foot-1, 210-pounder was a redshirt junior for East Carolina this season and was 3-4 with a 2.18 ERA in 16 games, 13 of them starts. In 66 innings, Lucroy fanned 47.

This was the second time the Brewers drafted the younger Lucroy—he was selected in the 29th round out of Umatilla (Fla.) High School in 2011, but opted to play collegiately for the Pirates.

Next: Rounds 21-30