Milwaukee Brewers 2022 Draft Prospects to Know: RHP Gabriel Hughes
By Paul Bretl
In a recent mock draft from Joe Doyle of Prospects Live, the Milwaukee Brewers used their 27th overall selection in the upcoming 2022 MLB Draft to select right-handed pitcher Gabriel Hughes from Gonzaga.
In terms of needs right now, and not only at the big league level with the Milwaukee Brewers but throughout the entire organization, the Crew could use more bats more than anything else.
There are a few promising offensive players in the minors, including Jackson Chourio, Joey Wiemer, and, as we speak, a red-hot Garrett Mitchell, but this Brewers organization as a whole could use more impact hitters–especially with how Milwaukee has struggled to develop young batters.
Currently, on the big league roster, Milwaukee is struggling with consistency at the plate and have in recent years as well. The Brewers also don’t have that one player that they can really lean on and trust in those higher leverage situations. And right now, it’s difficult to pinpoint where in the organization that player will come from. If it is one of the players just mentioned, some time is going to be required.
Now having said that, baseball, more so than the NFL and NBA, is very much about drafting the best player available. For one, teams want to give themselves the best chance of finding a future big league contributor, and two, with it taking several years for prospects to make their MLB debuts, the needs on the big league roster could very much change over that time.
So if the Milwaukee Brewers find themselves on the clock this coming Sunday with Hughes still available, it may be difficult to pass him up, even if finding a bat is the bigger need.
Hughes is still just 20 years old and has recorded a 3.05 ERA over three seasons with the Bulldogs, which spanned 171.0 innings of work.
In his most recent 2022 season, Hughes pitched in 98.0 of those innings. He would record a 3.21 ERA with a 1.153 WHIP. Hughes would also go on to strike out 138 batters and walk 37 while giving up five home runs.
His game would really take a big step forward in 2021 after some unspectacular summer league performances in 2019 and 2020.
Hughes is MLB.com’s 26th-ranked prospect in this year’s draft class and has an overall grade of 50 out of 80. Meanwhile, his fastball has a grade of 60, his slider 55, change-up 50, and control 50 as well.
For a closer look at Hughes’ game and what he could potentially bring to the Brewers organization, here is what the MLB.com scouting report had to say.
"“Hughes has an exciting combination of size, repertoire and feel for pitching. The 6-foot-4 right-hander has electric stuff, starting with a fastball that’s regularly in the 94-97 mph range with ease, leading some scouts to wonder if he might touch triple digits someday. His slider can be a wipeout pitch, up to 89-90 mph, and he even shows very good feel for his changeup.“The big right-hander can fill up the strike zone with all three pitches, throwing them to both sides of the plate and commanding his breaking stuff well. He gets high grades for his makeup, a tremendous student-athlete who is on pace to graduate in three years. Some evaluators see him as the best arm on the West Coast, one who is shooting up Draft boards with his strong spring in Washington.”"
The Milwaukee Brewers have shown an incredible ability as an organization to develop young pitchers, so perhaps they could get by with prioritizing their early-round picks on offense–something they’ve done frequently in recent years.
However, as they say, there is no such thing as having too much good pitching.